I believe what's happening here is that some book are simply scanned images which look identical to the printed versions of the books. In this case, there's no actual text for Voiceover to read. You'd have to build in OCR technology which likely wouldn't work perfectly across all pages and books. You wouldn't get the reliable smooth read that we've come to expect from books with the text typed in. I bet that's why they haven't thrown the capability in there. I recently had to return two books I purchased on Amazon for that very reason. The Kindle app simply says "voiceover does not support this content" and that's all you get. Thankfully, they're good with refunds and I got my money back without any trouble. I bought one of those books on iBOOKS. Namely Franklin's Lost Ship, and found it gratifyingly accessible.
There have been other books which I couldn't get accessible on either platform. One source for text books is www.crcpress.com They use the Vital Source Bookshelf which has apps for Windows, iOS and other platforms. They seem to go out of their way to make their apps and ebooks accessible with NVDA on Windows and the iOS app is fully useable. Haven't looked for cookbooks from them but you never know. Personally, I have over 400 books in my Kindle app which I can read without difficulty. I probably have close to 100 iBOOKS. While I certainly find it annoying to have to find new places and start yet another library in order to obtain some books, I'm thankful to live in an age where chances are actually very good that I can in fact read what I wish without delay given some effort. I still marvel that we can gripe about the inaccessibility of books and stomp off to another digital store to vote with our wallets. I read a lot of books about game design. You won't find those in the CNIB library and I'd bet Americans wouldn't find them on their Bard equivalent. Apps like Voice dream Reader and qREAD on the PC have come to my rescue. CRC Press is another place where you have to buy books from the site rather than the app itself by the way. Anyhow folks, I wish everyone a happy new year in this dawning age of accessible books we don't have to wait years to possibly get to read if some librarian somewhere thinks enough blind people might be interested. Happy New Year and happy reading. On 1/3/16, 'Sandratomkins' via VIPhone <[email protected]> wrote: > A small suggestion here… > I am wondering if we might not suggest to Apple/Amazon/kindle et cetera, > that the easiest way to make more accessible all of their books would be to > label photos? so, if the page contains only a photograph, it should also > have a caption saying what photo it is. in that way, not only would we have > a better insight into the book, but we would also know that that page is a > bona fide image. > > just a thought, Sandy > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On 3 Jan 2016, at 11:46, Donna <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I seldom use iBooks, but when I had vision, in most cookbooks the first >> page of each chapter has a photo featuring foods from the chapters >> recipes. I'm curious if voiceover is reading this way because there is a >> photo. If possible, have you tried advancing a page or two into a chapter >> to see if every page is read this way? I understand how frustrating things >> like this can be. Hopefully, Apple will be quick in refunding your money. >> >> >> Donna >> >>> On Jan 3, 2016, at 2:21 AM, Mary Otten <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Hello all, >>> Today, I purchased two cookbooks in the iBooks store. I could have >>> purchased them on Kindle, but because I have generally had better luck >>> navigating the specifics of a book and iBooks, I spent my money there. >>> Neither book is readable on my iPad or my iPhone. After I get rid of the >>> ridiculous non-friendly view in table of contents by changing it to a >>> list of you, and double tap on the chapter I want to read, I don't get >>> anything intelligible. I get random letters and voiceover saying >>> "background image" background image" background image" ad infinitum. It >>> has been a while since I have purchased a cookbook. And if this is how >>> they're all going to be, it's going to be a lot longer before I waste >>> anymore money on Apple's books. Have others had similar problems? I wrote >>> Apple accessibility. And I suppose they're probably going to send me off >>> to some damned link that will have six other links that I will have to >>> follow and eventually get nowhere, which is what happened to me the last >>> time they sent me on a wild goose chase after an iTunes problem. I hope >>> not, since this is clearly an excess ability problem, so they ought to go >>> to bat and number one, figure out what causes it and fix it and also help >>> out with refunds. But I really am curious if others are having this >>> problem. >>> Mary >>> >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> -- >>> The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone >>> 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 V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn >>> - you can reach Cara at [email protected] >>> >>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "VIPhone" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to [email protected]. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> -- >> The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone >> 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 V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - >> you can reach Cara at [email protected] >> >> The archives for this list can be searched at: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "VIPhone" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > 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 V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - > you can reach Cara at [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Michael Feir Creator and presentor of Journeys of the Mind: Play is Where Community Begins http://www.michaelfeir.blogspot.ca/2015/01/journeys-of-mind-play-is-where.html Volunteer at New Horizons Peel Multicultural Centre www.peelmc.ca 2014-- Disability advocate Meadowvale Community Christian Reformed Church www.meadowvalecrc.ca 2013--2014 Volunteer at The Dam http://www.thedam.org 2011-2013 Twitter: mfeir Skype: michael-feir Author of Personal Power: How Accessible Computers Can Enhance Personal Life For Blind People 2006-2008 http://michaelfeir.blogspot.ca/2009/01/personal-power.html A Life of Word and Sound 2003-2007 http://michaelfeir.blogspot.ca/2009/01/life-of-word-and-sound.html Creator and former editor of Audyssey Magazine 1996-2004 Check out my blog at: http://www.michaelfeir.blogspot.ca -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone 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 V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
