User interface for the blind: was (was Re: Void Linux tips)

[Eric Oyen]

thats the problem with screen readers. they operate in a serial fashion. Now there are some keyboard tricks to be able to skim a page of information, but its still serial. However, if someone would just come up with a braille tablet (about the size of a sheet of braille paper), it would become easier as I would be able to skim the screen the same way you do with your eyes.

only issue is that there are just 3 braille device manufacturers and they all mark up the cost of the devices they make by slightly more than 1,000%. FOr example, the retail cost of a braille sense U2 is $6,000 and yet the cost to manufacture it is less than $50 per unit. Oh yeah, it also uses windows CE  (ugh!). I have been trying to convince the powers that be over at HIMS to go with linux. So far, the management is being intractable. THey claim the R&D would cost them too much (like the $30,000 they spent on gaining access to the windows CE source code and the per unit license fees). They don't want to hear it (or so it would seem). the R&D cost on linux would be far less and it would also be more stable. The latest release of their current OS (windows CE) left a lot to be desired. THe OS would lock up and the apps had various issues (and there aren't that many apps either).

Now, if the braille device marketplace were a nit less limited in scope (I.E. the devices were more affordable) then there would be a lot more of us using them (and of course, a lot more fingers scanning the source code for bugs).

sorry if I got off on a bit of a rant there guys. I am still paying off my braille sense device here (its on a 72 month contract and I am more than half through). So, it gets under my skin every time I hear that the companies involved don't want to go open source. Seriously, it would save them time and money (and translate to a lower cost device for us).

anyway, I hope someone can change how a screen reader can present a screen.

-eric

On Oct 23, 2015, at 8:30 AM, Steve Litt wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Oct 2015 17:38:10 -0700
> Eric Oyen <eric.oyen at icloud.com> wrote:
> 
>> As for
>> learning new apps, try being blind guys. You have to relearn
>> EVERYTHING at some point.
> 
> I never thought about it before, because corrected my visions about
> 20/50. But if one's completely blind, the user interfaces I've seen,
> even when read by a screen reader, I'd imagine would be slow and
> cumbersome.
> 
> It strikes me that, first, an interface for the blind requires the
> equivalent of a sighted person's glance: Where you are now, and what
> are your options. You could ask for further details on your current
> location or your options, or you could choose an option, or you can
> fill out a form. Maybe???
> 
> The average website with thirty gazillion links and all sorts of
> extraneous verbiage, and context by color, seems like it would make a
> blind person pull his/her hair out.
> 
> There's got to be a better way!
> 
> SteveT
> 
> Steve Litt 
> October 2015 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive
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