Use VoiceOver and the keyboard

Use Cloudy Reader without a pointer or without sight. This page lists the tab order, the control names, what the app announces, and the keys for every reading action. The names, the order, and the announcements come from the app. The project has not tested them with VoiceOver on a Mac.

Move through the window

Press Tab to move focus forward and Shift-Tab to move back. Tab leaves the question box and does not type a tab character. The table lists the controls in tab order.

Control	Accessible name
Question box	Question
Voice menu	Voice
Speaker box	Speaker
Rotation menu	Voice rotation
Read answer line checkbox	Read answer line
Online lookups checkbox	Online lookups
Paste button	Paste
Speak Clipboard button	Speak Clipboard
Repeat button	Repeat
Stop button	Stop
Speak button	Speak
Spoken script button	Spoken script
Spoken script view	Spoken script

Details about these controls:

The Speaker box appears only for a voice with more than one speaker.
Space selects or deselects a focused checkbox, and it opens or closes the Spoken script view when its button has focus.
The Spoken script button has the description “Show or hide the text that is spoken” and draws the macOS focus ring when it has focus.
The Spoken script view is closed at every start. It is read-only and holds the words of the last reading.

Hear what the app is doing

The app shows its state as text in the status bar. It announces errors to assistive technology and nothing else. It opens no dialog for a warning or an error.

Tone	Announced	Examples
Error	Yes, at once	“Error: nothing to read”
Warning	No	“Warning: text” and “No voice is installed.”
Information	No	“Preparing…” and “Playing n s.”

Assistive technology sees the status bar as one element named by the current message. For an error, the name holds the first line and the description holds the full text. A warning or an error also shows a system icon before its text, so color is never the only cue.

The app announces neither the voice download nor its end. To check the download, see Check which voices are installed.

Run every reading action from the keyboard

Every command in the Reading menu has a shortcut. Shortcuts work while Cloudy Reader is the active app.

Action	Keys	Available when
Speak	Command-Return or Command-Enter	A voice is selected and no reading is in preparation
Speak Clipboard	Command-Shift-V	A voice is selected and no reading is in preparation
Repeat	Command-R	A reading has played and no reading is in preparation
Stop	Command-Period (.)	Audio is playing

A shortcut does nothing while its command is dimmed. To read a copied question from the keyboard:

Copy the question text in another app.
Press Command-Tab to switch to Cloudy Reader.
Press Command-Shift-V. The app pastes the clipboard and speaks it.
Press Command-Period (.) to stop the sound, or Command-R to hear the reading again.

The status bar shows “Preparing…”, then “Playing n s.” Keyboard shortcuts lists every shortcut in the app.

Check appearance and window size

The window uses the native macOS look. It follows light and dark appearance and switches when the system does.
The gray placeholder text keeps a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 in both appearances.
Text uses the macOS system font at 13 points, and at 12 points in the status bar and the Spoken script view. The app has no text size setting.
The window can shrink to 560 by 480. Window > Zoom switches between the maximized and the normal window.

Work around the known limits

The app announces errors only. Warnings and information messages show only in the status bar.
To move to buttons, checkboxes, and pop-up menus with Tab, turn on Keyboard navigation in System Settings > Keyboard.
The app has no speed control and no volume control. It plays at the macOS output volume.