JAWS to macOS

Hi,
My first thought is are you thinking of switching to Mac because you know you will need to use it in the new environment, or are you just curious about it for some reason.

My second thought is that if you are going to buy a Mac, before you spend the money on one, if you can get your hands on a bluetooth keyboard and pair it up with your iphone, a lot of the key strokes are very similar to those on a Mac. You could learn the key strokes while you think about the pros and cons of getting a Mac.

I'm both a PC user and a Mac user. I'm better at PC than I am at Mac. I also had an iPhone before I got a Mac. It's hard to say how long it will take you to learn Mac, but for me, the best thing I did was turn on the VoiceOver guide and practice when I got my Mac. The second very helpful thing I did was I bought a book that was written by a person who is blind that explained all about using basic Mac with VooiceOver. I wish I could figure out what that book was, so I could tell you, but I think it came from possibly National Braille Press, but it wasn't a grade II book. I just tried to Google for it and didn't find it. Sorry about that.

Thanks.

Jim

Rosie:

I would agree with the comments Jim made above. I use both operating systems and find that I prefer certain tasks work better in both. In my opinion, email and word processing tasks are easier when using Windows. However, when browsing the web or doing some audio editing, I really prefer the Mac. I also suggest reading up on the Mac before you dive in. I'm not sure if it is the book Jim was referencing, but one option is
Mac Basics for the Beginning User by Janet Ingber. It is available from National Braille Press and is an excellent guide which will walk you through many aspects of using a Mac with Voiceover. You can get this book in braille, Daisy or MS Word.
Hope that helps.
Jim

I am primarily a Mac user, with speratic use of Windows every now and again. For university, stick with JAWS. You don’t want to be learning assistive technology at the same time as learning your course work. PDF access is not good on the Mac. Preview only lets you read one page at a time, and read from top, does not work in it. University uses PDFs a lot. There are advantages to the mac however, like how you can send iMessages from it, and them automaticly showing up on your phone, if you have the settings setup. Reininstalling macos is fully accessible, unlike Windows, where you need sighted help to get into the BIOS settings. Time Machine is probably the most easiest backup salution I have found. If you do decide to get a Mac, get a keyboard for your phone, and change the navigation style to grouped before hand. This will give you a feel for what I beleave the biggest difference between VoiceOver, and windows screen readers are, interaction.

Hi there!
I bought my first MacBook Air in 2019 because I thought it would be the time to do so and switch from windows.
I still have that MacBook Air 2019, but since that year I never have been able to use the Mac for my job. ms office is a nightmare in macOS and pages is not the solution when all your peers use ms office.
Also the last versions of JAWS include a very nice OCR which solves almost every reading problems with pdf documents, which in the case of the Mac, you will need to purchase the adobe fine reader to do that with VoiceOver.

hear all the advice because although I read it, I made the wrong decision and have a very expensive laptop with bootcamp in order to install and use windows on it, but it has some issues also as the hardware was not made for running windows, while it is useful most of the time.

Hi Rosie,

I wrote a couple of blog articles on using a Mac in college/university a while back. I completed grad school on my old MacBook Pro after my PC nearly caught fire—a proverbial burning of the boats as it were. I ended up learning how to use Pages, Numbers and Keynote for my school tasks as well as Safari, Preview and other apps all without having to jump back on JAWS because it was a safety net.

Here is one of the articles I wrote. I hope it's helpful. I also have several guides on using Pages under the Guides section of AppleVis that can help you master the app.

Here is the article I wrote:

Become a fAst and Efficient VoiceOver User on macOS

If you have been a JAWS or NVDA user for some time, moving to a Mac can be both intimidating and exciting. If you are using your Mac in a school or work setting, developing proficiency with macOS and VoiceOver can seem like an uphill battle. Becoming a fluent and efficient VoiceOver user takes some discipline, but following these tips can speed up your time on the Mac and help the technology disappear so you can get work done.

Learn macOS
Macs were the first personal computers with a graphical user interface or GUI. If you are coming to macOS from Windows, many of the concepts are the same such as files and folders, menus, tabs and so on. It’s a good idea to get familiar with how the macOS interface is structured and how to get around the operating system.
Online videos and courses are great places to start with learning the basics of how to use a Mac. Watch these videos and take in the concepts. This will build the foundation for learning VoiceOver.

Learn VoiceOver
VoiceOver is the built-in screenreader for macOS. Like JAWS and NVDA, it provides access to the user interface or UI elements of the operating system such as buttons, sliders, windows, files, the menubar, widgets and so on. Press Command-F5 on any Mac to start using VoiceOver.
VoiceOver comes with a built-in tutorial that takes you through all of the VoiceOver commands for moving between UI elements, interacting with them and activating them. Press Control-Option-Command-F8 to start the tutorial. VoiceOver will speak and provide instructions on how to start or resume the tutorial from where you left off.
If you’re still uncomfortable with VoiceOver commands after running the tutorial, run it again and work through the interfaces until the VoiceOver commands become locked into muscle memory. This is a great place to make mistakes and build up your speed and comfort with VoiceOver before taking it for a spin in macOS.

Learn Keyboard Shortcuts
Mac OS has tons of keyboard shortcuts throughout the operating system and in each of the apps that come with your Mac. These keyboard shortcuts are often listed next to the command in the menus.
Keyboard shortcuts save time and reduce the need for frequent trips to the menubar. Some shortcuts are universal—meaning there are shortcuts for working with text and documents that never change. Other keyboard shortcuts are specific to functions within an application such as Music or Pages. Online videos, websites and macOS itself have lists of these keyboard shortcuts.
Create a playground to practice. A playground is a document, folder or other work area where you can experiment with commands, manipulate files or play with settings without affecting anything important.
Some universal macOS keyboard shortcuts and VoiceOver commands perform the same function. For example, moving from word to word in a document can be done with Option and the arrows as well as Control-Option and the arrows. Use the native macOS command before resorting to the VoiceOver commands.

Customize VoiceOver
As you become more comfortable with VoiceOver, it’s a good idea to begin customizing it to your liking. You will quickly learn what information you want to hear and what information is irrelevant or redundant. VoiceOver is highly customizable and you can adjust this to your preferred way of working.
VoiceOver activities let you customize how it behaves in apps and even individual websites. This is useful for creating customized behaviours and building up your efficiency in macOS apps.
It can be tempting to become “tweak happy” where you are customizing settings, installing extra voices and changing the way VoiceOver speaks.. This can diminish VoiceOver performance and your efficiency. Stick to a few pleasant voices and keep the settings as standard as possible until a change is necessary.

Make Mistakes
Using a mac is supposed to be easy and fun. MacOS is very forgiving.. It’s almost impossible to delete important files or easily damage the system. Make your mistakes in your playground or while poking around in familiar apps. Undo your mistakes and don’t be afraid of trying new things. You’ll know you’re a fast and efficient VoiceOver usr when you can accomplish tasks in the same amount of time as a sighted user.

Hi Rosie,

i want to make a point that hasn't yet been made and that is quite separate from the pros and cons of Mac OS. it's also UK-specific:

If you want wireless networking at your university (and I'm guessing you may well do) and if your university uses the Edurome wireless network (which a lot of academic institutions in the UK do), that can sometimes be a bit probblematic to get onto. You can't just select it, enter the password and join - at least, not always. now, I'm not saying that Mac users can't get on Edurome; they certainly can. However, your IT officers at university will be better equipped to get your PC on there. if for whatever reason you need to log onto a wired network such as, say, an internal network at an Oxford college which allows you to access bespoke websites such as one to add your name to the list of people attending formal hall (lovely elitist example there!), or to access the wine list (and there's another!), then what I said applies twofold. You can get a Mac onto such networks but it's harder because academic institutions often insist that you run their own bespoke software to ensure your machine is clean before they will allow you to connect. While that should work with a Mac, if it doesn't the tech guys will be less able to support you than if you had a PC.

I found all this out when I went back to Oxford six years ago as a postgraduate mature student, twelve years after having done my undergraduate degree there. Of course, when I was at university first time round it was ethernet connections or nothing.

So I get that you are curious about the Mac. But I wouldn't recommend changing just now.

If you work with source code and do programming, stick to Windows. Yes, apple finally added indentation reading to VoiceOver. But as others said VO is not as nearly good on Mac as on iOS. I tried using MAC for coding for 3 years and this is the case where accessible trackpad more ruins the navigation than simply having an opportunity to navigate with keyboard. Also keep in mind that VoiceOver is the proprietary screen reader and there is not really good connection with users and developers in my opinion as you have with Orca or NVDA. And a lot of our complains aren't fixed. For example capital letters pronunciation with Russian voices in iOS... So as I said, if you work with coding/QA, I wouldn't recommend you to go and buy MAC. Better to stick with Windows or try out Linux.

I'm a die hard Mac guy. Once Pro Tools became accessible on Mac, I erased my Windows partition and forced myself to commit to Voiceover. Several have said that Voiceover on Mac isn't as good as it is on iPhone, but it's just as good. If you have a trackpad, the same familiar VO commands will work, just like you're swiping and navigating the iPhone screen. That said, if you're comfortable on a PC with JFW, and you're about to embark in university, stay with what you're comfortable with. If you can, buy a Mac Mini, or even a used or refurb MacBook Air to learn Voiceover with, and transition that way. Also, somebody mentioned OCR in Jaws, but there's an add-on called VOCR that's free for the Mac, and can help you get to areas on screen that normal keyboard or VO commands will go. It acts like a virtual mouse. Good luck to you.