Thanks to those who said they have agreed with what I have said.
I do want to say to clarify. I in no way shape or form will talk down
anyone who wishes to use windows over the mac. Or linux over the mac.
or linux over windows or so on and so forth.
I am not one of these mac or windows or linux only computer peoplle.
I have used all three now. And I can say of a truth each one has its
benefits. And one machine OS may work better for one person than
another will.
Or perhaps even a person might have two or three machines to do what
they feel needs to be done.
That is their choice.
I have found all I personally need for personal use in the mac so it
fits my needs just fine. I have finally found my home computer of
choice.
Now in the work place if I end up sitting in front of a machine it
would most likely be windows with a windows screen reader. I can live
with that at work.
But when I am on my own time. In my home or out and about. The mac
has become my computer of choice.
Take care all.
I am extremey tired. Had a busy week thus far. And finally can breathe
some. So I am going to relax.
Jessica
On Jan 14, 2009, at 11:27 AM, M AUSTEN wrote:
Hi Jessica
I listened to your piece with interest.
I have to say I agree with you on all points on accessibility and
usability. In fact well said.
Good luck with the job search.
Mark
--- On Wed, 14/1/09, Jessica L. Arnold <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Jessica L. Arnold <[email protected]>
Subject: access and use
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS X by the blind" <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, 14 January, 2009, 3:43 PM
okay. I just want to say to the person who said they though
usability was the word that was being looked for.
I just want to say that I agree with them and that is what
I was trying to say anyway.
A lot of people confuse accessibility with usability up.
And call usability accessibility. And although there are
similarties they are not the same.
An accessible applicaiton for example is an app that you
can access. YOu can use in some way shape or form. It may
not be friendly it may not be as nice as you would like it
butyoou can use it. With cursors and such and even mouse
clicks
And inaccessible applicaiton is one that for whatever
reason programming or other thing that makes the application
totally unusable you cannot access it in any way shape or
form no matter how hard you try.
Maybe it is just me. And yes I could be picking at things
here.
But one thing I have noticed in the blind communit that
really is beginning to bother me is this quesiton all the
time is something accessible.
When really what they are asking is can I use this
applicaiton.
I have ran into more applications that are
accessible/usable than I have run into applications that are
inaccessible. And don't challenge me on that please. I
could not name off to you all the applicaitons I have used
over the years. First there are too many and second I
wouldn't be able to remember them all anyway.
Even the dashboard on the mac is accessible an? d some
wigets that come with it. Now is it nice? No. It is not. Or
at least I haven't found it to be. But is it accessible?
Yes it is accessible.
I spent the last two days taking skills based testing to
see what jobs would fit me better.
And there was this app they used yesterday called career
scope.
Technically was that application accessible? To the sighted
perso with the muse. First it was accessible second in my
opinion it was way way over simplified.
But then I am classified as having a high iq anyway so
anything over simplified relaly annoys me.
But anyway.
They had it set up for me. the like and dislike test went
fine. But after that an hour was spent trying to figure out
why on earth what they set up for me wouldn't work
I tried to explain to them they could describe the patterns
to me and I could pick the irght one. But one the test was
timed. Two I don't think they wanted to take that time
to do that.
The other thing was the program sounded like it was totally
mouse driven and color specific. It was called career scope.
So what ended up happening is we passed the computer
program. And they tested me from papers instead. Which
should have been done anyway.
Either way though they read to me I answered the questions.
I put up with it because I do need and want to work.
But to be quite honest I am not happy with the results. All
the likes point to nature based jobs. Jobs with plants and
animals that to be honest I don't know if I could do
those as a blind person. It doesn't matter how much I
like to learn about animals and such. I am blind. And it is
unlikely I would ever be a vet or stuff.
So I am not very encouraged by the tests. And now I have to
wait till my counselor talks with me and such before some
decisions are made as to where we go from here.
Anyway I will say agian accessible and usability if you
prefer is in the eye of the beholder.
The only way any of us are going to find out if something
is or is not accessible and/or usable is if we can have
hands on use of that particular applicaiton or tool or
machine or whatever.
Thank you..
Jessica
