David,
This is a very interesting topic for me. As you may or may not recall, I
originally contacted you because I was attempting to switch from Windows to Mac
for my personal use. Upon the advice of you and others I bought books, studied
tutorials and practiced, practiced, practiced. Evidently it wasn’t enough
because here I sit typing this email on my faithful old windows laptop with my
MacAir functioning as a very expensive paper weight.
I know lots of blind people who use a Mac quite successfully however I am not
one of them and probably never will be. I’ve been a windows user since the mid
1980’s and a jaws user since the mid 90’s. What’s that saying about old dogs
and new tricks?
Just a side note to your observations regarding word processing on the Mac and
windows. I have several sighted friends who are professional writers and
although they are devoted Mac users their publishers require that they do their
editing in Word because of the commenting and track changes features. From a
blindness perspective, even though jaws is far perfect in the handling of
comments and track changes, at least it is possible with some patience and
dedications. I don’t know that the Mac and VO can do any of that. And don’t
even get me started on spellcheck.
Anyway, sorry for the long email. But I found both the article and your
comments interesting and deserving of a thoughtful response.
Kimberly
From: blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Goldfield
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2018 6:39 PM
To: blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-philly-comp] Re: Article From Applevis: Why I'm still on a Mac:
a guide for skeptics and those who feel that grass may be greener with Windows
This was a very interesting article and Devin's points may all be very valid.
It's a bit difficult for me to objectively dispute it, since I haven't used a
Mac in nearly two years. This means that Apple has released two major upgrades
to the Mac's operating system, along with many minor maintenance releases,
which I have not seen. This is quite ironic, considering how many Mac users I
work with, but all of my work is being done in Windows. There is a small part
of me that would love to jump ship, at least at home, and switch from Windows
to a Mac, due to the Mac's reliability, excellent build quality and its
security. However, Devin never wrote about the topic of Web browser
accessibility. Don't get me wrong; Web browsing on the Mac is certainly
possible and using Safari with VoiceOver definitely makes the Web accessible.
However, it seems to me that navigating the Web in Windows, even with NVDA, is
more efficient. Apple recently implemented the ability to navigate a Web page
using standard arrow key navigation but, as of two years ago, it just seemed a
bit buggy to me. Of course, that was two years ago and I really should try this
using High Sierra, the newest operating system to see if it's more stable.
While word processing on the Mac certainly is accessible and offers some
advantages mentioned in this article, using JAWS and its text analyzer feature
makes editing with speech very powerful. I admit that NVDA is my screen reader
of choice. However, if I had to compose and submit a professionally formatted
document with very specific guidelines which absolutely needed to be followed,
such as a book or a research paper, I have to admit that I would invest in
upgrading my JAWS license, just for its text analyzer feature. I don't think
VoiceOver on the Mac offers anything like text analyzer. If any of you use JAWS
and need to submit documents with specific formatting guidelines, I promise you
that text analyzer makes JAWS worth using. It's one of the features that JAWS
offers which really needs to be added to NVDA.
As Devin pointed out, Windows screen readers continue to grow by adding
features. While VFO is not knwon for its transparency, the same cannot be said
for Microsoft and NV Access. Anybody can sign up to receive insider builds of
Windows, where you can, among other things, test cutting-edge new features
within Narrator. This is also true for NVDA. With NVDA, you can also file a
ticket with a bug report or a feature request and be notified as to the
progress of your ticket. You can also search for and read the database
containing other issues people have reported. NVDA is open source, meaning that
the community is free to examine the source code and can even contribute to the
NVDA project.
Devin himself wrote that VoiceOver's growth, at least on the Mac, is slowing
down, which is, in my mind, unacceptable.
I've also been using Windows for over 23 years. It's had its rough moments but
it's an operating system that I'm very familiar with and trying to retrain that
muscle memory to adapt to the Mac would probably not be worth the payoff.
I know that we have some Mac users on this list and I mean no disrespect to
anybody who uses a Mac. What Apple has done with it regarding accessibility is
incredible and I know that it works for many people. The security alone would
tempt me to switch over, believe me. Anybody who knows me is aware of how I
feel regarding the state of antivirus software with screen readers. The Mac is
certainly not invulnerable when it comes to malware but your chances of a virus
cripling your Mac are far less than it crippling your Windows machine. For me,
it just isn't a choice I could make, at least, for now.
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist WWW.David-Goldfield.Com
<http://WWW.David-Goldfield.Com>
On 1/29/2018 6:11 PM, David Goldfield wrote:
Why I'm still on a Mac: a guide for skeptics and those who feel that grass may
be greener with Windows
Submitted by Devin Prater on 28 January, 2018 and last modified on 28 January,
2018
Introduction
This article will show you, the reader who uses a Mac with the Voiceover screen
reader, exactly why I haven’t jumped ship and fled to Windows 10. I’ll compare
the state of accessibility of Windows and Mac as operating systems, features of
first-party apps, advancements in first-party screen readers, and the outlook
of accessibility at both companies. I will attempt to be objective in this
article, so as to present my arguments in a logical and useful way.
The core of Windows and Mac accessibility
Windows and Mac have grown up together, battling for the space on our desks and
the pleasure of our minds. While accessibility has been a small part of both
companies’ focuses, their differing ways of interacting with the user has
translated into differing levels of accessibility. While Windows gives
assistive technology vendors the ability to run on Windows with similar access
as its own screen reader, Narrator, Voiceover is the only screen reader that
currently exists on the Mac. While this seems like the stifling of innovation
for some, most Mac users are happy with this, possibly because they are used to
only Voiceover on iOS, Apple’s mobile platform which is extremely popular among
the blind.
While Microsoft’s accessibility API’s focus on one window at a time, the Mac
allows the user to know if a background app has been launched, and even if that
app has a new window. This extends to so-called “system dialogues,” which are
common on both systems, but whereas Windows automatically tries to put focus on
them, the Mac merely alerts the user, and allows for the navigation to it at
any time.
Windows uses keyboard access universally, as many Assistive Technology
companies have screen readers on Windows. Tab, shift+tab, arrow keys, F 6, and
Alt+Tab are most of the keyboard commands one uses to navigate Windows. This
lends itself well for those who are good at memorizing where everything is in
tab order, but the visual information has been lost, as focus can land either
at the top of an app or wherever an app developer wishes it to. On the Mac,
with Voiceover, one can explore the screen completely, either with the
Voiceover keys and arrow keys, or with a trackpad. Not only does this give the
user a sense of where things are, it also allows for some of that memorizing
brain power to be used for more important tasks necessary for utilizing a
computer to its full extent. App developers can still set where voiceover focus
will initially be, although that too is able to be configured via the Voiceover
utility, a blind user of the Mac isn’t nearly as likely to get lost. At to that
the ability for VoiceoveR users to interact, or focus in on, a section of the
screen, such as headers in email to read by only that particular column, and
the Mac user may be more productive than their Windows-using counterpart.
Windows uses voices in many languages created by Microsoft. Apple has purchased
the ability to use voices provided by Nuance, but also has the famous Alex
voice, which sounds realistic, has the capability to recognize parts of speech
based on whole paragraphs rather than phrases or sentences, and breathes, which
may alert the listener to the possible word which will start the next sentence.
While Microsoft’s voices are well-made, they are also very small and have a
noticeable synthetic buzz sound when they are made to speak. Apple’s voices,
along with the Nuance ones, do not suffer from those traits. While you can
acquire other speech engines for Windows, you must often purchase them, whereas
all voices that come with the Mac are free for Mac owners, and there are plenty
of high quality voices, in many different languages, to choose from.
Windows has a system of navigation wherein a user can type the beginning of an
item within the list they’re in, and the system focus jumps to that item. This
system is usually called first-letter navigation, even though nowadays one can
usually type multiple letters to “narrow down the list,” as it were. This
system works well, and I use it often. However, this system isn’t always
available, making it tricky and frustrating to have to type one letter over and
over again until the right object is found. Within the Mac, this works
everywhere, as far as I’ve found. You can type “IT,” on the dock, to move
directly to iTunes. You can type “IB,” on the dock to move to iBooks. Note:
“iBooks,” may change to “Books,” in a later macOS update. In the finder, where
you can browse files, you can begin typing the name of a file or folder to jump
to it. In System Preferences, you can begin typing the name of a pane you wish
to explore, after interacting with the scroll area. Best of all, you can open
system preferences by simply putting focus on the menu bar, pressing Down
arrow, typing “SY,” then pressing Return (or Enter). This makes navigation on
the Mac a breeze compared to the plentiful key presses required on Windows.
Writing is an essential part of using a computer. Word processors, notepads,
email clients, Twitter apps, browsing the web, and using the Terminal all
utilize written input from the user. How much help do we get while we write? On
Windows 10, spell checking is available in many Universal windows apps, but
nearly all desktop apps have no spell checking at all. Word completion is
making its way to windows 10, although the current implementation isn’t very
productive as words are spelled out, rather than spoken then spelled out.
Punctuation marks, such as quotes, ellipses, and other such malleable symbols
are simply printed out plainly, without care of position or style. There is no
way, in Windows itself, to print symbols which are not on your keyboard without
memorizing Unicode numeric values for each symbol. On the Mac, spell checking
and auto-correct functions are available system-wide, as is a comprehensive
dictionary, thesaurus, and search mechanisms for Wikipedia and other such
databases. One can also have the Mac attempt the complete typed parts of words,
helpful for long words which are easy to pronounce, but hard to spell. Symbols,
like quotes, are paired into their left and right symbols, making work on the
Mac not only a joy to type, but also a joy to read. Symbols, like • (bullet), ≥
(greater-than or equal-to), é (E acute), … (ellipsis), and π (Pi), are easily
created by holding down the option key and typing a letter or symbol already on
the keyboard. If this isn’t enough, there is an emoji and symbols picker which
allows for the choosing of just about any symbol one can imagine. All of these
options, and more such as text replacement, are all configurable in the
keyboard screen of System Preferences, and all usable in any app.
First-party app accessibility
Program accessibility has come a long way. From the invasive capturing of
information used in the last century to the accessibility API’s utilized today,
apps have grown not only more powerful, but also more accessible. Within
Windows, apps are caught between legacy desktop implementations, and the new
Universal Windows Platform standards. These two standards handle accessibility
differently. Legacy apps contain menu bars, toolbars, and plentiful keyboard
commands. Universal Windows apps contain no menu bar, plenty of navigation
buttons, and some have keyboard commands for many options, and others have none
at all. The Mac in its current form, macOS, has one form of app, bringing
consistency across all of its apps. There are menu bars, toolbars, and plenty
of keyboard shortcuts in all of Apple’s apps.
Advancements in Narrator and Voiceover
Screen readers have been advancing nearly since the beginning of the 80’s. From
text-based programs which could output text to a speech synthesizer the size of
a modern desktop CPU case, to the screen readers built from web technology,
third party screen readers have come a long way. It wasn’t until the beginnings
of the twenty-first century, though, that Microsoft boldly stepped into the
Assistive Technology game. Narrator was a minimalist screen reader designed to
allow a user to set up their computer on their own before they receive their
full screen reader, likely JAWS or Window-eyes at the time. In the next few
versions of Narrator, this minimalistic design was perfected, and was pretty
complete at the time of Windows 7. During the creation of Windows 8, though,
something changed. Narrator became more robust, defying its earlier reputation
of being simply a crumb and growing into a snack. During the years which
followed, Narrator’s power grew, and now it can hold its own with the likes of
NVDA when browsing the web, has Braille support, for now tied to BRLTTY, and
can be used in many more circumstances than just to wait for your JAWS disks.
Voiceover, however, took a different rout. Starting out as a prerelease module
for MacOSX 10.3, Voiceover was designed from the beginning to be a full screen
reader. Released to the public with MacOSX 10.4, Voiceover was able to not only
read the screen, it could navigate the screen, allowing the user to know
exactly what was on the screen on their Mac and act on it in an efficient
manner. A year later saw the release of MacOSX 10.5, giving the Mac the Alex
voice, which is still being updated today. Throughout the years, Voiceover was
given the ability to work with Braille displays, use the newly acquired Nuance
voices, set different “activities,” which allowed one to define a set of
preferences for one app or web site, read complex web pages and emails, and Mac
apps grew more accessible with it.
The Outlook of accessibility at Microsoft and Apple
Microsoft started out simple with accessibility. They allowed third-party
companies to make technology for their customers. Apple also started out this
way. Since Apple is very secretive, I don’t know if they were researching
accessibility before OSX or not. Microsoft took a small but crucial set forward
in creating Narrator, and Apple also took a step, much larger, in providing
Voiceover. Narrator stayed simple for many years as Voiceover grew, but now
Narrator is leaping forward asVoiceover’s growth has slowed. Microsoft now
speaks of accessibility as one of its core values, but Apple is silent about
this much of the time, but still pushes forward on features for Voiceover and
iOS. Microsoft’s accessibility has improved over the last 6 years, but still
hasn’t caught up with Apple. Microsoft still allows third-party screen readers
to dominate on their platform, but Apple never had third-party screen readers
on MacOSX to begin with.
Conclusion
This article has shown why I, as a user of assistive technology, have not
turned from Mac to PC. I’ve discussed the accessibility of the Mac and Windows
operating systems, first-party apps, how the first-party screen readers have
advanced, and the outlook of the two companies regarding accessibility and
their screen readers. I hope this will help someone choose an operating system
to stick with, or an operating system to try.
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist WWW.David-Goldfield.Com
<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2FWWW.David-Goldfield.Com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C8fecdad8747c46831a7d08d5676da291%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636528642926289469&sdata=fCo10eZcl%2BaCxYgCPAxzJLKiyvd0COzr6zBCNO5oFjQ%3D&reserved=0>
