Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Virtual Keyboard for Blind Users (self.Blind)
submitted by asetniop
I designed a virtual keyboard that makes touch-typing possible on tablets. Personally, I can use it to type at over 80 words per minute with my eyes closed, so I think it's something that could be very useful to blind users. I'd like to connect with some people who are interested in trying it out and would give me feedback on how to make it more accessible and useful for blind users. Please send me a personal message if you'd be interested in helping out.
screen317 5 points 5y ago
What does it look like?
asetniop [OP] 9 points 5y ago
The basic idea is that it's ten keys (one for each finger), so *where* you press is not as important as *which finger* you press with. You can read up on it at asetniop.com or here's a brief $1.
Futuremlb 1 points 5y ago
are you hiring?
asetniop [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Oh, I wish.
homerq 1 points 5y ago
That is ingenious
slimejumper42 3 points 5y ago
I like the subtle trolling, lol
bradley22 3 points 5y ago
Hello.
From what I understand you didn't make this product for the blind but think it would be useful to us, is that correct?
I'm sorry to say that I don't think it would be useful as we can all use the built in screen readers in our tablets or phones.
Some may be slowwer at typeing than others but we can still type.
On Ios there's even a Braille keyboard built in to the voiceover screen reader.
From what I understand you didn't make this product for the blind but think it would be useful to us, is that correct?
I'm sorry to say that I don't think it would be useful as we can all use the built in screen readers in our tablets or phones.
Some may be slowwer at typeing than others but we can still type.
On Ios there's even a Braille keyboard built in to the voiceover screen reader.
asetniop [OP] 1 points 5y ago
That is correct. My thinking is that since there's no tactile feedback from touchscreens, it's not possible to touch-type the way you would on a traditional keyboard (i.e. getting your fingers set with the nubs on the F and J keys, then using muscle memory). Since my system only uses ten keys, the buttons can be calibrated to match the user's hand size and you'd never have to "hunt" for a key anymore.
bradley22 2 points 5y ago
Well, I've not used a tablet. I use my Iphoen. I honestly have no use for a tablet.
Having said that, there are screen readers built into smartphones that allow us to type.
I don't like the idea of a huge screen to type on and am slower on it than on my iPhone but it can be done.
For me personally, I'd not like the idea of learning a new way to type with ten buttons and chords.
If blind people who owned a tablet found it hard to type on the touch screen due to the size, I think they'd probably buy a bluetooth keyboard.
Having said that, there are screen readers built into smartphones that allow us to type.
I don't like the idea of a huge screen to type on and am slower on it than on my iPhone but it can be done.
For me personally, I'd not like the idea of learning a new way to type with ten buttons and chords.
If blind people who owned a tablet found it hard to type on the touch screen due to the size, I think they'd probably buy a bluetooth keyboard.
Marconius 2 points 5y ago
This really isn't useful. I can dictate, touch type, or use braille screen input with 6 fingers already with VoiceOver both on my iphone and iPad. I can type braille extremely quickly and have the advantage of using contractions, or braille shorthand to type out words and prefixes and suffixes faster than typing them out on a standard keyboard. Sorry, but we already have solutions for typing that work better than your idea here. There are even physical screen protectors that have nubs placed directly where the QWERTY on-screen keyboard appears so visually impaired users can touch type by navigating the physical representations of the on-screen buttons. My friends who use these are really fast typists.
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