amen! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cara Quinn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 4:39 PM Subject: Re: potential switcher seeking personal take on the Mac
The cursor also goes between characters on Windows as well. Only the screen reader causes this to act as if it doesn't. Not trying to be annoying here, <smile> am just writing this for clarity's sake so peeps understand what's happening. The two OS's are really not acting differently here at all. Aside from the different way to forward delete characters, they behave the same with the cursor. Smiles, CQ :) On Mar 16, 2008, at 12:24 PM, Tim Kilburn wrote: >> Hi Jean-claude and Tammi, > > >> JCP: To me, the biggest thing for now is to get used to the way >> the cursor works. For instance, I don't know how to delete >> characters the way we do it in windows. IN WINDOWS, WHEN YOU PRESS >> THE DELETE KEY, IT DELETES THE CHARACTER IN FRONT OF THE CURSOR. I >> HAVE NOT FOUND HOW TO DO THIS YET ON THE MAC AND, TO BE CANDID, A >> 25 YEARS HABIT IS QUITE HARD TO BREAK. I'M HOPING SOMEONE WILL >> TELL ME HOW I CAN DO THIS BECAUSE, THE SOLE USE OF THE BACKSPACE >> KEY to delete characters behind the cursor IS DRIVING ME A LITTLE >> coucou BANANA WILD. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I'M DEFINITELY NOT READY >> TO SWITCH MY WORD PROCESSING ACTIVITIES ACROSS THE FENCE FOR NOW. > > TK: You need to think differently when using the Mac and cursors in > general. Think of the cursor position as an Insertion Point.. As > you travel right, everything that VO passes over is read. That is, > if it passes over the word "Jean-Claude", VO will read the whole > text segment and the cursor will land just after whatever it reads. > So, whether you're moving line by line, word by word or character by > cahracter, the same type of behavior exists. Conversely, if you're > moving left, a similar behavior occurs, reading the text segment > from right to left will have the cursor land just before the the > item it is reading. The cursor, or Insertion Point, lands between > characters not on them as in Windows. Hope that clears things up > for you. There is no way of changing that behavior as that is built- > in to the OS. > > Tammi said: For those who use both, what are your favorite > qualities of the Mac or of Windows vs. the Mac? > > TK: I find the Mac more stable, less prone to attacks and generally > easier to use. With VO being built-in to the OS as opposed to > bolted on, there is a consistency to how VO behaves within various > applications and there isn't a different command set to learn for > each app. >>> > • What types of tasks does the Mac excell at? > > TK: Audio stuff of course is high on its performance list. Quite a > number of visual things as well that are less useful to blind > users. It handles web-browsing well, eMail really well and > depending on your word processing and spreadsheet needs, it is > comparable. >>> > • >>> For any non-computer pros: How long did it take to learn VO well? > > TK: I'm quite experienced with computers and very experienced with > macs so I can't answer this one well. > > • what kind of bang I might get for my buck, so to speak. > > TK: In my opinion, great bang for your buck. Considering that you > can by an iMac with the built-in screen reader just over $1000, I > think that's better than purchasing a PC then JAWS on top. The Mac > also comes with some great software already pre-installed. > > Hope this helps. > > Later... > Tim Kilburn > & Carter the Canine > Fort McMurray, AB Canada > > > --- View my Online Portfolio at: http://www.onemodelplace.com/CaraQuinn
