Category: GTT New Westminster

GTT New Westminster Meeting Summary Notes, JAWS and NVDA OCR, November 28, 2018 with Link to Podcast Episode

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

New Westminster Meeting

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

in partnership with

Blind Beginnings

Vancouver Community College

And

Canadian Assistive Technology

Summary Notes

November 28, 2018

Theme: JAWS and NVDA OCR Link to Podcast Recording

Presenters: Matthew Alvernaz, matalvernaz@me.com and Albert Ruel, Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net

Apps Demonstrated and Discussed:

This is an older recording from November 2018 that we thought could still assist those who are struggling to access PDF and other graphical images from their PCs.

Matthew Alvernaz and Albert Ruel demonstrated the use of the JAWS Layered Keystrokes to scan and read printed documents, convert PDF files to text, and how to access some graphics on the computer screen.  These features have been available to JAWS users since version 14.

NVDA OCR features were also discussed and demonstrated by Matthew.  NVDA may work better at this task with the OCR Add-on installed in order to provide access to PDF files with the keystroke NVDA/Insert R.

 

NVDA Download Page:

NVDA OCR Download Page: Important: if you are using NVDA 2017.3 or later on Windows 10, please consider using buit-in Windows 10 OCR.

Performs optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from an object which is inaccessible. The Tesseract OCR engine is used. To perform OCR, move to the object in question using object navigation and press NVDA+r. You can set the OCR recognition language by going to the NVDA settings panel and selecting

JAWS For Windows Download Page:

JAWS Layered Keystrokes for OCR: Layered keystrokes are keystrokes that require you to first press and release INSERT+SPACEBAR, and then press a different key to perform a function in JAWS. Layered keystrokes are easy to use and remember, and they do not interfere with native keystrokes within applications.

Kurzweil Scan and Read for PDF Conversion: Kurzweil 1000 combines traditional reading machine technologies such as scanning, image processing, and text-to-speech with communication and productivity tools.

Openbook Scan and Read for PDF Conversion: OpenBook converts printed documents or graphic-based text into an electronic text format on your PC, using high-quality speech and the latest optical character recognition (OCR) technology. OpenBook is innovative software designed to enhance success for people who are blind or have low vision who need access to printed and electronic materials. OpenBook and the PEARL document camera create a complete scanning and reading system for work, home, and school.

For more information please contact your GTT Coordinators:

 

Albert Ruel                   or                             Kim Kilpatrick

1-877-304-0968,550                                    1-877-304-0968,513

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net                   GTTProgram@Gmail.com

 

CCB Backgrounder:

 

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments.  CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

 

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues.  For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

 

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON  K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: www.ccbnational.net

 

GTT New Westminster Meeting Summary Notes, Library and Reading Apps for iOS, November 27, 2019

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

New Westminster Meeting

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

in partnership with

Blind Beginnings

Vancouver Community College

And

Canadian Assistive Technology

Summary Notes

November 27, 2019

Theme: Library and Reading Apps for iOS

Presenters: Ryan Fleury, Ryan@CanAssTech.com and Albert Ruel, Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net

Apps Demonstrated and Discussed:

Voice Dream Reader/Writer Download from the AppStore.

4 Apps in This Bundle

Voice Dream Reader: demonstrated how to download audiobooks from Dropbox, the Files App and CELA Library.

Voice Dream Writer: demonstrated how to create documents and save them to VDR and how to use it for following an agenda during meetings.

Voice Dream Scanner: not demonstrated, however mentioned in terms of scanning on the fly or downloading from previously scanned documents.

Voice Pack: US English

Safari Browser, CELA Search and Favourites: demonstrated how to search for and download audiobooks to iOS devices, and how to set the CELA Library to the Favourites list.

CELA Library, Daisy Zipped and Direct To Player: demonstrated how to search for and send audiobooks to the Direct To Player bookshelf.

Dolphin EasyReader, CELA Library Direct To Player Download from the AppStore: demonstrated how to download Direct To Player audiobooks to this app from the CELA Library website.

Reading app for Dyslexia & VI by Dolphin Computer Access Ltd

Audible.ca/com: demonstrated how to use the app to listen to purchased audiobooks from the user’s Library.

Google Play Books download from the AppStore: demonstrated how to use the app to listen to purchased audiobooks from the user’s Library.

Other Audiobook Listening Apps Mentioned:

Amazon Speakers

Google Speakers

Overdrive

Cloud Library

Hoopla

Libby

Kindle

iBooks/Apple Books App

 

For more information please contact your GTT Coordinators:

 

Albert Ruel                   or                             Kim Kilpatrick

1-877-304-0968,550                                    1-877-304-0968,513

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net                   GTTProgram@Gmail.com

 

CCB Backgrounder:

 

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments.  CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

 

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues.  For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

 

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON  K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: www.ccbnational.net

 

GTT New Westminster Summary Notes, Reader View on PC, Mac and iOS Browsers, September 25, 2019

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

New Westminster Meeting

 

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

in partnership with

Blind Beginnings

Vancouver Community College

And

Canadian Assistive Technology

Summary Notes

 

September 25, 2019

How to use Reader View on the Mac, PC, iOS and Android Browsers

What is Reader/Simplified View, and why does anyone want to explore it?  Here’s an article that might explain it, followed by a link to the CCB Podcast and text instructions on how to use it in your favourite, or soon to be favourite browser.

 

Reader View

First posted on July 12, 2018 by Rob Tomlinson

“Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s dictum that “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” can be re-deployed most helpfully when discussing Reader View, a topic that touches on web page design and browser behaviour.”…

 

Find the CCB Podcast of this event at the link below:

09 GTT New Westminster, Reader View in iOS, Nac and PC Browsers, September 25, 2019:

 

PC Browsers:

 

Simplified View for Google Chrome on the PC:

Google Chrome Download Page;

  1. type this into a new tab in Google Chrome

chrome://flags/#enable-reader-mode

press enter.

  1. A Chrome settings page comes up that you can navigate using headings.
  2. Press the letter H until you get to reading mode.
  3. There is a combo box that shows that reader mode is disabled.
  4. Press enter to go into forms mode if using Jaws.
  5. Press the down arrow to get to enabled and press enter.
  6. Go to the bottom of the page with control end and there is a restart chrome button, and Press enter.
  7. Now visit a page that has news stories such as this article from the Victoria Times Colonist,
  8. You can try down arrowing through the page and see all the links, controls and advertisements on the page.
  9. Press the Alt Key to bring up a menu and either up or down arrow to “Toggle distilled page contents” and press enter.
  10. you will hear your screen reader say, “Simplified View”.
  11. Now what you have is the news article in its entirety without the ads and other controls.
  12. To get the page back to normal view, repeat step 11 and press Enter.
  13. Press the Escape Key to close the menu.

 

Reader View for Firefox on the PC:

Reader View is a Firefox feature that strips away clutter like buttons, ads and background images, and changes the page’s text size, contrast and layout for better readability.

Mozilla Firefox Download Page;

  1. Open Firefox and enter the address of the page you want to visit, let’s use the Victoria Times Colonist article again.
  2. Examine the page with down and up arrow keys to see that it is cluttered with links, controls and advertisements.
  3. Press the f9 key to enable reader view.
  4. If nothing happens then reader view is not available for the current page.
  5. If reader view is available, the page loads and is clutter free.

 

Mac Browsers:

 

Reader View for Safari on the Mac:

Safari Browser for the Mac Download Page;

To display an article in Reader on the Mac, do the following:

  1. Click the Safari icon on the Dock or Launchpad.
  2. Type in the URL for the website you want to visit.

For example, you might visit The New Yorker at www.newyorker.com.

  1. Click the article you want to read. You see the article with various advertisements, banners, photos, links, and so on.
  2. Click the Reader button, or press Command+Shift+R.
  3. If the article runs over several pages, Reader displays it as one continuous page so you need only scroll down, not click from one page to the next.
  4. If you need to adjust the size of the text, click the type buttons (the two A’s) in the upper-left corner.
  5. To exit Reader, click the Reader button, or press the Esc key to exit Reader and return to the normal Safari view of the article. Click the Back button to return to the original site.
  6. In both Reader and normal Safari view, press ⌘+= or ⌘+– to zoom in or out on the text. If you have a Magic Mouse or Trackpad or a MacBook that recognizes multi-touch gestures, you can also pinch in or out to zoom.

 

iOS 12.4 Browsers:

Sadly, we could find nothing to say there is a Reader or Simplified View for the Google Chrome Browser for iOS.

 

Reader View for Safari Browser on iOS:

How to enable Reader View in Safari in iOS 12.4:

  1. Launch Safarifrom your Home screen.
  2. Navigate to the website you’d like to read.
  3. Tap the Reader button on the left of the address bar. It looks like a series of stacked lines.
  4. If the Reader button doesn’t appear it means the page isn’t able to be simplified.

 

Reader View for Mozilla Firefox Browser in iOS 12.4:

Mozilla Firefox Download Page on the App Store for iPad and iPhone;

How to enable Reader View in Firefox on iOS:

  1. Launch Firefox from your Home screen.
  2. Navigate to the website you’d like to read.
  3. Tap the Reader button on the right of the address bar. It looks like a series of stacked lines.
  4. Double Tap it again to turn it off when you want access to more of the page.
  5. If the Reader button doesn’t appear it means the page isn’t able to be simplified.

 

Reader View for Microsoft Edge in iOS 12.4:

Microsoft Edge Download for iPad and iPhone;

How to enable Reader View in Microsoft Edge on iOS:

  1. Launch Edge from your Home screen.
  2. Navigate to the website you’d like to read.
  3. Tap the Reader Mode button on the right of the address bar. It looks like a book that is open.
  4. Double Tap the Done button to turn it off when you want access to more of the page.
  5. If the Reader Mode button doesn’t appear it means the page isn’t able to be simplified.

 

Android Browsers:

Simplified View for Google Chrome on Android:

Google Chrome Browser Download from the Google Play Store;

How to Enable Reader Mode in Chrome for Android?

  1. Open Chromeon your Android smartphone or tablet and type

chrome://flags

in the address/search bar and hit enter. The Chrome Flags page will open up.

  1. Hit the three dot button inthe top right corner and tap “Find in page “.
  2. Once enabled, you will see a “Make page mobile-friendly” button at the end of the webpage.

 

For more information please contact your GTT Coordinators:

 

Albert Ruel                   or                        Kim Kilpatrick

1-877-304-0968,550                               1-877-304-0968,513

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net                GTTProgram@Gmail.com

 

CCB Backgrounder:

 

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments.  CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

 

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues.  For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

 

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON  K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: www.ccbnational.net

 

 

 

GTT New Westminster Summary Notes, Soundscape, August 28, 2019

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

New Westminster Meeting

 

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

in partnership with

Blind Beginnings

Vancouver Community College

And

Canadian Assistive Technology

Summary Notes

 

August 28, 2019

Find the CCB Podcast of this event at the link below:

07 GTT New Westminster, Soundscape, August 28, 2019:

 

Microsoft Soundscape

A map delivered in 3D sound by Microsoft Corporation

 

Microsoft Soundscape was recently released in Canada in both official languages, Canadian French and English.  You can download Soundscape free for iOS from the App Store here.

 

Presenting over the Zoom Conference to the GTT New Westminster group were Amos Miller, the Product Manager for Microsoft Soundscape Research in Redmond WA, and Jarnail Chudge, a technology designer and user experience expert on the team.

 

Microsoft Soundscape uses 3D audio technology to enhance your awareness of what is around you, and thereby help you get around and explore your surroundings.

 

 

Soundscape will place audio cues and labels in 3D space such that they sound like they are coming from the direction of the points of interest, parks,

roads and other features in your surroundings.

 

You will need a pair of stereo headsets that you feel comfortable wearing outdoors. For example, bone conduction headsets, Apple AirPods and in-ear open

headphones have proven to work well.

 

Soundscape is designed to live in the background and provide you with effortless ambient awareness. Therefore, feel free to use it in conjunction with

other apps such as podcasts, audio books, email and even GPS navigation.

 

Key features:

 

– As you walk, Soundscape will automatically call out the key points of interest, roads and intersections that you pass. These can be adjusted and turned on and off.

 

– An audio beacon can be placed on a point of interest, and you will hear it as you move around. You can place an audio beacon on a point of interest that you would like to track such as your destination, a point to return to or a landmark you are familiar with.

 

– “My Location” describes your current location and the direction you are facing.

 

– “Nearby Markers” describes nearby places you have marked.

 

– “Around Me” describes nearby points of interest in each of the four cardinal directions, helping with orientation. Try this out when getting off a bus or leaving a train station.

 

– “Ahead of Me” describes points of interest in front of you, for example when walking down the street.

 

– The expandable Callout History section lets you review callouts you have heard, repeat callouts, hear more information about them, and more.

 

We hope you enjoy the experience. We believe that this kind of technology offers a new way to relate to the environment around you and we can’t wait to hear what you make of it.

 

If at any time you have any questions about Soundscape, please refer to the Help & Tutorials section available on the main menu or if you require further help then you can contact the Disability Answer Desk on

1-800-936-5900 which is a free of charge service.

 

This work started out in 2010/2011 when Amos was still in the UK. He was involved with the local guide dog organization there, and working with them to try and figure out how technology can integrate into our own independence and mobility when we’re out and about, but in a way that enhances that experience. Some people from Microsoft started working with mobility instructors, and guide dog and cane users. We explored a range of ideas long before we figured out how to solve the problem. We landed on this notion of how important it is to enhance the awareness, but not tell the person what to do in that space. A lot of what orientation and mobility trainers will do with us is to work on a specific route, but especially how to perceive the environment, how we read the cues that the environment is giving us from a sound perspective, echo location, traffic noise, direction of the wind, the tactile feeling of the ground: all of the signals we can get from the environment in order to orient, and make good navigational decisions. The work that we did with Guide Dogs in the early days of Soundscape was really to see how we can build on that. The idea of sound playing a big role in the perception of the space, was really how this idea evolved. Soundscape as an ap, is the first incarnation of that idea.

 

The ap is free, and available from the Ap Store. It does rely on map data, and so it does need to be able to access that data. For the most part, it will download the necessary data from the environment that you’re in, and from that point forward it’s not using data. So it’s not constantly drawing on your data plan, but it does require one. We’ve tried to optimize it so that the data usage is minimal, and in certain situations, it will also work in areas where there is no data.

 

Bose frames are a very good way to get the stereo effect, as are Bone conducting headphones. EarPods or standard headphones will work, but they will block your ears to ambient sound. Putting it in one ear to keep the other ear free won’t be effective because you won’t get the signature 3D effect. Amos said that he personally likes EarPods because of their sound quality, and it’s possible to insert them lightly into the ear and still have ambient sound. Some sports headphones are a good solution too, Plantronics for example. This type of headphone rests around the back of your neck, and clips over the ear. They sit in front of the ear canal without blocking it. They’re used commonly by runners and cyclists.

 

Users can email

soundscapefeed@microsoft.com

and that comes to the Microsoft Soundscape team. There is also a feedback button in the ap itself.

 

For more information please contact your GTT Coordinators:

 

Albert Ruel                   or                       Kim Kilpatrick

1-877-304-0968,550                               1-877-304-0968,513

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net                GTTProgram@Gmail.com

 

CCB Backgrounder:

 

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments.  CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

 

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues.  For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

 

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON  K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: www.ccbnational.net

 

 

 

GTT New Westminster Summary Notes, Web Browsing with PC Screen Readers, June 26, 2019

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

New Westminster Meeting

 

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

in partnership with

Blind Beginnings

And

Vancouver Community College

 

Summary Notes

June 26, 2019

 

Find the CCB Podcast of this event at the link below:

04 GTT New Westminster, Web Browsing with PC Screen Readers, June 26, 2019:

 

Windows 10 Shortcut Keys:

 

JAWS Keyboard Commands:

 

NVDA Keyboard Commands:

 

Narrator Keyboard Commands:

 

Google Chrome Shortcut Keys:

 

Firefox Shortcut Keys:

 

General Windows, Mac, MS Office Shortcut Keys:

 

On June 26, 2019 Ryan Fleury and Albert Ruel presented some favourite shortcut keys to the GTT New Westminster group based on the below list.

Ryan’s frequently used Windows keyboard commands:

Insert W application hot keys

Insert h jaws hot key info for application

Windows x works like a mini start menu

Windows I quickly jump to windows settings

Windows r opens the run dialogue

Insert spacebar h brings up jaws speech history

Windows E opens windows/file explorer

Windows D to go to desktop

 

 

Albert’s frequently used Windows keyboard commands:

Insert T, Task Bar

Insert F, Font attributes in JAWS

Insert B, read the pop up window

Control Z, undo

Insert number row 1, keyboard help toggle

Control X, C and V, Cut, copy and paste

Control B, U and I, bold, underline and italic

Windows B, System Tray

 

For more information please contact your GTT Coordinators:

 

Albert Ruel                   or                       Kim Kilpatrick

1-877-304-0968,550                               1-877-304-0968,513

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net                GTTProgram@Gmail.com

 

CCB Backgrounder:

 

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments.  CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

 

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues.  For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

 

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON  K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: www.ccbnational.net

 

 

 

GTT New Westminster and Vancouver Summary Notes, Bluetooth Keyboards, February 20 and March 3, 2018

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

New Westminster and Vancouver Meetings

 

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

in partnership with

Blind Beginnings and

Vancouver Community College

 

Summary Notes

February 20 in New Westminster and March 3 in Vancouver, 2018

 

Attendance at both meetings totaled 17

 

Summary Notes on Bluetooth keyboards

 

John Ogilvie lead both discussions:

There are Bluetooth keyboards available for the IPhone and IPad.  Some are smaller and fold in half, and others are larger.

Using the keyboard, means you don’t have to use the touch screen and gestures

There are various keyboards which are slightly different

Quick Nav – left and right arrow together puts you in or out of this mode

When we are writing we turn it off, but when we’re reading we turn it on.

Swiping left and right with quicknav on is just using your arrow keys

To get to the top of the screen – control up arrow, or control down arrow to get to the bottom

When it says actions available you can use your up and down arrows to hear what options there are

Double tap on the keyboard is up and down arrow together

Hitting 2 takes you to level 2 headings

Option key with left or right arrow is to go back one word or forward one word – when writing

Command key is like the control key on a PC

Keyboard help allows you to touch any key on the keyboard to figure out where the keys are.

Control option K turns on the keyboard help

To exit keyboard help press Escape

Control option A is read from where your cursor is onwards

Mail

Control up arrow to top of mail

Right arrow will take you through each of your messages

Hit control to stop it from reading

Attachments are always at the bottom of the Emails and you can get there by doing a control down arrow

Up and down arrow together to select or open

Hold down an arrow can skip you forward or back quickly

Roter on the keyboard is up arrow with left arrow, or up arrow with eright arrow and then just arrow up or down to read.

When you are going through the list of your Emails you will hear actions available.  When you hear actions available you arrow up and down to hear the options.  Select more to get to reply

 

When you are moving your arrow to the right it puts your cursor to the right of the character, and when you are arrowing left, it puts your cursor to the left of the character

Option left and right brings you from one screen to the next

Skype

Works similarily to navigate around

Search button on the keyboard – type in what you are searching for

Use QuickNav to look through the options to find the one you want and select it with up and down arrow together

 

next meeting: March 20, 2018

Facebook – using the GTT group

 

For more information about GTT contact:

Shawn Marsolais                  Albert Ruel

Shawn@BlindBeginnings.ca         Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net

604-434-7243                        1-877-304-0968 Ext. 550

 

GTT New Westminster and Vancouver Overview

  • GTT New Westminster/ Vancouver is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT New Westminster and Vancouver promote a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

 

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians.  To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

 

[End of Document]

 

CCB-GTT New Westminster Summary Notes, Using the Safari Web Browser on iDevices, April 19, 2017

Get Together with Technology (GTT)
New Westminster Meeting

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind in partnership with Blind Beginnings

Summary Notes
April 19, 2017

Present: Shawn, Albert, Peg, Mary, John, Carol, Pat, Fay, Louise and Kiyo

Safari is the native Web browser on iPhones/iPads/iPods and Mac computers.
A web browser is used for accessing web pages on the Internet.
It is the Apple equivalent to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
You can download Firefox or Google Chrome on your iDevice but Safari will always be the default browser.
Unlike with the Microsoft Windows platform, you can’t change the default web browser on iDevices.
The Safari icon is usually found in the Doc at the bottom of your phone, however it can be moved to other locations on the Home Screen.
When you open/launch Safari it will open to the last site you visited, not a default homepage like can be established in PC web browsers.
To type/dictate a new web site or a search string you will find the Address bar at the top of the page, and you can conduct a one finger double tap to bring focus to it.
Once you are focussed on the Address Bar you can type/dictate the direct address of the site you want to visit, or you can type/dictate key words to conduct a web search.
Once you type/dictate the relevant text, conduct a one finger double tap on the “Go or Search” icon in the bottom right corner of the device to activate the search.
If you want to copy the URL of the web page you are on, conduct a one finger double tap on the Address Bar and the text contained therein will be highlighted. Activate the Share Button on the Safari Doc and one finger swipe right to find the Copy Button, then one finger double Tap it and a copy of the URL will be moved to the clipboard ready for pasting where ever you need it.

Gestures:

One Finger Double Tap;
The one finger double tap activates/launches/selects/opens items.
To activate the Play Button in any audio player or on YouTube you must conduct a one finger double tap on the button. Once the audio is playing the Magic Tap will pause/resume playing. If ever you find that music or your audio book starts playing without you tapping the relevant button, you may have accidently conducted a Magic Tap, so repeat the action and it will pause the audio again.
To activate an Edit Field you must conduct a one finger double tap, then you will be able to type/dictate.
When VoiceOver says that Actions are available it means you have options and you can flick up and down with one finger to hear the options.

Magic Tap;
The Two finger double tap is called the “Magic Tap” because you can use it for many things including dictating, turning off or on music or audio books, or answering or hanging up a phone.
You must be in the edit field and in edit mode in order for the two finger double tap gesture to open the microphone so that you can dictate.
You must be outside of the edit fields in order to have the two finger double tap answer/hang-up the phone or play/pause audio.

Siri/Dictation;
Siri and dictation are related, but not the same. Siri gives you very little time to dictate your request/instructions before she thinks you are finished, and Dictation allows you time to stop and think during dictation.

Rotor;
Activate the Rotor by placing two fingers on the screen and turning them as if you were turning a radio knob. Ensure your fingers aren’t too close together or it will think it is just one finger.
Use your rotor to select characters, words, lines, headings, links, etc.
Once a Rotor item is selected, the one finger flick up and down moves the focus point forward or back by the selected movement unit, like, characters, words, lines, headings, links, etc.
Once you land on an actionable item the one finger double tap will activate/select the item.
The one finger flick up takes the focus to the beginning of the character/word/line, and the one finger flick down takes the focus to the back of the character/word/line. This is important for Back Spacing over text you want to delete.

Two finger flick up or down;
The Two finger flick down will start VoiceOver reading from where the focus is.
The Two finger flick up will send the cursor to the top of the screen/page and start VoiceOver reading from there.

Google Operators:
Put quotation marks around multiple words that should appear in specific order that you are looking for, for example, “Joe Bloe” so that only Joe Bloe will show up in the results. Otherwise, all the Joe’s and all the Bloe’s will show up.
Add a plus sign after the search string to add two things together in a search term, for example if you are looking for Joe Bloe in Vancouver you would do the following:
“Joe Bloe” +Vancouver
You can also use a minus symbol to exclude something in a search term, for example, if you are looking for Joe Bloe and don’t want the Vancouver one to show up you would replace the above + sign with a minus sign, and all Joe Bloe’s outside of Vancouver should appear.
If your initial search term is too generic you may get too many results, so try to be really specific in your search terms.

Two finger scrub;
At the top left corner is a back button that takes you back to the screen you were at before, including lists of email messages, Contact profiles, web pages or Twitter/Facebook posts.
The Two finger scrub like the print letter Z done quickly is attached to the Back Button and will also usually take you back to the screen you were on before.

Saving Favourites;
You can save a site to your favourites by selecting the Share Button on the Safari Doc at the bottom of all web pages you will visit. It is found just above the home button at the bottom of the screen.
Swiping through the list of options you will find several actionable items including air drop which allows you to share with someone in the room who also has an iDevice, message – allows you to send the link to the site to somebody else through text, mail – allows you to Email somebody the link, notes allows you to save it in a note, Twitter/Facebook – allows you to post to those social media sites, add to favourites – allows you to include that page to a list of your favourites, add bookmark – sets a bookmark in the Bookmarks list, add to reading list – allows you to access it without being on the Internet, add to home screen – allows you to save it to your home screen as an icon.
In the above list you can double tap on Add to Home Screen, and that will allow you to edit the name before flicking left to double tap on the Add/Save Button and it will be saved to your Home Screen for easy access to that web page.

PC Web Browsing:
Hold down the Alt and type the letter D to bring focus to the Address Bar in Firefox or Internet Explorer. When you land there the URL for that web page is selected, so just hold down the Control key and type the letter C to copy it to the clipboard for pasting in a document or email message.

Possible topics for future meetings that resulted from this talk:
Rotor on iDevices,
Tips for searching in a browser,
Gestures with voiceover,
How to set up your home screens,
Text editing – copying, cutting and pasting.

Topic for the May 17 meeting will be rotor and gestures with VoiceOver.
Albert will check if we can designate a donation to our public library for CELA.

Respectfully submitted by Shawn Marsolais and Albert Ruel

GTT New Westminster and Vancouver Summary Notes, Making TV Accessible, February 15 and March 4, 2017

Get Together with Technology (GTT)
New Westminster and Vancouver Meetings

Sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind in partnership with Blind Beginnings

Summary Notes
Feb. 15 and March 4, 2017

Making TV Accessible

Feb 15 in New Westminster:
Present: Albert, Matthew, Ryan, Fay, Carol, John, Bill, Karim, Pat.
March 4 in Vancouver:
Present: Sean H, Ryan, Monty, Rita, Betty, Maria, John

Starting out with TV in general:
• Antenna or cable was the traditional way, but now you can access TV over digital, the internet, or satellite.
• IP TV is internet protocol television.
• Something like YouTube or Netflics uses an application to stream video from the internet.
• IP TV is similar in that it uses an app to access a server that broadcasts traditional live TV channels (CTV, CBC, Global, etc.).
• You need to subscribe to the service, and get some hardware like ChromeCast, Apple TV or the xBox.

How accessible is it:

• AE-BC internet corp is the only one Monty knows of, in terms of IP TV provider
• The are an internet service provider.
• They buy their bandwidth in bulk from bigger companies, so you are using the same infrastructure, but when you phone up customer service, you are talking to AE-BC.
• Internet plans are potentially cheaper, unlimited downloads as well.
• So you need the internet to have IP TV service.

So how do we watch it:

• They can sell you an Android cypher bar, which is a small Android box that plugs into the wall, and into your tv through HDMI, and it has USB inputs and a couple different audio outputs.
• It is about six inches by two inches, almost the size of a small braille display.
• Last year that box was the main option, it cost 200 dollars, and you had to buy it.
• Monty found that he could use talkback, the android accessible screen reader that is built in to the box.
• It did not work one hundred percent, but it was a partially talking set top box.
• The iPhone app was not 100 percent accessible either, but Monty was able to move up and down the navigation menu and choose the channel he was looking for, and he was able to toggle descriptive video on and off (however, the descriptive video was not working on shows he knew it was available on), so that was one drawback. He was also not able to get descriptive video on the iOS app.
• So you get the basic 40 local channels for free, and they allow you to bundle extra channels just like shaw and Telus.
• So that concludes the description of live TV over the internet.
• Participants gave information on Shaw Free Range TV, which is a similar internet TV service that is offered to shaw customers.

Moving on to Apple TV:

• It is a box you hook up to your TV with Voiceover – you can use Netflicks, Show Me, Crave TV, – has its own App store.
• Apple TV can only get info from the Internet – not from your regular cable TV. All cable TV menus are still not accessible.
• There is a device you can use to connect the Apple TV to your stereo to allow you to access the audio of the Apple TV programming.
• Google also makes the ChromeCast – is cheaper and everything is done through your smart phone.
• Shaw cable is starting to offer the ChromeCasts service in the Vancouver and Calgary areas, and are planning to go nationwide with it soon.
• Siri is available on the new Apple TV as well.
• You can ask Siri to go find a movie on NetFlics or iTunes or a song on YouTube.
• You can set triple click to turn off and on Voiceover on the Apple TV.
• You can turn on audio description so that any program you play that has audio-description will play automatically.
• You can use a Bluetooth keyboard instead of the apple TV remote.
• Price ranges from $150 – $250 depending on the amount of storage you want, 32, 64 or 128 GB.

Microsoft Xbox:

• Xbox also allows you to use Narrator to access Netflicks etc.

Tutorial Podcasts:

• Podcast providers like CoolBlindTech.com and David Woodbridge offer many opportunities to learn about the many apps and devices available.

Tell Me More TV:

• Another subscription service that is currently available is Tell Me More – everything is in described TV – like AMI for $7 per month – watch on Internet. They are working on an app
• Use the PromoCode Tellmemore17 and you’ll get $25 percent off

Topic for the next New Westminster meeting, March 15 will be GPS:

• We will play a podcast on Nearby Explorer.

The topic for April Vancouver and New Westminster meetings:

• Dropbox will be the focus, both a lecture component and then a hands on signing up for and installing Dropbox component. Bring your laptop computer or smart phone so you can receive the support you need.