Hi Jane, If you want a configuration that will work most closely like a paired Apple Wireless Keyboard for the iPhone, then iKeyboard ($9.99 from the Mac App Store) is the one that will let you type on your computer keyboard the same way. You have to turn VoiceOver off for your computer with Command-F5 after pairing your device through Bluetooth. At that point, the keystrokes you press on the keyboard act on the iOS device, which in your case would be the iPad. Using QuickNav navigation or VO-Right arrow or Left arrow moves you through your controls, and using VO-Space or simultaneously pressing the Up and Down arrow keys will press buttons and activate links, etc. The one addition I would make to last December's discussion is a recommendation for Lion users that you disable all the shortcuts associated with the Mission Control shortcuts category in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of System Preferences > Keyboard so that all normal keyboard shortcuts for iOS devices are available to you. Otherwise, it can be puzzling when a some sequences don't work, and end up having launched Mission Control options on your Mac, when you return to it. More details about that below.
The Type2Phone app ($4.99) gives me some different functionality. I don't turn VoiceOver off to use it, but I can Command-tab to another application on my Mac, copy text to my clipboard, then paste the text I copied from that app on my Mac into a mail message, or text field of a note app on my iOS device with Command-V. With iKeyboard, the clipboards of the Mac and iOS device remain separate, at least as of the current version. I tried keyboard navigation with Type2Phone, and could do it with VoiceOver turned off, but it was less robust. (Type2Phone got started later than iKeyboard; the evidence is that iKeyboard went through similar issues before maturing. Also more language keyboards are currently supported by iKeyboard, though again that appears to reflect the earlier start, as Type2Phone has been adding more keyboards in recent versions.) There are a few other comments, and maybe Ed, Justin, or others who have iKeyboard can weigh in. At the time I reviewed these apps I was running Snow Leopard. Mission Control in Lion has some shortcut keys that conflict with the key navigation shortcuts you'd use with your iOS device. I ended up going into System Preferences > Keyboard then going to the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab and selecting the "Mission Control" in table of "Shortcut Categories". Then I unchecked all the boxes in the second table of "Keyboard Shortcuts". If I use the default setup for Lion without disabling these shortcuts, Control-Up Arrow launches Mission Control or takes me out of it, and Control-Down Arrow shows the Desktop. Pressing F10 brings up a screen of application windows. I have to ask whether any VoiceOver users in Lion use these features. It's possible to navigate through the Mission Control Exposéd windows -- unlike Exposé under Leopard and Snow Leopard -- and it's also possible to navigate through all the application windows, but still not really useful to a VO user, I think, compared to using Command-tab. So what happens is that if I don't disable these shortcuts, when I want to quickly navigate to the dock by using Control-Down Arrow or to the first element on the screen with Control-Up Arrow, nothing at all happens, and because VoiceOver on my Mac is toggled off, I can't find out what happens until I press Command-F5, since the "whoosh" sounds that indicate I've been moved to Mission Control of my Desktop don't get played. That's also true for pressing F10 to mute a playing track -- if the shortcut assignment to bring up Application Windows is not unchecked, nothing happens, and on my Mac there are now these Application windows launched. Similarly, if I have started music playing on my iPhone or iPad, pressing F12 only increases my volume if the key assignment to Dashboard is unchecked. So I just uncheck all these boxes in the table of shortcuts for "Mission Control" under my System Preferences > Keyboard window in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. If you use Command-F5 to turn on VoiceOver on your Mac, you lose the ability to navigate or type on your iOS device. You also won't be able to enter text with the virtual keyboard, as long as the Bluetooth connection with your Mac through an active iKeyboard app is maintained, unless you first press the F5 key to toggle on/off the virtual keyboard. There are a bunch of pre-defined F-key functions that resemble what's available with the iPad Keyboard Dock. You can check these out by putting your "paired" iKeyboard into VoiceOver's keyboard help mode with VO-K. (I mean Control-Option-K, here, in the usual shorthand). I'll paste in the list from the App description, and just note that if you have checked the box on the "Keyboards" tab on the "Keyboard" Menu of System Preferences for "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys", all the F-keys work directly without "FN" prefixes. If you've disabled the Mission Control keyboard shortcut definitions, then all your media function keys will work, too. F2 only affects you if you have multiple input language keyboards. Then, pressing F2 switches you to the next input keyboard, just like pressing Command-space does. Finally, I'll note that just as on the iPad Keyboard Dock, the escape key acts like a "Home" button. That means you can double click it to get to the App Switcher or triple click it to turn VoiceOver on and off. Pretty neat, since that isn't a function of the Apple Wireless Keyboard. Pasted in shortcut list of F-keys follows (without editing to remove the "FN" prefixes). ESC: Home button FN+F1 : Search button FN+F2 : Input method selection FN+F3 : Apple Logo FN+F4 : iPad slide show FN+F5 : Show/hide virtual keyboard FN+F6 : Lock button FN+F7 : Previous song FN+F8 : Play/Stop FN+F9 : Next song FN+F10: Mute FN+F11: Volume down FN+F12: Volume up Finally, I'll just mention that if you switch VoiceOver on again with Command-F5, you're placed in iKeyboard's interface, which is an extended keyboard. If you navigate with your arrow keys you'll find this is a full keyboard layout, with the "Fn" key in a six-pack of controls, and with a separate numeric keypad. The functions of the F-keys in the top row aren't announced. In fact, the set that are normally associated with a laptop keyboard are all announced as "unchecked checkbox", and unless you have hints turned on, you won't hear them as F1, F2, etc. HTH. I've spent more time playing around with Lion than trying these functions out. Cheers, Esther On Feb 26, 2012, at 12:13 PM, Jane wrote: > I read back in December about a couple of apps, iKeyboard and Type2Phone that > let you type to your iPad or iPod or iPhone using the Mac's keyboard through > bluetooth. > > I can't seem to figure out which would be best, and I don't want to spend > money if neither will do what I want. > > I want to be able to type using the keyboard. I also want to be able to > double-tap on buttons and do other bluetooth keyboard shortcuts. Will either > of these work? > > Jane <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to [email protected] You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>. 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