Tessa: I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you had used a QWERTY keyboard far more than braille lately. On a computer keyboard, function keys are numbered from left to right and the ENTER key is on the right. That's the rationale for the BS Plus keyboard. Frankly, I'd find the way you outlined as an alternative terribly confusing even though it might conform to what a Perkins Brailler implements.
With refreshable braille, I haven't used a Perkins in years! It's either electronic or slate an stylus (Hmmm ... should we implement a braille keyboard that conforms to slate usage? Where would the function keys, backspace and enter go then? har). Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tessa" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 4:08 AM Subject: [GWN] Keyboard questions Hi all I'm just curious why on a perkins brailleer the backspace is on the right, the return key on the left but the bs has them on opposite ends? It's a touch confusing when coming from using a brailleer to the bs to remember which is which. Which also raises the issue of key numbering. We number the braille keys starting at the space bar so reading from the left hand side of the key board we have the backspace, then dots 3 2 and 1 but when we go to the function keys they are numbered the opposite way, don't you think this is needlessly confusing? why not have the function keys numbered the same way as the braille keys? Or maybe others don't find this as confusing as I do periodically anyway. the manual will say fble: and fble. and I have to pause to think now just which keys are those anyway, LOL. Of course I've been using a qwerty keyboard for so long I must admit writing braille again is also a challenge, I find myself continuously hitting dot #: when I mean the letter a, go figure. None the less I definitely like the bs and am glad I purchased it. Tessa
