Activity
Single Letter Navigation: iPad
Improve your efficiency and become a tech power user! Learn these Single Letter Navigation commands.
How can you become a tech power user? For young students using an iPad running VoiceOver, the 3 Steps to Becoming a Tech Power User post discusses the simple progression of tech skills and includes video tutorials to introduce navigating commands using the rotor and the 3 basic Single Letter Navigation commands using a Bluetooth keyboard. In the second post, Tech Power User: JAWS Quick Keys post, we learned about using the JAWS Quick Keys and the VoiceOver on the Mac Single Letter Navigation keys. Although these commands have different names, they are very similar. Most keyboard commands are universal no matter what device or screen reader you are using. This makes transitioning between devices easy! I bet you know the mainstream keyboard commands to copy, cut and paste. These commands are universal – it does not matter if you are using a screen reader or not, or what device you are using. The keyboard commands that you learn for a tablet will transfer to a laptop.
Did you know that the iPad also has single letter navigation? And, did you know that there are many single letter commands? Now that students have access to technology early on, it is time to step up the keyboard commands that are learned in early elementary using a tablet with a Bluetooth keyboard – these tablet tech power user skills will transfer to laptop tech power user skills!
List of Single Letter Commands available on an iPad
On an iPad, Single Letter Quick Nav must be enabled for these commands to work. Press VO + Q (Control + Option + Q) to enable/disable Single Letter Quick Navigation. To navigate to the previous item press Shift and the desired letter.
- B: Next button
- C: Next form control
- H: Next heading
- I: Next image
- L: Next link
- M: Next item of same type
- R: Next text field
- S: Next static text
- T: Next table
- W: Next landmark
- X: Next list
- 1: Next heading level 1
- 2: Next heading level 2
- 3: Next heading level 3
- 4: Next heading level 4
- 5: Next heading level 5
- 6: Next heading level 6
Activity
Hands-on Activities
Using an iPad, ask your student to open the Paths to Technology website or to perform an internet search on a topic of interest. Turn on Single Letter Quick Navigation (VO + Q) and try the various Single Letter Navigation commands. Not all websites will have every item on the page! Which Single Letter Navigation commands work on the Paths to Technology Home page? Can you find a textfield? What is the textfield for? (Search textfield, subscribe to the newsletter textfield). Can you navigate quickly to the block about Apps? (What’s new in Apps). What Single Letter Navigation command did you use? What heading level is What’s New in Apps?
Open a blog post and navigate quickly through the headings in that blog post to get an idea of what is in the blog post. Now navigate to a desired section. Does this blog post have a list of items? Many blog posts have “Resources” that are often Heading Level 3 and have links. Can you jump directly to these resource links?
Reflect
Ask your student to reflect about these commands.
- Why use Single Letter Navigation?
- Which Single Letter Navigation Commands will you use the most?
- What Single Letter Navigation Command is not currently available that you think would be useful?
- Can you name all of the iOS Single Letter Navigation commands?
- Try these Single Letter Navigation commands on a different device. Are they the same? Any differences?
TSVIs, want to keep track of the Single Letter Navigation commands that your student knows and uses? Download these checklists!
Resources
- 3 Steps to Becoming a Tech Power User post
- Tech Power User: JAWS Quick Keys post
- Reading Efficiently with a Screen Reader: Headings
- Creating Headings for a Screen Reader: Lesson Plan
- Navigating by Headings or Lists: iPad, Google Docs and VoiceOver
- Efficiently Navigating a Document or Textbook for Class
By Diane Brauner
Back to Paths to Technology’s Home page
