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Michael Doise

The New MacBook – First Impressions.

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New MacBook in Gold
New MacBook in Gold

While visiting the Apple Store today to check out the Apple Watch, I got to check out the new Macbook, and I was impressed and not impressed at the same time, and here is why.

Size

The new MacBook is small. At 12 inches it is nearly as small as the MacBook Air, but thinner. The dimensions of this computer are perfect, and I love how portable it is. I think it is now thinner than an iPad with a Logitech keyboard cover!

The Keyboard

While the size of the computer is great, the keyboard isn’t so great. It is definitely usable, but the keys do not depress much, and they are almost to close together. I could see many users who have neuropathy have problems finding the home row. I do however, like the keys. They are better built, which makes the computer more sturdy for users like myself, who travel with their computers.

Force Touch Trackpad

I played a bit with the trackpad on this machine, and did not see what was totally different. The mouse still depresses when you push on it and I did not see that is done with the Taptic engine they say was added.

Conclusion

While the new MacBook is a new step in Apple’s computer lineup, it has its downfalls as well. There are the accessibility issues mentioned earlier, but keep in mind that this computer only has a headphone jack, and a new type of USB that will not support flash drives or portable hard drives out of the box. There are adapters that can be purchased for this, but again, that is extra. If you want a basic Mac computer to just use instead of an iPad, then this is the way to go, but I would definitely recommend that you try it before you bring it home.

Workflow – Automation for everyone!

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Workflow is a relatively new app for the iPhone and iPad that offers iOS users the ability to automate tasks from their home screen or from any place that has a share button that brings up the standard sharing options. What many do not know is that Workflow is an extremely accessible app. Here is how it works.

Creating a workflow

Workflows are actions added together to accomplish a task. When you create a new workflow, you drag actions from a list into your workflow, and the Workflow app guides you through this process. The developers even added very specific VoiceOver hints and tips to help blind users accomplish this without vision. Once you add an action, you can use the app to configure how the action works. Workflow has so many possible combinations that it would take a very long time to list them all here and what they do, so I urge you to download the app and give it a shot.

Running workflows

There are two types of workflows. One can be ran either within the Workflow app, or from the home screen. The other type is called a share extension. If you create one of these types of workflows, then you can run it from anywhere there is a share button with a standard share screen.This means that workflows may be run from within Safari, or even within the Photos app

Example

Many VoiceOver users who do take photos would like the ability to give a photo a name. While Workflow can not exactly do this, it can help you organize your photos. The first example is where you can use two actions. The first action is to select a photo from the camera roll. Once that photo is selected, you can save it to a certain photo album. The next workflow also has two actions, and allows you to select a photo, and then save the file somewhere else, like to iCloud Drive or to Dropbox. At that point you can go to that app, and rename the file so you know what image you just took and saved.

Conclusion

The examples above are just a very very small sampling of the Workflow app’s capabilities. While the app is not free, it is a great investment for all users on the iPhone and iPad. This app will help you save time and it will allow you to do things with your iOS device that were impossible before this app came around. Let us know what you think and what workflows you create. We will post our workflows here in the Quick Tips blog.

Apple Watch accessibility, “sort of” confirmed.

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AppleVis.com has written a blog post on Apple Watch accessibility where sources found thatTim Cook stated that the Apple Watch would have accessibility features included, such as VoiceOver. Sources at iMore also discovered that the WatchKit APIs for developers contains things like accessibility labels for buttons, which suggests VoiceOver support for the watch. 

This combined with the taptic feedback engine make the Apple Watch an amazing device for blind and low vision users.

iOS 8.2

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It is known that Apple gave us a lot to go over yesterday, and one of these things is iOS 8.2. iOS 8.2 is a major update to iOS which contains support for the Apple Watch, but also contains fixes for and stability improvements for VoiceOver. I have updated to this version on both my iPhone and iPad and noticed two major differences.

  1. The new Apple Watch app has been added to help users pair and get started with their Apple Watch. This is a neat app to use currently to learn about the watch.
  2. Quicker Access to iOS has finally come in this version. I am very happy about this as iOS 8 has been quite slow on all iOS devices. I also have noticed quicker responses with Zoom and VoiceOver as well. 

There are several other changes made to the OS that I probably have not noticed, so please post any other changes that I have missed in the comments. 

    

The Apple Watch and Accessibility

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Yesterday, Apple released the long awaited details on its watch. We now know how much it costs, how it works, and when we can get one, but we still do not know anything about accessibility. Apple states that they take accessibility very seriously, but have not mentioned how it would be implemented in this new product. While watching videos on the watch, I also never see any indications of accessibility settings, and there is no mention in the Apple Watch app in iOS 8.2 as of yet. 

With that being said, it is worth noting that the Apple Watch could be made accessible with ease. The watch does have a speaker, and could support speech streamed from the iPhone if needed. 

The new Taptic engine on the watch also would allow for the use of the watch through vibrations. For example, a blind user would be able to open a glance, which is kind of like a widget, and the watch would do a certain vibration sequence to let the person know what time it was.  

There are many other examples of how the Apple Watch could help blind users, but I hope that Apple sees the usefulness of accessibility on this device.  I plan to get an Apple Watch next month, and I will write a detailed review on Apple Watch accessibility.

The Magic Tap isn’t so Magical

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If you use VoiceOver for iOS you probably are aware of a neat gesture called the Magic Tap. This gesture lets you take two fingers and double tap the screen to do any number of actions. These may include:

  • Answering/hanging up phone calls
  • Playing/pausing audio or music
  • Starting dictation through Siri (if available)

Developers are expected to add these functions to their apps, and if they don’t do this then blind users can point at them and laugh, but how well does the Magic Tap gesture work right out of the box? Lets just say that while it is like magic for the user, it is not magic for the developer. Developers already have to carefully plan how their apps are written, and make sure that they are up to date on the latest APIs or application programming interfaces from Apple. This means that they have to write code in the way Apple tells them to write code.

Magic Tap by default, is integrated in to a few places, the music player, and in the video player. If you do not conform to these two things, then your app will not pause or play your audio when your outside the app’s views. This means that if you go to the Facebook app with a podcast playing in another app, if the developer does not write the app correctly, you can not pause or play your audio. You can still do so from your headphones or through Control Center, but this is not as magical as the magic tap as it takes more steps.

To make things worse, Apple does not state how to properly implement audio so that this feature will work, and the only documentation on the Magic Tap gesture is on how to use it inside of your own app.

So, while this gesture is a great addition to the VoiceOver feature list, it is a problem for developers who are not familiar with the methods for properly implementing audio playback. 

I have posted this on developer websites, and will soon post about this on Twitter, but I think Apple should make changes to their documentation so that this feature can be implemented into more audio based apps without causing the developer to take days on researching a solution.

Resources

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Online Resources

There are many online resources for VoiceOver.

Apple Accessibility
The home page for Apple’s accessibility department.

AppleVis
AppleVis is the biggest online repository of information on iOS app accessibility.

The iAccessibility Report
The iAccessibility Report is a blog dedicated to reviewing iOS app accessibility.

App Store Resources

Resources in the app store by iAccessibility

App Store – Michael Doise
VoiceOver and Braille Resources in the App Store

Automatic App Updates

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Automatic app updates from the App Store is a great new feature for iOS and OS X, but it is not the best feature for VoiceOver users.

When a developer makes an update to their app, they typically make changes to the user interface of that app, which can make part or all of that app inaccessible to VoiceOver users. Because of this fact, it is probably a good idea for VoiceOver users to disable their automatic app updates for their devices.

<h2>Disable Automatic App Updates</h2>

<ol>
<li>From your home screen, go to <strong>settings.</strong></li>
<li>From the main menu in Settings, go to <strong>iTunes and App Store</strong></li>
<li>Find the section that says <strong>Automatic Downloads</strong></li>
<li>double or split tap the switch next to <strong>Updates</strong></li>
</ol>

This process makes sure that any currently accessible apps stay accessible until an accessible update becomes available.

Making and Receiving Calls

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There are very few changes to VoiceOver. One important change is that VoiceOver no longer announces notifications during phone calls. This means that while you are in a call, VoiceOver will remain silent. Your notification sound will play, but VoiceOver will not speak until you end your current call.

Notification Center

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If you have used VoiceOver in previous versions of iOS, you’ll notice that Notification Center works the same in iOS 7 as it would in iOS 6 and earlier. This section will discuss the new changes made to Notification Center and how they affect VoiceOver.

Accessing Notification Center

    Since the introduction of notification center, VoiceOver users tap once on the status bar then swipe down with three fingers. Now, VoiceOver users can access Notification Center from the lock screen by using the same method.
    <h2>Notification Center Areas</h2>
    There are three areas now in Notification center that inlcude <strong>Today</strong>, <strong>All</strong>, and <strong>Missed</strong>. VoiceOver users can get to each of these areas by finding desired tab at the top and double/split tapping on it
    <h2>The Today Tab</h2>
    The today tab is different for each user and each device. For example, a user's iPhone may display their home and work calendar, their alrms, driving time to work, bookmarked stocks, and the weather. That user's iPad may only display their home calendar, and weather. Another user may see totally diffrent items on their Today tab
    <h2>the All Tab</h2>
    The All tab is simply a history all received notifications. This tab displays the same information as notification center in previous versions of iOS.
    <h2>the Missed Tab</h2>
    The Missed tab shows all notifications that were missed on other devices. Notifications on this tab are displayed in the same format as the All tab, and can be removed by tapping the clear button next to the app's name.

Multitasking

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In ioS 6 and earlier, double clicking the Home button opens the app switcher. This has not changed with the release of iOS 7, but the format of the app switcher has.

Switching Apps

    <p>The app switcher experience in iOS 7 remains relatively unchanged in iOS 7. Flick left or right to move between the apps on your device. VoiceOver will now announce the status of that app. For example, VoiceOver will announce, "running" when an app has active background services
    VoiceOver will announce the home screen option when you flick left to the first option in the list of the open app list. Double/split tapping this option will bring you to the last visited page of the home screen.
    <h2>Closing Apps</h2>
    While in the app switcher flick left or right to find the app you would like to close and swipe up with three fingers to close it.

Control Center

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Control center is a new feature in iOS. Control Center lets users change common settings without the need to open the Settings app. Some settings include WIFI, Brightness, BlueTooth, Volume, Airplane Mode, AirDrop, and Airplay. There are even shortcuts to the camera, and calendar apps in the control center.

Accessing Control Center

    To access Control Center, simply find the status bar with your VoiceOver cursor, and swipe up with three fingers to open control center.
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