Good news, everyone! Barnes & Noble’s Nook app for iOS has just been updated with support for Apple’s fantastic VoiceOVer accessibility feature, as well as the zoom functionality. This brings the Nook iOS app up to parity with iBooks, the only other iOS e-reader app that can be used by folks with a visual impairment or learning disability to have books read out loud.
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Zoom lets those with low vision see the screen at much higher magnification than just increasing the font size, allowing them to use the buttons, icons, and other visual interface systems that they can’t see at the standard size on the iPad or iPhone screen.
The new update 3.3.0 also brings new support for British English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish languages, new UK ebook and magazine support, and also the new, longer iPhone 5 screen size.
Nook and Kindle ereader devices are still less accessible, with no text-to-speech capabilities, making the app on an iPad an ideal device for anyone who needs the option to have their device read a book out loud to them. VoiceOver does not include word-by-word or line-by-line highlighting, which can be beneficial to people with some types of learning disabilities, this is an important first step in making reader apps more accessible to all kinds of people.
The VoiceOver feature, is built into both OS X on the Mac and iOS, will read anything on the screen, including buttons, dialog boxes, alerts, and the like. It’s proven to be a popular feature with blind and low vision users.
Of course, now we’re waiting for Amazon’s reader app to follow suit. Says accessibility site, Maccessibility, “This is an enormous leap forward for the accessibility of books to blind and visually impaired readers. There is only one of the three major ebook players on iOS left without VoiceOver support. (We are looking at you, Amazon Kindle).”
Source: iTunes App Store
Via: Daring Fireball
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One of the features that makes Kindles very useful is that in addition to being able to carry hundreds of books around with ease, you also get a full text-search capability. This can be handy if, for example, you need to find a technical term or all the references to a character's name. Access your Kindle's search functionality via the Options bar.
Touchscreen Kindles
1.Tap the page to display the Options bar. On the Kindle Fire, this also brings up the on-screen keyboard.
2.Tap the 'Search' icon to bring up the search box.
3.Enter the word or phrase you want to search for. You can combine words into a phrase by enclosing them in quotes.
4.Tap the 'Search' button to have your Kindle find the word or phrase in the open book. By tapping 'More' you can also search for the phrase on the Web or in other books in your Kindle library.
Kindles With Keyboards
1.Type the term you want to search for with the built-in keyboard. The term appears in the search bar, next to an icon indicating what kind of search will be done.
2.Use the five-way toggle to highlight the 'find' on the bar if it's not already showing. Other options allow you to search for the term in all content on your Kindle, in titles in the Kindle store, or on Wikipedia or Google.
3.Press the center of the five-way switch to search. Use the 'Next Page' and 'Previous Page' buttons of your Kindle to scroll through the search results.
Tip
- The touch-screen instructions also work for the Kindle App for Android and iOS.
References (2)
About the Author
Ken Burnside has been writing freelance since 1990, contributing to publications as diverse as 'Pyramid' and 'Training & Simulations Journal.' A Microsoft MVP in Excel, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Alaska. He won the Origins Award for Attack Vector: Tactical, a board game about space combat.
Photo Credits
- David McNew/Getty Images News/Getty Images