Listed below is a selection of posts from across the AppleVis website which have been especially selected to help you setup and get to know your first Mac.
Displaying 21 - 40 of 77Also in this series:
I've always used Audacity for digital recording projects, including ripping my vinyl collection for use in iTunes. A 64-bit Audacity build for Mac exists, but it doesn't work with VoiceOver. As a result, Audacity is no longer a viable option for blind Mac users.
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GarageBand makes it amazingly easy to create music. In this blog, I'll show you how to create the following blues-based rock jam. You don't need an instrument. You won't have to play a single note.
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Safari is the Mac's default web browser, and it does all the usual web browser things - opens webpages, downloads files, plays audio, all that. It has some neat tricks, too, like the Reader that can show you only the meat of an article.
However, if you are coming to the Mac for the first time, especially from a Windows background, Safari can seem like a clunky app at best, and a totally unusable mess at worst. As with all things on the Mac, though, you just have to understand how and why it does what it does. Eventually, you will be flying through webpages again, and there are even some nice tricks that VoiceOver can pull off to make your life easier.
Finder is the Mac's file browser. With it, you can look at files and folders on internal, external, and network drives; copy, cut, and paste items; tag files for easier locating later; search for files; and more. The problem is that, particularly for those transitioning to the Mac from Windows, Finder is a confusing mess that makes you scared to even go looking for a file. I understand that, because I was there too. Hopefully, in writing down what I've learned over the years, I can save you a lot of time and frustration, and let you get on with your Mac much better.
If you are switching from Windows to Mac, there are a few things you should know about the Finder.
First, try very hard to get used to pressing command-o to open things. Pressing enter will prompt you to rename them, not open them. If you do accidentally press enter, simply press escape to cancel.
When you first get a Mac, and are learning VoiceOver, it can be hard to remember the myriad commands available. Some are pretty easy, like control-option-w to read the current word. Some are quite complex or seldom used, such as control-option-command-f5 to move the mouse pointer to where VoiceOver is focused. Then there are the core concepts, like interacting, moving around dialogs, getting to menus, and plenty more. So, I wanted to offer a guide that does not explain most of the commands and concepts, but rather tells you where to go if you need help. Mailing lists, books, online resources, and cheat sheets are great, but there are powerful help facilities built right into every Mac, just a keystroke or two away at any time. The trick is knowing how to access them.
In this podcast, Thomas Domville shows us How to contact Apple for accessibility inquiries.
Topics Covered in this Podcast
Apple Accessibility Web Page:
https://www.apple.com/accessibility/
Apple Product Feedback Web Page:
https://www.apple.com/feedback/
Accessibility Support - Official Apple Support Web Page:
https://support.apple.com/accessibility
Today at Apple - Accessibility - Apple Web Page:
https://www.apple.com/today/collection/accessibility-collection/
Apple Accessibility and Assistive Technology Email Address:
Accessibility@Apple.com
In this podcast, Katie demonstrates how to enable and disable the FileVault encryption feature available on Mac computers.
FileVault uses full disk encryption to help keep your data secure. However, once enabled, it does change the login process for those using VoiceOver, so Katie also demonstrates this so that you know what to expect and how to deal with it.
In this podcast, Tyler Stephen shows us how to share folders in iCloud Drive on a Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15.4 or later.
More information on sharing folders with iCloud Drive is available on this Apple Support page.
With folder sharing in iCloud Drive, you can share entire folders of files with friends, family, or colleagues. Then, you can work together on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or iCloud.com.
When you create and share a folder in iCloud Drive, participants can access all the files in that folder. If you add a file to a shared folder, it's automatically shared with all participants, too. You can also add or remove participants, edit sharing permissions, or stop sharing a folder anytime.
If you have multiple Apple devices, you may know that there are many features that allow them to integrate with each other to keep content up-to-date across all of them. In this guide, I will give an overview of how iCloud, the service that facilitates this interconnection, can help you manage and sync your content, as well as how it can help protect your privacy and security. The good thing about it is once you have a few things set up, features largely work automatically with very little additional interaction required from you, the user.
iCloud is the Apple service that allows Macs and iOS devices to keep content in sync between them. By default, you get 5GB of free storage space, upgradable up to 2TB, to store data such as documents, photos, emails, contacts, calendars, and more. With any paid storage plan, you get several additional features marketed collectively as iCloud+.
In the first of a series of podcasts intended to help new users of VoiceOver on the Mac, David Woodbridge shows us how to get VoiceOver running on any Mac laptop or desktop.
These demonstrations were recorded on a Mac running OS X Snow Leopard, but the procedure is still the same at the time of posting.
In the second of a series of podcasts intended to help new users of VoiceOver on the Mac, David Woodbridge shows us how to use the Keyboard Helper feature in OS X to familiarize yourself with the keyboard layout and functions.
These demonstrations were recorded on a Mac running OS X Snow Leopard, but the procedure is still the same at the time of posting.