Hi Marty,
On Sep 23, 2008, at 5:52 AM, Marty Rimpau wrote:
Hi, people, for those who know nothing about the mac operating system,
I wish that people wouldn't ssay vonav, when we may not know what this
means. I realyze that lists aren't necessarily tutorials, but here is
somebody who is intimidated by the terminology, and like any operating
system, it's easy to forget that we were all once beginners, but I'm
not castigating anybody specifically, but this stuff is all new to me.
Welcome to the list. I'm going to point you to Tim Kilburn's VoiceOver
web pages at:
http://homepage.mac.com/kilburns/voiceover
to supplement the guides at ICanWorkThisThing:
http://www.icanworkthisthing.com/docs/mac_with_voiceover/index.shtml
and the resources at: http://www.lioncourt.com/
Tim's very clear in his explanations when he is answering on the list,
and always starts with a description like the one under the link for
Leopard Applications that says he uses "VO-keys" or "VO" to mean that
you simultaneously press the Control and Option keys together with
other keys that are listed. The main different in the presentation
method of Tim's pages is that they are laid out more in the manner of
a tutorial with a more comprehensive and extensive discussion of each
topic. I'd describe the original guides at ICanWorkThisThing as being
quick guides that help give you lists of commands that will give you a
fast start on a number of topics. Tim's approach is to go through
each topic more comprehensively, and to discuss related commands
together. The two approaches are complementary, and should be very
helpful. I would start reading about Leopard apps, and reading about
Finder. The summary Tips and Tricks links give general information
that will help you use VoiceOver more efficiently, and the Keyboard
Shortcuts links groups shortcuts that are common to most apps and
ones that are specially useful for dialog boxes. Finally, there is a
Downloads site where you can find scripts and actions that supply
additional functions that are particularly useful for VoiceOver users,
such an Automator workflow to allow you to put files and folders (not
just applications) into the dock, TextEdit Scripts that provide
charcter count, word count, and paragraph count information, and an
AppleScript that allows you to start playing any item in your local
iTunes library at a specified time. Supplement these with some of the
excellent scripts and workflows at Greg Kearney's
web site, such as his "Move" Automator workflow to get around the
problems of "drag and drop".
I point you to Greg's VoiceOver Software Compatibily page, where you
can find evaluations of third-party software for their VoiceOver
"friendliness". The links to "VO Workflows" and "VO utilities" will
give you access to workflows and scripts. Some of these may be for
visually impaired (rather than blind) users.
Hope the helps.
HTH
Cheers,
Esther