iBooks iOS app with VoiceOverNarrator:

A quick introduction to using iBooks with VoiceOver on the iPad.

iBooks is an eBook reading application and I can use it on the iPad, or the iPhone, or the iPod touch, to buy books, and then to read them on my device.

The first thing I need to do is turn on VoiceOver, and on my iPad, I can do that by triple-clicking the Home button, and then choosing VoiceOver from the menu that appears.

VoiceOver:

VoiceOver on. Landscape. Home button to the left.

Narrator:

When VoiceOver comes on, it shows me the top left hand icon on the screen. I can put my finger on the screen, now, and move around, and VoiceOver will tell me what I'm touching.

VoiceOver:

Camera. Photo booth. Double tap to open. iTunes. Double tap to open.

Narrator:

The next thing I need to do is move to the page that has the iBooks application. I can do that by swiping to the left with three fingers.

VoiceOver:

Page two of two. iBooks. Double tap to open.

Narrator:

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Once I have focus on my iBooks application, I can double tap anywhere on the screen, and the iBooks application will be activated.

VoiceOver:

iBooks. Store. Button.

Narrator:

Again, the item at the top left of the screen is highlighted - in this case, it's a button called "Store" which would take me onto the iBooks store where I can buy books.

I've already got some books on my device. I'm just going to go to one of those and open it and read it.

As well as being able to put my finger on the screen and move around to find things, I can also do something called a "swipe". I can move my finger from left to right across the surface, and briefly touch the iPad screen as I'm doing so.

VoiceOver:

Collections. Button. Books.

Narrator:

Each time I do this, the focus moves to the next thing in sequence on the screen. And when I get to the end of the row of things that I'm on now, it will move down to the next row.

VoiceOver:

Selected. Grid view. Button. One of two. List view. Button. Two of two. Edit. Button. Search. Search field. Double tap to edit. Sample. The dinosaur that blooped Christmas. Tom Fletcher and Algy Pointer.

Narrator:

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I'm going to find the book Great Expectations, which is the last one that I was reading. So I'm just going to swipe right, until I get to that book, and then double tap to open it.

VoiceOver:

New. RNIB template version one point zero. Homer, An… New. Table Test. Andrew Homer. Opens the book. Introduction to Apple Accessibility. Steve Griffiths. Great expectations. Charles Dickens. Opens the book. Enough house, said I, that's a curious name, miss. Yes, she replied, but it meant more than it said. It meant, when it…

Narrator:

Once I open the book, because I was reading it previously, it opens on the page I was on, and VoiceOver starts reading from that point and would carry on reading until the end of the book unless I stopped it.

I can stop it reading by tapping once with two fingers. And once I've paused it in that way, I can start it reading again in the same way, but tapping once with two fingers.

VoiceOver:

…given, that whoever had this house could want nothing else. They must have been easily satisfied in those days, I should think. But don't…

Narrator:

There are other things I might want to do. For instance, I might want to spell a word that I've come across, but I didn't quite catch. And in order to do that I use what's called the rotor gesture in VoiceOver, which is, I put two fingers on the screen, as if I was on a dial on a cooker, and I turn clockwise or anti-clockwise.

VoiceOver:

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Containers. Edit. Characters.

Narrator:

Once I get to the item I wish, in this case characters, I can then swipe up and down to move along in that way.

VoiceOver:

Quotation mark. Capital E … n … o … u … g … h.

Narrator:

And when I've spelt the word, I can just carry on reading again. In this case to start the speech, because I've stopped the speech and was doing something else, I can pull down with two fingers on the screen…

VoiceOver:

Enough house, said I, that's a curious name, miss. Yes, she replied, but it meant more than it said. It meant …

Narrator:

Three's a menu of things on the screen above and below the text of the book and I can move to these by swiping left and right again. So, from the content of the book, if I swipe to the left…

VoiceOver:

Charles Dickens. Table of contents. Button. Library. Button. Add bookmark. Button. Search. Button. Appearance. Button. Change appearance.

Narrator:

And in the same way if I swipe to the right, I can get to the items below the contents of the book.

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VoiceOver:

Search. Button. Add bookmark. Button. Library. Button. Table of contents. Button. Charles Dickens. Enough house, said I, that's a curious name, miss. Page choose, page two hundred and twenty nine. Adjustable. Double tap and hold, then drag left or right to change the page. Swipe up or down with one finger to adjust the value.

Narrator:

Hopefully you can see that by doing these gestures, not only can I read the book , but I can change - for instance - the appearance of the book, or the page that I'm on, as well as doing things like check the spelling of particular words.

In order to finish reading my book, I need to press the Library button, which is at the top left of the screen, and one way I can do this, knowing it's at the top left, is to try and find it with my finger, so that I can get there quickly, and then double tap.

VoiceOver:

Enough house. Library. Button. Library button. Store. Button.

Narrator:

If you're lucky enough to own a Bluetooth braille display, you can also use this, in combination with VoiceOver, to read your books in braille.

I hope you found this quick introduction to using iBooks with VoiceOver useful. Thank you.

This video featured the iBooks iPad app version 3.1 (1523) running on an Apple iPad with iOS version 6.1.3.

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