VoiceOver and the Rotor

VoiceOver features a virtual control called the rotor. Turning the rotor — by
rotating two fingers on the trackpad as if you were turning an actual dial — lets
you access an array of fully customizable commands. Use it to browse web pages more
efficiently and intuitively. The rotor lists common elements like “headings,”
“links,” and “images,” and lets you navigate directly to the element of your
choosing.

Rotor Menu:

Pressing Control+option+U will bring up an overlay that you can navigate with the
arrow keys. This is called the Rotor menu. It has menus for:
•Links – all of the <a> tags on the page
•Headers – all h1, h2, h3… content
•Form Controls – all form elements on the page
•Web Spots – VoiceOver evaluates the visual design of a page, groups items based on
the design. These can be things like leader boards for sports, or related articles.
•Tables – table elements on the page
•Images – all the image elements on the page
•Landmarks- Aria-label content. (This will be covered later)
•Window Spots – Window spots include key areas of an app window, such as a search
field or sidebar, like Web Spots, VoiceOver creates these

VoiceOver's rotor menu

The Rotor Menu listing links on Deathbearbrown’s github landing page

Rotor Menu Commands

•Open Rotor Control + Option + U
•Close Rotor Escape
•Next Window Right Arrow
•Previous Window Left Arrow
•One List Item Down Down Arrow
•One List Item Up Up Arrow
•Go to Item Enter or Return
•Read After Item Control + Option + A

Use Dictation Commands to tell your Mac what to do

The Dictation Commands feature allows you to speak to your Mac to make it perform
certain actions.

When you turn on Dictation, you can do more than use your voice to enter text on
your Mac. You can also use dictation commands to tell your Mac what to do, like
”undo that” or ”select the previous sentence.”

Turn on Dictation Commands

Most dictation commands turn on automatically when you turn on Enhanced Dictation:
1.Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click
Dictation.
2.Turn on Dictation, then select “Use Enhanced Dictation.”

You can now get a list of commands and select the ones that you want to use:
1.Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Accessibility.
2.Select Dictation from the accessibility categories on the left. Then click the
Dictation Commands button.
3.A list of dictation commands opens. Use the checkboxes to turn commands on or
off. Click a command to see which phrases work with that command. For example,
“Undo that” works with several phrases, including “Undo this" and “Scratch that.”

Select “Enable advanced commands” to get additional commands.

Use dictation commands

To use any of the commands that you turned on, first make your Mac listen for
dictation commands:
•Press the keyboard shortcut for starting dictation. The default shortcut is Fn Fn
(press the Fn key twice).
•Or turn on the option “Enable the dictation keyword phrase,” which is next to the
Dictation Commands button. You can then speak the dictation keyword phrase to let
your Mac know that the next thing you say after the keyword phrase will be a
dictation command.

Then speak any of the phrases that work with a dictation command. You can even say
“Show commands” to open a window showing all of the dictation commands available to
you.

Create your own commands

After you select “Enable advanced commands,” an Add button appears beneath the
list of commands.
1.Click the Add button to add “undefined command” to the list of commands.
2.Click the undefined command to select it, then configure these options:•When I
say: Enter the word or phrase that you want to speak to perform the action.
•While using: Choose whether your Mac performs the action only when you're using a
particular app.
•Perform: Choose the action to perform. You can open a Finder item, open a URL,
paste text, paste data from the clipboard, press a keyboard shortcut, select a menu
item, or run an Automator workflow.

To learn more about dictation, choose Help from the Finder menu bar, then search
for “dictation.”