Hi Ed, To add to what Teresa said, when you use VO-Space this is a VoiceOver-specifc software shortcut that means "perform the default action" for a given situation -- which could be to click on an element. VO-Shift-Space is another VoiceOver specific software shortcut for clicking your mouse cursor. Pressing the return key will return the default selections in dialog windows, and is hardware-based and does not rely on whether you are using VoiceOver, but it doesn't have an effect when you are supposed to click with a mouse or trackpad on a web page element.
I usually distinguish between "hardware clicks" and "software clicks". Hardware clicks (with TrackPad, Mouse, or with the Mouse Keys accessibility solution) work everywhere. VoiceOver-specific software keyclicks may work if an application is accessible, but otherwise may not work. The other part of clicking on a web element such as a clickable element is making sure that your mouse cursor is actually on the element in question. (This is really annoying, because in some cases I have to change my cursor tracking preferences under VoiceOVer Utility to either "Mouse Cursor follows VoiceOver Cursor" or "Mouse Cursor moves VoiceOver Cursor" in order for things to work in environments of transitioning accessibility, such as in the iCloud or old Mobile Me web pages, or when iTunes or Automator was first being made accessible). However, in most instances you only need to make sure, after routing your mouse cursor to your VoiceOver cursor, that you issue a "hardware click". Since I don't use a mouse with my Mac laptops, I usually click on elements using Mouse Keys. If you are using a full size keyboard with NumPad Commander turned on, you can alternatively use the NumPad Commander shortcut to click (I think this is Control+"5" on the numeric keypad if you use the default settings, but you should check this). And if you use the TrackPad you should turn off TrackPad Commander and make sure that you press down hard enough to register a click. You should not have both Mouse Keys and NumPad Commander turned on at the same time, because they lead to conflicting key definitions. (On a laptop, this can make some of your keys completely unusable until you sort this.) Mouse Keys is an accessibility solution for people with motion disabilities that make it difficult for them to move a mouse precisely to a link or form control where they need to click or activate or enter text. VoiceOver users can use Mouse Keys in a couple of settings: 1) to click on elements like your clickable links where there are accessibility issues in the setup or application that prevent the VoiceOver shortcuts from working correctly and 2) to move the mouse cursor to screen locations independently of VoiceOver's navigation. Again, case 2 is an accessibility problem area. It may be that player controls can be activated by clicking on them, but the controls are not exposed to VoiceOver, so you can't move there independently. However, if you can move your mouse cursor to that position, and click, you can activate the controls. If you set up VoiceOver to announce what's under the mouse as you move over the controls navigating with Mouse Keys, you can find out where the controls are and then click them. Usually, you use external clues for the position of the controls so you're not exploring randomly. Once your know where they are relative to a screen element that VoiceOver can see, you can navigate there again knowing the offsets. Hope this sketchy explanation works. On extended keyboards, the Mouse Keys are the 9 number keys of the numeric keypad, with the central "5" key acting as the current position of the mouse that can be clicked. Pressing the number keys around that position moves the mouse one screen pixel in that direction (left, right, up, down, or diagonally). So if you press the "4" key to the left of the "5", you move the mouse 1 pixel to the left. Press the "6" key and move to the right. Press the "8" key and move up, etc. On a laptop the mouse keys are where the embedded numeric keypad used to be: the keys below the "7 8 9" keys on the right side of the keyboard, with "7 8 9" on the top row corresponding to "7 8 9" on the numeric keypad, "u i o" for "4 5 6", and "j k l" for "1 2 3". So the "i" key is in the central position of the "5" key on the numeric keypad, and you click by pressing this key when Mouse Keys are turned on. You can set up turning Mouse Keys on and off with 5 presses of the Option key. Go to the Accessibility under System Preferences with Option+F5, and in the Mouse & Trackpad pane check the box for "Press the Option key five times to turn Mouse Keys off and on", then close the window with Command+W. So, route your mouse cursor to your VoiceOver cursor, turn Mouse Keys on, click, and then turn Mouse keys off. This may be set up to click with Fn+"i" on a laptop under Mountain Lion, though just pressing "i" will work in Lion. HTH. Cheers, Esther On 29 Jul 2013, at 11:06, Teresa Cochran wrote: > Clickable elements can be very tricky, depending on how the web designer has > implemented Javascript. For example, on the concertwindow.com site, There are > several elements on the front page that rarely do anything when clicked. I > find that i have to try various methods on different sites, including > VO-shift-space, turn on mouse keys and do a num-pad-5, or use the trackpad. > Sometimes just VO-space works. The nice thing about mouse keys is that they > are actual mouse clicks and are not dependent on VO. Neither is the trackpad > when trackpad commander is turned off. > > HtH, > Teresa > On Jul 29, 2013, at 1:42 PM, Maria and Joe Chapman <bubbygirl1...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> HI. try routing the mouse to the vo cursor with vo command f 5 and doing a >> vo shift space twice to double click the mouse. >> >> >> Maria and Joe Chapman >> bubbygirl1...@gmail.com >> >> >> >> On 30/07/2013, at 6:37 AM, Edward Green <ergreen1...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> Apologies if this seems like a silly question, but if Voiceover announces >>> that something is clickable on a web page, in OSX how do I click/activate >>> it? I've tried VO space as well as return, but haven't had any joy. >>> >>> Many thanks, >>> >>> Ed >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
