Using a Macintosh with VoiceOver


Apple products all work the same way for a screen reader user. If you can use an iPhone, you’ve got it made on the Mac. The same gestures that work on iPhone and iPad work on the Mac computers, by using the track pad for navigation. You don’t need to memorize a long list of keyboard commands. This is brilliant, and a tremendous boon to people who are blind or have low vision. In addition there are some useful ways to use the keyboard. Here is a link to learn about the quick nav commands. Remember to turn off quick nav if you are not on a web page.

Apple has several very well made videos and webpages to explain how to use the voiceover screen reader. Link to voiceover page. Everything you need to know so you can use your Mac computer. I have an iMac and use it with the Apple bluetooth trackpad.

Using VoiceOver

VoiceOver is quite different from using the screen readers for Windows. One main difference is the item chooser, which gives you a short phrase of text for each item which is currently visible on the screen: close button, toolbar, all links, buttons, etc. You can find an item in the item chooser and jump directly to the item. Once you learn your way around a page, you can go to whatever place you need on the page, very quickly. It is a real timesaver for complicated pages. You interact with text areas, list boxes and toolbars to read exactly what you need to. The Applevis site has lots of tips and information about using Voiceover for both the Mac and mobile devices.