On Nov 10, 2008, at 3:07 AM, Dj Paddy wrote:
This is a very comprehensive and useful post.
I'm filing this and will begin going through it at home as I am in
the Universitys library at the mometn.
I've had a quick look at the I Can Work this thing link you
provided. This looks extremely useful and I can't thank you and all
the rest of you guys enough.
I've quite an extensive stack of resources now to get on with. I
must admit so far with basic navigation I seem to be doing quite well.
Two quick questions.
1. How do I install an application?
The quick answer is that you usually just move or copy the app to the
Applications folder and you unistall by moving said app to the Trash.
Occasionally there will be an installer if the application involves
other system-wide applications like adding a plug-in to Safari. In
those cases the app will come with an uninstaller. In most cases now
you'll get a disk image (.dmg) file that will mount as though it is a
disk with the application bundle (that you move) and documentation.
If the instructions say drag and drop the app to somewhere or other,
just ignore and do the copy -- all the drag and drop does is
automatically copy to the Applications folder. When you're done,
eject the disk image from the sidebar in Finder (select it and use
Command-E). Then you can delete the .dmg file.
2. How can I red the current time?
You can check the status of both time and battery by going to the
status menu bar (VO-M twice then left arrow to clock and battery). I
assume you have your clock set to announce the time (on the quarter,
half hour or hour). If not, arrow down in the clock menu to "Open
Date & Time" and return. VO-right to the "Clock" tab and press (VO-
space) to select it. VO-right to the checkbox for "Announce the time"
and select the interval from the popup button (VO-space and arrow up
or down to your choice then return). You can also customize a voice
for this. Command-W to close the window.
Alternatively, you can download an AppleScript to say the date or time
and assign it to a key using an application like Spark. Find it via
the link to Greg Kearney's VoiceOver compatibility list. For the
AppleScript, try Travis Siegel's saytime, which you can also find at
the compativility list by typing in Softcon to get to his web page.
You might be interested in the Softcon PDF Reader anyway, which is
basically an early version of Preview modified to read PDF files
continuously so you don't have to command-right arrow at the end of
each page.
HTH.
Cheers,
Esther
Thanks very much Ester, Alex, Erik, Dave, Mitch for ll your help.
I have been showing my Mac to some of my classmates and also my P A
today. One actually said, "It's very futuristic----- Original
Message ----- looking", another actually said, "It looks a thing of
beauty".
Several have commented on how thing it is and lite-weight
considering the hardware I have in my MB Pro.
Oh yes and a third question. How can i check battery status?
Thanks again foks. I cant' wait to get out of my Systems
Engineering/Requirements class and dull Advanced Database Systems
this afternoon to go home and play!
Barry
From: "Esther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS
X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 9:42 PM
Subject: Re: Finally here
Hi,
I'll try to fill in where I can make some additions to what's
already been mentioned.
On Nov 7, 2008, at 11:16 AM, Dj Paddy wrote:
a self confessed geek! I've used all the Windows OS's bar Vista.
I am looking forward to installing Vmware Fusion and getting
Linux up and running on here.
If you have some Unix/Linux background, you might be interested in
reading: "Top Ten Mac OS X Hints for Unix Geeks":
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/10/22/macforunix.html
This old (but updated) web page gives information on items like
running terminal commands, shells, and system directory structure.
5. Podcasting.
What application is people using for this? I've noticed Podcast
Catcher in Utilitys but again it's asking me for a password along
side my username?
The easiest application to use for subscribing to and downloading
podcasts is iTunes (assuming you mean listening to podcasts rather
than producing them). The podcasts section of the iTunes Store is
probably the most comprehensive single location for finding
podcasts, and iTunes lets you set options for subscribing,
downloading, and managing podcasts in automated fashion or
manually. You don't need an account at the iTunes Store to
subscribe to podcasts. You can do a simple search for podcasts
within iTunes by selecting the iTunes Store in the Sources Table
and entering the name of the podcast followed by a carriage return
in the Search Text Field, then you can move to the search results
in the iTunes Store and optionally sample or play podcast
episodes, read episode descriptions. download specific episodes,
or subscribe to a podcast.
You can also subscribe to podcasts by supplying a URL for the
podcast feed, as with other podcatcher programs. This is a way to
use iTunes for podcasts that don't have entries at the iTunes
Store -- like ACB radio's Main Menu. Use the "Subscribe to
Podcast" option in the Advanced Menu on the iTunes menu bar (VO-M
and press "A" to navigate to the Advanced menu and arrow down to
"Subscribe to Podcast" and return) and type in the URL of the
feed, then press return. If you have been using another
podcatcher, you can import the OPML file into iTunes using the
File menu.
Downloaded episodes will appear in the Podcasts section of your
iTunes Library, organized in folders by podcast name. To access
these, select "Podcasts" in the Sources Table, then navigate to
the Songs Table to find your episodes. You'll need to expand a
folder (VO- backslash, where backslash is the rightmost key below
the delete key and above the return key on US keyboards, acts as a
toggle to expand or collapse folders here or in Finder) to view
the podcasts. The number of new (unplayed) podcasts is reported
after you hear "Podcasts" in the Sources Table, so you are alerted
to new downloads. New episodes are also flagged in the first
(status) column in the Songs Table for podcasts and their folders.
You can automate management of your podcasts by using the two
buttons reached by VO-right past the Songs Table for podcasts: the
first will let you change your subscription status (Subscribe or
Unsubscribe) to your selection in the Songs Table, the second will
let you specify your settings for having iTunes check for new
podcasts episodes -- how frequently (hourly, daily, weekly,
manually), what to do when new episodes are available (download all
episodes on feed [can be enormous on some feeds] or latest
episode), which episodes to keep (all, all unplayed, most recent 2,
3, 5, 10, etc., manually manage). You can also customize your
preferences by podcast subscription and use even more options from
the contextual menu in the Songs Table to exempt specific episodes
from the automatic management rules (e.g. "Do not auto delete" --
which is automatically set for any episode you manually download).
There's also a refresh button (VO-right past the one for
"Settings") that will let you manually update your check of all
the podcast feeds at any time.
Podcasts that you subscribe to through iTunes will automatically
"bookmark" so that their last played positions are remembered if
you stop in the middle. If you use an iPod and sync contents your
latest played position will transfer between devices, for
continuous listening of podcasts and audiobooks.
Although simple searches will let you sample the latest episode and
subscribe to podcasts without interacting with the HTML area of the
iTunes Store, navigating into HTML area lets you access a page for
each podcast that gives a complete list of all currently available
episodes (that you can individually sample or download without
necessarily subscribing to the series), navigate links to the
corresponding web page for the podcast, and view what other
podcasts subscribers to this podcast listen to.
There is also a Power Search link at the iTunes Store that you can
use to search for podcasts by title, author, description,
category, and language. So, for example, if you do a simple search
by selecting "iTunes Store" in your Source Table, then navigating
to the Search Text field and typing "Screenless Switchers" without
quotation marks, then pressing return, you can VO-right to the
Songs Table and interact, and find the single entry (for the
latest episode) and sample it by pressing return. You can also VO-
right to the column where you hear "Free" and route your mouse
cursor to your VoiceOver cursor (if you don't have your Mouse
Cursor set to track your VoiceOver cursor), and press (VO-space)
to subscribe. However, if you had interacted with the iTunes
Store HTML area just before your VO- right to the Songs Table, you
could have subscribed by pressing (VO- space) the "subscribe"
button (without cursor routing) or you could have chosen the link
to either the Screenless Switchers podcast or its artwork and
pressed it (VO-space) to go to its podcast page. The podcast page
includes a full description of the podcast series and a subscribe
button, along with links to the website, and a list of "Listeners
also subscribed to" links to other podcasts. Moreover, if you stop
interacting and VO-right to corresponding Songs Table, you'll get
a list of all available episodes with release date and episode
description. If you VO-right to where you hear "free" you can
download individual episodes. If you stop interacting and VO-left
back to the iTunes Store HTML area and interact there, you can
navigate back (Command-left bracket) just as you do for web
pages. You can also select the "Power Search" link on that page
and press "VO- space" it. This will allow you to set popup buttons
for store categories (e.g."Music" or "Podcasts" and enter search
terms under title, author, description, etc.). Another item of
note is the "iTunes U" category. These are podcasts released by
Universities, Libraries, radio stations with special educations
programs, etc.
9 Further learning.
Any recommended resources other than the Voice Over Daisy manual
for teaching myself?
Erik and others have already mentioned some resources. There's
also Tim Kilburn's VoiceOver web pages:
http://homepage.mac.com/kilburns/voiceover/
and Greg Kearney's VoiceOver Compatibility pages for checking
accessibility of software:
http://w3.wmcnet.org/vo/
Greg also has links to some useful workflows and utilities at that
page, and he's put over some of his Daisy books and documentation
at the Curtin University pages:
http://www.cucat.org/books.php
There are various items at the projects page, such as links to
eSpeak for the Mac, and the Olearia Daisy player at:
http://www.cucat.org/projects.php
Also, try the guides at I can work this thing:
http://www.icanworkthisthing.com/docs/mac_with_voiceover/
Personally, I use the search facitilies at the Mail Archives for
this list a lot:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
Some of the search features are summarized in the archived post
listed below, which I got to by using the above link, pressing tab
to go to the search field, and typing:
from:"Esther" erik searching tips
to give you an idea of how it's done.
See:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg36943.html
With regard to Mobile Me, Erik's remarked:
Hi man, I thought .mac/mobile me was a subscription service? The
reason I didn't sign up was because I thought the screen said it
was going to be over $100 per year.
You can get a 1 year subscription through Amazon for $79, I
think. But in any case it's possible to get a free 60-day trial
although the signup web site may still not be accessible so that
you have to call Apple support. One reason people do this is to
use iChat, which requires either a .Mac/Mobile Me account or and
AOL account. After the trial period the login name should still
work for iChat, unless things have changed.
Thanks heeps for any and all answers, I knwo this is a lot but I'm
pressed for time as I was meant to have had this system 7 weeks
ago, (granted it means I got the new Mac Pro now), but I need to
get up to speed here as quickly as possible for final year
projects.
Dj Paddy
HTH
Cheers,
Esther
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