VoiceOver Getting Started Includes instructions and complete command lists for using VoiceOver with Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger.
1 2 Contents Chapter 1 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 10 Introduction About VoiceOver What You Need to Get Started Using This Document Where to Find More Information VoiceOver Quick Start VoiceOver Help VoiceOver Menu Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts Resources on the Internet Teaching and Learning Tools Darkening the Screen VoiceOver Quick Start Application VoiceOver Keyboard Commands Diagrams About VoiceOver Accessibility Chapter 2 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 Introduction to Mac OS X The Desktop The Find
18 19 19 20 Sticky Keys Slow Keys Key Repeat Rate Keyboard Settings in VoiceOver Utility Chapter 4 22 22 22 23 23 23 24 25 25 26 27 28 28 29 29 29 30 30 31 32 32 32 32 33 33 VoiceOver Basics Following Instructions Turning On VoiceOver Using VoiceOver in the Login Window Pausing VoiceOver Speech Controlling VoiceOver Reading Window Contents Reading Text Changing Rate, Pitch, and Volume Temporarily Interacting With Content Areas Using Buttons and Controls Learning More About an Item Navigating Menus Navig
42 43 43 43 44 44 45 46 46 46 47 47 The Item Chooser Menu Interacting With Windows Moving and Resizing Windows Moving a Scroll Bar Using Spotlight Using the Spotlight Menu Using the Spotlight Window Changing the Sort Criteria Chapter 5 Exercises Exercise 5.1: Using the Dock Exercise 5.2: Using the Item Chooser Menu Exercise 5.
66 67 68 68 68 69 70 70 70 71 Opening Collapsed Folders in the Mailboxes Outline Reading Email Addressing a Message Using the Safari Web Browser Navigating Websites With VoiceOver Using the Link Chooser Menu Navigating Website Images Chapter 7 Exercises Exercise 7.1: Opening and Reading an Email Message Exercise 7.
1 Introduction 1 Welcome to VoiceOver Getting Started. This document introduces you to VoiceOver and gets you started using your Mac in a new way. VoiceOver is an alternative way for users with visual or learning disabilities to use Mac OS X. It provides magnification options, keyboard control, and spoken English descriptions of what’s happening on the computer screen.
What You Need to Get Started To use VoiceOver, you need:  A Macintosh computer with Mac OS X version 10.4 or later installed  An English language Apple keyboard  Built-in or external speakers or headphones A mouse and display are optional. If you don’t need a display or mouse, you can use VoiceOver without them. An Internet connection is highly recommended. Using This Document This document is a comprehensive guide to using VoiceOver. It is organized into 11 chapters with a VoiceOver commands appendix.
 Chapter 9, “Advanced Navigation Skills”: In this chapter, you learn how to use the keyboard, mouse, and VoiceOver cursor independently. You also learn how to use the mouse with VoiceOver, and about alternate ways to control the mouse.  Appendix , “VoiceOver Commands”: In this appendix, you learn all the commands you can use to control VoiceOver. Where to Find More Information You can use the resources and VoiceOver features described below to learn more about using VoiceOver.
Resources on the Internet The Apple website has several sections devoted to VoiceOver and accessibility. You can find additional learning materials and support information at these addresses:  www.apple.com/accessibility  www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover  www.apple.com/support/tiger/voiceover  www.apple.com/education/accessibility/technology/voiceover.html In addition, you can find discussion groups on Apple’s website and other websites to help you connect with other VoiceOver users.
About VoiceOver Accessibility VoiceOver is a new technology in Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger. You can use VoiceOver with TextEdit, Mail, and Safari to do word processing, send and receive email, and browse websites on the Internet. You can also use VoiceOver with some other applications. As developers begin to support the underlying accessibility frameworks provided in Mac OS X, more applications will become accessible with VoiceOver.
2 Introduction to Mac OS X 2 This chapter introduces you to basic information about Mac OS X. When you understand how your computer is organized and how to use the Finder and application windows, learning to use VoiceOver is much easier. In Chapter 5, “Using VoiceOver With Mac OS X,” you will learn how to use VoiceOver with Mac OS X to complete everyday tasks on your computer. You can find much more information about Mac OS X in Mac Help on your computer and on the Apple website.
The Finder The Finder keeps track of files and folders and manages the desktop. When you open a folder or other item on the desktop, a new Finder window like the one shown below automatically opens. Finder windows have a toolbar at the top and two sections below the toolbar called the sidebar and the view browser. Three colored buttons above the toolbar are used to close the window, send the window to the Dock, or change the window to its previous size.
Below a separator are icons that represent often used folders on your hard disk. Mac OS X has folders already set up for you to store your music, pictures, movies, and documents. In the sidebar, you also see folders for the desktop contents, your home folder, and applications. When a folder is selected in the sidebar, its contents are displayed on the right side of the Finder window in the view browser. Finder windows can display items in the view browser in icon, list, or column view.
Files and Folders Most of the information in your computer is stored in files. Files include documents, images, applications, and so on. Folders are simply a collection of files. Each file or folder is represented by an icon with its name below or to the right of the icon. You can select the text in the file’s name to change it, and you can copy, move, and delete files on your computer.
Spotlight Spotlight is extraordinarily useful for VoiceOver users. In many cases, it may be easier to use than the Finder for opening files, folders, and applications. When you type text in the Spotlight search text field, search results appear immediately in a menu below the search text field. The more complete the word or phrase, the more refined your list of results will be. Search results are grouped by category, such as Applications, System Preferences, Documents, and Folders.
3 Keyboard Basics 3 This chapter provides basic information about using VoiceOver with the Apple keyboard. You use your keyboard to control VoiceOver, so you need to be very familiar with your keyboard before you can use VoiceOver effectively. If you are new to the Mac or have trouble using a keyboard, you’ll find important information in this chapter. If you use a portable computer, make sure you review the section in this chapter about function keys.
If you’re not familiar with the layout of keys on your keyboard, you can use the keyboard practice built in to VoiceOver to help you learn the name and location of the keys. In the keyboard practice, you press keys to hear their names. Using keyboard practice: 1 Press Command-F5 to turn on VoiceOver. The Command keys are located directly to the left and right of the Space bar. You can press either one. The F5 key is in the top row of keys, sixth from the left.
Using Function Keys on Portable Computers On a portable computer, many of the function keys are programmed to perform hardware-related functions such as adjusting brightness and volume. When you want to perform an alternate action for the key, you press the Fn key and the function key together.
To turn on Sticky Keys: 1 Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock or choose Apple menu > System Preferences to open System Preferences. 2 Click the Universal Access button. 3 Click the Keyboard tab. 4 Select the On radio button for Sticky Keys. When you turn on Sticky Keys, you can also set options to hear a sound when a modifier key you press is accepted, and display an icon of the symbol for the modifier keys you pressed.
3 Click the Keyboard tab. 4 Move the Key Repeat Rate slider to the left if you want repeated keys to repeat slowly (if you tend to make mistakes when pressing keys, moving this slider to a slow setting will help minimize the number of repeated keystrokes). Move the slider to the right if you want the keys to repeat at a faster pace. 5 Move the Delay Until Repeat slider to the left to cause a longer delay between when you hold down the key and when the key begins to repeat.
Key Press Notification The “Announce when a modifier key is pressed” checkbox sets VoiceOver to say the name of the modifier key when you press it. VoiceOver speaks these keys:  Shift  Control  Option  Command  Fn Turning on this option may help you become accustomed to the location of modifier keys on your keyboard, and it may help prevent you from making mistakes. Caps Lock Key Notification If the Caps Lock key is pressed, you’ll be unable to use many VoiceOver commands.
4 VoiceOver Basics 4 This chapter provides basic information about using VoiceOver to navigate your computer, click buttons, make selections in menus, and perform other basic tasks. After reading this chapter, you will have enough information to begin using VoiceOver. You will have practiced moving the VoiceOver cursor, interacting with scroll bars, and navigating menus. Following Instructions When you use VoiceOver, you use the keyboard to activate controls.
To turn on VoiceOver in System Preferences: 1 Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock or choose Apple menu > System Preferences to open System Preferences. 2 Click the Universal Access button. 3 Click the Seeing tab. 4 Select the On radio button for VoiceOver. To turn VoiceOver on or off quickly: m Press Command-F5. If you are using a portable computer, press Fn-Command-F5. If VoiceOver is on, Command-F5 turns it off. If VoiceOver is off, the command turns it on.
When VoiceOver is on, a box is drawn around an object on the screen to show where VoiceOver is focused. This box is called the VoiceOver cursor. The visual representation of the VoiceOver cursor helps sighted users track VoiceOver’s location. Objects in the VoiceOver cursor can be buttons and other controls, text, images, files, documents, and anything else that is displayed on your computer screen. To move the VoiceOver cursor, you hold down the Control and Option keys as you press the arrow keys.
When you use the Control-Option-Shift-W command to read the contents of the window, VoiceOver reads only what’s visible. If there are more contents than can fit in the window, scroll bars appear at the bottom or right side of the window so that you can scroll to the rest of the content. For example, a large document may have many pages, but only part of one page is visible on the screen. You use scroll bars to make more of the document visible so that you can read it.
2 After you hear the setting you want to change, press Control-Option-Command-Up Arrow or Down Arrow. The Up Arrow increases the setting and the Down Arrow decreases the setting. 3 Release the keys to return to navigation. These settings remain in effect until you change them, log out of your user account, turn off your computer, or turn off VoiceOver. To set your preferences for these, see “Customizing Voices” on page 54.
First you use a command to let VoiceOver know that you want to interact with the items it contains. Then you use the VoiceOver navigation commands to navigate within the content area. The VoiceOver cursor stays within the boundaries of the object you're interacting with, so when you navigate left, right, up, and down, you'll navigate only to the objects within that area. If you find another object of interest, and it contains objects, you can interact with it as well.
A slider control, such as the control for your computer’s volume, is usually identified as an incrementor or simply a slider. To move it, you have to first let VoiceOver know that you want to interact with the slider, just as you do for content areas. Then you use the arrow keys to change the value. To interact with a slider or incrementor: 1 Press Control-Option-Shift-Down Arrow to start interacting.
The Control-Option-M command cycles through the three areas. If you leave the menu bar, the next time you press the command, you start at the Apple menu. Whether you’re in a Finder menu, application menu, pop-up menu, or VoiceOver menu, you use the same navigation techniques. To navigate in a menu: Â Press Control-Option-Down Arrow to move down a menu. Â Press Control-Option-Up Arrow to move up a menu. Â Press Control-Option-Space bar to choose a menu item.
Understanding Duplicate Menu Items Some menu items have an ellipsis (three dots) after the name. An ellipsis after an item in a menu lets you know that a dialog will appear when you choose that menu item. You’ll need to take some type of action to dismiss the dialog and continue, such as typing a password or making a choice. When VoiceOver is turned on, you will see or hear menu items that appear to be duplicates. The first menu item includes an ellipsis in the name and the second one doesn’t.
To open the VoiceOver menu: m Press Control-Option-F7. Sighted users can change the size of the font in the VoiceOver menu to make it easier to read. The font will stay the same size until you log out or restart your computer. To change the size of the font: m Press Control-Option-Right brace ( } ) to increase the font size and Control-Option-Left brace ( { ) to decrease it. Note: The right and left brace keys are the shifted keys to the right of the P on your keyboard.
Chapter 4 Exercises The exercises that follow will help you practice moving the VoiceOver cursor, interacting with scroll areas, and navigating menus. Exercise 4.1: Moving the VoiceOver Cursor In this exercise, you will practice moving the VoiceOver cursor and listening to the audible cues and descriptions. 1 Press Command-F5 to turn on VoiceOver. 2 Press and hold the Control and Option keys while you press the Up, Down, Left, and Right arrow keys.
4 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow to move to all the status menus. You hear a sound to indicate the end of the status menus. 5 Press Control-Option-M again to access the Spotlight menu. You can type a search word or term here to find items on your computer. 6 Press Escape to close the menu without making a selection. Exercise 4.4: Navigating in a Menu and Submenu In this exercise, you will go to the menu bar and use a submenu to find any applications, documents, and servers you used recently.
5 Using VoiceOver With Mac OS X 5 You can use VoiceOver to read text, navigate your computer, and perform your daily tasks. When you know the basics of Mac OS X and VoiceOver navigation (covered in earlier chapters), you can begin to use VoiceOver to access files, read documents, and manage your computer. This chapter teaches you how to apply what you know about VoiceOver to these everyday tasks.
3 Press Control-Option-Down Arrow to move down the Dock menu until you hear the location of the Dock. For example, “Position on bottom checked.” Setting Dock Preferences You can also use the Dock submenu to set some preferences for the Dock and quickly access the Dock preferences pane of System Preferences. When hiding is turned on in the Dock submenu, the Dock disappears from the desktop.
The Application Chooser menu, shown below, lets you choose both an application and an open window for the selected application. To use the Application Chooser menu: 1 Press Control-Option-F1. You hear the name of the active application and the number of open applications. 2 Press Control-Option-F1 a second time to open the Application Chooser menu. 3 Press Control-Option-Down Arrow to move down the list of open applications.
To use the Window Chooser menu: 1 Press Control-Option-F2. You hear the name of the window that is active. 2 Press Control-Option-F2 a second time to open the menu. 3 Press Control-Option-Down Arrow to move down the list of open windows for the active application. If the application has a dialog open, it also appears in the menu. 4 When you hear the window or dialog you want, press Control-Option-Space bar to move the VoiceOver cursor there.
Using Icon View In icon view, shown below, each item in the view browser is represented by an icon. Icons are usually organized alphabetically in rows. You can use the arrow keys to navigate along the rows, or type the beginning letters of a file to jump to an item quickly. To open a file in icon view: 1 If the view browser is not in icon view, you can press the Finder keyboard shortcut Command-1 to change it now. 2 Press Control-Option-Shift-Down Arrow to interact with the browser contents.
A disclosure triangle appears to the left of folders. When you click a disclosure triangle, you see the contents of the folder below it, indented as they would appear in an outline. To open a file in list view: 1 If the view browser is not in list view, you can press the Finder keyboard shortcut Command-2 to change it. 2 Press Control-Option-Shift-Down Arrow to interact with the browser contents. 3 Press Control-Option-Down Arrow to move down the line of contents.
Column view is very useful for browsing nested folders. When you select a folder, its contents are shown in the column on the right. You keep moving right until you reach the file you want to open. Your browsing is confined to one window so that you can easily retrace your path if you need to. To open a file in column view: 1 If the view browser is not in column view, you can press the Finder keyboard shortcut Command-3 to change it.
If nothing is selected, you hear “no selection available.” If text is selected, you hear the text as it is read. If you have cursor tracking turned off, the keyboard focus and VoiceOver cursor will probably be in different locations. This means that the item in the VoiceOver cursor is not selected automatically. You must use a VoiceOver command to select it. To select an item when cursor tracking is turned off: m Press Control-Option-Command-F4. You can select more than one item at a time.
Note: If you have cursor tracking turned off, press Control-Option-Command-F4 to select the item so you can copy it. The Item Chooser Menu Using the arrow keys to move across every item in a window can be very tedious, especially if you have an idea of what you are looking for and want to get to it quickly. A convenient alternative is to use the Item Chooser menu, shown below.
Interacting With Windows As you work, you will probably have multiple application windows open on the desktop. You can drag these windows to different locations or resize them by dragging the bottom-right corner of the window. VoiceOver users who can’t see the screen or use a mouse can do this too. Moving and Resizing Windows You can use the accent and tilde keys to move or resize a window with VoiceOver. The accent key is directly above the Tab key, and the tilde is the accent key shifted.
Using Spotlight The fastest and easiest way to find something on your computer is to type a search term in the Spotlight menu and then click the item you want in the search results. It takes just seconds and will save you a lot of time. There is almost no limit to the type of information you can find with Spotlight. In Spotlight preferences, you can specify categories of information you want Spotlight to search. For example, you can limit searches to just applications, documents, folders, and Mail messages.
To navigate the Spotlight menu: 1 Press Command-Space bar or Control-Option-M three times to open the Spotlight menu. 2 Type the word or term you want to use for your search. 3 Press Control-Option-Down Arrow to move down the list of search results. Results are categorized by type. 4 Press Control-Option-Space bar when you hear the item you want to open. The item you selected opens immediately and the VoiceOver cursor leaves the Spotlight menu and goes to the item you opened.
When you interact with the scroll area that contains the search results, the VoiceOver cursor starts on the first column, which contains the disclosure triangles for each group. The way you interact with disclosure triangles in the Spotlight window is different than how you interact with disclosure triangles in some other windows. To open or close disclosure triangles in the Spotlight window: m Press Control-Option-Space bar.
2 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow and then Control-Option-Left Arrow to move along the Dock in either direction. Try using the Up and Down arrows too. Stop when you reach an icon you would like to use for this exercise. Notice that VoiceOver identifies open applications by announcing the name of the application and then “running.” 3 Press Control-Option-Shift-M to open the contextual menu for the icon. 4 Press Control-Option-Up Arrow or Down Arrow to navigate the menu.
This exercise is presented three times, one for each of the different Finder views. All of the Finder exercises begin with a new Finder window. To open a Finder window, you can do one of the following: Â Go to the Dock and navigate to the Finder icon. Then press Control-Option-Space bar to go to a Finder window. Â Press Command-N when the Finder is the active application. Â Press Control-Option-F1 twice to open the Application Chooser menu. Choose “Finder menu” and then “Go to Finder.
5 Press Control-Option-Shift-Up Arrow to stop interacting with the sidebar. 6 Press control-Option-Right Arrow until you hear “outline.” The contents of the right frame may be in a different view, depending on what you select in the sidebar. You can press Command-2 to switch to list view. 7 Press Control-Option-Shift-Down Arrow to interact with the contents. 8 Press Control-Option-Down Arrow until you hear “Sites selected folder.” 9 Press Command-C, the Finder keyboard shortcut for copying.
6 VoiceOver Utility and Preferences 6 This chapter provides information about the many ways you can customize VoiceOver for your needs. It also introduces VoiceOver Utility, the application you use to customize your VoiceOver settings. VoiceOver Utility is located in Applications/Utilities. You can open it by clicking the VoiceOver Utility button in Universal Access preferences, or by using the VoiceOver command Control-Option-F8.
Setting the Amount of Spoken Detail When you start using VoiceOver, you may want to hear as much detail as possible to help you learn about your computer and applications. As you become more familiar with these, you may not need to hear as much detail. You can choose these and other settings on the Verbosity pane of VoiceOver Utility, shown below. Adjusting Punctuation Settings Punctuation includes the common punctuation marks as well as symbols.
 Spoken With Count means that you hear the number of instances of the punctuation and then the name of the symbol. For example, the sentence “I am overjoyed!!!!!!!!!” might be read as “I am overjoyed eight exclamation mark” when Punctuation is set to All. Adjusting Text Attribute Settings Writers and designers of documentation and websites use punctuation size and style to convey meaning or to separate elements.
Setting Website Navigation Options The VoiceOver cursor typically moves linearly across webpages, from upper left to lower right. Depending on how a webpage was designed, the VoiceOver cursor may seem to move randomly when you navigate in this way. VoiceOver provides some options for improving the navigation experience. “Group items in web pages” organizes a webpage into related groups of information. For example, all the song titles in a list of hot tunes, or an image with an excerpt of a news article.
You can choose any combination of tracking options shown on the Navigation pane of VoiceOver Utility. The text selection tracking settings apply when you are interacting with text in a document. When you edit or create documents or enter text in a text box, you are interacting with text. Experiment to see which combination works best for you. For more information about using the VoiceOver cursor, mouse, and keyboard independently, see “Advanced Cursor Tracking” on page 79.
 Status: This voice lets you know the current state of buttons and other controls. For example, the status of a checkbox is either “checked” or “unchecked.”  Type: This voice identifies the type of item. Some examples are button, slider, scroll area, and HTML content area.  Attributes: This voice speaks the text attributes at the beginning of text with different attributes than the preceding text. For example, “bold 15 point” or “12 point Helvetica.
The VoiceOver cursor and the caption panel are two visual aids for sighted users. You can turn these visuals off or on and set preferences for them in the Display pane of VoiceOver Utility, shown below. Magnifying the VoiceOver Cursor You can magnify the item in the VoiceOver cursor to enhance visibility, or to help you isolate it from the rest of the screen contents. The image below shows the Documents folder magnified in the VoiceOver cursor.
VoiceOver uses the brace keys for this command. The left and right braces are the shifted keys to the right of the P key. To increase or decrease the VoiceOver cursor magnification: m Press control-Option-Right brace ( } ) to increase and Left brace ( { ) to decrease the magnification. Using the Caption Panel The caption panel displays what VoiceOver is speaking so that a sighted person can read what VoiceOver is saying, and more easily follow along. The caption panel is shown below.
To increase the font size of the caption panel: m Press Control-Option-Command-Right bracket ( ] ). To decrease the font size of the caption panel: m Press Control-Option-Command-Left bracket ( [ ). The exercises at the end of this chapter will help you practice working with the caption panel and magnifying the VoiceOver cursor. Tiling Visuals For maximum visual impact, you can dim the screen so that the contents of the VoiceOver cursor stand out brightly. This is called tiling visuals.
To turn the VoiceOver cursor and caption panel on or off: m Press Control-Option-F11. On a portable computer you may need to press Fn-ControlOption-F11. Setting Text Pronunciation You can create word substitutions so that when certain text or symbols appear, you hear a preferred word or pronunciation spoken for the text or symbol. You make these adjustments in the Pronunciation pane of VoiceOver Utility, shown below. VoiceOver comes with some standard pronunciations.
1 Press Control-Option-F8 to open VoiceOver Utility. If you’re using a portable computer and have not changed the default behavior of the function keys, press Fn-ControlOption-F8. 2 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow until you hear “Voices tab three of five.” 3 Press Control-Option-Space bar to press the Tab button. 4 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow to hear the remaining tab buttons and the headers for the columns (Voices, Rate, Pitch, and Volume). Stop when you hear “Show Additional Voice Options button.
8 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow until you hear “pitch fifty incrementor.” Again, you may hear a different value if this setting was changed. 9 Press Control-Option-Shift-Down Arrow to begin interacting with the incrementor. 10 Press Control-Option-Up Arrow or Control-Option-Down Arrow to change the value. When you stop, you hear the voice speak at the selected pitch. 11 Press Control-Option-Shift-Up Arrow to stop interacting with the incrementor.
9 When you’re finished moving the caption panel, press the Escape key. Note: You can also use this exercise to practice resizing the caption panel. Press Control-Option-Shift-F10 until you hear “resizing caption panel.” The Up and Down arrows add height and the Left and Right arrows add width to the caption panel. Exercise 6.
5 The first line of the dialog has a text field. Press Control-Option-Right Arrow once to reach the text field, then type the word you chose. If you don’t have a word to add, type ASCII with all capital letters. 6 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow until you reach the Pronunciation text box, then type a phonetic spelling for your word. For example, if you are using ASCII, you could type askee.
7 Web Browsing and Email 7 Mac OS X comes with an email application and web browser that you can use with VoiceOver. You can use the Mail and Safari applications to send and receive your email and surf the Internet. This chapter gives you information to help you connect to the Internet and to help you use VoiceOver with Mail and Safari. Connecting to the Internet When you set up your new computer, Setup Assistant asks you questions about your Internet Service Provider.
The Network preferences window, shown below, has two pop-up menus at the top. In the Location pop-up menu, you choose the configuration you’re setting up. If you always use your computer in the same location and connect the same way, you can just leave the location set to Automatic. If you want to create different connection settings for different locations, choose New Location or Edit Locations and use the dialog that opens to make the necessary changes.
Using Mac OS X Mail With the Mail application in Mac OS X, you can conveniently organize, read, and send email. The toolbar at the top of the Mail window includes a search field so that you can quickly locate email messages by subject, words in the text, sender or recipient, and date sent or received. The Mail window is organized like a Finder window, with your inbox and any other mailboxes you create in the left column. VoiceOver calls this the “mailboxes outline.
Reading Email Because the Mail window is similar to a Finder window, you can use the same skills discussed in “Navigating Finder Windows” on page 37. You interact with the contents of the mailboxes outline, select a mailbox, and stop interacting. Then you do the same in the messages table to select the message you want to read. To speed up the process, VoiceOver provides a command to jump the VoiceOver cursor from the messages list to the message contents and back again.
Addressing a Message Names in your address book appear in the To, CC, and Bcc fields as menu buttons in the Mac OS X Mail application. The address menu buttons function like pop-up menus or contextual menus. In addition to listing all the addresses for an individual or organization, they also list actions you can perform for the address, such as editing it, removing it from the list, opening it in Address Book, creating a Smart Mailbox, and more.
 You can select a preference in the Navigation pane of VoiceOver Utility to navigate by group. The VoiceOver cursor moves from one group of information to the next, and you interact with the group if you want to read its contents. This method speeds up navigation and allows you to quickly survey the contents of a page.  You can use the Link Chooser menu. The Link Chooser menu lists all the links on a page, which lets you quickly jump to the link you want.
When you select a link in the Link Chooser menu, the VoiceOver cursor goes to the link on the webpage but doesn’t activate the link. This gives you a chance to determine whether you really want to go there before you actually switch to a new webpage. You can use the Link Chooser menu in any document or file that contains HTML links, including Mac Help and VoiceOver Help. To practice using the Link Chooser menu, see the exercise at the end of this chapter.
7 Press Control-Option-Right Arrow to move across the first row in the message table. Depending on the preferences you set for Mail, you may have columns for the status of the menu, who the sender is, the subject, and date and time information. You can also move down a column, so if you want to read mail from a particular sender, navigate to the From column and then use the Up and Down arrows instead of the Left and Right arrows.
8 Reading and Editing Text 8 This chapter provides information about reading, typing, and editing text. Text is found in many places on your computer: in windows and dialogs, in content areas like webpages and help files, and in documents. You can use the navigation skills covered earlier to navigate to text areas and interact with them. This chapter teaches you how to use the VoiceOver text commands effectively.
Working With Text When you’re writing and editing in the text area, you are most likely working word-byword or in small chunks of text.
To move the VoiceOver cursor to the last word, scrolling if necessary: m Press Control-Option-Shift-End on a desktop computer and Fn-Control-Option-ShiftRight Arrow on a portable computer. Bookmarking a Document You can place a bookmark in a text document so that you can quickly return to a particular place. You can place only one bookmark, so the second time you set a bookmark, it replaces the first one. Bookmarks are useful for quickly returning to a particular location in a long document.
To select the text from the keyboard cursor to the end or beginning of the line: m Press Shift-Command-Right or Left Arrow. You can use the VoiceOver command Control-Option-F6 to verify exactly what is selected. Important: When text is selected, you can easily delete it by pressing any key on the keyboard. This is useful if you want to replace the selected text with the words you type. If you accidentally delete the text, use the keyboard shortcut Command-Z to undo your mistake.
2 Press Command-semicolon (;) to hear the first misspelled word. Sometimes words are underlined that the computer doesn’t recognize, but they’re not actually misspelled. Continue pressing this command until you hear a word that needs to be corrected. 3 Press Control-Option-Shift-M to open a contextual menu for the misspelled word. At the top of the menu are suggested spellings or alternate words. Below those are other options, including a dictionary so you can find the definition of the word.
Chapter 8 Exercises The exercises that follow will help you practice locating the insertion point, selecting text, and saving a document. The first exercise tells you how to open a new document in TextEdit. You can use the same document for all the exercises. Exercise 8.1: Following the Insertion Point In this exercise, you will use Spotlight to find the TextEdit application, create a new document in TextEdit, and practice locating the insertion point.
If you make a mistake, press Control-Option-Right Arrow to deselect the text, then try again. 4 With the sentence selected, press Command-X to cut the text. The text disappears from the document and is stored on the computer’s clipboard, which is not visible on the screen. 5 Navigate to the end of the text using any of the navigation methods you learned in this chapter.
9 Advanced Navigation Skills 9 This chapter explains how to navigate using the VoiceOver cursor, keyboard cursor, and mouse pointer—separately and together. Using the keyboard, mouse pointer, and VoiceOver cursor independently can give you more flexibility as you work. You’ve already been introduced to cursor tracking, but this chapter provides detailed information. This chapter also provides information about making the mouse more accessible.
VoiceOver preferences are set so that the keyboard focus and the VoiceOver cursor track each other. This is called cursor tracking. Wherever you move the keyboard focus with the Tab or Arrow keys using full keyboard navigation, the VoiceOver cursor follows. When you move the VoiceOver cursor, the keyboard focus follows if it can. The keyboard can’t move to every item on the screen the way VoiceOver can. You can also work with cursor tracking turned off.
F5—The Mouse Key  Press Control-Option-F5 to hear a description of what is under the mouse pointer.  Press Control-Option-F5 a second time to hear the location of the mouse pointer as x and y coordinates. The origin point is the top-left corner of the main display, where the Apple menu is located.  Press Control-Option-Shift-F5 to move the VoiceOver cursor to where the mouse pointer is located. When you move the mouse, the VoiceOver cursor remains where you moved it.
Making the Mouse Pointer More Visible In Mac OS X, you can increase the size of the mouse pointer so that you can locate it more easily on the screen. When the pointer changes to an insertion point, crosshair, or any other shape, these shapes are also magnified. To increase the size of the mouse pointer: 1 Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock or choose Apple menu > System Preferences to open System Preferences. 2 Click the Mouse button. On a portable computer, click Mouse & Trackpad.
Action Shortcuts Portable Computer Shortcuts Hold down the mouse button 0 M Release the mouse button Period (.) Period (.) For more information about this and other accessibility features, see Mac Help. Quickly Navigating to Content Areas VoiceOver treats the items in a window as a continuous loop, so if you are at the top of a window and press Control-Option-Left Arrow, you go to the last item in the window.
3 Release the keys when you hear the application you want to switch to. If the application has an open window, the window becomes active and the VoiceOver cursor moves there. If no window is open, the application becomes active and you can begin using its menu to perform actions. Exercise 9.2: Moving Cursors Independently In this exercise, you’ll move the VoiceOver cursor to a text field and start typing. Next, you’ll turn off cursor tracking and try the same thing. Notice the different experience.
Appendix VoiceOver Commands You use the Control and Option keys with other keys to control VoiceOver. If you have an iBook or PowerBook computer, you may need to press the Fn key when you press a function key.
Action Commands Shrink the item in the VoiceOver cursor Control-Option-Left brace ( { ) Temporarily hide or show the VoiceOver cursor and caption panel Control-Option-F11 Dim the screen, highlight the caption panel, and show the item in the VoiceOver cursor in the center of the screen (tile visuals) Control-Option-F10 Press again to return to the normal view. Resize or move the caption panel Control-Option-Shift-F10 Press again to cycle through these actions.
Action Commands Move to the top of the visible area, such as the window or text area, where the VoiceOver cursor is located Control-Option-Home On a portable computer, press Fn-ControlOption-Left Arrow. Move to the bottom of the visible area, such as the window or text area, where the VoiceOver cursor is located Control-Option-End On a portable computer, press Fn-ControlOption-Left Arrow.
Action Commands Move VoiceOver cursor to keyboard focus Control-Option-Shift-F4 Move keyboard focus to VoiceOver cursor Control-Option-Command-F4 Move VoiceOver cursor to mouse Control-Option-Shift-F5 Move mouse to VoiceOver cursor Control-Option-Command-F5 Text 88 Read all text If you are interacting with the text, this command reads from the VoiceOver cursor to the end of the text.
Action Commands Move to beginning of text, scrolling if necessary Control-Option-Shift-Home On a portable computer, press Fn-ControlOption-Shift-Left Arrow. Move to end of text, scrolling if necessary Control-Option-Shift-End On a portable computer, press Fn-ControlOption-Shift-Left Arrow.
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