Tuesday 26 January 2016

Keyboard Shortcuts- Using the Same Ones in Your Gmail & Outlook


Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video, I demonstrate how you can use the same keyboard shortcuts to make things work in Gmail as you can in Outlook.

The 3 minute video includes a full set of subtitles but if you prefer to read a full transcript please read it below.

Start of Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

I have made quite a few video demonstrating the different keyboard shortcuts that you can use to control Gmail- Google’s email service.

But, did you know that you can use the same keyboard shortcuts in Outlook as you do in Gmail?

Let me show you how.

Let’s just have a quick look at our shortcuts in Gmail.

From within your Gmail account, press the ? key and a full list appears. And it is a very full list.

Now to get the same keyboard shortcuts in our Gmail and Outlook accounts we need to change  a setting in our Outlook account.

So you can see here that I am signed into my Outlook account.

I then go to the top right hand corner and click on the settings menu.

Then in the middle of the next page I click on keyboard shortcuts and then we have a variety of options which include turning off the shortcuts or using the same shortcuts as those in Gmail.

Once you have selected, click on “save”.

And let’s just test a few shortcuts to see if they are the same.

In Google pressing g then i focuses you on the inbox and then pressing c will compose a new email.


And that is it. A quick video on getting the same keyboard shortcuts in our Gmail and Outlook accounts.

If you have any questions or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Have you got a favourite shortcut when you are using Gmail or Outlook? Tell me what it is.

Thanks for watching.

End of Video Transcript

Monday 25 January 2016

NVDA and Gmail: Delete an Email Using Shortcut Keys



Hello and welcome to my video.

In this video I focus on the screen reader NVDA and Gmail.

I demonstrate how to delete an email using shortcut keys.

This 4 minute video contains a full set of subtitles but if you want to read a full transcript of the video you can find it below.

Start of Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I will be demonstrating a very simple skill using NVDA.

I will be demonstrating deleting an email in gmail- Google’s email service.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

In this video I will be using the web browser Firefox although of course you might want to use Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge or Chrome.

The version of NVDA which I am using is 2015.4.

So let’s start NVDA.

The voice that you can hear is British Daniel. This is a paid for voice that you can get for NVDA and I have created a video to show you how.

And if we open Firefox, I am in one of my Gmail accounts.

I am going to press the g key followed by the i key in order to make sure that I am in my inbox.

To select the email that you want to delete press the up or down arrows.

Once you have found it, press the x key to select the email and then press the # key and the email is deleted.

Now, if it is at this point that you realise that you made a mistake, don’t worry because if you

press the z key that will return the deleted email to your inbox.

If none of these shortcut keys seem to work then NVDA is probable not interacting with the page properly.

So you need to press the NVDA key and the space key down twice- the computer will make a noise like a mouse click.

My NVDA key is the Caps Lock key - yours might be the Insert key.

Hopefully that should solve your problem. If not, let me know in the comments.

And that is it. A quick video on using keyboard shortcut keys to delete an email from your Gmail account using NVDA and Firefox.

If you have any questions or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Have you got a favourite shortcut when you are using Gmail? Tell me what it is.

Thanks for watching.


End of video transcript

NVDA and Gmail: Reply to Email Using Shortcuts


Hello and welcome to this video.

The focus of this video is using the screen reader NVDA and Gmail.

I demonstrate how to reply to an email using keyboard shortcuts.

The video is 6 minutes long and it contains a full set of subtitles but if you want to read from a transcript instead then find one below.

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I will be demonstrating a very simple skill using NVDA.

I will be demonstrating how to reply to  an email in gmail- Google’s email service.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

In this video I will be using the web browser Firefox although of course you might want to use Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge or Chrome.

The version of NVDA which I am using is 2015.4.

So let’s start NVDA.

I am using a paid for voice on NVDA called Daniel. I have created a video demonstrating how to find and download these voices.

And if we open Firefox, I am in one of my Gmail accounts.

I am in my inbox. To get into my inbox I pressed “g” then “i”

Now I need to find the message that I want to reply to. I move through the emails in my inbox by using the up and down arrows.

Once I have found the email, I press the enter key and then I press the r key to create a reply.

I now just need to type my message.

Once I have finished writing my message I press the control key and the enter key in order to send the email.

And that is it. My quick guide to replying to an email in Gmail using NVDA.

If you have any helpful hints about using Gmail with NVDA please let me know.

Remember to watch my other videos on NVDA.

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript

NVDA & Gmail- Compose an Email Using Shortcuts


Hello and welcome to this video.

This video is about the screenreader NVDA and how to use it in Gmail.

In this 4 minute video I show you how to compose an email using keyboard shortcuts.

The video includes a full set of subtitles but if you want to read a transcript please find one below.

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I will be demonstrating a very simple skill using NVDA.

I will be demonstrating composing an email in gmail- Google’s email service.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

In this video I will be using the web browser Firefox although of course you might want to use Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge or Chrome.

The version of NVDA which I am using is 2015.4.

So let’s start NVDA.

The voice that you can hear is British Daniel. This is a paid for voice that you can get for NVDA and I have created a video to show you how.

And if we open Firefox, I am in one of my Gmail accounts.

I am going to press the g key followed by the i key in order to make sure that I am in my inbox.

Now I press the C key in order to compose a message.

I am now in the address box and so I type in an address. I will write an email to myself.

I press the tab key and I am in the subject line and I will have YouTube video as my subject.

If I press the Tab key once more I am in the main body of the email and so I will just write a few lines.

Once I have finished, I now press the control key and the enter key to send it.

And that is it. A quick video on using keyboard shortcut keys to compose and send an email from your Gmail account using NVDA and Firefox.

If you have any questions or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Have you got a favourite shortcut when you are using Gmail? Tell me what it is.

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript




Tuesday 19 January 2016

iOS Apps for the Visually Impaired: Using "AccessNote" with a Bluetooth Keyboard


Hello, everyone.

In this 10 minute video I connect a bluetooth keyboard to my iPad and then control the note taking app "AccessNote" via keyboard shortcuts.

The keyboard shortcuts are all used with the option key.

c- create a new note.

r- rename a note

t- speak the title of the note

f- find a word or phrase

j- go to the previous note

k- go to the next note

s- read the selected text

m- mark note as a favourite.

If you prefer to read a full transcript of the note then please find it below.

start of video transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to my video.

In this video I am going to be doing a demonstration of an iOS app called Access Note.

I am running this app on iOS 9.2, on a third generation iPad. .

Access note is an app that has been created by the American foundation for the Blind.

It is one of dozens of note taking apps that are available on the App Store but what makes this one special is that it is extremely accessible.

I have created another video in which I have provided a quick overview of Access Note in which I have a quick look at the features but as part of that video, I do not connect and use a bluetooth keyboard with it.

And that is the focus on this video. I will be connecting a bluetooth keyboard to my iPad and then using the keyboard shortcuts that are built into AccessNote to control the app.

In my first video about Access Note I demonstrated how to find it on the App Store and download it and so I will not cover those details in this video.

I will presume that you have downloaded AccessNote onto your iPad or iPhone.

Before I open AccessNote I just want to show you the bluetooth keyboard that I am using And you can see a photo of it there.

It is made by SumVision and it is the Slim model. I bought it on eBay for £9 including postage.

So I am going to go into my settings  and I'm going to turn on voice over.  so I'm in general then I go to accessibility and VoiceOver. Now I am just going to check my bluetooth to make sure that my keyboards is connected. So that is good news.

Now let’s open AccessNote.

There are 10 keyboard shortcuts that you can use with your bluetooth keyboard to control AccessNote.

All of these shortcuts work in combination with the Option key.

So to create ourselves a new note we press the “option key” and “c”.

To rename this new note we are going to press the “option key” and “r”.

To speak the note title we press the “option key” and “t” and there it goes it says “James”.


Now to find a piece of text in our notes, we press control sorry “option” and “f” and a search field comes up.

And this is where I get a little confused with how this find menu works because it doesn’t seem to work straight away with the keyboard.

I’ve typed “the” and I am not getting any results back but then if I were to select on my screen the “video script” note and it doesn’t seem to work inside a note either and so I am a little bit confused by that.

Earlier when I tested it, it seemed to work within a note but it hasn’t on this occasion. So I am not sure if this is my error or an error or a weakness in the app.

Now, another bit of a shame is that there is no way to go back to the main screen that shows you all the notes using a keyboard shortcut I am just having to touch the screen of the iPad.

Before we test the other keyboard shortcuts out, it’s important that I cancel this search request otherwise it interferes with all the other keyboard shortcuts.

So the next thing is to go to the command to go to the previous note which is “option” and “j” so let me just go into...I’ll open up a note for us to do this.

So I am going to do “command” and “j” to go to previous notes and I have pressed it once, pressed it twice, pressed it three times and its cycling backwards one by one through previous notes.

Now to go to your next note you press “option” “k”- pressed it once, pressed it twice, pressed it three times.

The next keyboard shortcut is “option” “s” which is read the selected text.

So let’s see if we can and that is “option” and “s”. Let’s try that again.

So, I have had a quick look about how to select text when VoiceOver is on and I have selected a piece of text and now if I do the “option” key and the “s” key to read selected text it is reading me a part of that text.

But it was a struggle to tell you the truth in order to work out how to select the text and I am still not clear.

OK and the final shortcut is, it marks one of your notes as a favourite and it is the “option” and the “m” key.

And I have pressed it whilst I am in the note and it has put it as a favourite. So let’s have a look and there we go it has put it in favourites.






And that is it. My overview of the iOS app Access Note and using it with a bluetooth keyboard and controlling it using keyboard shortcuts.

Thanks for watching. If you have any questions, or if you want to join in the discussion, please do so below.

I would love to hear from you and so if you are using another note taking app that works very well with VoiceOver and a bluetooth keyboard then please let me know.  

If you are using keyboard shortcuts in another note taking app, also I would love to hear from you.

End of video transcript














Monday 18 January 2016

iOS Apps for the Visually Impaired: AccessNote


Hello everyone and welcome to my video.

I have created a 12 minute video about AccessNote which has been created by the American Foundation for the Blind and it is very accessible. 

It is free to download

It works seamlessly with VoiceOver, it connects to bluetooth qwerty keyboards and braille displays. 

Because of this, it has several keyboard shortcuts that you can use to control it. 

In this video, I focus on the basic features of the app and I don't use a bluetooth keyboard- that will be the focus of a separate video.

If you want to read a transcript of the whole video, please find it below.

Start of transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to my video.

In this video I am going to be doing a demonstration of an iOS app called Access Note.

I am running this app on iOS 9.2, on a third generation iPad.

Access note is an app that has been created by the American foundation for the Blind.


By doing this American foundation for the blind believe that this is a note taking app  that will allow  blind and visually impaired people to use the same iOS devices as their friends.


So let’s go into the App Store so that I can take you through the process of searching for it and downloading it.

In the top right hand corner of the App Store, in the search box type in AccessNote- spell it using a capital A for Access and a capital N for note. And type it as one word.

It should be the only app that appears. You will have a blue button labelled +Get but because I have already downloaded it my button says +Open.

Once you have downloaded it, it is now time to turn on VoiceOver, the screen reader.

You can do this via the Settings menu, then select General then Accessibility, VoiceOver then touch the button to turn it on.

With the screenreader turned on it is always a balancing act to try and not talk at the same time.

Some of its features include;

It has been designed specifically to work with the screen reader in IOS called VoiceOver.

Accessible via a Qwerty keyboard and also refreshable Braille display keyboards.

Powerful search functions

Cursor tracking that starts where you left off.

Lots of specific keyboard commands that mean that note taking gets done faster.

It can import notes in the .txt format and it can display notes in the .brf format.

Notes can also be imported via a Dropbox account and also via email attachments.

So

Description of the Home Screen

The main part of the screen is a list of all the notes that have been created.

In the top right hand corner of the screen is the “add” button, followed by the “sync” button to synchronise notes with the Dropbox account.

Next is the search field. You can search across all your notes or in one note.

At the bottom of the screen are three more buttons- “settings”, “favourites” and “help”.

In the settings menu you can change the font size, setting up Dropbox, adjust the tilt sensitivity, toggle Spellcheck and keystrokes and choose how your notes are ordered.

When you are in a note, the first button is the “Back” button. Next is an action button which brings up a separate menu.

“find in note” brings up the tool for searching for text in your note.

“Toggle Favourite”

E-mail as text

Email as attachment

Print

Rename

Delete

Cancel

Another button at the top of the note is for “Reading in Review” mode. Editing and therefore the keyboard are disabled in this read only mode.

And that is it. My brief overview of the iOS app Access Note. I will record other videos about Access Note in which I will look at how you can use some keyboard shortcuts and another feature called Quick Nav.

These options require a bluetooth keyboard to be linked to the iPad.

Thanks for watching. If you have any questions, or if you want to join in the discussion, please do so below.

I would love to hear from you and so if you are using another note taking app that works very well with VoiceOver, please share it.

End of video transcript

Tuesday 12 January 2016

iOS Apps for the Visually Impaired: Pocket Braille App


Hello everyone. In this video I demonstrate another iOS app for people with a visual impairment called Pocket Braille. This app is free.

Pocket Braille is a braille reference app that contains information for grade 1 and grade 2 braille including lists of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and an extensive list of contractions.

The video is nearly 12 minutes long and it contains a full set of subtitles or if you would prefer to read a full transcript of the video, you can find it below.

Start of Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to my video.


in this video I will be looking at the iOS app called pocket braille.


Pocket braille is a very thorough braille Reference Guide.


It is VoiceOver compatible. VoiceOver is the screen reader that is built into iPhones and iPads.


It is a free app but unfortunately doesn’t have any ratings.


So from the App Store, let’s type in


So let’s type in pocket braille and there you go, it is in the top right hand corner of our screen.


On your screen in blue you will have a +Get button on mine it says +open because I have already downloaded it.


Now let’s open the app.


The look of the app is pretty clean and simple. Against a blue background at the top Pocket Braille is written in Braille below that there is a welcome message.


Just above the blue Background are two buttons on the right hand side and left hand side of the screen.  the button on the right says show dots  And by pressing this the dots in the braille cells reveal themselves. The  button on the left says hide dots  And by pressing this  the dots around the braille cell disappear.


the most important button is in the top left hand corner.  this  button is labelled Braille tables.


When you press that button a menu appears.  the menu has three sections.  section 1 contains  grade one literary Braille- letters,  numbers and punctuation. Section 2 is contracted braille and it contains one letter word contractions and 1 symbol word contractions.  section 3 contains potted history about  braille.


OK.  Let me turn VoiceOver on. let us dive into section one. If we touch alphabet all the letters in the alphabet appear along with the braille code and a description of what the braille code is for each letter. The alphabet is split into two parts- lowercase letters and uppercase letters. The reason for this is that an uppercase letter needs a dot 6 before it in braille. It is a shame that VoiceOver can’t label each uppercase letter with the prefix “uppercase or capital”.


When we select a letter the menu disappears and a larger view of the individual letter appears showing its braille code. Remember to use the “show dots” to display the full braille cell. This is the case for lowercase and uppercase letters.


Below the braille code is an example sentence using the letter. A description underneath this sentence informs us what dots make up the letter, what number the letter represents (if appropriate) and if the letter represents any contractions in grade 2 braille.


What is great is that the braille code (shown on the screen) works fully with VoiceOver, so if you touch any braille letters or words, VoiceOver will read them out.


The next part of section 1 is the number section. This works much the same as the letters.


At first a long list appears displaying all of the numbers and then when a number is selected a page loads with information about it in Braille and in English. We are told what dots represent the number, what letter it is (without the number sign) and also there is an example sentence to accompany it.


Let’s move onto Section 2


Section 2 is all about contracted Braille.


The first part of this section is one letter word contractions. When we touch on this option, a list of all the one letter word contractions.


This menu shows us the word, the dots and the braille cell and then when we select a word we have the familiar page showing the one letter word contractions as a braille cell, an explanation of the symbol and a sentence that contains the relevant contraction- in our case, this is but.


The second part of section 2 is a list of one symbol word contractions. Once we open the menu, it has a consistent look to it. It contains a list of words and once we select a word then a familiar page opens up that contains the braille cell, an explanation of the symbol and a sentence that contains the relevant contraction.


The third and last section on this app is labelled Braille History. This section contains a couple of paragraphs about how Louis Braille invented the Braille code.


Before I go, I want to just test Voice Over on this app- just to see how compatible it is.


So let’s turn on VoiceOver.


Now I am just going to select some of the different menus and options to see how VoiceOver interacts.


And you can hear that it is very thorough and extremely accurate.


And that is it. A nicely presented Braille reference app.


If you have any questions about this app or about Braille, please do so below. Or if you have a favourite Braille reference app, then please let me know.


End of Transcript.