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

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

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.

iOS Apps for the Visually Impaired: Braille Reference

Hello, everyone. In this video tour I look at another iOS app for people who are visually impaired and this is called "Braille Reference". It costs 79p on the UK Appstore or 99c on the US Appstore.

Essentially the app provides is a reference guide to braille, containing all the words, symbols and contractions that might have slipped your mind. The app is clear and is simple to use.

Throughout the time that I tested the app it did not crash or freeze on me.

The video is about 7 minutes long and contains a full set of subtitles.

A full transcript of the video can be read below.

Start of transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to my video.

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

Pocket braille is a  braille Reference Guide. It is compatible with the screen reader VoiceOver and contains over 250 braille symbols and contractions.

It is billed as a great aid to those who are learning braille or those who are infrequent users of braille and forget the odd bit of braille.

It is an app that costs 79p. It doesn’t have any ratings.

So from the App Store, let’s type in Braille reference.

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 Homepage layout is nice and clear with a black background and green writing with is in a large font.

At the top in yellow it tells you that this is the main menu and in the far right is an About tab. Beware pressing this tab as once you are in it there is no way of getting back to the main tab! It does contain some useful contact information though.

There are 10 sections.

The first section is “All Alphabet Braille” which is a list of complete list of all the symbols and contractions that are in this app.

At the top of the page, we can see that there is a search bar which is present in all sections and gives you the opportunity of searching for a piece of braille by its name or by dots.

Each braille symbol has the dots or the contraction information (if relevant) underneath.

For instance, about is the contraction “ab” and across is the letters “acr”.

If you touch any of the words in the list, it takes you to another page where the braille contraction is shown.

If you have Messenger or the Mail client set up, you can email or text this information.

So if we go back to the main menu and look at alphabet we find a list of the letters of the alphabet with the dots that make the letter, shown. Just like the All Alphabet Braille section.

There is no more information or pages in the Alphabet section.

The All Contractions section lists all of the common contractions- 187 of them by my count! If we select a contraction then there is a page of information that includes the braille contraction.

Again, If you have Messenger or the Mail client set up, you can email or text this information.

As I said at the beginning of the video, there are ten sections in this reference guide and so let me just list the other sections of this guide because the layout and formatting across all the sections appears to be pretty uniform.

The other sections in this guide are; single cell contractions, two cell contractions, short form contractions, punctuation, computer braille and nemeth code.

And that’s it- by video tour of the iOS app Braille Reference.

If you have any questions or want to join the discussion or tell me your favourite braille reference app, please do so below.

Thanks for watching.

End of Video transcript