RJ Cooper & Assoc., Inc.
1-800-RJCooper 949-582-2571 Fax: 949-582-3169 Internet: www.rjcooper.com Email: [email protected] iPad VoiceOver (VO) Controller This Controller allows control over those apps that are "VoiceOver-Compliant." This is not all apps! In fact, there are probably only several hundred apps that are VO-compliant. Most are not. Fortunately, and most importantly, most of Apple's are: Camera, Photos, Music, Messages, Notes, Mail, iBooks and several others. "VoiceOver" is a technology that Apple created for Macs, then its i-devices, for blind people to be able to hear what's under their finger. To find out if an app is VO-compatible, and also, to make my VO Controller work with your i-device: 1) Settings; 2) General; 3) Accessibility (scroll down to it); 4) VoiceOver; 5) Turn it on and wait and you will hear it. Now move your finger around slowly and things under your finger will highlight and speak. To activate the selected item, double-tap anywhere on the screen (remember that!). To scroll with VO, use 3 fingers. And that's how VO is supposed to work. Now press your Home button, and launch one of your desired apps, and move your finger around. Do things get highlighted and spoken? If so, then you're good to go! If not, you can write to the developer and beg ;-) But Apple soon discoverd that blind people don't use a mouse or their finger; they use a keyboard with keyboard "shortcuts," that is combinations of keys to navigate and hear their screen. So Apple added keyboard shortcuts to VO. And they also added a QuickNav feature which lets a blind user move around between screen 'objects' (buttons, fields, paragraphs, etc.) using left/right arrow keys (no up/down, sorry). To activate a selected object, the blind person would press up/down keys simultaneously. My VO controller, along with my switch devices for iPad taps into this keyboard shortcut method by pretending to be a Bluetooth (wireless) keyboard. Its big button 'type' left/right arrows, up/down simultaneous shortcut, Home button shortcut, and 2 others, one for turning the unit on/off which is also used to put-up or put-away the i-device keyboard, and a QuickNav on/off toggle. Turning On or Charging Turn on the VO Controller by pressing/holding the On/Off button until the small light blinks. It will blink orange to indicate it's trying to communicate with the i-device, and then green. If it blinks and stays blinking amber or red, it needs to be charged. Use the included charging cable into your NON- SLEEPING computer, or your i-device charger. The light will indicate the charge status if the VO Controller is on. Green is good, amber needs more charge, red needs lots of charging. To turn off, press/hold the power button for 1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000 and release. Pairing Now that the Controller is on, you must 'Pair' it with your i-device, initially (it should remember this step). Go to Settings, [General in iOS 5], Bluetooth, and you should see "Airturn" there. If not, and I mean this next step literally , press/hold my On/Off button down until my light blinks red/green/red/green, exactly like that. Then you will see "Airturn.....Not Paired." Tap it and about 8 seconds later, you will see "Connected."
If you see "Not Connected" next to Airturn, you will need to tap the little "i" (or right arrow) to the right of the text, Forget This Device, and tap Not Paired again. Testing A simple way to test things is to press the Home button on my Controller and it should function the same as your Home button on your i-device. If it doesn't, see the section Reset the Profile to VO Mode near the end of these instructions. My Home button should work regardless of VO status. Operation Once you've confirmed things are working, you can turn VO on. See the instructions in the first paragraph above. Once VO is on, right on that screen, you should be able to navigate with my left/right arrows, and activate with my Select button. These and the Home buttons should perform like this everywhere on the i-device. Be aware that VO is not perfect, and this is not my fault. For screens where there are a lot of objects, or lists, or even with the i-device's keyboard, it can take awhile to get from left to right, and up to down. This version of my VO Controller does not repeat so you cannot hold down one of my buttons to repeat. You must press/release. Future versions will have repeat functionality. Remember, VO-compliance is not universal; most apps are not VO-compliant. Test your app *first* as described in the second paragraph above. Text Fields Notes is an example of an Apple app which wants you to type letters/characters, similar to an email, Message, document, etc. This can be accomplished with my VO Controller. Launch Notes, and use your right arrow (VO usually puts your highlighter in upper left when first entering a screen) to get to the text area and press my Select button. This tells VO that you wish to type. Usually, VO turns QuickNav off when doing this, and my arrows usually move your around within your text (if any is there). If the i-device keyboard doesn't appear, press my keyboard button. Now you should be able to use the left/right arrows to move around within the keyboard and Select to 'type' a letter into your Note/document. Important: QuickNav, when OFF, will allow the arrows to move around in the text/ When ON, the arrows will move around between objects . Don't forget this! VO will announce its state when toggling with my QuickNav button. Home Screen Pressing my arrows will move you around on any menu screen. If you have a folder, then pressing my Select button will open that folder. You can move *between* menu screens by arrowing down to the small row of dots at the bottom of the menu choices, but above your very bottom icon row. These dots indicate which menu screen you're on. Selecting that row will then let you arrow between menu screens. And if you're on one menu screen, pressing my Home button will bring you to a different one. You'll have to play around with this to get familiar with navigating multiple screens. Best advice: make 1 good menu screen for your user, with folders if necessary, so as not to have to message around with multiple menu screens. Reset the Profile If My Home Button Is Not Working With the Controller OFF, press/hold my Home button while turning on the Controller. IMMEDIATELY let go of both the instant you see my indicator light come on. Perform the Test above. Using the VO Controller for Switch-Friendly Apps You can also use the VO Controller as a simple switch interface for apps that have been specifically programmed for switch(es), such as most of mine! With the VO Controller OFF, press/hold the green Select button while turning the Controller on, and immediately letting go of everything. This will result in the Controller 'typing'