Hi Eric, If you want something close to your iPhone experience, you can use the TrackPad Commander gestures to navigate. You'll find this is particularly efficient in moving through items like tables where you would otherwise have to press multi-key shortcuts to interact. Here's the equivalent instructions to the ones that Colin gave for navigating through the VoiceOver Utility menu to turn on Keyboard Commanders performed with TrackPad Commander gestures. I'll note that you do not have to check the box for "Allow VoiceOver to be controlled with AppleScript" under the "General" menu of VoiceOver Utility in order to have the time spoken if you use the default Keyboard Commanders time definition, so I'll skip this step in my instructions. However, if you want to customize your own AppleScripts for the way time is spoken, or for other commands that you add to the Keyboard Commander, you will need to check this option.
I think TrackPad Commander is turned on by default for the MacBook Air. At least, it was turned on for the MacBook Air that I set up for someone. You can turn TrackPad Commander on and off either by pressing the VO-keys (Control and Option) while making a clockwise rotor gesture with two fingers on the TrackPad or by checking the box to "Enable TrackPad Commander" in the Commanders menu of VoiceOver Utility (VO-F8). VO+clockwise two finger rotor gesture on the TrackPad turns TrackPad Commander on, while VO+counterclockwise two finger rotor gesture on the TrackPad turns TrackPad Commander off. 1. Press VO-F8 to bring up VoiceOver Utility. (I assume that you have your keyboard options set so that you don't have to press the "Fn" key together with the F8 key to bring up VoiceOver Utility. If not, go to the "Keyboard" menu of System Preferences (Control-F2 or VO-M to the Apple menu bar, arrow down and press "s y" to go to the "System Preferences" options and press Return, then navigate to the "Keyboard" menu and select with VO-Space.) On the "Keyboard" tab, make sure that you've checked (with VO-Space) the check box for "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" . These commands are all given as standard VoiceOver sequences, though you can also use TrackPad commander gestures to navigate and select, as I'll demonstrate in the following instructions.) 2. Press "c" to go to "Commanders", then do a series of one finger flicks right on the trackpad to move to the "Keyboard" tab and double tap to select. 3. Flick right once to the "Enable Keyboard Commander" check box, and double tap to select. 4. Flick right to read the radio button options for selecting either the Right or Left Option key to use as the modifier key for Keyboard Commander shortcuts and double tap to make your selection 5. Flick right to the table of default Keyboard Commander shortcut definitions and interact with the table by doing a two finger swipe to the right on the trackpad. 6. Flick right to read the table entries. You can change the action associated with a keyboard key (such as "t" for running the AppleScript script "TimeofDay") command by double tapping the command menu button, which brings up a menu of various other commands you could assign to this key. Flick up and down the categories, and flick right to move into submenus for a category, where you can also flick up and down for options, or flick left to go back up to the menu category. Double tap to select a new assignment. The two finger scrub gesture on the trackpad will get you out of the menu (or you can press the "escape" key). 7. Do a two finger swipe left on the trackpad to stop interacting with the table. 8. Command-W to the close the window and exit VoiceOver Utility. Just as with the iPhone and Bluetooth Keyboard support, you can use a combination of gestures and keyboard commands for the same actions. For example, if I have Quick Nav turned on, I can move to the next element by tapping my right arrow key as well as by flicking. I can "Read All" with either VO-A or a two finger flick up (or down, if it's read all from the current position) on the Trackpad. You can interrupt VoiceOver speaking either by pressing the Control key or with the two finger tap on the Trackpad, and resume with either the key press (Control) or the gesture (two finger tap on the Trackpad). I don't usually give the instructions this way, since the standard VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts are universal, and desktop Macs or older laptops (such as my own 13" MacBook) require the Magic TrackPad and Snow Leopard to use the TrackPac gestures, while the standard shortcuts work for all versions of VoiceOver (back to Tiger!). However, since Colin and other have given you the instructions with keyboard based command options, and since you say you have a MacBook Air, and have come to the Mac from the iPhone, these options may feel more familiar to you. To find out more about the TrackPad gestures, check the VoiceOver Getting Started Guide for Snow Leopard, Chapter 11 on "Using VoiceOver Gestures", and review the list of gestures in Appendix A. The guide can be accessed in web format from: http://www.apple.com/voiceover/info/guide/ It's also linked to the last entry in the VoiceOver Help menu (VO-H twice). If you want to separately order an embossed Braille edition of the guide from Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco, there's a link to the order page from the VoiceOver downloads page: http://www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/downloads.html There's a $14.95 charge for the Braille version of this guide, which they also have for Leopard and Tiger (earlier versions of the operating system), and there's an iPhone User Guide in Braille (but I think that's only for iOS 3.0 and not the current version of the system). HTH. Cheers, Esther On Mar 3, 2011, at 13:19, Eric Brinkman wrote: > Oh ok, this is comparable to touching near the top of the screen on > the iPhone (I had an iPhone with VO before I bought this computer). > Thanks! I'm surprised I didn't find this in the voiceover > documentation. Makes me think I'm not getting my money's worth out of > this machine. > > Eric > > On 3/3/11, Andre Nuno Soares <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hello, >> >> Just to add to what Donna and Colin said, the fastest way to get the date >> and time without the keyboard commander is to press Control F8 and then left >> arrow. >> Control F8 (or VO M, M) jumps you to the status bar, where you have icons >> for clock, battery, bluetooth, etc. >> Pressing left arrow once puts you on the clock icon. >> Note that in fact the clock icon is the last one on the row, and the left >> arrow wraps around to the last position. This doesn't happen if you have >> QuickNav on. >> >> >> HTH, >> André >> >> On Mar 3, 2011, at 10:48 PM, Colin M wrote: >> >>> Hi Eric! >>> You can enable keyboard commander and allow vo to be controlled by apple >>> scripts! >>> 1, open vo utility vo+f8 >>> 2, scroll until you get to the vo controlled by apple scripts button and >>> check it! >>> 3, go to the table and interact with it and scroll down to commanders and >>> then stop interacting! >>> 4, scroll th the keyboard tab and check it then scroll the enable button >>> and check that! >>> 5, you will now need to pick which option key you would like to use it >>> should be set on the right one but you can select the left one if you >>> prefer! >>> 6, if you then scroll to the table of items and interact with it you will >>> see some preset scripts one of which is read time using the command [ in >>> my case ] right option+t! >>> you will also have the option to make your own shortcuts and seeing you've >>> got a mbp there should be trackpad options as well! >>> anyway I hope thats some help! >>> Colin >>> Qapla! >>> >>> Chegh chew jaj Vam jaj Kak >>> >>> On 3 Mar 2011, at 22:30, Eric Brinkman wrote: >>> >>>> Hi listers, >>>> >>>> I've had my macbook for a few months now, searched the voiceover help >>>> and listened to a few of the podcasts on blindcooltech. But I've >>>> found no info on how I can have VO tell me the time. The only >>>> time-related voice feature I've found is the ability to announce the >>>> time on the quarter-hour, half-hour, or hour in the settings. Is >>>> there a way to have the time announced when I want to hear it? >>>> >>>> Thanks in advance. >>>> >>>> Eric >>>> -- 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.
