[vip_students] iOS Gestures
- From: "Dominique Farrell" <hollyandopal@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2016 17:36:54 +0100
What gestures are essential to operating VoiceOver?
VoiceOver includes a great many gestures. However, for basic usage, I would
say that the following are essential:
* one-finger swipe right/left: place a single finger on the screen,
and quickly move it left or right (left moves back by an element, right
moves forwards). For instance, put your finger on the home screen, on one of
your apps. Now put your finger back on the screen and flick right. You
should move to the next app on the screen. Flicking left will move you back
one app. This gesture is used to 'swipe' through popups, web pages, app
screens, and just about everywhere in iOS.
* Double tap: tap a single finger on the screen twice quickly. This
will action whatever item VoiceOver last spoke--remember that none of the
VoiceOver gestures require you to touch the part of the screen where what
you want is located, all gestures go off what VoiceOver last said. If you
hear VoiceOver reading something or making a soft sort of bouncy click (I'm
not sure how else to describe it), you did not tap quickly enough. To
register as a double tap, the second tap must occur within a quarter second
of the first. *Two finger tap: place two fingers on the screen and then
remove them--that's it. This stops speech, or restarts it if you had stopped
it with this gesture. Again, it does not matter where you put your fingers,
as long as there are two of them.
* Two-finger swipe up: this causes VoiceOver to begin reading
everything on the screen, starting from the top.
* Two-finger swipe down: this does the same thing as a two-finger
swipe up, but starts reading from VoiceOver's current position instead of
from the top.
* Two finger double tap: tap two fingers on the screen, then tap
them again within about half a second (this is known as a 'magic tap'). This
does a couple of things: if music is playing, it will play or pause the
music, even if the music is in the background. If you get a call, be it
cellular or FaceTime, this will answer the call, or hang it up when you are
done. Some apps, especially those by Facebook, will use this gesture as a
secondary way of interacting with content in the app.
* Three-finger swipes: use three finger swipes to scroll. Swiping
left will scroll right, up will scroll down, and so on. Think of it as using
three fingers to push what is currently on the screen out of the way and
pull new content into view. One-finger swipes will normally scroll
automatically as VoiceOver's focus moves from item to item, but manual
scrolling can be handy for moving through home screens, or in certain apps.
Here is a link to a comprehensive list of gestures and keyboard commands for
iOS
<http://axslab.com/articles/ios-voiceover-gestures-and-keyboard-commands.php
.
With the above gestures you can navigate and open apps, play music, and talk
on the phone. More advanced topics like typing, using the rotor, and so on
are not, in my judgement, essential for brand new users (though they are
extremely helpful).
Can I practice gestures without having them do anything, like a screen
reader's keyboard description mode?
Yes, VoiceOver provides a practice area for just this purpose, and you can
access it in two ways. The easiest is to double tap four fingers on the
screen; until you repeat the four-finger double tap, or perform a two-finger
scrub, anything you do on the screen will be described and will not initiate
any action on your device. The other way is to open Settings, then general,
then accessibility, then VoiceOver, then VoiceOver Practice. You will be
placed in a large area that takes up most of the screen. In this area, no
gesture will do anything, and you can tap, flick, pinch, or anything you
like. If a gesture does something, its description will be spoken within a
second of the gesture being performed. Gestures that do nothing will simply
have no description spoken. To exit this practice area, feel on the screen
until VoiceOver says "done button". Double tap and you will be returned to
the VoiceOver area of Settings.
What is a "split tap"?
A split tap accomplishes the exact same thing as a double tap (it activates
the most recent item spoken by VoiceOver). It is more convenient to perform,
though, especially when you are moving a finger around the screen instead of
swiping left or right.
To do it, move your finger to the item you want. Once VoiceOver speaks the
item, touch anywhere else on the screen with another finger, leaving the
first finger in place. For instance, to launch an app on your home screen,
move a finger around until you hear the name of the app you want. Instead of
double tapping, leave that finger where it is on the screen and touch
anywhere on the screen with another finger (I usually feel with my index
finger and then use my middle finger to tap, but what finger you use is
unimportant--it could even be a finger from the other hand).
Both split tapping and double tapping do the same thing, but it is often
more convenient to use one method over the other, and both methods are
always available.
Are there iOS gestures that I can't perform on a braille keyboard?
Yes, there are a few. You cannot currently perform a double tap and hold or
a two-finger double tap equivalent on the keyboard of a braille display.
How can I access the Notification or Control Center?
To access either of these, touch any item on the Status Bar, then place
three fingers on the screen and swipe down for the Notification Center, or
up for the Control center. You can also use one finger: touch the very top
or very bottom of your screen, in the exact center, and wait for two quick
tones. Once you hear them, drag your finger down or up (away from the edge
of the screen) and the Center you are after should appear.
To close either of these items, you simply perform a two-finger scrub, or
press escape on a bluetooth keyboard (space-b on a braille keyboard).
Other related posts:
- » [vip_students] iOS Gestures - Dominique Farrell
