/documentation/android_access/tips.html
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1<!-- Copyright 2010 Google Inc. 2 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 3 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 4 You may obtain a copy of the License at 5 6 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 7 8 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 9 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 10 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 11 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 12 limitations under the License. --> 13 14<html> 15<head> 16 <title>Tips and tricks - Android Accessibility</title> 17 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css"> 18</head> 19 20<body> 21<div id="main_body"> 22 23<h1>Tips and Tricks</h1> 24 25<div class="nav"> 26 <div class="nav_back"> 27 <a href="customizing.html">Previous: Customizing Your Experience</a> 28 </div> 29 <div class="nav_up"> 30 <a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a> 31 </div> 32 <div class="nav_next"> 33 <a href="apps.html">Next: Accessible Apps</a> 34 </div> 35</div> 36 37<p> 38<strong>Default apps</strong>: 39When you install multiple apps that fulfill the same role, such as 40multiple home screens or multiple web browsers, then Android might 41sometimes ask you which app you want to open. For example, when you 42press the Home button, but you have two Home screen apps, it will ask 43you which one you want. There's also a checkbox where you can set that 44app as the default, so it won't ask you again. The other app will 45still be there, but it won't open unless you specifically open it 46yourself. To reset the defaults, just open Settings, Application 47settings, Manage Applications, and click on the application that's the 48default now, and you'll get an option to make it not the default 49anymore. 50</p> 51 52<p> 53<strong>Shortcuts</strong>: 54You can assign Search key + any letter on your keyboard to opening an 55app of your choice. It's in Settings, under the Applications section. 56</p> 57 58<p> 59<strong>Toggle silent mode in the lock screen</strong>: 60When your phone is locked, you use a swipe gesture from left to right to 61unlock it. If you swipe from right to left, you can toggle silent mode 62on and off. TalkBack will announce the mode change if you do this 63successfully. 64</p> 65 66<p> 67<strong>Turn off features you don't need</strong>: 68If you're not going to be using the display, you can save battery by 69reducing the brightness to the lowest setting and turning off animations. 70You can find both of these in the Display section of Settings. 71You may also want to turn off auto-rotating the screen. 72</p> 73 74<p> 75<strong>TTS Extended lets you access advanced TTS features on older 76Android versions</strong>: 77You shouldn't download this if you have Android 2.2 or later. But if you 78have Android 2.1 or earlier, TTS Extended will allow many applications to 79speak using additional voices other than the built-in voice, and it gives 80you more options for controlling speech. 81</p> 82 83<p> 84<strong>The Music app is accessible</strong>: 85When playing a song, either click or press the spacebar to play or pause. 86To skip to another track, press left or right. To seek within a track, 87hold down the left or right keys. 88</p> 89 90<p> 91<strong>Sliders are not very accessible</strong>: 92If you encounter a slider or seek control, unfortunately it's not 93accessible. This is a known bug that will be fixed in a future version of 94Android. However, the control does actually move if you press the left or 95right arrows, there's just no way to get feedback as to the current 96position. Still, if it's very important to adjust something, you can always 97manipulate it blind and check to see if it had an effect some other way. 98</p> 99 100<p> 101<strong>Turn off Gmail syncing if you don't need it</strong>: 102Since Gmail isn't accessible, there's no need to sync it. Go to the Accounts 103& Sync section in the Settings to stop syncing your Gmail email. You 104may want to keep syncing contacts and other Google data, though, since those 105are accessible. Note that you can still read your email from Gmail using 106a different accessible email program - you just can't use the built-in 107Gmail-only app. 108</p> 109 110<p> 111<strong>Many apps have tabs across the top of the screen</strong>: 112Don't forget to check the two-dimensional layout of the screen as you're 113exploring. 114</p> 115 116<p> 117<strong>Android has several keyboard shortcuts</strong>: 118Many of the text-editing keystrokes you're used to in a desktop computer 119will work on an Android device with a keyboard. For example, hold down 120Shift while moving the directional controller to select text, and press 121Alt+X to cut, Alt+C to copy, and Alt+V to paste in any text box. In addition, 122press Alt+Up to move to the top of a box and Alt+Down to move to the bottom. 123This also works in lists, not just in text boxes. 124</p> 125 126<div class="nav"> 127 <div class="nav_back"> 128 <a href="customizing.html">Previous: Customizing Your Experience</a> 129 </div> 130 <div class="nav_up"> 131 <a href="index.html">Up: Android Accessibility</a> 132 </div> 133 <div class="nav_next"> 134 <a href="apps.html">Next: Accessible Apps</a> 135 </div> 136</div> 137 138</div> 139</body> 140</html>