Mac Wisdom Request

[bryant]

So my cat jumped on my keyboard last night, as she is wont to do. This time she found a new key combination. It had two effects:


1. My menus are showing all the possible options. E.g., the Apple menu has a "Force Quit..." and a "Force Quit" option. The Safari File menu shows "Close Window" twice, and "Close Window..." twice. It looks as if every possible keyboard equivalent is being shown in the menu.

2. When I select any UI element, a black box is drawn around it. Example:



The black box around the Search field is the problem. Click on the screencap and you can see it better.

I've booted up in safe mode, and the problem persists. I've turned off Application Enhancer, and the problem persists. I'm not 100% sure it's a pure OS issue, but before I go disabling every damn thing one by one...


Anyone know what Maggie did, and how to fix it? Edit: crs knew exactly what it was. Awesome.

Comments

[crs.livejournal.com]

Check the accessibility features in System Preferences?

[crs.livejournal.com]

I think she hit Cmd-F5, to toggle the "VoiceOver" feature. Do you have the speaker muted?

[bryant]

You are SOME kinda smart. Yes. That is exactly it.

Sadly I looked at that pane and the VoiceOver feature didn't register as a potential source of the problem. Nice catch!

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

Oh Maggie.

Maggie: Destroyer of Technology!

[head58.livejournal.com]

I am become Maggie, destroyer of worlds.

[dcltdw]

"Don't be too proud of this technological terror..."

[that-cad.livejournal.com]

Let's all agree to keep Maggie away from any sort of bomb-launching military base, a la NORAD.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

*snort* Good luck with that, you know she can walk through walls.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

Oh, the fun I used to have with my old boss on April Fool's Day thanks to OS X's accessibility features. Turning his screen photo negative, zooming it in... Ah, memories. ;)

[michele-blue.livejournal.com]

Our kitty is a powerful kitty.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

There's an unanticipated advantage hamsters have over cats: when they jump on your keyboard, they can't quite manage key combinations, having only enough weight to press one key at a time...

[kodi]

...wait, so if I have a hamster who needs the VoiceOver feature, I'm going to have to turn it on for him? I thought Macs were supposed to be usable!

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

That's why hamsters ship in pairs. You need three hamsters to log in to windows...

[space-parasite.livejournal.com]

I hope my cats aren't secretly reading LJ while I'm out. The last thing they need is more ideas!