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.

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.

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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.

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 the vast majority of iTunes releases have worked well with VoiceOver, there have occasionally been issues. In these cases, Apple has always responded very quickly to issue a patch which includes fixes for these bugs. There continues to be a small minority of users who jump to wild conclusions, declaring that Apple is abandoning VoiceOver and the customers who rely on it. ONce again, reports of VoiceOver‘s death are greatly exaggerated.

• RoaringApps.com – A site to check the Lion compatibility of your applications
• Tunesify Lite – A Mac app for converting FLAC files to a more useful format
• Hanging with Friends Free – A Hangman game that is mostly accessible with VoiceOver

• Group pick:
  • The Macalope
• Darcy’s picks:
  • YoruFukurou
  • WorthWhile
  • Sudoku Tablet
• Holly’s picks:
  • SlingPlayer Mobile
  • 7 Little Words
  • Cards Alone
• Josh’s picks:
  • Tagalicious
  • Sound Studio
  • Podcaster for iPhone
• M.J.’s picks:
  • NewsRack for Mac
  • MacJournal
  • StoryMill
• Eric’s picks:
  • Ariadne GPS
  • NewsRack for iPhone/iPad
  • Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide
• Cara’s picks:
  • VizWiz
  • Looktell Money Reader
  • MarsEdit

This is, and should be, troubling to many Mac and iOS users. Microsoft has shown a distinct disinterest in adhering to accessibility standards on Apple’s platforms. The Microsoft Office suite, for example, has yet to be made compatible with Apple’s accessibility frameworks, and Microsoft has made no known effort to change this. Their Messenger app for iOS is entirely unusable.

In significant contrast to Microsoft, many, if not most, developers for Mac OS X and iOS have been very receptive to improving the accessibility of their applications, due in no small part to the ease with which Apple’s tools make this process. Skype, despite some flaws, was one company that had certainly made a concerted effort, most noticeable in Skype 5, though that version of the program has an interface which blind and sited users alike find lacking for other reasons than accessibility.

Only time will tell if Microsoft will continue to allow the Skype developers to improve and ensure access to this application which many visually impaired users find invaluable. Given Microsoft’s track record, however, the future for VoiceOver users of Skype could potentially be grim.

Notes:

• Darcy’s pick – TextExpander
• M.J.’s picks – BopIt and PlainText
• Josh’s pick – Magic Trackpad
• Cara’s pick – Fandango Movies
• Holly’s pick – DraftPad

This is a fantastic development for visually impaired book lovers, providing unparalleled access to published works to them at the same time as said works are available to their sighted counterparts.

Many Random House titles have already begun appearing in the iBooks store, including those by such bestselling authors as Anne Rice, Dan Brown, and others.

For visually impaired readers, this news is spectacular, particularly given the poor accessibility efforts thus far from the Amazon Kindle and Adobe Digital Editions platforms.