‘Commentary’ Archives

As Apple began taking pre-orders today for its new iPad device, they released a few more details about the product. Most exciting among these for VoiceOver users is the news that iBooks, the application that doubles as a digital bookstore and electronic book reader, will support VoiceOver.
Apple’s iBooks page describes its accessibility thus:
Unlike a paper [...]

Yesterday, the Web Accessibility in Mind organization, (WebAIM), a group focusing on improving accessibility of web content for persons with disabilities, published the results of their Screen Reader User Survey, a follow up to a similar survey conducted earlier this year.
VoiceOver was shown in the survey to have a fifty percent increase in users reporting [...]

The American Foundation of the Blind (AFB) recently offered a

Last June, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) published a highly flawed and controversial review of VoiceOver and the accessibility of the Mac OS X platform. Shortly thereafter, we published an editorial discussing the article and the NFB’s "response" to criticism of the review.
Steve Sawczyn of ATMaine.com and our very own Mac-cessibility Round [...]

In This joint episode of the Screenless Switchers and Maccessibility Podcast we primarily discuss Snow Leopard, the new version of the Mac Operating System. We also discuss the maccessibility.net adobe petition

We’re pleased to bring you our review of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with VoiceOver, where Josh de Lioncourt takes a look at the latest iteration of Apple’s Macintosh operating system from a VoiceOver users perspective.
As always, enjoy, and feel free to comment with your own thoughts on Snow Leopard.

In the Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast #5 – "Now Available in Natural Flavors", our knights of the round table Darcy Burnard, Holly Anderson, Steve Sawczyn, Cara Quinn, and Josh de Lioncourt discuss the recent launch of the Mac-cessibility Network, review the recent minor updates to the Mac OS X and iPhone OS’s, get Steve’s thoughts [...]

Gregory Kearney, Manager of Accessible Media at the Association for the Blind of Western Australia, contacted Fictionwise.com, the company which develops many popular e-book readers, including eReader for the Mac and iPhone, regarding the distinct lack of VoiceOver access in both versions of eReader. Below is their response:

Hi,
Unfortunately, the ability to scoop the ebook’s text [...]

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Mac-cessibility Network, a new site devoted to the accessibility of Apple products and the people who use them.
In the two years since the launch of Lioncourt.com, the site has grown beyond its initial aspirations and design. It was time for a major overhaul. This [...]

The New York Times’s David Pogue blogs about VoiceOver on the new iPhone 3GS in this entry. Like the overwhelming majority of blind and visually impaired iPhone 3GS users, he has found VoiceOver’s capabilities to be quite impressive, though he admits he’s no expert, as he’s not blind.
It is fantastic to see apple’s extraordinary efforts [...]

Josh de Lioncourt reviews VoiceOver and the new accessibility features of the iPhone 3GS in our latest review. Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments on this post.

We provide some commentary on the National Federation of the Blind’s recent review of VoiceOver and the Mac, and their subsequent response to the outcry from users in our latest editorial.