Chapter 4
Taking Advantage of Accessibility Features
Get ready to . . .
Turn On and Work with AssistiveTouch
iPad users are all different; some face visual, dexterity, or hearing challenges. If you’re one of these folks, you’ll be glad to hear that iPad offers some handy accessibility features.
To make your screen easier to read, you can adjust the brightness or wallpaper. The Zoom feature lets you enlarge the screen even more than the standard unpinch gesture does. The black-and-white screen option even offers a black background with white lettering that some people find easier when reading text. You can also set up the VoiceOver feature to read onscreen elements out loud.
If hearing is your challenge, you can do the obvious and adjust the system volume. The iPad also has a setting for mono audio that’s useful when you’re wearing headphones. Rather than breaking up sounds in a stereo effect, this setting puts all the sound in each ear. If you have more trouble hearing in one ear than in the other, this option can help make sounds clearer. iPad uses the Speak Auto-text feature to tell you whenever text you enter in any iPad application is auto-corrected or capitalized.
Finally, you can set a larger text size for your iPad to bring text into better focus and turn on the AssistiveTouch Control Panel to help you with making gestures and choices if you struggle with the touchscreen interface.
Set Brightness
1. Especially when using iPad as an e-reader, you may find that a slightly less-bright screen reduces strain on your eyes. To begin, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. In the Settings dialog shown in Figure 4-1, tap Brightness & Wallpaper.
Figure 4-1
3. To control brightness manually, tap the Auto-Brightness On/Off button (refer to Figure 4-1) to turn off this feature.
4. Tap and drag the Brightness slider to the right to make the screen brighter, or to the left to make it dimmer.
5. Tap the Home button to close the Settings dialog.
If glare from the screen is a problem for you, consider getting a screen protector. This thin film not only protects your screen from damage but can also reduce glare.
In the iBooks e-reader app, you can set a sepia tone for the page, which might be easier on your eyes. See Chapter 10 for more about using iBooks.
Change the Wallpaper
1. The picture of water drops — the default iPad background image — may be pretty, but it may not be the one that works best for you. Choosing different wallpaper may help you to see all the icons on your Home screen. Start by tapping the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. In the Settings dialog, tap Brightness & Wallpaper.
3. In the Brightness & Wallpaper settings that appear, tap the arrow to the right of the iPad images displayed in the Wallpaper section (refer to Figure 4-1) and then tap Wallpaper.
4. The wallpaper options shown in Figure 4-2 appear. Tap one to select it.
5. In the preview that appears (see Figure 4-3), tap either Set Lock Screen (the screen that appears when you lock the iPad by tapping the power button), Set Home Screen, or Set Both.
6. Tap the Home button to return to your Home screen with the new wallpaper set as the background.
Figure 4-2
Figure 4-3
Turn On Zoom
1. The Zoom feature enlarges the contents displayed on the iPad screen when you double-tap the screen with three fingers. Tap the Settings icon on the Home screen and then tap General. In the General settings, tap Accessibility. The Accessibility pane, shown in Figure 4-4, appears.
Figure 4-4
2. Tap Zoom (refer to Figure 4-4).
3. In the Zoom pane shown in Figure 4-5, tap the Zoom On/Off button to turn on the feature.
Figure 4-5
4. Go to a website (www.ipadmadeclear.com, for example) and double-tap the screen using three fingers; it enlarges.
5. Press three fingers on the screen and drag to move around it.
6. Double-tap with three fingers again to go back to regular magnification.
7. Tap the Home button to close Settings.
The Zoom feature works almost everywhere in iPad: in Photos, on web pages, in your Mail, in Music and Video — give it a try!
Turn on White on Black
1. The White on Black accessibility setting reverses colors on your screen so that backgrounds are black and text is white. To turn on this feature, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. Tap General and then tap Accessibility.
3. In the Accessibility dialog, tap the White on Black On/Off button to turn on this feature (see Figure 4-6).
Figure 4-6
4. The colors on the screen reverse. Tap the Home button to leave Settings.
The White on Black feature works well in some places and not so well in others. For example, in the Photos application, pictures appear almost as photo negatives. Your Home screen image will likewise look a bit strange. And, don’t even think of playing a video with this feature turned on! However, if you need help reading text, White on Black can be useful in several applications.
Set Up VoiceOver
1. VoiceOver reads the names of screen elements and settings to you, but it also changes the way you provide input to the iPad. In Notes, for example, you can have VoiceOver read the name of the Notes buttons to you and, when you enter notes, it will read words or characters you’ve entered. It can also tell you whether features such as AutoCorrect are on. To turn on this feature, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen. Tap General and then Accessibility.
2. In the Accessibility pane shown in Figure 4-7, tap the VoiceOver button.
3. In the VoiceOver pane shown in Figure 4-8, tap the VoiceOver On/Off button at the top to turn on this feature. You see a dialog noting that turning on VoiceOver changes gestures that you use to interact with the iPad. Tap OK once to select the button, and then tap OK twice to proceed. With VoiceOver on you must first single-tap to select an item such as a button, which causes VoiceOver to read the name of the button to you. Then you double-tap the button to activate its function. (VoiceOver reminds you about this if you turn on Speak Hints, which is helpful when you first use VoiceOver but soon becomes annoying.)
Figure 4-7
Figure 4-8
4. Tap the VoiceOver Practice button to select it, and then double-tap the button to open VoiceOver Practice. (This is the new method of tapping that VoiceOver activates). Practice using gestures such as pinching or flicking left and VoiceOver tells you what action each gesture initiates.
5. Tap the Done button and then double-tap it to return to the VoiceOver dialog. Tap the Speak Hints field and VoiceOver speaks the name of the item. Double-tap the slider to turn off Speak Hints.
6. If you want VoiceOver to read words or characters to you (for example, in the Notes app), double-tap Typing Feedback.
7. In the Typing Feedback dialog, tap to select the option you prefer. The Words option causes VoiceOver to read words to you, but not characters, such as “dollar sign” ($). The Characters and Words option causes VoiceOver to read both.
8. Tap the Home button to return to the Home screen. Read the next task to find out how to navigate your iPad after you have turned on VoiceOver.
You can change the language that VoiceOver speaks. In General settings, choose International and then Language and select another language. This action, however, also changes the language used for labels on Home icons and various settings and fields in iPad.
You can use the Set Triple-Click Home setting to help you more quickly turn the VoiceOver and White on Black features on and off. In the Accessibility dialog, tap Triple-Click Home. In the dialog that appears, choose what you want a triple-click of the Home button to do: toggle VoiceOver on or off; toggle White on Black on or off; toggle the Zoom feature on or off; toggle on the AssistiveTouch Control Panel; or display a menu of options using the Ask choice. Now a triple-click with a single finger on the Home button provides you with the option you selected wherever you go in iPad.
Use VoiceOver
After VoiceOver is turned on, you need to figure out how to use it. I won’t kid you; using it is hard at first, but you’ll get the hang of it! Here are the main onscreen gestures you should know how to use:
Tap an item to select it. VoiceOver then speaks its name.
Double-tap the selected item. This action activates the item.
Flick three fingers. It takes three fingers to scroll around a page with VoiceOver turned on.
Table 4-1 provides additional gestures to help you use VoiceOver. I suggest that, if you want to use this feature often, you read the VoiceOver section of the iPad online User Guide, which goes into a great deal of detail about the ins and outs of using VoiceOver.
Table 4-1 VoiceOver Gestures
|
Gesture |
Effect |
|
Flick right or left |
Select the next or preceding item |
|
Tap with two fingers |
Stop speaking the current item |
|
Flick two fingers up |
Read everything from the top of the screen |
|
Flick two fingers down |
Read everything from the current position |
|
Flick three fingers up or down |
Scroll one page at a time |
|
Flick three fingers right or left |
Go to the next or preceding page |
|
Tap three fingers |
Speak the scroll status (for example, line 20 of 100) |
|
Flick four fingers up or down |
Go to the first or last element on a page |
|
Flick four fingers right or left |
Go to the next or preceding section (as on a web page) |
If tapping with two or three fingers seems difficult for you, try tapping with one finger from one hand and one or two from the other. When double- or triple-tapping, you have to perform these gestures as quickly as you can for them to work.
Check out some new settings in iOS 5 for VoiceOver, including a choice for Braille, language choices, the ability to navigate images, and a setting to have iPad speak notifications.
Adjust the Volume
1. Though individual applications such as Music and Video have their own volume settings, you can set your iPad system volume as well to help you better hear what’s going on. Tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. In the General settings, tap Sounds.
3. In the Sounds pane that appears (see Figure 4-9), tap and drag the slider to the right to increase the volume, or to the left to lower it.
4. Tap the Home button to close Settings.
In the Sounds pane you can turn on or off the sounds that iPad makes when certain events occur (such as receiving new mail or Calendar alerts). These sounds are turned on by default. Conversely, if you need the audio clue and this feature has been turned off, just tap the On/Off button for the item to turn it back on.
Figure 4-9
Use Mono Audio
1. Using the stereo effect in headphones or a headset breaks up sounds so that you hear a portion in one ear and a portion in the other ear, to simulate the way your ears process sounds. However, if you’re hard of hearing or deaf in one ear, you’re hearing only a portion of the sound in your hearing ear, which can be frustrating. If you have such hearing challenges and want to use iPad with a headset connected, you should turn on Mono Audio. When it’s turned on, you can set up iPad to play all sounds in each ear. Tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. In the General settings, tap Accessibility.
3. In the Accessibility pane shown in Figure 4-10, tap the Mono Audio On/Off button to turn on the feature.
Figure 4-10
4. Tap and drag the slider to L for sending sound to only your left ear or R for right ear.
5. Tap the Home button to close Settings.
If you have hearing challenges, another good feature that iPad provides is support for closed-captioning. In the video player, you can use the closed-captioning feature to provide onscreen text representing dialogue and actions in a movie (if it supports closed- captioning) as it plays. For more about playing videos, see Chapter 13.
Have iPad Speak Auto-Text
1. The Speak Auto-text feature speaks auto-corrections and auto-capitalizations (two features that you can turn on using Keyboard settings). When you enter text in an application such as Pages or Mail the app then makes either type of change, while Speak Auto-text lets you know what change was made. To turn on Speak Auto-text, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. Under the General settings, tap Accessibility.
3. In the Accessibility pane shown in Figure 4-11, tap the Speak Auto-text On/Off button to turn on the feature.
Figure 4-11
4. Tap the Home button to leave Settings.
Why would you want iPad to tell you whenever an auto-correction has been made? If you have vision challenges and you know that you typed ain’t when writing dialogue for a character in your novel, but iPad corrected it to isn’t, you would want to know. Similarly, if you type the poet’s name e.e. Cummings and auto-capitalization corrects it (incorrectly), you need to know immediately so that you can change it back again!
Turn On Large Text
1. If having larger text in the Contacts, Mail, and Notes apps would be helpful to you, you can turn on the Large Text feature and choose the text size that works best for you. To turn on Large Text, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen.
2. Under the General settings, tap Accessibility.
3. In the Accessibility pane, tap the Large Text button to turn on the feature.
4. In the list of text sizes shown in Figure 4-12, tap the one you prefer.
Figure 4-12
5. Tap the Home button to close the Settings dialog.
Turn On and Work with AssistiveTouch
1. The AssistiveTouch Control Panel helps those who have challenges working with buttons to provide input to iPad using the touchscreen. To turn on AssistiveTouch, tap Settings on the Home screen and then tap General and Accessibility.
2. In the Accessibility pane tap AssistiveTouch. In the pane that appears, tap the On/Off button for AssistiveTouch to turn it on (see Figure 4-13). Note the gray square that appears on the right side of the pane. This square now appears on the screen in whatever apps you display on your iPad.
Figure 4-13
3. Tap the AssistiveTouch Control Panel to display options, as shown in Figure 4-14.
4. You can tap Gestures, Favorites, or Device on the panel to see additional choices, or tap Home to go directly to the Home screen. Once you’ve chosen an option, tapping the Back arrow takes you back to the main panel.
Figure 4-14
Table 4-2 shows the major options available in the AssistiveTouch Control Panel:
Table 4-2 AssistiveTouch Controls
|
Control |
Purpose |
|
Gestures |
Choose the number of fingers to use for gestures on the touchscreen. |
|
Favorites |
Displays a set of gestures with only the Pinch gesture preset; you can tap any of the other blank squares to add your own favorite gestures. |
|
Device |
You can rotate the screen, lock the screen, turn volume up or down, mute or unmute sound, or shake iPad to undo an action using the presets in this option. |
|
Home |
Sends you to the Home Screen. |