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Okay am I just going crazy, or has MacOS gotten a little better over the past like 3 months? Like I’ve been using it for just about everything besides heavy web browsing, and it's been pretty good. Makes me almost want to get back into the Apple ecosystem, whenever iOS’ bugs upon bugs are a bit more exterminated. Shoot maybe I’m just crazy. But Windows just, ugh the way when a lot of notifications come in, focus is just stolen out from wherever you were and put into a blank space, like that infuriates me. Oh and the Mac Mail app being a lot nicer than Gmail’s web app. Like it's totally first-world problems, and I could live on Windows, but my goodness it gets on my nerves a lot. Lol meanwhile Android gets even more smooth with every TalkBack update. Tech companies’ attention to accessibility waxes and wanes, I guess. All this was typed on the new, more quick, TalkBack Braille Keyboard. Although I still can't type smiley faces though.

#a11y #apple #accessibility #android #windows
Vincent van Itallie
Vincent van Itallie  
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SO do you have a mac for work? ANd which aps besides the mail app makes you more curious / wanting to be in the mac eco system? I am for now windows / IOS only. But really thinking about buying a m1 mac for my personal needs and see where it will bring me.
Devin Prater
Devin Prater  
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@vitallie Ulysses. There’s nothing like it. Emacs with Emacspeak. I’ve been using that for like years now, but on the Mac it’s a bit more substantial than on a ChromeBook with Crostini. Voice Dream Reader. The books app. If I get an M1 or M2, Overcast (please dear God). Whatever RSS reader I can find. GarageBand, or Reaper for making ringtones for the poor iPhone.
Vincent van Itallie
Vincent van Itallie  
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Yes sounds great, to add to that list: drafts, is a great way of capturing a thought or a grocerylist. And would love to play with keyboard Maistro and fantastical Drafts and fantastical are lifesavers for me now on the IPhone and Pad of eye already. :)
Vincent van Itallie
Vincent van Itallie  
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Wonder where you use emacs for?
Devin Prater
Devin Prater  
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@vitallie Mostly code, but a little writing. Not much now though since I found Ulysses and MacDown. Although I kinda like MacDown a bit more because with Ulysses all your stuff is in a database and that’s not good with Git and Nextcloud and such and working on other operating systems.
Devin Prater
Devin Prater  
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@vitallie Oh and my Mac was bought by the state for work, but they ain’t got no tracking software on it so I just use it for everything. But it’s a 2019 Intel model, the MacBook Pro with 4 thunderbolt ports and 8 GB RAM.
Vincent van Itallie
Vincent van Itallie  
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Urious: Over here, my employer organises laptop hardware to do work on. Why was your mac bought by the state?
Devin Prater
Devin Prater  
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@vitallie Yeah we have workstations, Windows computers. Back in 2019, I was havily into MacOS and Apple stuff. So when the state asked if I needed any tech to better do my work, I said a Braille display, MacBook, and scanner.
UncoveredMyths
UncoveredMyths  
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I have only used the Mac for 10 years.

Can't imagine gong back to broken Windows. Never could keep a windows computer functioning for more than a few months.

As a writer, I need the ability to have more than one program open at a time, and to be able to work on complicated projects. Mac allows that.
Devin Prater
Devin Prater  
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@UncoveredMyths What do you use for writing? Ulysses? Emacs? MacDown? Damn, and I just listed three good writing apps off the top of my head. And Windows has… Word. And Google Docs. And LibreOffice I guess.
UncoveredMyths
UncoveredMyths  
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I use Scrivener.

I have been known to edit in Pages. It is much better than it was a decade ago. Pages can export to ebook, pdf, Word, and rtf.

I even use Word for Mac for the few people who still use Word.

Jokingly, I call it Dirty Word. I have lost so many days trying to get page numbers correct, because they refuse to format correctly.

In Pages, it just works.

Scrivener has export functions too, called Compile. That is a more complicated process.

I still use Libre Office, for book covers and art work.

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Devin Prater
Devin Prater  
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@UncoveredMyths Interesting. I’ve not touched Scrivener in a while.
Themusiclady
Themusiclady  
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@UncoveredMyths I've found pages very slow. However, I have a workflow with iA writer. I write in #markdown using iA writer, then use an app called makedoc, which converts it to markdown.
UncoveredMyths
UncoveredMyths  
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@blindscribe
I remember that problem on Windows with Libre Office. And often when I would click save, it would lose the document. On Mac, that rarely happens.

That is why I only use it for the art feature.

You have a lot more tech knowledge than I do. I would say, 90% of the terms you toss around, I have no clue what they mean. Jarte, MarkDown, Pandoc?

I have at least heard of markdown as term, though I never could figure out what it meant.

With the last brain shutdown, about a decade ago, I lost how to do CSS and HTML. I cannot seem to learn, or retain, anything new since then. Which means Braille and my Braille display are not something I can retain either. Too many techy terms that aren't connected to anything in my brain. they just float in space and refuse to stay connected. I wish they could build connections!
UncoveredMyths
UncoveredMyths  
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@blindscribe
I may have to look into them. Thanks!
x0
x0  
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@UncoveredMyths @blindscribe I've reached out to its developer via direct message to let them know of this.
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