Exercise 1

You are about to learn the secret that all visually impaired computer users who are successfully surfing the web already know!

It is really quite simple...

Visually impaired people who navigate the Internet with a high level of success have learned to do so by reading a lot of web pages.

That is it!

That is the secret.

That may sound too simple, but it really isn't. Like any newly learned skill, it is mastered by doing it over and over and over again. So that is what this first exercise is intended to help you with.

Below are the links to about two dozen web pages. You are going to click on each one and then read the ENTIRE page that loads. Yes, read all of it! No skipping past boring lists of links, long graphic names, information that seems completely useless etc. And, just for now, no clicking on any of the links found on these pages. The objective here is to learn to read web pages, not to learn to interact with them at this point. Those very important skills will be practiced in upcoming exercises.

It is of course unrealistic to try to read all of these pages in one sitting. Most people can get through them in about a week by reading 3 or 4 pages a day. Some of them will take 2 or 3 minutes to read, and others will take up to 15 minutes to get through. It is not necessary to read the pages in the order that they are listed. And, it isn't necessary to reread any of the pages unless there is interesting text on them that you would like to hear again. You will always be able to return to this exercise as you learn more about web page reading and interact with these pages as your interest dictates.

To proceed, Swipe Forward to the first Link on this page and click it by pressing the VO + SPACEBAR. Then move to the top of the page by pressing VO + FN + LEFT ARROW. Avoid using the Read From Beginning command, VO + B, as this will likely cause the process of reading the page to seem far more boring and monotone than it should be. Also, much of the Element and Item information that is important to listen for will be difficult to identify.

To read the webpage use the Forward Swipe Voice Over command: VO + RIGHT ARROW. By moving through the page in this way the nuances of how Voice Over interprets what is found with each Forward Swipe will become evident. The various web page elements that Voice Over can detect and announce will be more obvious.

All of the links on this page will open in a new browser TAB. After reading the entire page close the TAB that loaded using COMMAND + W to return to this page.