In this post I would like to focus on the topic of social media, and how you can use the said medium on your iOS device with VoiceOver. I also want to dispel any misconceptions that social media is a complete no-go area for members of the blind or visually impaired community.
Social media is often subject to a lot of negative press and criticism, and in some cases such coverage and opinion is justified. However, I believe that social media is a fantastic form of modern media and source of information when used appropriately.
Twenty years ago, my seven year old son and I were sitting on the stairs in our house. Curious what he might say, I turned to my child and asked, "Richard, why do you love me so much?"
My son pondered for a few moments, and then thoughtfully replied, "I guess I'm getting used to you."
We love our children, significant others, friends, pets, and guide dogs. But, some of us are a bit nerdy. We also love our toys.
The greatest joy this time of year comes from finding ways to share with others. It is more fun when you can do so without recognition. That's easy for me. I have a secret identity. For more than a decade, on a special day each December, I strip down to my thermals, tie a pillow to my stomach and pull on bright baggy pants. I don a fur-trimmed jacket, a wide black belt and heavy black boots. I also tug on a wig of long white hair and then glue on a lengthy, thick and wavy beard. I even slip on totally useless spectacles.
When you think of audio games, the Blindfold series of iOS games from Kid Friendly Software probably come to mind. Certainly, the Blindfold Series of games have been a huge hit within the blindness community. With over 80 titles now available, it makes sense that blind and low vision users around the world would flock to these games.
Computer pioneer Alan Turing’s famous Turing Test quantified a machine’s ability to behave intelligently. In the test, a judge would communicate with a human and computer via a text-based communications medium. The computer would pass the test if the judge couldn’t’’ tell them apart. It sounds like something straight out of Blade Runner, in which Harrison Ford played a detective tracking down rogue androids posing as humans.
Today is the Eighth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). This day has been set aside "to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital (web, software, mobile, etc.) access/inclusion and people with different disabilities." This according to the above linked web page on GAAD.
Many years ago, my son's Boy Scout troop lost its collective mind. The boys decided it would be great fun to go rappelling. This involves stepping backwards off of a high cliff or tall building and then walking down the outside surface. Even though safety ropes are involved, I was concerned. Gravity is unrelenting.
I'm not of sound mind. I do not own a decent microphone and I am not an audio engineer. I do not record music or podcasts. I simply have thousands of audio files, captured and collected over a lifetime, that sometimes need just a bit of attention.
A new feature for VoiceOver users called "Accessibility Events" was introduced in iOS 12.2 and macOS 10.14.4 without any announcement or documentation. I cannot find any info about this feature on Apple's website. Even the installed Help files say nothing about it, so far. The only information given is a short description label in the Mac Preferences and IOS settings, shown below. To the best of my knowledge, which is quite limited at this time, leaving it turned on allows webmasters and anyone else who cares to know to discover if you have VoiceOver running.
Discord is a discussion forum tool that connects a network of participants. Discussions are grouped by servers that you create, so the topics and membership are up to you. My writing group recently decided to start using Discord as a replacement for discussing by email, which had become impractical.
My mother used to claim I would lose my head if it were not screwed on. How I have suffered with that ancient rebuke. Dear Mother, I do not lose things. I simply store them in mysterious places.
The marquee features of thee iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are unquestionably upgraded cameras; a new always-on display; and a Dynamic Island’ that changes size and shape to accommodate various types of alerts, notifications, and interactions. For my circumstances and use case, I can roughly appraise these as having some potential utility, no utility, and some curiosity appeal.
When the iPhone 6 was announced last year, I wrote a
blog post
detailing my plans to resist temptation and hang onto my trusty iPhone 5 until the 6S came out. That year has now passed, and the iPhone 6S is here. In re-reading that post, I realized just what a good thing it was that I waited. I'm upgrading my phone this year, and the only question now is: Plus or no Plus?
What does it mean to make a truly accessible app? How can you go beyond meeting minimum accessibility standards and make something that VoiceOver users will find intuitive and enjoy using? In this post, I want to try to answer those questions from a user's perspective. I will not be covering the code you should use; instead, I am trying to describe what makes an app easy to use for me, as a VoiceOver user, and I encourage members of the community to add their own views in the comments.
If you spend much time browsing the Internet, it’s likely that you have already encountered numerous articles over the past month where the writer has looked back over their first year with an Apple Watch. With so many of these appraisals already out in the wild, I wasn’t originally planning on adding to their numbers.
For many of us -- hard-core internet surfers, RSS is a familiar term. By the same token, the phrase "RSS reader" isn't esoteric at all. But let me talk a bit about RSS and RSS readers before moving on to the main focus of this post. According to the Pro Blogger website:
Every writer knows the feeling: you’ve just sat down at the keyboard, ready to write your next masterpiece. Suddenly, your mind goes blank. What seemed like the perfect idea late last night now seems impossible to put into words. Or perhaps you have no ideas at all and you wonder how you’ve ever managed to write anything.
For years now, there have been rumblings that Apple may do away with a physical Home button in the next iPhone. So far, of course, this hasn't happened--that small circle has remained in place, and even been made to double as a fingerprint reader. For most users, this is just as well; the thought of an iPhone with no Home button causes discomfort and an immediate, negative reaction.
It feels like losing an old friend. Or perhaps losing one's love of life. But American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language was my friend in the world of iOS apps and my love in the world of dictionaries. So going to bed one night with an awesome dictionary which ticks all check boxes in terms of accessibility and getting up the next morning, hearing about the app's takeover by a new developer, re-paying for and downloading it, and finding it an absolute mess in terms of accessibility is nothing but a huge blow to one's morale. And the story doesn't even end there...