10 more tips for users of Braille displays on iDevices
Two years have passed since my original 10 Tips for Braille Users of iDevices article was published, and many changes have happened since that time. There were also a few more helpful tips I didn't pass along due to Space constraints. So, I've decided it was time for another list, given that we’re two iOS versions later and some useful things have been updated since the last article came out. Don't worry, though, most of the information provided in the first article is still just as valid, so if you want a refresher or have not read that one, I recommend doing so.
Unlock the First tip
On iOS 9, when you press the Home button and are on the Lock Screen, you can use Touch ID to unlock your device. However, if you happen to be using a finger that doesn’t work with Touch ID, or you have a device where Touch ID is not a feature, you may be looking for a faster way to unlock your device. Once the Braille display has connected, press Space with dots 2-4-6 and you will unlock your iDevice without having to scroll around. You will still need to enter your Passcode if you have one set, but this can save some time when Touch ID is not a convenient or available option.
Inputs and Outputs, Oh My!
The ability to quickly toggle the type of Braille you were reading or writing was introduced in iOS 8; this comes in handy when you do not want to fight with the quirky Apple Braille translator. If you're not familiar with Braille translation and all of its oddities, see this Guide. Another use for a different input and output type of Braille would be if you are wishing to read contracted Braille but are not yet comfortable writing in it. The 3 different types of Braille you can switch among are Contracted, Uncontracted Six-Dot, and Eight-Dot. To toggle the input (what you are typing), press Space with dots 2-3-6. VoiceOver and the Braille display should report the status of the currently selected setting. To toggle output (what you're reading), press Space with G (dots 1-2-4-5). You can also change these options by going to Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Braille and selecting either input or output and configuring it to your liking.
Speed it Up!
Particularly for those on older devices, Braille input has become a bit less rapid than what you would find in iOS 7 and earlier. While there is currently no way to get Braille back to iOS 7 levels of responsiveness, you can often times speed up how quickly the text gets sent from the display through VoiceOver and on to your device. There are a few settings to change which has been found to help on some devices. GO to Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Typing Feedback. Under the hardware keyboard, choose "nothing". Also go under the software keyboard heading and set this to “nothing” as well. You should see an increase in the speed at which your text goes from the Braille display to the iDevice, but the tradeoff is that you will not hear what words and or characters are spoken through speech. While that doesn't bother me at all, since I almost never use speech on my iDevices, it may be helpful information for some users.
The other setting to change if you are finding iOS doesn't translate your Braille input fast enough is to turn automatic Braille translation on. On devices running iOS 8 and later, this is set to off by default. Once you’ve upgraded from iOS 7, if you have not turned this feature back on, it’s worth verifying that it is set the way you want it, as many devices had it disabled once they were upgraded. Find it by going in to settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver>Braille>Braille display input. Under the options for the various types of input, you will now find the aforementioned option. This will help those who are more confident Braille typers, but it will introduce some quirkiness if you are using contracted Braille. Again, see the above linked-to guide for more information if this is something you are not familiar with.
Here and Gone in a Flash
Many people like, and some do not like, alerts flashing up on their Braille displays. One of the more common announcement types are VoiceOver hints, which largely don't apply to those who only use a Braille keyboard on their Braille displays. However, some information found in announcements are very useful. For example, recognizing a bill in LookTel Money Reader, seeing possible moves in Dice World, and many other examples in many different apps. Whether you like these announcements delivered to you fast or slow, you can configure this in iOS 9. Go to Settings>General>Accessibility>Braille>Braille Display Alert duration, and set it from there. You can enter the amount in the text field provided, or press Space with dot 4 to activate either a Decrement or Increment button. You cannot turn these alerts off altogether; however, entering "0" will set it to the smallest duration which is 0.5 seconds. You can have the alert show on your display for up to 20 seconds. Remember, you can also review a list of recent announcements by pressing space with N. Learn more about this in my previous article.
So Many Choices, So Many Items
In many apps, while one can scroll pages and move around the screen with keyboard commands, sometimes it’s just quicker to jump right to something with a few more direct keystrokes. When in many apps, any item that can be activated by VoiceOver can be put in to a list. This is called the Item Chooser. Bring it up by pressing Space with I (dots 2-4) and you will be presented with a list of available items. Before you get to that list, though, you will have a search box where you can type what you are looking for. Then, press Space with dot 4 until you find it. Pressing a cursor routing button or Space with dots 3-6 will take you directly to that item. You can then press either a cursor routing button or Space with 3-6 again to activate the item currently in focus.
Making the Web a Bit More Manageable
The Item Chooser is a great way to quickly locate items on an app or in Safari. However, if a certain string of text is what you’re looking for, the Item Chooser isn’t going to help. If you want to find something, on a web page for example, press Space with F, (dots 1-2-4), enter the text, and then press Space with dot 8. VoiceOver should jump directly to the first occurrence of that string of text on a web page. Interestingly, in apps, this only appears to often function like the search box on the Item Chooser, but in Safari, for example, the find function works quite well.
Now Hold it Right There
With some applications, such as Twitterific 5 for Twitter, a way to launch a quick menu for options to work with tweets is to double-tap with one finger and then hold. You don’t have to mess with the touchscreen to achieve this function though, simply press Space with dots 3-6-7-8 and you will accomplish the same thing. When you want to delete apps off of your Home Screen, you can also use this command in that situation. Unfortunately, you cannot move apps around various screens like you can with touchscreen gestures or their Bluetooth keyboard equivalents.
Start and Stop at Will
Another useful keyboard command rolled out with iOS 9 is Space with dots 1-5-6. This is sometimes referred to as the "Magic Tap" gesture--the equivalent of double-tapping with 2 fingers on the touchscreen, or pressing VO with - on a Bluetooth keyboard. You can now answer and hang up calls, start or stop dictation, more easily interact with stories on Facebook, and pretty much whatever else double-tap with 2 fingers can achieve on iOS. It’s worth noting that sometimes dictation doesn’t work in text fields; I believe this is some kind of bug related to whether the onscreen keyboard is visible or not. If you try Space with 1-5-6, and dictation doesn’t start, try pressing Space with dots 1-4-6 to unhide the onscreen, or as Apple calls it, the Virtual Keyboard. It’s a good idea to toggle it back off when you’re done, since the onscreen keyboard can sometimes get in the way of reading text you’ve typed.
Containers Aren’t Just for Storing Stuff
Containers are another way app developers can assist VoiceOver users to quickly navigate between different sections of their apps. In the Mail app, for example, the screen is divided in to containers which allow you to jump from the header information, to the body of the message, and to the actions you can take on the open message at the bottom of the screen. While Containers is a Rotor option, it could take a while to get them set on your rotor, thus losing the time you may save by using the actual function. And while there is not a gesture to jump by container, there are a series of Braille keyboard commands which will help Braille display users take advantage of this feature. TO move to the previous Container, press Space with dots 1-7. TO move to the next Container, press Space with dots 4-7. Remember, dot 7 is typically to the left of dot 3.
Send it Off Quickly!
Many people love to text on their iDevices; in fact some prefer texting to talking. SO when anyone comes up with a faster way to use the Messages app, I think that’s rather awesome, and Apple has done just that with iOS 9. TO activate the “Send” button after typing a message, you can press Space with dot 4 and then activate the “Send” button, or just press Space with dot 8 after you complete the text of your message. Too bad this article wasn’t a text, I could just do that now and send this thing immediately! It would be a long text to read, but that’s a problem for the recipient, not me.
Conclusion
Apple continues to lead the way in terms of native Braille support for its products, and it’s quite impressive when compared to any of the other mainstream devices on the market. Hopefully, armed with these new tips, you will enjoy your Braille device and iDevice working together even more. DO you have a tip not listed in either of these 2 articles you found handy? Feel free to leave it in the comments below.
Comments
is there a find-again command?
Both these ten-tips articles have helped me mucho, so muchas gracias.
With the space-f find command if I want to find the next occurance of the same string
do I have to type that string every time, or is there a shortcut way to find the next instance?
Thanks.
find again
Hi Brian.
None that I'm aware of. With the braille display, you would just have to enter the text you're searching for again. With a Bluetooth keyboard, you can do this with VO G, so I don't see why Apple couldn't do it. I'm kind of disappointed the Smart Beetle wasn't designed to work with some of the VO commands that you can do on a keyboard, but not on a braille display, but oh well. Maybe if VarioUltra does it, that will soon be an option.
An idea
This is not a perfect solution, but you could copy the text that you typed in the first time, and then hit Space-f and paste the text you copied. This could save a little time, perhaps.
tjt's idea
great idea, thanks.
For a complicated text string this will really help.
The simplest things like a find-again command are missing from voiceover.
I think this is because it is designed by point-and-clickers rather than people from a command-line background.
Who knows--and she is stuck out there on first base.
bluetooth blues
Scott you said a bluetooth kb can find again with vo g1? I assume you meant f1.
I have this weird bluetooth keyboard called a Zaggkeys Portfolio.
When I press control plus option it says control sometimes, option sometimes
and sometimes it says pausing continuous speech. I would like to learn the vo
command keys but I'm not sure it even knows vo.
any ideas on this anybody?
Thanks.
modifier
Brian:
Try changing the VoiceOver modifier key to caps lock instead of control options. Find it under settings/general/accessibility/voiceover/modifier keys. This works in 9.0 and later.
modifier
Ok I made that settings change with no discernible result.
But there is not a capslock on this keyboard, and I don't know how one is supposed to make capslock.
When I press space-k and go into help it won't make caps at all.
If I press shift-x voiceover says null x.
Same for every letter I try--it says null instead of cap.
But it makes caps fine while writing email and it says cap instead of null.
So doctor what's it all mean? I am buffaloed.
new keyboard?
Brian.
This is way off topic for this blog post, but anyway. Maybe you should get a keyboard with a caps lock key? I've never seen one that doesn't have this key, it's located between shift and tab on the left side of your keyboard.
Not vo+F1
Not VO+F1 for find next, but VO+G. Just like the Mac.
another useful command
Hi,
another really useful Braille keystroke is space with S. This jumps you from wherever you are onscreen to the status bar so you can check the time, battery life and signal etc. I hope people find this useful. I am quite new to braille on iOS but this was a lucky find. I'm not sure of a way to get back to your original position onscreen but I use Vertical Navigation for this.
3D Touch?
What's the Braille command for 3D Touch?
Responding to Ezzie and Kevin
Ezzie: if you want to return directly to where you were from the status bar, this is not an option unfortunately. If you hit space with B, it will take you back to the upper left corner of your current screen.
Kevin, it's space with dots 3-5-6. If you have your 3D touch sensitivity set to high, it will not work for some strange reason.
Status bar
Hi Scott, on my eSys display, space with S brings up the status bar and Space with S puts you back in the spot you were at before you looked at your signal etc. Does this not happen on other Braille devices? If not, I am lucky on one hand but find it weird on the other that it isn't aa universal command.
Hope this all makes some sense,
Erica.
Return command on a text message on iOS
Hi!
On our French speaking website http://www.oxytude.org somebody has asked how one can enter a "return" command in a text message on iOS. Spacebar + dot 8 sends the message immediately. However, How can I insert a new line for example?
Thanks for your reply.
Doubt it is possible
As I understand it the insert key is a bios function, not an ascii code.
You could do this in html or java or etc. But I dont thinn you can in ios text.
inserting line breaks into SMS messages
This can be achieved by pressing the Option key followed by the enter key. In braille, that would be space with dot 2 followed quickly by dot 8... I think the time to write another installment of this series may be soon, if I can devote the time to doing so.
Unlock command
Space plus dot 246 takes me to the today view on the lockscreen instead of unlocking the phone. Am I not doing it right or is there a change over the year?
Thanks.
Hello tripolice. Space with…
Hello tripolice. Space with H should now work for this. Of course, if you have Touch ID or Face ID enabled, you will need to get one of those to work or enter your passcode. Yeah, I think it's maybe time to do a new post that encorperates the old tips and new ones all in one post. That way, I can throw away these old articles and update the previous content.
New Tip Article would be very welcome
Hi Scott, if you decide to bring together an updated version of your distilled wisdom on Braille and IOS, I, for one, would really welcome it. :)
My favorite search command
To call up the Spotlight, press the space with the Braille number sign, space with dots 3-4-5-6.
Move from one side of the screen to the other on iPad?
Hi,
I have a focus 40 5th generation braille display. I would like to know how to move from one side of my iPad screen, to the other. Such as from where the word general is, to software update, so I can click on it.
Moving to different parts of a screen
I don't have an iPad so can't test this, but try Dot 4 + Dot 7 + Spacebar.