A First Look At the iPad #1
— ♣Apple’s iPad has been launched into the world, and the Internet is awash with reviews, commentary and analysis of the latest device from the laboratories in Cupertino. In this review, I’ll be focussing primarily on the iPad’s accessibility and usage by persons with disabilities.
The Basics
The iPad is a slate computing device. It’s roughly the size of a sheet of letter-sized paper, and extraordinarily thin. Despite its light weight and relatively small size, the iPad feels solid in your hand, thanks to a design which consists primarily of a solid glass front and a solid aluminum back.
This futuristic-looking piece of hardware is powered by a modified version of Apple’s iPhone OS v3.2. Current iPhone and iPod touch models are running v3.1.3. As such, it includes all of the same accessibility features for persons with vision or hearing impairments.
For those with a hearing disability, the iPad boasts mono-audio and closed captioning on videos. For those with a vision disability, VoiceOver is available, along with Zoom and black-on-white for the display.
We’d like to note that all of these accessibility features are important. As usual, we will be focussing the bulk of this review on the iPad’s VoiceOver functionality, as substantial or total vision impairments provide the biggest barrier to access of any computing platform, and therefore requires the most adaptation. For example, an iPad user with hearing loss can use all of the iPad’s built-in functionality without modification, as the primary usage of the device in its standard operating mode is visual.
VoiceOver
Feedback
The version of VoiceOver which ships on the iPad is, by and large, quite similar to that which is available on the iPhone and iPod touch devices. Users of those devices will feel right at home on the iPad from the start. However, there are both new features as well as some iPad specific functionality that enhances the experience significantly.
First, the larger screen size means that there is far more available real-estate for information and controls. On the iPad, versus the iPhone or iPod touch, this frequently means that the screen has been divided into panes which display different information. A good example of this is the iPad Mail application. Mail displays the list of messages in a column on the left, while the right side of the screen is devoted to message display and controls for working with the message. VoiceOver let’s you know that you have moved into one pane from another by an elegant, unobtrusive audio cue. This holds true across all applications. (i.e. when you enter the status bar at the top of the screen, or the Dock at the bottom of the Home screens.)
Additionally, the iPad frequently makes use of "pop-up" areas, which typically provide additional tasks that can be performed on or with the item that has been tapped. VoiceOver indicates the arrival of one of these with a distinctive sound, and clearly identifies where when can tap to dismiss the pop-up without making a selection.
Gestures
A few new gestures have been added to VoiceOver’s arsenal. A two-finger-scrubbing motion will back you out of a screen, for those many, many applications which include a back button, typically in the upper left corner of the screen or pane. A triple tap will perform what would be a double tap with VoiceOver inactive. Four-finger swipes up or down move VoiceOver focus to the first or last item in the current screen or pane. Four-finger swipes left or right move from pane-to-pane.
With the exception of the four-finger swipes, these gestures could be very useful on an iPhone or iPod touch as well, and I hope to see them included on those devices in the next update.
Text Navigation
A new rotor setting while examining or editing text is now available in addition to characters and words. "Lines" are now available as a navigation option, and behave as you would expect them to. Flicking up or down while the rotor is set to lines will move VoiceOver through text a line at a time. This may not be apparent immediately, however. The text you are currently examining must consist of multiple lines before this option is available. This is fantastic, as it keeps the rotor from becoming too cluttered.
Text Entry
It is where regards typing that VoiceOver shows the most significant changes. The simplest of these is an option, which can be changed in the Settings app, which makes VoiceOver provide the phonetic representation of letters on the keyboard. "H, Hotel", "J, Juliet" and so forth.
When the virtual keyboard is being displayed on screen, the VoiceOver rotor gains a new option. "Typing Mode" allows you to flick up or down to select either "Standard" or "Touch" typing modes. The standard mode works the same way as the iPhone or iPod touch text entry we have become familiar with. Touch typing allows for a more free flowing form of text entry. Essentially, tapping any key enters it as soon as your finger lifts off of the screen. If you press the wrong key, you have the opportunity to slide to the correct one before lifting off.
At first, I found the touch typing to be slightly clumsy. It took a few minutes for my brain to adapt to the new, and far more liberating, form of text entry. In landscape mode, the onscreen keyboard is large enough to comfortably type on in a way that is extremely similar to typing on a physical notebook keyboard. After some practice, you will find that muscle memory for the keyboard sets in, and your typing will likely dramatically improve.
It’s only been a few days, and I have composed some lengthy emails using the virtual keyboard. You probably wouldn’t want to write a novel with it, but for everyday use, including note taking, email, browsing the web, blogging, etc, it is quite efficient. The position of some punctuation and numbers are slightly different, so that takes some getting used to.
For those wishing to use the iPad more extensively for vast quantities of text entry, BlueTooth and Apple’s keyboard dock accessory will work with the iPad.
For special keys, such as the Delete or Return keys, a double tap is still required. This prevents inadvertent deletion of text, and I’m quite pleased at this attention to detail.
iPhone and iPod touch users may be slightly lost when looking for the "Go", "Search", "Google", etc, buttons which frequently appear in the lower right corner of the keyboard. These keys are still available, but they are at the right end of the home row, where the Return key typically resides. Technically, these keys take the place of the return key on the iPhone as well, but the position of that key is different on the smaller device.
Overall Usage
If you are familiar with using the iPhone or iPod touch via VoiceOver, you are likely to feel a little lost for the first few minutes you spend with the iPad. I constantly found myself wanting to look for controls in places, or use apps in ways, that only made sense with the iPhone’s smaller display. In short order, however, you will feel right at home on the iPad, and the ability to receive instant feedback when touching items on the screen is extraordinary.
This experience perhaps shines through most clearly when browsing the web. The content of a web site becomes far more contextual on the iPad…something that the iPhone’s smaller screen could only hint at in comparison. For the first time, sites that may have seemed confusing or clunky when viewed strictly in DOM order, have a physical, logical layout that we can benefit from as much as our sighted colleagues.
iBooks
Perhaps the most frequent question about the iPad from visually impaired users has been in regards to iBooks, Apple’s ebook reader and book store. The application is fully accessible, and makes reading books a joy in a way that no other device has ever been able to do for me, personally. The application comes with a copy of one of A.A. Mill’s "Pooh" classics, and reads beautifully with VoiceOver, but provides descriptive captions to all the illustrations in the book.
Double tapping a page reads that page aloud in its entirety. Sliding a finger down the screen provides a "skimming" experience, as VoiceOver will read each line as you touch it. Finally, you can read continuously with the standard two-finger flick down, and VoiceOver will automatically turn the pages for you as it does.
A Few Fixes
A few problems from the iPhone and iPod touch versions of the OS have been fixed in the version included with the iPad. Most notable of these is that VoiceOver users now have the ability to use cut/copy/paste within edit forms on web sites.
Third-party applications which play audio, such as the popular ooTunes app for streaming Internet radio, now duck their volume while VoiceOver is speaking, making it far easier to work with their interfaces while audio is playing.
Some iPhone applications which had buttons that were only announced as "Image button", read their labels correctly when used on the iPad, much to my perplexity.
A Few Quirks
Like any 1.0 release, the iPad has a few quirks, and its accessibility features are no exception. The Notes application works quite well, but is a little touchy when you try to tell it to allow you to edit an existing note. iBooks has rotor options available to read by character or word, but does not appear to always support them. The system wide spell checker announces when words are mis-spelled, but suggestions do not appear to be available via VoiceOver. Luckily, in that last case, the auto-text feature provides similar, though not identical, functionality.
We saw many similar problems in the initial release of the iPhone 3GS which were fixed in the September update to 3.1, and I am confident Apple will address these few problem areas quickly.
First Thoughts and What’s to Come
I’ll be covering other applications and uses for the iPad in additional installments, including a more in depth look at various applications that come pre-installed on the iPad, iBooks, and some third-party applications. Pages, Apple’s word processing component of the iWork suite of productivity applications, is proving to be extremely accessible as well.
Ultimately, like any piece of technology, the iPad will have those to whom it appeals, and those to whom it does not. For visually impaired users, it will be a compelling alternative to far more expensive devices from assistive tech companies. The iPad is not a netbook. It is not a notebook. It is not an oversized iPod touch or a glorified ebook reader. It is a device that is in a category of its own, as many early reviews around the net have said. For a huge number of folks, the iPad will become their mobile computer, taking the place of notebooks that are far more powerful than most users’ mobile computing needs require.
To those who decry the iPad, claiming that they can do far more with their netbooks, I submit you are entirely missing the point of the iPad, and that such an argument is untrue in any case. The iPad may not do all the things that you want it to do. However, it does the tasks that the vast majority of people need to do and does them far better than a netbook. The enormous array of applications available for the iPhone OS, all of which will run on the iPad, meaning that you have a huge pool of software to pull from to do any number of tasks, and, unlike most other systems, the vast majority of that software is accessible right out of the box.
Older visually impaired users, in particular, will remember devices like the Keynote, BrailleNote, Eureka A4, and others. These devices did far less than our traditional computers, though they cost far more in some cases. We flocked to these devices for their portability, and the fact that they were very, very good at what they did do. The iPad is the same thing, except that with the AppStore at your finger tips, the number of tasks you can expand your iPad to do is virtually limitless.
If you don’t want or need a more portable computing solution than your notebook, then the iPad may or may not be for you. This device is going to fill different roles for everyone. Where it fits into your life can ultimately only be determined by you.
Apple has given us the ability to make that determination, as visually impaired consumers, ourselves.