Apple introduced the next version of iOS, a new speaker, and new Macs and iPads at WWDC. But there were some accessibility features that gained a brief visual mention that were not covered.
While Apple's big names were talking about the features and advantages of their latest products, there are also lots of screens of information displayed to watchers of the keynote. Below, we've highlighted a few of these features. Keep in mind, that for most of these, we only know what has been included on the screen and have few details at this point.
Type to SIRI
Siri's assistant has been voice-enabled since the iPhone 4S. But for those who are deaf or deaf-blind, this feature was largely out of reach. A new feature will allow users to type in their questions for Siri and receive text replies. This may be especially handy for controlling devices with HomeKit support.
expanded braille editing
This could go in a couple of different directions, including braille input or use of the on-screen braille keyboard. One notable bug involves editing words and adding letters to these words, which then get expanded into contractions against your will. Perhaps things like this will get some attention?
Redesigned Invert Colors
This is an updated take on dark mode, which is designed to help people use their phones in bed among other places. Some low-vision users have also benefited from changes like this, depending on their type of visual impairment.
Other things
Some other features were mentioned in slides which we do not have much information on at this time.
- one-handed keyboard
- Spoken / braille captions for video
*VoiceOver image descriptions
Feel free to give your thoughts and speculate below.
Category: NewsIf you want to prevent the expanding of a letter, just put a letter sign in front of it. It's not that hard, and works either with or without auto-translation. Remember, each Braille input is a separate block, translated as such. I'd like to see them change this, however I don't see how they could do so without risking creating more problems than they would solve. Look at JAWS back-translation problems to get an idea of what I'm talking about, especially in nonstandard applications. What we have now is fully consistent, and I'll take that over buggy any day.
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
