An announcement was made by an employee and tester for Mozilla at the beginning of January, stating that although it is not quite ready for testing yet, the time is coming, within weeks.

On an update Marko and his team have made some progress. He writes:

"When I wrote the original blog post, what we had was very basic content rendering to VoiceOver or Accessibility Verifier. And I mean really basic. We had just crossed the point where loading a second page, or opening a new tab, would actually tell VoiceOver what content there was. Previously, it would not even take notice of the new content and still show the old stuff. Also, the web area was just now then being announced as “HTML content” by VoiceOver, like in Safari."

He then goes on to inform us that:

• Headings are now announced
• tabs count correctly
• all roles are now spoken
• dialogue text and other text speak completely
• links are activated through VoiceOver.

Things that still need to be worked on include:

• Navigating by character, or interacting with, the text in the awesome bar does not speak the character.
• Firefox doesn’t tell VoiceOver when it has finished loading a page
• passwords don’t yet give the audible feedback when typing
• VoiceOver doesn’t see form fields when nested within elements
• VoiceOver says the word "text" after every chunk of text inside a paragraph
• Various form elements states not communicated to VoiceOver [I.E. check boxes checked or unchecked]
• Landmarks not communicated to VoiceOver

Although the bare branches are all we have right now and no public beta build as yet, it seems the Firefox team are indeed working on the accessibility of Firefox with VoiceOver once again. We will keep you all informed as soon as we know the beta release is available. Lets hope we can all help contribute and make FireFox finally accessible for VoiceOver users on the mac.

Thanks to M.J. Phoenix for contributing this story.

The interface in version 6.0 has changed to resemble the one used in the iOS version of the software. It is completely accessible with VoiceOver. When a VoiceOver user navigates to the image for your router, it even indicates if it is working properly and which color light is being shown on the device.

Thanks to John Panarese of MacForTheBlind for the heads up.

Domino train is a version of mexican train for the iPhone, and it is lots of fun to play  It was demoed on the most recent Screenless Switchers podcast.  It costs $0.99 on the app store, and we encourage everyone who enjoys fun and addictive games to check it out.

Apple has released iBooks version 2.0, which includes support for interactive textbooks. In an effort to improve the learning experience, Apple is providing textbooks through its iBooks platform. To start with, there will be a focus on high school level texts. Apple touts the portability, durability, and instant updating nature of electronic textbooks, and has already gotten the top three textbook publishers in the United States onboard with the program.

Interactive textbooks for iBooks can include images, videos, links, and other media and learning tools for the student to interact with. However, the obvious advantage for students using VoiceOver is that iBooks are accessible in the vast majority of cases, and we see no reason why textbooks would be an exception. Given the difficulties for visually impaired students to obtain current textbooks in an accessible format and in a timely manner, this has the potential to dramatically improve the learning experience for them. Additionally, images can be enlarged on the screen, making it easier for low-vision students to see illustrations, diagrams, etc, without having to resort to CCTV monitors, scanners, or photo-copiers.

Next, Apple took the wraps off of iBooks Author, a content-creation and publishing tool for Mac OS X, which radically simplifies the creation of books suitable for the iBooks platform, including allowing authors to create interactive components for their books. The application is available from the Mac AppStore today, is free, and our initial examination of the product indicates that is in fact accessible with VoiceOver as well. With the book, you can export to PDF or iBooks formats, or publish directly to the iBooks store, if you are registered with the iTunes Connect program for publishing books.

Finally, Apple announced a new iTunesU application for iOS. The app provides online courses from a variety of universities, complete with course materials, quizzes, assignments, and more. The courses are available for free. Our first-look at the iTunesU app also indicates that it is fully accessible with Voiceover. iTunesU is available now from the iOS AppStore.

All in all, these were impressive announcements, and have the potential to have a significant impact on blind and visually impaired users of Apple’s products. By providing textbooks and other education tools to students in an accessible format, we might be at the beginning of a new renaissance for visually impaired students and their technology.

• M.J.’s picks
  • Blogger for iOS
  • Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! The Shamutanti Hills
  • Translator with Voice
  • Google Chrome Canary
• Steve’s Picks
  • Boxwave iPhone Case with Keyboard
  • YoruFukurou
• Eric’s picks
  • Godville
  • iCatcher
• Holly’s picks
  • DownCast
  • Link That Word Lite
  • Word+
• Darcy’s picks
  • Secrets
  • Blue Yeti
  • King’s Corner
• Kevin’s picks
  • MarsEdit
  • Pocket No Agenda
  • Audio Bop
• Cara’s picks
  • TextSoap
  • Data Rescue
  • Seamless Food Delivery
• Josh’s picks
  • Meanwhile for iOS
  • King of Dragon Pass
  • AppleTV

It is wonderful to see how Apple’s technologies have continued to enrich the lives of those with a range of disabilities. The article is a great read for anyone interested in accessibility in general, and how iPads can be used to improve election participation for disabled citizens in particular.

The update leverages new VoiceOver features that were added in iOS 5.0 last month. Most notably VoiceOver‘s DirectTouch feature, which allows users to interact with specific UI elements as if VoiceOver is inactive. This is used to great effect with the on-screen music keyboards in GarageBand.

GarageBand for iOS is available from the iOS AppStore.

We’d like to thank everyone who sent in questions. If you have a question you’d like to have answered on a future show, or if you would like to let us know your thoughts on the Q&A format, feel free to drop us a note here.

We will answer as many questions as we can in the time we have. Not all questions are guaranteed to be answered, but we will keep unanswered questions on hand for future Q&A shows, and will produce more Q&A shows if our listeners find them useful.

Also, on 29/October/2011, the knights will be recording a special Q&A episode of the podcast. You can send your questions into ask at maccessibility.net, or interact with us live at 1:00 PM ET, 10:00 AM PT on Twitter using the hashtag #VOLive. Further details are forthcoming.

This functionality only works during the AppleTV setup phase. During setup, it will say, "Triple-click Play button to activate VoiceOver". Once the AppleTV is setup, this functionality is no longer available.

In general, Apple has taken an approach to Xcode which mirrors that which they employed in making GarageBand accessible. Due to the complex nature of the user interface, the app has been divided into major sections which VoiceOver calls "groups". This makes understanding and navigating the myriad of controls, settings, and features with VoiceOver a vastly improved experience.

While more workable now than in the past, the Interface Builder portion of Xcode still provides some challenges. However, thanks to recent improvements, it is now possible to construct a UI with VoiceOver, though it is still not an ideal workflow. It should be noted, though, that with the increased popularity of both Mac OS X and the iOS operating systems, more information is readily available for building UI’s via code, which may prove to be the more efficient method for some visually impaired developers.

Additionally, when used in conjunction with an iOS device such as an iPhone, iPod, or iPad running iOS 5.0, AirPlay no longer directs VoiceOver speech to the AppleTV, making it a much better experience for visually impaired users. Previously, the delay between VoiceOver actions on the device and the feedback from the AppleTV or other AirPlay enabled device made use extremely problematic.

We extend our deepest condolences to Steve’s family, friends, and colleagues.

On behalf of all of us here at Mac-cessibility, thank you, Steve Jobs, for all that you gave the world…and us.

Those of us who work to provide content for Mac-cessibility are only a small number of those visually impaired users who have had their lives profoundly changed by Apple, it’s products, and the vision with which they were realized. Steve Jobs has touched the lives of millions of people, disabled or not, and few have ever, or will ever, change the world as he did for us.

We’d like to offer our most heartfelt condolences Do Steve’s wife, children, and family, and to all those whom he knew, loved, and worked with. The world has lost a great man.

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."–Steve Jobs

We’ll miss you, Steve.

If you’d like to interact with us during the stream, the best way to do it is by using the #VOLive hash tag on twitter.

If you can’t join us live, then look for a Maccessibility Round Table podcast later on in the week summing up today’s announcements.

While version 1.0 was ground-breaking in itself in its brilliance in accuracy and ease of use, version 2 takes this app to a whole new level.

Several new currencies are now supported, including the Euro, Canadian and Australian dollars, as well as the British Pound. This allows Money Reader to bring its stellar performance to so many more people than before to assist in making people’s lives easier and more enjoyable.

You can learn more at: http://www.looktel.com

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Steve Jobs has been named Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Tim Cook has already been elected CEO of Apple Inc.

On behalf of all of us here at Mac-cessibility, I’d like to offer Mr. Jobs our heartfelt thanks for his years of service to Apple and its customers, and wish him the very best.