The following is a small tutorial on how to navigate with VO and
description of the Finder. you can press command+2, to get the view
set tot default. I do not think I wrote that information here.
Please critic. Constructive criticism is welcome.
Alfredo
Being apple, the company created a new and ingenious way for a screen
reader to read the information on the screen. Voice Over is a screen
reader by all definitions but it is different in the form it access
and navigates to information on the screen. To better understand how
VO works, you have to understand the concept of elements. Elements,
also refer to as items, are the different kinds of controls and
objects VO and sighted users can access on any given screenor window.
Elements are navigated to by pressing the VO keys in conjunction with
any single key of the arrow keys, and include but are not limited to
the following:
? Text, usually a description, label or title for another element.
? Buttons, activating these will perform an action as described by the
button?s label.
? Checkbox, similar to a light switch, can either be toggled on or
off, but not both.
? Radio button, think of this as a checkbox with multiple choices but
only 1 can be selected.
? Text Field, equivalent to the Text box found on Windows, used to
type in text.
? Pop Up Menu, equivalent to combo boxes found on Windows, used to
select 1 or more options.
? List, equivalent to list boxes found on Windows, used to select 1
option from several.
? Menu bar, includes the persistent menu bar on top of your Mac screen
and its submenus.
? Vertical Slider, is a slider that you can move right to increase or
left to decrease it.
? Table, designates that the object is arrange in a column and row
format.
? Tab, equivalent to tabs on Windows PC?s, allows for vieweing of
different tabs inside a window.
? Toolbar, gives you access to elements inside a window?s toolbar.
? HTML content, used by windows that need to display web page content,
such as web browsers.
? Scroll Area, designates an area that might have content that is not
visible to the sighted user.
? Ruler, used on word processing applications, such as text edit, to
set document features
? Group, designates a tree view structure-like area, where elements
expand from other elements.
Most elements can be ?interacted? with and some require that you
?interact? with them to gain access to them. ?interacting? with an
element, with VO+Shift+Down-Arrow, allows you to take a closer look at
that element and will give you access to functions or features of that
element which are not available when not interacting with it. To
resume normal navigation and stop interacting with an element you will
have to press, VO+Shift+Up-Arrow. All Text elements can be interacted
with so that you can read the text word by word, character by
character or phonetically. On the other hand, in order to adjust a
Vertical Slider element you have to first interact with it, then use
the VO+Left-Arrow, VO+Shift+Left-Arrow, VO+Right-Arrow or VO+Shift
+Right-Arrow to adjust it. Furthermore, elements can contain elements
inside them which can be interacted with, creating a layer structure
for interacting with elements. For example, a Table can be interacted
with, and inside it there can reside elements of the Group or Text
type which themselves can be interacted with. HTML content elements
are the areas of web browsers where the web page is display and this
element can contain many elements inside it, such as Tables, Text,
Links, Pop Up buttons, Radio buttons, etc, which can be further
interacted with. Most applicaitons such as the Safari web browser or
Finder application have you interacting with the area of the window
which it assumes you will be accessing most. For example, when Safari
opens you are automatically place inside the HTML content area of the
window. On the Finder you are automatically placed inside the Table
List view when using List view or Image Browser aList when using Icon
view since this is the element of the window you will be accessing
most often. This is a convenient feature since it prevents you from
having to interact with these frequently accessed areas everytime you
open an application.
As you might imagine being able to choose whether to interact with an
element or bypass it and go to the next element can be beneficial and
a time saver. This is because as you read before, some elements, such
as Tables, Toolbar, Ruler and HTML content elements can contain many
elements inside them which they themselves can be interacted with. It
would have quickly become a arduous and tedious chore if you had to
navigate pass all the elements inside one of these elements before
getting to your target element. For example, on the Keyboard
preferences window you have several tables each which can be populated
with many rows which you have the option to interact with or bypass
and move on to the next element. When you open a preference window
from System Preferences, such as Keyboard or Energy Saver preferences,
you will always be placed on the Toolbar element. You can opt to
interact with the Toolbar or bypass it and go straight to the next
element of the window. On a Text Edit window you can opt to interact
with the Ruler element and set document creation options on your
document or you can just bypass this element and go on to the next
element. Apple has decided that you, not the screen reader, is smart
enough and should determine whether or not you want to view an element
in depth.
To completely understand VO you should keep in mind that VO navigates
a window or screen the same way you would read a book. We will use
the concept of lines to understand how a window is composed. You can
think of a windows lines as the lines of a paper or the various lines
that are created when you are writing a document on such applications
as Microsoft Word or Text Edit. Each window is compose of many lines
and each line can either have none, 1, or more elements . To
understand how VO navigates, just remember ?left to right, up to
down?. By this I mean that it reads its starting from the upper left
corner of the screen to the right, continuing to the line below, again
starting on the left most section of that line and going right to the
end of that line. This continues on until the VO cursor arrives at
the last element, usually situated at the bottom of the window. You
are not constricted to navigate in a strict left to right, top to
bottom method, however understanding this method will help you best
understand how VO navigates the screen. You are able to move to the
next, previous, immediate top or immediate bottom elements using the
VO keys in conjunction with the arrow keys. You should also know that
the contents of some elements can be access and navigated using just
the arrow keys without the need to interact or use the VO keys.
When interacting with an element you should be aware that an element
can be compose of one or more lines which VO reads using its left to
right , top to bottom method, starting with the first line of that
element. This is especially true for elements such as Tables and HTML
contents. For example, the List View Table element of a Finder window
might be consider to be on the third line of that window and therefor
you are consider to be on the third line of the Finder window. If you
interact with the List View Table you will be typically placed on the
first line and be consider to be on the first line of that element.
VO wil then be able to navigate in its left to right, top to bottom
method starting from the first line of this element you are
interacting with. Note, that if you had previously navigated or
interacted with the List View Table the focus will be on the line
which you were previously on.
Understanding that there can be various lines inside elements will
help you comprehend why a window appears to be composed of so few
lines, even though it might be compose of many lines. For example,
the Finder window appears to have only 4 lines, with a total of 10
main elements. There are however, several elements, particularly the
Sidebar Table and List View Table that themselves can contain many
lines. If you add all the lines of the Finder window with those of
the List View Table or Sidebar Table you will find out that the Finder
window is compose of many lines not just a few. We will describe and
use the Finder as an example to better understand how VO navigates
your Mac.
You can think of the Finder as the mac?s version of the Windows
explorer. It functions and looks similar to the windows explorer
found on Windows machines. The Finder application is started
automatically when your Mac starts, is always running in the
background and is the tool which is use to access, manage and organize
your folders and files. Files can be anything from mp3?s, documents,
and applications. Folders are the containers which are used to hold
and organize your files. You are able to have folders and files
inside other folders to better organize and manage your files. You
can think of the Finder as a file cabinet which you are able to
customize at will by creating, moving and deleting your Mac?s folders
and files.
The Finder window is layed out similarly to the Windows XP, Vista, or
7 explorer window you are accustomed to. When opening a Finder
window, it will appear below the Menu Bar as do most windows in the
Mac OS. The menu bar changes to include the following menus, in order
from left to right, starting after the apple menu:
? Finder, which include about Finder, preferences, empty trash,
services and hide Finder.
? File, which include, new Folder, print, close window, move to trash,
find, and label.
? Edit, which includes undo, redo, cut, copy, paste, select all and
show clipboard.
? View, which includes as icons, as column, arranges by, show task bar
and show view options.
? Go, which includes back, forward, desktop, documents, utilities and
go to folder.
? Window, which includes minimize, zoom and a list of currently opened
Finder windows.
? Help, which includes search and Mac help.
The Finder window appears below the menu bar, as do most Mac OS
windows. On the top most area of the Finder window there is a bar
that spans across the window. This top bar includes the following,
starting with the Close button on the left side, from left to right:
? Close button, activating this will close the window.
? Minimize button, activating this will hide the window from view.
? Zoom button, will command the window to take up all the screen real
state when opened.
? Title Text element, serves as the title for the Finder window.
? Toolbar button, toggles the view of the Toolbar on or off.
The Title Text element is situated on the middle section of this bar
and serves as the name of the folder which has the focus of the Finder
and is open. When you open a Finder window, the folder name displayed
is usually the name of the folder which was last opened. If a Finder
window has never been opened before the current user?s home folder,
which has the name of the user account, will be the folder that is
opened. For example, my computer?s user name is Alfredo, therefore
the name that appears on the middle of the top most bars is Alfredo.
If I had the ?Documents? folder as the focus of the Finder and opened,
then ?Documents? would appear on the middle of the top most bar of the
Finder window. On the right corner of the top bar the tool bar button
is located. Below the top most bars is where the Finder?s tool bar is
located. The tool bar is set to show by default and this setting can
be changed by pressing the Toolbar button. The toolbar spans across
the window below the top most bar of the Finder window. The Finder?s
Toolbar is consider the second line of the window. If you interact
with the tool bar you will get the following elements, starting from
left to right:
? Back Group, interacting with it will show the back and forward
buttons, used to navigate folders.
? View Radio Group, interacting with this will allow you to change
between different folder views.
? Quick look, will allow you to preview a file that you have selected
in the sidebar or browser.
? Action menu button, will allow you to perform a host of task on a
file or folder.
? Search Text field, used to perform file and folder searches.
Below the tool bar we have the tree view to the left with the folder
list view to the right, separated by a vertical line. Note if you are
using Icon view, you will have the Image Browser List instead of the
List View Table. Both the Sidebar and List View are table elements,
and thus you will be able to navigate it and get feedback akin to when
you navigate other table elements. For example, when you are
interacting and navigateing either the Sidebar or List View, VO will
announce on what row and column, you are focus on. In the Sidebar you
will have the typical drives and folders you would find on the Tree
View of a Windows computer, from top to bottom, such as:
? Devices, which include your hard drive, your iDisk drive, and other
storage devices.
? Places, which include your Desktop, user account, Applications and
Documents folders.
? Search For, which is used to search for files and folders by type
or date.
The List view functions and looks similar to the Folder List View of
Window computers. It reflects the folder which is open on the sidebar
and You are able to view and browse your Mac?s files and folders
here. The side bar and the List View are separated by a vertical
line, which voice over describes as a, ?vertical splitter?. At the
bottom of the window we have a Text element which gives information
similar to what a status bar from Windows PC?s would bive. , This
last bar expands horizontally across the screen. It gives you such
information as how many items are in the selected folder and the
amount of hard disk space available in your Mac.
When you open a Finder window for the first time or a new instance of
it, the List View section of the window will have the focus and the
current user account Home Directory should be opened. Again, if you
are using Icon view the focus will be on the Image Browser List
instead of the List View Table. The Home Directory is a folder that
is created for each user account on your Mac. The label given to the
Home Directory will be the name given to the user account. For
example, my Mac?s user account is ?Alfredo?, therefor the label given
to my Home Directory folder is Alfredo. This folder has the following
subfolders:
? Desktop, where your desktop files and folders can be found.
? Documents, where most of your document files can be found.
? Downloads, holds all files and folders you download from the
internet.
? Library, where most of your Mac?s preferences files would be store.
? Movies, where your movie files would be stored.
? Music, where your music files would be store.
? Pictures, where your pictures files would be stored.
? Public, any folder inside this folder can be shared with other PC
and Mac computers.
? Sites, a folder used to store web pages and related content for web
sharing.
The Finder is also able to remember where the focus was on when
resuming work after enabling sleep mode or if the window focus was
drawn away from it. For example, if I left the focus on the Sidebar
section of the Finder, then open Safari, when I would place the focus
back on the Finder window, the focus would be back on the Sidebar.
There are 4 different types of views that you can set the Finder to.
A view is a particular way the Finder application will display your
Mac?s files and folders. A Finder?s view also affect what options are
available to VO and how it is able to navigate folders and files. The
4 types of views are:
? As Icons, displays folders and files as graphical icons which the
sighted can preview.
? As List, displays Finder contents in a Tree View.
? As Column, displays contets in a hierarchy where each folder is on
its own column.
? As Cover Flow, shows contents as Icons on the top, and a preview of
it on the bottom.
Because of its visual appeal, by default Mac come preconfigured with
Icon view as their default view. Although a VO user can navigate
folders and files using Icon view, it is not as intuitive as with
either view List or Column view. Cover Flow view is basically Icon
view with the added bonus that the List View Table section of the
Finder window, is split in half to accommodate a regular Icon view
section on top and a preview of the file on the bottom. Between List
and Column view, List view is better because Column view does not tell
you what level, or how far down the folder hierarchy you are at when
navigating folders and files. Although some may not mind this little
inconvenience, it becomes an issue when creating subfolders inside
other folders. Because you are not told what level or how far down
the folder hierarchy you are and cannot see it, you might mistakenly
create a folder in your Home directory when you meant to create a
folder inside your Documents folder. List view also gives you more
information about the folder or file when you are navigating in the
Finder. It gives you such information as, when the folder or file was
created, its file size, and the type of file it is. A file Type
usually lets you know to which application that file belongs to or
what type of file it is. Examples of file Types include:
? Text, basic text file used by most word processing programs such as
Text Edit.
? Word Document, a text file formatted by MS Word.
? Portable Network Graphic, a picture file.
? MP3, a music file that is usually unprotected and can be played by
iTunes.
? HTML, a file that is usually viewed with a web browser.
It is my recommendation, because of the added information and
announcements of levels as you are navigating through the folder
hierarchy that List view be used. At first the extra information
provided by List view might feel overwhelming and sometimes too much
information, you will later be glad this is the type of view you
learned first, since in the long run it will make you more efficient
and productive while using your mac.
Continuing with or understanding of how VO access and navigates on
your Mac you should keep the following in mind. You can only navigate
from one element to another using the VO keys in conjunction with the
arrow keys. If you use the arrow keys by themselves, under normal
circumstances, you will not move to the next element. Also note that
some elements, especially Tables, do not have to be interacted with to
be able to navigate there contents. To navigate the contents of these
elements you have to do the following:
? The VO cursor should be focus on the element.
? Use the arrow keys without the VO keys to navigate inside them.
Such tables include the List View Table and Sidebar Table.
Although you are able to use any of the arrow keys, left, right, up,
down in conjunction with the VO keys to navigate around your Mac, it
is recommended that all those that are new to the Mac should initially
only use the VO+Left-Arrow and VO+Right-Arrow for navigation. You use
VO+Left-Arrow to navigate to the previous and VO+Right-Arrow to
navigate to the next element. This will help you better understand
how VO reads and navigates your Mac. Once you become experience you
will be able to implement VO+Up-Arrow to navigate to the element above
and VO+Down-Arrow to navigate to the element below with a full and
clear understanding of how VO navigates around your Mac.
Keeping in mind that the Menu bar is a persistent menu that is always
on top of the screen and that an application window will always appear
below it, you should note that in most windows the top most bar is
consider the first line of the window. On the top most bar, as you
have read, starting with the Close button on the left most side of the
bar, you will find the following elements, from left to right, the
Close button, Minimize button, Zoom button, title Text element of the
window and Toolbar button. Below this top bar and on the second line
of the window, you will find the window?s Toolbar element. Note that
if you interact with the Toolbar element you will have access to more
elements which themselves can be interacted with. Also be aware that
all the elements except for the Action Menu Button inside the Toolbar
are consider to be in a single line. This is important to note since
this means that if you are on the Back group inside the Toolbar and
want to go to the next element, View Radio Group, you will have to
press VO+Right-Arrow. Pressing the combination VO+Down-Arrow will do
nothing when you are on the Back group.
Below the Toolbar and to the left side of the Window you will find the
Sidebar Table element. Below the Toolbar and to the right, if your
view is set to List view, you will find the List View Table. If you
are using Icon view you will have the Image Browser List instead of
the List View Table. Note, again, that these tables can be interacted
with to gain access to elements inside them, which themselves can be
interacted with. Between these 2 tables you will find a vertical
splitter element you are able to interact with and adjust the size of
the Table elements. The Sidebar Table, Vertical Splitter and the List
View Table are consider to be on the same line of the window. Be
aware, that if you interact with either the Sidebar or List View Table
you will be on one of the lines of that element and be able to use VO
to navigate that element in a left to right, top to bottom method.
Below these 2 tables you will find the last bar of the window. This
last bar is consider the last line of the window and is of the Text
element type.
As we progress through his lesson we will navigate using the VO keys
in conjunction with the Up and Down arrow keys. You will notice that
this method is more complicated as you have to learn where each
element on the screen is at since it is not always clear which element
is immediately to the top or bottom of the element you are moving
from. For example, the top line of the window has 5 elements and the
line below it, has one element. You would think it is logical that
you will be able to move from any of the elements on the top line to
the single element on the 2nd line, but this is not so. If you press
VO+Down-Arrow when on the Close button on the first line of the
window, you will end up on the Toolbar element on the 2nd line of the
window. However, if you are on the Minimize, Zoom or Toolbar button
you will only get a sound indicating that the combination keystroke
you are pressing is not permitted and the VO cursor will not move. If
you Press VO-Down-Arrow while on the title Text element of the first
line of the window you will end up on the List View Table. However as
you get more familiar with various windows on your mac you might find
it useful that while you are on the List View Table you are able to
press VO+Up-Arrow to move to the title Text element of the widnow. Or
you can use VO+Down-Arrow to quickly move to the status bar and see
how much disk space you have left on your hard drive. If you can
remember that VO navigates a window in a left to right, top to bottom
method, similar to how you read braille or printed material in real
life you should get the hang of it.
*
1. VO-D, to go to the dock.
2. ?f? key, to use quick key navigation and quickly navigate to the
Finder icon on the dock.
3. Spacebar, to open an instance of a Finder window.
? You should be focus on the List View Table of your home directory.
? You will hear, ?List View Table, no selection?, since there is no
currently selected item.
? If you press the Arrow keys you will be able to navigate your folder
hierarchy.
? You are automatically interacting and inside this Table element when
the Finder is opened.
4. Command-Shift-h, to make sure that the focus of the Finder is your
Home directory.
5. Down-Arrow, to go to the first folder of your Home directory,
Desktop.
? You will hear, ?Desktop?, then the date it was modified, and
?folder, row 1 of 9, collapse?.
? ?Folder?, lets you know this file is a folder.
? ?Row 1 of 9?, lets you know that you are on the first row of a total
of 9 rows.
? ?Collapse?, lets you know that this folder is closed.
6. Down-Arrow, slowly, about 8 times, to navigate to your Sites folder
inside your Home Directory.
? You cannot go beyond your Sites folder, a sound will not indicate
this.
7. VO-Left-Arrow, to move to the Vertical Splitter element of the
Finder Window.
? Interacting with the Splitter will allow for the size adjustments of
the Finder?s Tables.
8. VO-Right-Arrow, to go back tot he Sites folder in the List View
Table.
? Notice, your focus was placed back on the folder you were previously
focus in.
9. VO-Left-Arrow, about 8 times, until you arrive at the window?s
Close button.
? Note, you are consider to be on the first line of the window.
? Pressing VO-Right-Arrow should move you to the next element of this
window.
? Also note that he next element is also on the first line of the
window.
10. VO-Right-Arrow, once, to navigate to the next element of this
window.
? Although not apparent, you are using a left to right, top to bottom
method of navigation.
11. VO-Right-Arrow, to navigate to the next element of the window.
? You are consider to be on the first line of the window.
? VO-Right-Arrow, to land on the third element of the window, the Zoom
button.
? You are still on the first line of the window.
? VO-Right-Arrow, to land on the 4th element, a Text element.
? You will hear the title given to your Home Directory.
? You are still on the first line of the window.
12. VO-Shift-n, to read the VO hint for the element under the VO
cursor.
? This will give you the VO hint for the Text element that you are
focused on.
? You will hear, ?you are currently on a text element?.
13. VO-Right-Arrow, to go to the Toolbar button, which is element
number 5 of the window.
? You are now on the last element of the first line of the window.
14. VO-Right-Arrow, to go to the 6th element of the window, Toolbar.
? This element is consider to be on the second line of the window.
? Notice, you use the left to right, top to bottom method of
navigation.
? This is because you went from the last element of the 1st line, to
the first of the 2nd line.
15. VO-Right-Arrow, to go to the 7th element of the window, Sidebar
Table.
? Note you used the left to right, top to bottom method of navigation
again.
? This is because you went from the only element of the 2nd line to
the 1st of the 3rd line.
? You are on the first element of the third line.
? Interacting with this element will place you on the first line of
this element.
16. VO-Right-Arrow, to go to the 8th element of the Finder window, the
Vertical Splitter.
? You are on the second element of the third line of the window.
17. Vo-Right-Arrow, to navigate to the 9th element of the window,
Table List View.
? You are on the last element of the third line of the window.
? This element is located to the far right of the third line.
? Interacting with this element will place you on the element you were
previously on, Sites.
18. VO-Right-Arrow, to navigate to the 10th and last element of this
window, a Text element.
? This element is consider to be on the 4th and last line of this
window.
? You cannot go beyond this element, a sound will indicate this.
? This Text element gives status information of the current folder and
free disk space.
?
19. VO-Up-Arrow, to quickly navigate to the List View Table.
? Note, you could have performed VO-Right-Arrow, and get the same
results.
? You should still have the Sites folder as your selection.
20. VO-Up-Arrow, to quickly go to the title Text element of the Finder
window.
? You should hear the name given to your Home Directory.
? Notice that you bypassed the Sidebar, Toolbar and Toolbar button
elements.
21. VO-Left-Arrow, to move to the element to the left of the title
Text element, the Zoom button.
22. VO-Down-Arrow, to attempt to navigate to the Toolbar element
below.
? A sound will alert you that you cannot perform this action and the
VO cursor will not move.
? This is why you should rarely use the VO keys in conjunction with
the up and down arrows.
23. VO-Left-Arrow, 2 times, to get to the 1st element of the 1st line
of this window, the Close button.
24. VO-Down-Arrow, to move to the only element below the 1st line ,
Toolbar.
? Notice that you were able to navigate to this element from the Close
but not the Minimize.
25. Vo-Down-Arrow, to move to the 1st element of the 3rd line of the
window, Sidebar.
? You can easily navigate from the Sidebar Table to the close button
to quickly close the window.
26. VO-Down-Arrow, to attempt to move to the last and only line on the
bottom of the window.
? A sound will alert you that you cannot perform this action and the
VO cursor will not move.
27. Table.
28. Command-W, to close the Finder window and return tot he window you
were previously in.
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