Hi. I am going to be unsubscribeing from this list, because it is
too high traffic. There are too many emails. If you would like to
contact me about the email I sent out to this list a few days ago
about my braille keyboard app, please contact me off list. My
email address is jessicabrown...@gmail.com. Thank you. Incase you
did not get that email, here it is again. Hello. My name is
Jessica. I am 17 years old and I live in Canada in the province
of BC. I am blind and I have an iPhone 4s running iOS 6. I use
VoiceOver. I am wondering if you could develop some apps for me
and other people who are blind or visually impaired and who use
Apple products? If you can not, then do you know someone who can?
If you know someone who may be able to develop some or all of
these apps, please forward this email to them and ask them to
send their response to jessicabrown...@gmail.com or just tell me
who they are and tell me their email address so I can send them a
copy of this email. Thank you. The first app would look something
like this. It would be an additional keyboard for typing braille
on iPhones, iPads and iPods. It would be like the Emoji keyboard
app from Awesomest Inc that we can get on the app store. It would
also be like the other language keyboards that come built in to
iOS and that we can enable in settings. It would be able to be
directly integrated in to and used with all apps including the
apps that are built in to iOS and the apps we get from the app
store. Not like the TypeInBraille app from EveryWare
Technologies, because I have read the instructions and I have
tried over and over again and I can not even type 1 letter with
that app. I think part of the problem with the EveryWare
Technologies app is that it is not laid out the way a normal
braille keyboard is and we can not input letters in the same way
we would on a normal braille keyboard. Also, we do not get any
auditory feedback as to what letter we are typing except beeps.
Beeps do not tell us what we are typing or what we are about to
type. All the beeps sound the same no matter what dot we are
typing in. In other words, we can not tell what dot we have
entered just by listening to the beeps. These apps are going to
be way different. If possible, these apps would work with touch
typing and standard typing. Also, I have seen some apps like
Fleksy by Syntellia that we need to turn off VoiceOver to use. If
it is possible, these apps would be compatible with VoiceOver so
we would not have to turn off VoiceOver to use them. If you can
not make them compatible with VoiceOver, then if possible, they
would have their own speech system built in to them. Regardless
of if the apps used VoiceOver or their own speech system, they
would tell us what dot combination our fingers are on when we are
feeling around the screen, and then when we lift our fingers to
type the character they would say it again to confirm what we had
typed or if we did not want the confirmation, we could turn it
off in settings. For example- the letter c is a combination of
dots 1 and 4. So if we have our fingers on dots 1 and 4,
VoiceOver or speech would say c and we could lift our fingers to
type the letter c, but if our fingers are on the wrong dots, like
they are on dots 2 and 5 or something, then VoiceOver or speech
would say 3 if we were typing in computer braille or lower c if
we were typing in something other then computer braille and we
could feel around and find the dots 1 and 4 and lift our fingers
to type the letter c if we had this setting turned on. If this
setting was off, the c would still be typed when we lifted our
fingers, but VoiceOver or speech would not say c for a second
time so we could have this setting on at first and if we wanted,
we could turn it off when we got better at typing with the apps.
There would also be a setting to have VoiceOver or speech not say
anything until the character had been typed or to not say
anything before or after the character had been typed. there
would also be a setting for what we did and did not want
VoiceOver or speech to announce after it has been typed- just
words, just characters, nothing or both. The first setting would
be independent from the second setting. In other words, we would
be able to set what we hear before and what we hear after we were
done typing a word separately from each other. There would be
feedback options for after a character was typed. The options
would be any combination of beep, vibrate and say the character.
The beep, vibrate and say the character settings would be
independent from each other, meaning that it would be able to
just beep, just vibrate, just say the character or any
combination of the 3, do all or do nothing. There would be
additional settings for what order we wanted these 3 things to
happen in. There would be a setting that could be turned on or
off for predictive typing where we type a few letters and the
apps guess what word we are trying to type and if it is the word
we are trying to type, we could press the space bar to have the
word completed without having to type the whole word. For
example- we start typing the word information and we only get as
far as informa and the device brings up the word information.
Then if that was the word we wanted, we could just press space
and the word information would be typed. If information was not
the word we wanted, we would just ignore the suggestion and keep
typing and the device would keep suggesting words until either it
guessed the one we were trying to type or we finish typing it.
Also, With apps like Fleksy and TypeInBraille, the keyboard is
not integrated in to iOS, so when we are using Safari to search
something on google or search something on youtube or using any
other app that requires text entry, and we just want to type a
few words, It is not worth it to go in to the braille app, type
our text, copy it to the clipboard and then go back to Safari or
youtube or what ever app we are using and paste our text in to
the search box. It would probably be faster to just use the
normal keyboard that is built in to iOS. However, It would be way
easier if we could just type our searches in braille. Lots of
times, we are in public and do not want to disturb people by
talking to Siri. If possible, these apps would be keyboards that
we could switch to and from just like the Emoji keyboard app and
the language keyboards that come built in to iOS. Also, if
possible, the apps would work in the lock screen so they could be
used to type the pass code to unlock the device. They would also
work with the built in spell check and auto-correct features of
iOS, or maybe if this is not possible, they would have their own
spell check and auto-correct features built in to them. The
keyboard would look like this, The backspace key on the very left
edge of the keyboard for deleting a character if we type it
wrong. The return/enter key on the very right edge of the
keyboard for going down to the next line or for if there is
something that needs an enter key. For example- we are making a
grocery list and we want each item on its own line or we have
typed a web address and we need to press enter to go to that
address. In-between backspace and return/enter would be the 6
keys for the 6 braille dots. From left to right, starting just to
the right of the return/enter key, they would be in this order-
dot 3, dot 2, dot 1, then a little space with no keys, then dot
4, then dot 5, then dot 6. Below that, there would be a space bar
running from just below dot 1 to just below dot 4. The braille
keyboard is usually wider then the iPhone or iPod screen is, but
I still think if you made the buttons a bit narrower and a bit
shorter, then on a normal braille keyboard, you could make them
all fit. Maybe if there is not enough room for all 8 keys in a
row, then you could move the backspace key to above dot 3 and
move the enter key to above dot 6. This would not be like a
standard braille keyboard, but it would be better then having no
braille keyboard at all. I placed my hands over my iPhone screen
in landscape orientation and it felt to me like they could all
fit. Using landscape would make the screen wider. I also placed
my hands over the screen in portrait orientation. I may be wrong,
but I do not think the 6 keys would fit side by side in portrait
orientation. The apps would have support for landscape with the
home button to the left and landscape with the home button to the
right. If the keyboard would fit on the screen in portrait
orientation, , there would also be support for portrait and
something called portrait flipped which is where the home button
is at the top of the device and the sleep wake button is at the
bottom. An example of an app that uses portrait flipped is sound
AMP by Ginger Labs. I do not think the placement of the buttons
would be a problem on the iPad, because the screen is bigger. .
So on the iPad you probably would be able to make a full sized
braille keyboard with all the buttons in the proper place no
matter if the iPad was being used in landscape or portrait
orientation. Where the space bar and backspace and return/enter
keys are located does not matter as much, but the placement of
the other 6 keys does matter because those are the 6 main keys
used to make letters, numbers, punctuation and symbols in most
kinds of braille. The little space with no keys in-between dots 1
and 4 is also important. It would be hard to keep track of which
side of the keyboard was which without it. From left to right the
6 keys need to be dot 3, then dot 2, then dot 1, then a little
space with no keys, then dot 4, then dot 5, then dot 6. When we
type braille, we press all the dots of the letter we want to type
all at the same time. For example- the letter b is dots 1 and 2.
We would type dots 1 and 2 at the same time and then lift the
finger from dot 1 and the finger from dot 2 at the same time. We
would not normally type dot 1 and then lift our finger and then
type dot 2 and then lift our finger. However, 1 thing I am not
sure about is if you would be able to make the apps recognise
that we are touching more then one key at a time. For example-
the letter p is dots 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 all at one time. The
apps would need to be able to recognise that we are touching all
4 keys. If there is no way to make the apps recognise more then 1
key at a time, then maybe you could still leave the keyboard
formatted the same way, but to type the letter p, we would have
to press dot 1, then dot 2, then dot 3, then dot 4 all
separately. This would not be the proper way to type braille, but
again, it would still be better then having no braille keyboard
at all. If you were unable to make the apps recognise that we
were typing more then 1 dot at a time and you had to program them
so that we typed 1 dot at a time, the space and backspace keys
would behave differently. The letter l is dots 1 and 2 and 3. So
we would type dot 1 and then lift our finger and then type dot 2
and then lift our finger and then type dot 3 and then lift our
finger. Then we would press space to tell the apps that we were
done typing that letter. If we were typing a word that had the
letter l at the end, for example- boil, then we would press the
space bar once to tell the apps that we were done typing that
letter and then again to tell them that we were done typing the
word. Now here is an example of how the backspace key would
behave differently. the letter b is dots 1 and 2. The letter c is
dots 1 and 4. If we were trying to type the letter b and we typed
dot 1 and then we accidentally typed dot 4, pressing the
backspace key would not delete the whole character, it would just
delete the dot 4. Then we would be able to type dot 2 and fix our
mistake. If we typed the letter s, which is dots 2 and 3 and 4,
the first time we pressed the backspace key, the dot 4 would be
deleted. If we pressed the backspace key again, the dot 3 would
be deleted and if we pressed it again, the dot 2 would be
deleted. The dots get deleted in opposite order that they were
typed. If we pressed it again after the dot 2 was deleted, it
would start deleting 1 whole character every time backspace was
pressed. Remember, please only program the apps to type this way
if you can not make them recognise that we are typing more then 1
key at a time. If you can make the apps recognise that we are
typing more then 1 key at a time, then please do it that way
instead because that is the proper way to type braille. The
backspace, return/enter key and the space bar would all have
feedback settings and each button would have its own feedback
setting so each button could be set to provide different or the
same feedback. The feedback options for the return/enter key
would be as follows. The options would be any combination of
beep, vibrate, say the word new line if we typed a new line, say
the word that was just typed if we typed a word and then typed a
new line, or enter if we had typed a web address and pressed the
return/enter key to go to that address. The say the word that was
just typed if a word was typed, say the word new line if a new
line or a word and then a new line was typed, say the word enter
if you were pressing enter on a web address or something else
that needs an enter key, beep and vibrate settings for the
return/enter key would be independent from each other, meaning
that it would be able to just say the word new line, just say the
word that was typed, just vibrate, just beep or any combination
of the 4, do all or do nothing. There would be additional
settings for what order we wanted these 4 things to happen in.
These settings would just apply to the return/enter key and no
other keys. The feedback options for the space bar would be as
follows if you were able to program the apps the proper way and
you did not have to program them to use the type 1 dot at a time
method. The options would be any combination of beep, vibrate,
say the word space and say the word that was just typed. The say
the word space, say the word that was just typed, vibrate and
beep settings for the space bar would be independent from each
other, meaning that it would be able to just say the word space,
just say the word that was typed, just vibrate, just beep or any
combination of the 4, do all or do nothing. There would be
additional settings for what order we wanted these 4 things to
happen in. These settings would just apply to the space bar and
no other keys. If you had to program the apps to use the type 1
dot at a time method, the feedback options for the space bar
would be the same as above, but there would also be some
additional options. They are as follows. The options would be any
combination of beep, vibrate, say the word space and say the dot
that was just typed. The say the word space, say the dot that was
just typed, vibrate and beep settings for the space bar would be
independent from each other, meaning that it would be able to
just say the word space, just say the dot that was typed, just
vibrate, just beep or any combination of the 4, do all or do
nothing. There would be additional settings for what order we
wanted these 4 things to happen in. These settings would just
apply to the space bar and no other keys. If you are able to
program the apps to type properly, where we type all the dots all
at 1 time, we would not need these feedback options for typing
dots, because we would not have to type anything 1 dot at a time.
The feedback options for the backspace key would be as follows if
you were able to program the apps the proper way and you did not
have to program them to use the type 1 dot at a time method. They
would be any combination of beep, vibrate, say backspace and say
the deleted character. The say the word backspace, say the
character that was just deleted, beep and vibrate settings for
the backspace key would be independent from each other, meaning
that it would be able to just say the word backspace, just say
the character that was deleted, just beep, just vibrate, or any
combination of the 4, do all or do nothing. There would be
additional settings for what order we wanted these 4 things to
happen in. . These settings would just apply to the backspace key
and no other keys. If you had to program the apps to use the type
1 dot at a time method, the feedback options for the backspace
key would be the same as above, but there would also be some
additional options. They are as follows. They would be any
combination of beep, vibrate, say backspace and say the deleted
dot. The say the word backspace, say the dot that was just
deleted, beep and vibrate settings for the backspace key would be
independent from each other, meaning that it would be able to
just say the word backspace, just say the dot that was deleted,
just beep, just vibrate, or any combination of the 4, do all or
do nothing. There would be additional settings for what order we
wanted these 4 things to happen in. These settings would just
apply to the backspace key and no other keys. If you are able to
program the apps to type properly, where we type all the dots all
at 1 time, we would not need these feedback options for deleting
dots, because we would not have to delete anything 1 dot at a
time. Regardless of if the apps used VoiceOver or their own
speech system, they would tell us what dot our finger is on when
we are feeling around the screen, and then when we lift our
finger to type the dot they would say it again to confirm what we
had typed or if we did not want the confirmation, we could turn
it off in settings. For example- the letter c is a combination of
dots 1 and 4. So if we had our finger on dot 1, VoiceOver or
speech would say dot 1 and we could lift our finger to type the
dot 1, which is the first dot in the letter c, but if our finger
was on the wrong dot, like it was on dot 2 or something, then
VoiceOver or speech would say dot 2 and we could feel around and
find the dot 1 and lift our finger to type it if we had this
setting turned on. If this setting was off, the dot 1 would still
be typed when we lifted our finger, but VoiceOver or speech would
not say dot 1 for a second time so we could have this setting on
at first and if we wanted, we could turn it off when we got
better at typing with the apps. There would also be a setting to
have VoiceOver or speech not say anything until the dot had been
typed or to not say anything before or after the dot was typed.
There would be feedback options for after a dot was typed. The
options would be any combination of beep, vibrate and say the
dot. The beep, vibrate and say the dot settings would be
independent from each other, meaning that it would be able to
just beep, just vibrate, just say the dot or any combination of
the 3, do all or do nothing. There would be additional settings
for what order we wanted these 3 things to happen in. Some
devices do not have vibrate motors in them. The vibrate settings
would only apply to the devices that have vibrate motors. The
vibrate settings would be good for when we are in a meeting and
don't want our devices making noise or when we are in a place
where it is too loud for us to hear them. Unless specified
otherwise, the settings would all be the same regardless of if
you programed the apps to type all the dots at 1 time or to type
them 1 at a time. If it would work, please program the apps to
type all of the dots at one time, but also incorporate the 1 dot
at a time method, so that if someone wanted to type, but they
only had use of 1 hand, they would still be able to do it. The 1
dot at a time method would make it easier for people who can only
use 1 hand to type, because they would not need to press as many
buttons at the same time. People who can use both hands can set
the app to type all the dots at once. There are 7 ways to do
Canadian English braille that I know of. There may be more that I
am unaware of. There is uncontracted braille, otherwise known as
grade 1 braille, contracted braille, otherwise known as grade 2
braille, grade 0 braille, which is a type of simplified computer
braille, 6 dot computer braille, 8 dot computer braille, Nemeth
braille and braille for writing music. All kinds of computer
braille do not use contractions. In 8 dot computer braille, the
backspace key becomes dot 7 and the return/enter key becomes dot
8. When we are typing in 8 dot computer braille and we need to
use the backspace or return/ enter keys, we press the space bar
and then the backspace or return/enter key and then the space bar
again so it is not interpreted as dot 7 or dot 8. So for example-
if we were using 8 dot computer braille and we pressed the space
bar and then the return/enter key and then the space bar again,
the typing would go down to the next line just like it would if
we were typing in something other then 8 dot computer braille and
we pressed the return/enter key. If we are typing in 8 dot
computer braille and we want to put a space in-between 2 words,
we have to press the space bar twice in a row. When we are not
using 8 dot computer braille, we do not need to worry about
pressing the space bar when we want to use the backspace or
return/enter keys. It would be nice if the apps could support all
7 ways, because the more ways it can support, the more things we
will be able to use the apps for, but if you can only make it
compatible with some of the ways, that will still be better then
nothing. Or maybe if you can not make all the kinds of braille
work with 1 app, you could make 1 app for each kind of braille.
Then the keyboard layout and the settings and everything else
would be the same. hopefully, the only thing that would be
different is what kind of braille the apps use. If it is
possible, just put all 7 kinds of braille and all languages all
in 1 app. Only split it up in to more then 1 app if you have to.
If you know of more kinds of braille or you find another 1 when
you are researching, please add it in to the apps if you can.
Then there would be settings for each of the kinds of braille
that the apps supported, so that we could tell the apps which
kind of braille we are going to type with. I do not know anything
about braille in other languages, but it would be nice if there
also could be apps that support other languages for people in
other parts of the world, or just combine all the languages in to
1 app. Then there would be a setting so we could tell the apps
which language we are going to use for typing. Me and the other
blind people who use Apple products can and do achieve this
functionality by using braille displays, but the braille displays
are way bigger then just the iPhone or iPod by itself. Having to
pack around braille displays just so we can type in braille on
our iPhones and iPods really takes the mobile out of mobile
device for us. We can not take advantage of the small size of the
iPhone and iPod if we have to lug around big braille displays as
well. Most braille displays are bigger then the iPhone and iPod.
If these apps were developed, they would allow blind people to
take full advantage of the iPhone and iPod. Sure, we can type
with the keyboard that comes with iOS, but it is way slower for
us, because the sighted people are used to a standard keyboard,
like the one built in to iOS, but we are used to braille. I think
these apps would make iPhones and iPods way more useful for blind
and visually impaired people then they already are. The iPad is
actually bigger then most braille displays, but if these apps
were developed, it would still be better for blind and visually
impaired people who use iPads, because they would only have to
pack around 1 machine, not 2. The second app, if possible, would
be a similar app to the iOS app, but it would be for the Mac
computer. Since Mac computers do not have touch screens, you
could use some of the letters on the keyboard as the keys for the
braille dots. Just like the iOS app, the Mac app would be able to
be used with VoiceOver on and if this was not possible, then it
would have its own speech system built in to it. Also , it would
work in the apps that come built in to Mac OS X, as well as the
apps from the Mac app store. It would also work with the spell
check and auto-correct features in Mac OS X and if that was not
possible, then it would have its own spell check and auto-correct
features built in to it. It would be as similar to the iOS app as
possible. Hopefully the only thing that would be different is
that we would be using the buttons on a normal keyboard that
sighted people use but we would be typing braille instead. If you
can not get the Mac to recognise that we are pressing down more
then 1 button at a time, you may have to use the solution where
we have to type 1 dot at a time, but again, only do it that way
if you have to. Hopefully, the Mac app would also be able to
support all kinds of braille in all languages, or if you can not
make all kinds of braille in all languages fit in 1 app, then
just split it up and develop more then 1. Also, If you have any
other ideas for features or functions for these apps, please
include them in the apps when you develop them. If you need to
take out or modify some of the features I have requested in order
to make these apps work, feel free to do that, but please try
your hardest not to have to do that. The more features these apps
have, the more useful they will be for blind and visually
impaired people. If you need to take out or modify a feature, but
you are not sure how to modify it in a way that would not effect
the usefulness of the apps for blind and visually impaired people
or you are not sure which features the apps could stand to lose
without becoming considerably less useful for blind and visually
impaired people, please ask me. Also, if you have any general
questions about the features or functions of these apps, please
ask me. I have tried to explain the features and how they would
work in a clear, easy to understand way, but because these apps
are so complex and so specific, it still may be hard to
understand how I want the apps programmed. That is ok. If there
is something you do not understand, just ask me and I will do my
best to explain it better. I have also tried to figure out what
problems you might run in to when you are developing the apps and
to provide solutions to them, but you may experience a problem
that I did not predict happening. If you run in to a problem,
please tell me what it is and I will try to help you solve it. My
email address is jessicabrown...@gmail.com. To learn more about
what combinations are assigned to which letters, numbers,
punctuation marks and symbols in the different kinds of braille,
so that you can program them in to the apps correctly, Here are
links to some websites. Some of the websites are just for english
braille and some of them also have information on braille in
other languages. www.brl.org.
http://www.brl.org/refdesk/conlookup.html. www.Hadley.edu.
www.braille.org. www.nfb.org/braille-resources.
dots.physics.orst.edu/gs_sebfig_text.html.
dots.physics.orst.edu/gs.html.
dots.physics.orst.edu/gs_bs_seb.html.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_ASCII.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille. www.brailleauthority.org.
www.nationalbrailleweek.org.
www.nationalbrailleweek.org/page/learning-braille.
www.perkins.org. www.perkins.org/search/search.jsp?query=braille.
www.braillebug.org/default.asp.
www.braillebug.org/braille_deciphering.asp.
www.braillebug.org/foreign_language_braille.asp.
www.omniglot.com/writing/braille.htm.
libbraille.org/alphabet.php.
http://libbraille.org/spanish_alphabet.php.
www.99main.com/~charlief/brl/brl2.htm.
www.99main.com/~charlief/vi/braille.html.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Braille. www.dotlessbraille.org.
www.dotlessbraille.org/fatalflaw.htm. www.brailleinstitute.org.
www.nbp.org. http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/alphacard.html.
www.braille.com. and www.braillenovelts.com. Here are a couple of
videos about braillle. 1 is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqQ3gdE7ks0&feature=related.
The other one is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9hUmlXyabk&feature=relmfu. As
well as the links I have suggested, some of the other links that
you will find when you go to the links I have suggested are also
good sources of information about braille. I tried to find sites
that just have information about braille, but I could not find
many sites like that. Most of them have information on braille as
well as information about other things related to vision loss.
However, you should look through the links on the sites I have
suggested. I have tried to find the links to the pages that are
about braille and put them beside the link to the main, or home
page of the site, but I probably missed some links that lead to
good information. Also, try looking for other sites then the ones
I have suggested if you can not find all of the information you
need on the sites I have suggested. I know lots of stuff about
English braille, so you could also ask me questions about English
braille and I could try to answer them, but I do not think I know
enough about braille that I could tell you so you could program
the combinations of dots in to the apps. I could definitely help
with some of it though and get you off to a good start. For
information about braille in other languages, you will have to do
some research, because I only know English braille. Hopefully
between the stuff I know and the research you do, you will be
able to find all the information you need to program the dot
combinations in to the apps so the letters, numbers, punctuation
marks and symbols come out properly when they are typed and they
do not come out as something they should not be, for example- you
try to type the letter b and you get the letter l. As for names
for the apps, I am not sure which names are available and which
ones have been used. Just go ahead and find names that are not in
use and use them. If possible, I also would like to help with the
beta testing. I can beta test the iOS apps with my iPhone 4s, but
I can not beta test the Mac OS X apps, because I do not have a
Mac. If you are not able to develop some or all of these apps,
but you know someone who may be able to develop some or all of
these apps, please forward this email to them and ask them to
send their response to jessicabrown...@gmail.com or just tell me
who they are and tell me their email address so I can send them a
copy of this email. Please contact me with your response using
the email address jessicabrown...@gmail.com. Thank you for taking
the time to read this and consider my ideas. I am looking forward
to your response. Sincerely, Jessica. .
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