Hi all, I notice that it is now possible to accessibly delete iPhone and iPod Touch applications from your iTunes library in the latest version of iTunes (version 9.0.1 released September 22, 2009), at least on the Mac side. What's different about this version is that you can switch the default display format used for applications from "grid view" to either "list view" or "cover flow" view. In either one of the latter two views, and perhaps most simply in list view, you can simply use the delete key to remove applications from your library. So the procedure I use to delete apps in the iTunes application is to select "Applications" in the Sources table of iTunes, switch the view mode to "List View" with shortcut keys Command-3 on a Mac (or Control-3 in Windows), then navigate to the list and press the delete key to remove applications from my iTunes library. That's the quick summary. The rest of this post gives details about some other new features that are now supported through screen reader interfaces, such as check summary information about installed app versions, updating etc. as well as a more complete summary description of the new options (for people who might want to stop reading here).
You can change the view by selecting the option from the View menu on the iTunes menu bar, by navigating to and pressing the corresponding view button in the iTunes application window, or by using the keyboard shortcuts for switching view. These are: List view -- Control-3 for Windows; Command-3 for Mac Grid view -- Control-4 for Windows; Command-4 for Mac Cover Flow view -- Control-5 for Windows; Command-5 for Mac (note: unless you have some vision or are displaying applications in iTunes for someone with vision there's probably no reason to select Cover Flow view, since it adds a visual area for each application that you'll need to navigate past in order to reach the list of applications and delete your selection). Once you have used the switched to either Context menu options also work for these entries, with support for "Get Info", "Show File Location", and "Delete" and also for their corresponding shortcut keys: Get Info -- Control-I for Windows; Command-I for Mac Show File Location -- Control-R for Windows; Command-R for Mac (this is called "Show in Finder" on the Mac) Delete -- Delete key If you can't remember the keyboard shortcuts, you can find the first two options under the FIle menu of the iTunes menu bar and the last under the Edit menu (though I think most people will try the "Delete" key automatically <smile>. The "Get Info" Summary tab pane identifies the version of the application in use and when it was purchased. Deleting works the same way as for music: there are two dialog windows, the first asking whether you are sure you want to delete the app from the iTunes library, and the second (if you indicate you do want to delete the app) asking whether you also want to move the app to the trash. You can cancel the process at either screen by pressing the "Cancel" button. (On the Mac you can also do this by pressing the Escape key; I don't know whether Windows supports this). If you use the "Show FIle Location" menu option or shortcut (Control-R or Command-R) on a selected app, a "Windows Explorer" or "Finder" window, depending on whether you are on a PC or a Mac, gets displayed with the file for an app highlighted in its current file location. Should you choose to delete an app from the iTunes table for an app, but NOT move the app to the trash, you can navigate back to this window, if you've displayed it with Control- or Command-R previous to doing the delete, and find the file with the option of moving or copying it to another location. Because of changes to accessibility interfaces of apps, I create a folder for old app versions, and store old versions of applications there. You could similarly store apps that you may not currently want on your iPhone or iPod Touch, but don't want to permanently delete. For example, before I got an iPod Touch and was able to check this for myself, someone reported that the "NumberKey Free" app from Balmuda that lets you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a numeric keypad did not have labeled buttons. As far as I know, this app was not updated, but with the OS 3.1 software update all buttons are spoken by VoiceOver and I can use this app to both enter spreadsheet information and also (under the Mac's VoiceOver support of the "NumPad Commander" feature in Leopard and Snow Leopard) customize the numeric keypad of this app for VoiceOver commands to use on my computer, even though I'm using a laptop without a numeric keypad on the keyboard. I've also heard that Sibelius laptop users have successfully used this app to work with numeric keypad shortcuts. Anyway, you might not want to permanently delete all apps that currently seem to be not fully accessible. If you save them to a separate folder, or even just keep track of the file names in question and leave them in your iTunes Mobile Applications folder you can add them back to your iTunes library at a later time with the "Add (File) to Library" menu command (Control-O for Windows; Command-O for the Mac shortcut or else find these under the "File" menu on your iTunes menu bar). Then you can update to a later (possibly more accessible) version of the app. Updating options from your computer have also improved in iTunes 9.0.1, as I mentioned in an earlier post. While pressing the "Updates available" link for applications will give you a kind of grid or icon view of your applications, as well as change your source table selection to the iTunes Store, you can now navigate to the individual apps and, in addition to individually updating them by pressing their "Get Update" button, you can now first press the links for each app from their artwork or text name and navigate to their iTunes Store page and read what update changes have been made, and what customer comments are before deciding to update. For example, if you find that the only change has been to add advertisements, you can skip this update. Use Control-Left Bracket (Windows) or Command-Left Bracket (Mac) shortcuts to navigate back to the main updates page, where you can choose another app to inspect. HTH. Maybe Windows users can fill in or amend my comments, since I don't know the screen reader specific behavior for iTunes on the Windows side. Cheers, Esther --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
