Series: Simple accessibility hints

By Ricky Buchanan • September 26, 2007

This entry is part 1 of 14 in the series Mac Accessibility 101

I have realised the need for a series of simple posts explaining the built-in accessibility and usability features of OS X and commonly used Mac programs. These will be tips that anybody can use, things that are simple to do and don’t cost anything; tips for “Accessibility Beginners” if you will. They will probably be tips that are most useful for people with mild disabilities or impairments that only affect their computer use a little.

I will all hints in this series to the “Simple” category so you can easily list all of them by clicking the “Simple” category in the sidebar on the right of the page.

The idea for this series came from a post on the Accessify blog about teaching users to resize text on web pages. Old hands like me sometimes forget what it was like starting with OS X when I didn’t know how to resize text, or that I could change what was in the toolbar, or what “sticky keys” were, let alone how to make the mouse pointer bigger. It’s good to get a reminder that not everybody who uses OS X is the type of person who automatically tests out all the options in the “System Preferences” pane just to see what they do.

If you have suggestions for hints that could go in this category, please leave a comment here with your idea - or feel free to write up the whole tip, I always adore guest posts!

- ATMac

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Categories: Admin, Simple, Users
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About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

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