One of my favourite arguments from blind people about using the keyboard is: many sighted people use the keyboard. It is faster than mouse / touchpad / touchscreen. This argument is actually a fallasy.
First, the sighted people I know use the keyboard and shortcut keys, rather than the mouse. This argument is predicated on the belief, and sometimes fact, that I as a blind person have impressed my sighted colleagues, and they now do the shortcut keys like I do. When true,less than 0.5% of the population does not contact, at the level of significant influence, that many other people. I have had this experience myself, where I convinced some sighted computer techs to use shortcut keys rather than clicking menubar, then option. When I checked a few months later, with these people, most of them were back to menubar click then option click. In other words, the person did not continue with the shortcut keys. Why? Because, clicking does not require remembering keystrokes. And, people who use shortcut keys for specific apps at high production levels, tend to use menubars and clicks in other aspects of computer use. Again, this is because, outside high productivity, clicking on visual aspects is easier for those who can do so. Next, touchscreen and touchbar visual access. This has been scientifically studied for many years. The fact is, error rates of end-users decrease dramatically when well-set-up touch interfaces are introduced. I researched this in 2012. At that time, standard error rates which required tech support assistance was around 15% with systems which were keyboard and button placed. However, for systems which switched to touchscreen-based, error rates and support assistance dropped to 3% to 5%. It must be noted that this was the same across every industry research study I read. In fact, I, and my research librarian, specifically searched for any study that showed the reverse. In other words, as I regularly state, I choose to stay where general market tech is headed, as much as I am able. This way, I hopefully will be less stuck when the incrimental changes lead to very different technology interfaces. Air gestures will be significantly more difficult for the blind than touchscreen, and I still suspect air gestures is where we are headed. Kind regards, David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: [email protected] Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone > On 5/11/2016, at 15:55, Tree Mabry <[email protected]> wrote: > > I ordered the 13 inch, non touch bar model, with the 2.0 processor, 256 gigs > of storage, and 16 gigs of ram. A few days ago I wrote an extensive post on > Apple Vis, about what went into this decision; I have copied and pasted some > of that post below; I’m sorry that it’s a bit long. You can read the full > post at this link. > > http://www.applevis.com/forum/hardware-accessories/why-i-just-ordered-2016-mac-book-pro-function-keys > > > > I think that the people who have expressed a desire to stay on top of the > latest trends in user interface might be especially interested in my > paragraph about Apple’s official touch bar user interface guidelines. > > First let me say that I was pretty open to the idea of the touch bar last > week as I watched the Apple event. I felt pretty confident that Apple would > make sure that this new interface worked with voice over. In the days after > the event I hungrily tried to find any information about how exactly Voice > Over accessibility would work with the touch bar. Ironically when I did come > across some specifics they both encouraged me, and at the same time helped me > decide that I have no interest in the touch bar. The best info I have found > so far about Voice Over and the touch bar comes from I accessibility, here is > a link to the relevant article. > > http://iaccessibility.net/index.php/2016/10/28/voiceover-at-the-bar/ > > The main takeaways are, you can use the number keys as function keys, there > are keystrokes for raising and lowering volume, and to interact with sliders > on the touch bar you have to double tap and hold, wait for a tone, and then > slide your finger. I think the volume keystrokes, and the number keys acting > as function keys makes a lot of sense, and I'm really glad Apple is doing > things that way. However, as soon as I realized how relieved I was about > these changes, I realized the relief was based around me being able to avoid > using the touch bar. > > Basically I do not believe that the touch bar is going to make many things > more efficient or easier for voice over users. Take the sliders I previously > mentioned. I would much rather turn down brightness by simply holding down a > key, instead of the three step process voice over users will have to navigate. > > To some up my thoughts about touch bar and accessibility, I believe the > experience will be fine, but I do not think it will be better then what we > already have. > > I know this post is getting very very long, but I want to now get into the > primary reasons I have decided to pass on the touch bar, and they have little > to do with voice over Accessibility. > > 1. I do not believe the touch bar will offer anything to power users who know > there keystrokes. > > If you are an IOS user who wants to get into the mac, the touch bar might be > a good way for you to uncover features you didn't know about. But as a long > time mac user who knows the keystrokes by heart, it doesn't seem like the > touch bar is going to do much that keystrokes can't already do. One of the > best list of touch bar features I know about comes from I more. > > http://www.imore.com/mac-touch-bar > > I have gone through this list, and almost everything in it is either doable > with keystrokes, or does not interest me. Here are a few examples of touch > bar features and the corresponding keystrokes. > > Activate Siri, hold down command space, activate dictation, hit function key > twice, new folder in the finder, shift command enter, Reply to email, command > r, compose new email, command N, send email, command shift d, new tab in > Safari command t, Etc. Etc. Etc. you get the picture. > > Now if you read the entire I more list, you might accuse me of cherrypicking > features to make my point. It's true that I'm leaving out a lot of features, > but that is because it would be tedious for me to list them here, and > rotating photos or using final cut do not matter to me. Just to be fair, the > one and only feature of the touch bar, that we do currently know about, and > does interest me is predictive typing. I have long believed that the native > mac spell checker is a joke, and I struggle with spelling, so predictive > typing on the mac could be great for me. However, that one feature is not > enough for me to want the touch bar, and there is nothing inherent about > predictive typing that necessitates a touch bar; it could easily be > accomplished through keystrokes. > > > > It’s not an accident that many of the touch bar features can be accessed > through key strokes; Apple’s’ official user interface guidelines for the > touch bar state, "Don’t expose functionality solely in the Touch Bar. Not all > devices have a Touch Bar, and people can disable app controls in the Touch > Bar if they choose. Always provide ways to perform tasks using the keyboard > or trackpad.” I know that some people feel the need to have the touch bar so > that they do not miss out and are able to stay ahead of the technology curve, > but I think these guidelines make it pretty clear that the touch bar is not > going to provide much that you can’t access without it. > > This keystroke issue is not really a voice over accessibility issue. Many > sighted power users also heavily rely on keystrokes. I spend a lot of my time > editing audio in apps like Pro tools, Amadeus pro etc. and if you don't know > your keystrokes in such apps you are not working as effectively as you could, > no matter if your eye balls work or not. Some quick googling will lead you to > lots of sighted power users who don't see the utility of the touch bar, > because they already know there keystrokes. What is more, it is much easier > to build up reliable muscle memory with real keys, when compared to slim > touch bars that have lots of dynamic elements and no tactile indicators. > > 2. Windows > > The second main reason I have no interest in the touch bar is that it will > not offer any value in windows if you run bootcamp or Fusion. I tend to use > Mac OS for almost everything, but I do keep windows around on bootcamp, and I > am hoping to use my new mac to dust off my windows skills. At best there will > be some way of using the touch bar as normal function keys in windows. We > already know that sighted people will have that option in bootcamp. > > http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/using-touch-bar-with-boot-camp-windows/ > > However, I do not think this function key touch bar will work with screen > readers, and even if it did, real function keys would be better. Of course > you could get around this with some fancy key remapping, which I am all for, > I always remap my mac keyboards, but once again the touch bar is a problem to > overcome, not a practical feature. > > 3. the price > > After we way the pros and cons of any technology we always have to come back > to the real world and consider price. All of the 2016 mac book pros are two > expensive. Apple has raised the price across the board by at least two > hundred dollars. The base model mac book pro with function keys is already > towards the top of my price range at 1500 dollars, and I would need a very > very very good reason to spend 1800 dollars for any computer, especially if > its flagship feature is one I don't want. I decided to grit my teeth and go > for the base model, but I upgraded the ram to 16 gigs, which I believe is the > best way to future proof a computer. If you wanted to get the touch bar model > with 16 gigs of ram you would pay at least 2000 dollars, and I am not about > to do that. . > > > > Those are my thoughts on the touch bar, but they are all opinions and > everyone should come to their own decision. > > >> On Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 11:21:21 AM UTC-4, Sarai Bucciarelli wrote: >> >> Sarai D. Bucciarelli www.linkedin.com/in/SaraiDBucciarelli >> >> Hi: >> Is anyone getting the new 2016 Macbook Pro? If so, which version? With, or >> without touchbar? > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. 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