Hello,
I have not been on the Mac as long as you have, but after using a
Window computer for 20 years or more, I am extremely happy with my Mac. You
are correct when you say the Mac screen reader is more stable than the Windows
screen readers. I agree that this more than likely due to the fact that Voice
Over is part of the Mac OS which helps it to run more dependently. I however
do not agree with your statement that on Windows more basic programs are
accessible. First of all, what do you mean by basic programs? You mentioned
Drop Box. It is true that using Drop Box on the Mac requires a certain level
of expertise, but once you understand how you need to use it on the Mac, it
works just fine. I think you must be referring to the fact that when you
install Drop Box and you launch it all Voice Over will say is "Drop Box has no
windows". This frustrated me to no end until I realize that on the Mac you can
just go to your home folder and arrow down to Drop Box and then access it like
any other folder on your Mac. I put an alias icon right on my desktop and now
all that I have to do is to open that, and then I can work in my Drop Box.
My point with all of this is to illustrate that even though at first
Drop Box may seem inaccessible on the Mac, it really isn't
As for your question about a paid screen reader ever being made
available on the Mac. I seriously doubt that this will ever happen, and I
probably wouldn't use it anyway. I would not for one, want to go and pay
several hundreds of dollars for something that in my opinion would give me a
sub par experience on the Mac, especially when the beauty of owning a Mac is
that once I purchase my Mac, all I have to do after turning it on to have
accessibility is to hit command plus F5.
Just my opinion.
Scott
On Jun 25, 2012, at 8:08 AM, William Windels wrote:
> Hello,
> After working for more than 3 years with the mac , it's my personal
> opinionthat more basic programs are accessible on windows then on the mac
> platform.
>
> I find it more stable to work on the mac because of the integration of the
> screenreader voiceover with the osx.
> The fact that the hardware is also adapted for us by the trackpad and the
> function-keys with the spoken values.
> And of course the flexible way we can install , manage the system with
> voiceover support everywhere.
>
> However, we can't e.g. configure dropbox with voiceover while this is
> possible on windows, office programs like microsoft office and also iWork's
> aren't fully accessible with lay-out tasks, in my opinion there are several
> usability issues with the browsers on the mac, some ellements of the os ,
> like
> Tables, on websites and on numbers and pages, are very difficult to navigate
> e.g. you can't search for edit-fields on websites while they are in a table
> and in pages, you can't work with tables on a comfortable way.
> the icon's on the status bar, can't be reached on a normal way with
> voiceover...
>
> My conclusion: a paid screenreader for the mac that makes program's
> accessible with scripts (like screen readers on windows do), should be very
> welcome I think.
> With this kind of optional screenreader, blind users should be able to use
> all the equivalents on the mac of their windows favorites. Perhaps it should
> push apple to make their screenreader better on a faster speed.
>
> Why such screenreader doesn't exist yet?
> I see 2 reasons for this:
> 1. Apple should not be happy with this and the screenreader of apple should
> have more possibilities to integrate with the os then the external
> screenreader.
> 2. Other communities don't see a reason to make a screenreader for the mac
> while there is one built in.
> If it should be the second reason, any people with accessibility frustrations
> on the mac , should communicate this to other companies like gw micro,
> freedom scientific, baum...
>
> Any opinions about this meanings should be very welcome.
> kind regards,
> William Windels
>
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