AppleVis - Recent Blog Posts - Monday, September 24, 2018 at 4:12 PM
The New Features, Changes, and Accessibility Bugs in macOS Mojave for Blind and
Low Vision Users
Welcome to Mojave
Today, Apple released macOS 10.14, named Mojave. As always, this is a free
upgrade for Macs that support it<https://support.apple.com/macos/mojave>. The
good news is that we haven't found any serious bugs in our testing, so if
you're running High Sierra already, you can probably upgrade without worrying
about running into problems with the new OS. The less-great news is that there
are no accessibility updates for us to talk about in Mojave. Much like iOS 12,
Apple seems to have put their resources into bug fixes and stability this year,
rather than making major changes. This is good, and I'm happy to see it.
Because there are no big changes in VoiceOver or Zoom, I'll focus on the
mainstream features instead. I'll explain each feature briefly, then note any
accessibility-specific details I, or the other testers on the AppleVis
Editorial Team, have discovered. For full details on the non-VoiceOver changes
in Mojave, I recommend Apple's Mojave overview
page<https://www.apple.com/macOS>.
The Migration Begins
At WWDC in June 2018, Apple announced a project set to be released in a year or
so. The goal is to allow developers to make apps that will work on both macOS
and iOS, with minimal work from the developer. Partly as test subjects, and
partly to introduce some much-needed productivity and utility to macOS, Apple
started testing this feature on apps they make in-house. Mojave introduces
News, Home, Voice Memos, and Stocks.
All four of these apps do what you'd expect, and act similar to their iOS
counterparts. With the cloud syncing all your preferences and information
(favorite stocks, news interests, and even Voice Memos recordings), each app
feels like you're using the app's service, not the app itself. Whether you're
on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone, you get the same information in a more-or-less
familiar layout. It's quite nice, and I find myself liking News on macOS more
than I like it on iOS in some ways. Think about how similar email is on either
platform, and you'll understand where I'm coming from. In either case, you have
lists of messages sorted into mailbox folders, and you can reply, forward,
delete, move, and so on. The Mac offers more keyboard shortcuts and a different
layout, but your mail and the actions it supports are the same.
Apple has started something similar with the migration of these apps. News, for
example, will still show you stories from the outlets and topics you've set up
on iOS, yet it does so in a somewhat more Mac-like manner. Rather than rotor
actions and buttons to like a story or manage channels, you have hotkeys and
dropdown menus. Instead of a list of stories broken up by headings, you get a
table of contents from which you can pick a topic or channel, then a list of
stories that fit your choice. Yet the whole experience is intuitive and easy.
Home--the other app I tested the most--has a similar feel. You can do
everything you can in the iOS version, though I didn't try adding an accessory
or making an automation. All the settings for all your homes will sync from
macOS to iOS and vice versa, and you can get and set the actions for any of
your devices. Yet, rather than tabs and rotor actions, you have a toolbar and
more dropdown menus.
The only odd thing we found in testing is that some iOS behaviors seem to have
followed these apps into Mac land. When you press vo-space, for instance, you
hear the sound VoiceOver on iOS makes when you double-tap. Also, text fields
sometimes have hints like, "press control, option, space to start editing", yet
no such action is needed before the field will accept keyboard input. These
small quirks don't get in the way, and I've even found that I really like the
double-tap sound when I vo-space. I hope it comes to the rest of macOS in the
future.
Desktop and Finder
There are a few changes here. I'll quickly list most of them without providing
much detail, as none of us were able to test these.
* Dynamic Desktop wallpapers let the wallpaper change to match the time of
day
* Stacks automatically uses file types, tags, and dates to make stacks of
files on your desktop, organizing them without you having to do any manual
sorting.
* Finder offers expanded options--from quick actions to basic file editing
for some file types--right in Quick Look. It also shows full metadata.
* You can customize the available actions, metadata, and other details of
the newly available views.
Gallery View
Now, the feature I did test, albeit relatively briefly: Gallery View. Visually,
this new Finder view puts a preview of one file at a time on the screen, with
file details below it. It's great for glancing over text files, PDFs, or
images, especially when paired with actions. So why did I put it in its own
section? I find it quite useful, believe it or not.
For VoiceOver users, Finder shows your current files, one at a time, as you
navigate them. You'll hear the name of the newly selected file when you move to
it, just as you always do in Finder. Movement is accomplished with left or
right arrow, though, not up or down as you might be used to.
Here's the cool part, though. When a file is selected, you can press vo-left to
land on the file's content. I use this with RTF documents, so I can interact
with and read the text of the current file without opening the file in another
app. If this is the file I want, I can press cmd-o to open it, else I can arrow
to another file and try again. If I vo-right from the file list, there's a
scroll area with file details--location, size, date, type, and so on. Finally,
there's a button (which currently has no VoiceOver label) that lets you access
the actions for the file. I haven't set those up yet.
Gallery View isn't something you'll use all the time. It has its place, though.
You can certainly make the argument that it's as many keystrokes to vo-arrow
and interact as it is to press cmd-i or use the Quick Look feature. Certainly,
Quick Look wins if you're reviewing audio files, as it plays them automatically
while Gallery view does not. Yet, Gallery View requires only basic VO commands,
with no need to remember extra keystrokes or take your fingers away from where
they are while you're using VoiceOver's navigation. I also suspect that
low-vision users might find Gallery to be a useful option, though none of us
using the Mojave betas have enough sight to test my theory.
Hello, Darkness
Dark Mode has finally arrived on the Mac. While VoiceOver users may not care
about what their screens look like, some low vision users will definitely enjoy
this addition. Head to System Preferences > General to turn it on.
Dark Mode does what it says on the box: it darkens things. It doesn't turn
screen brightness down, but rather makes backgrounds dark instead of white and
adjusts the color of text accordingly. This can cut down on glare, making
things easier to see for many users. I can only see the light on my screen, not
what it's doing or any detail at all, but I've kept Dark Mode enabled the
entire time I've tested Mojave. Why? It's dim enough that the glaring light of
my screen is reduced, yet I can keep the screen on for when others need to look
at it.
Other Changes
Mojave includes a lot of good features, but none that impact VoiceOver
directly, to the best of our knowledge. I'll run through most of these below,
but I again point you to Apple's website or other write-ups and articles for
full information.
* Continuity Camera lets you request a photo on your Mac, take it on your
iPhone when it automatically opens the Camera app, then have the photo appear
on the Mac
* Safari lets you use website icons on tabs, block trackers more
aggressively than ever, and more easily use strong passwords it can
auto-generate
* Siri has more abilities, including control over HomeKit devices, locating
saved passwords, and "knowledge" of food, celebrities, and motorsports,
according to Apple's website
Bugs
Now the bit we all hate: the problems. Mojave, like iOS 12, has relatively few
new accessibility bugs to speak of. Plus, we found no serious bugs, as already
mentioned. Here are the Mojave-specific bugs we were able to find. If you
encounter any not on this list, and which haven't been present since before
Mojave, please let us know in the comments.
* VoiceOver's reading of Wikipedia articles in the built-in Dictionary app
is unreliable
* VoiceOver may announce “System Preferences has new window,” when
navigating certain preference panes
* when going back a page in Safari, VoiceOver's focus does not always land
on the point of the returned-to page from which you left
* when sending a message in Mail, VoiceOver speaks "send again" rather than
"send," since the menu item for this action has the wrong text
* in Safari's address bar, VoiceOver may speak the character to the left of
a character just erased, rather than the removed character itself
* Apps ported from iOS have small oddities, like playing the double-tap
sound when vo-space is pressed
* there may be navigation problems in the App Store
* The TouchBar can, on rare occasions, act as though VoiceOver is not
running, responding instantly to touches
* Finder's Gallery view has a menu button for file actions. This button
lacks a label for VoiceOver and is spoken as "button," not even "menu button"
as it should be
Overall…
Mojave is a solid update. Its focus is stability and bug fixes, but it still
manages to offer HomeKit control; Dark Mode; Gallery View; and a slew of other
features and improvements. We can't think of any major bugs for VoiceOver
users, and we encountered no show-stopping bugs elsewhere in this version of
macOS. Our recommendation is to update when you're ready. You may want to give
others some time to find the bugs or other problems we missed, but most users
should be okay to pull the trigger now.
Let us know what you think of Mojave once you get it. If there are features,
bugs, or other notes you feel should be included in this article, please leave
a comment!
https://www.applevis.com/blog/macos-news/new-features-changes-and-accessibility-bugs-macos-mojave-blind-and-low-vision-users
David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info<http://WWW.DavidGoldfield.info>
