What Erik has written is much more thorough and clear than what I have written below but since there are a few things he didn't say and I don't want to take the time to edit, I will send this as is. If in doubt, defer to what Erik has written. Others have also perhaps posted while I was working on this.
Your settings are in voiceover utility under the braille category. Make sure you have "show contracted braille" checked. Use automatic braille translation has more to do with writing than reading. Checking this means that translation to grade two will happen as you type but the one caveat of this is that "he who hesitates may be lost". If you hesitate and then keep typing, the typing gets expanded. So for instance, if you type the word bicycle and you do bicyc and then hesitate and type the "l", you will have bicyclike. If you are fast this isn't a problem but I have this unchecked so I can take my time. But if you have this unchecked, you won't see your braille that you are typing until you either do a space, which of course would be at the end of a word, or do chord-dot4. Of course you can also change quickly between contracted and uncontracted braille with chord-g You can also insert a letter without having it expand by doing a letter sign before typing the letter. If you don't want any extra information, make sure you have status cells unchecked. I think the dots at the bottom to which you are referring are the dots 7 and 8 to indicate your cursor/highlighting. Try unchecking use dots 7 and 8 to indicate cursor. I am noticing that if I use the up-and-down controls on the four-way controller on the Edge, I see uncontracted braille so this must be highlighting the lines as I go down. If you use the right and left controls instead only the word your cursor is on will be uncontracted or at least I think that is what is happening. Or if just reading use the advance buttons instead. Sorry, I haven't done a lot of writing about this so I probably am not using the right terminology for the controls. One thing I do find distracting is that you see end-of-line indicators (probably look like a letter "j" to you). The interface for reading on the iPhone and iPad seems much cleaner to me and less distracting than that on the Mac and I'm sure there must be a good reason but I don't understand what it is totally. I think most of the difference has to do with the highlighting which happens on the Mac but not the iPhone and iPad and is eliminated by unchecking use dots 7 and 8 to indicate cursor". I've mostly been using my Edge with my i-devices and am just now trying to dig in and learn how to use it with my Mac. I also always keep a bluetooth keyboard at hand in case I get lost and because there are a few things that can't be done with the braille display, but I am sure I will need the bluetooth keyboard less and less as I become more proficient. But sometimes it helps me to do a left-or-right arrow with the bluetooth keyboard and feel where I am with the braille display if I become disoriented. Also remember to interact with text when navigating in it; you can look up the chording for interacting in the "assign commands" table in the "displays" tab under braille in voiceover utility. Hope this helps some. I've tried to do most of this on my braille display as I have decided to use it more on my Mac as well as my i-devices, but I am sure I have made mistakes. Unlike you, I can use speech to help so yes, I cheated some! -- Cheryl I tried and tried to turn over a new leaf. I got crumpled wads of tear-stained paper thrown in the trash! Then God gave me a new heart and life: His joy for my despairing tears! And now, every day: "This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV) On Aug 15, 2014, at 8:07 AM, Jack and Becky <[email protected]> wrote: > Greeting Folks! I am a brand spanking new Mac user. Just starting hfind my > way about on it. I have a Mac book Pro. Running the latest version of > Mavericks. I am using a braille edge and am finding the interface to be > somewhat messy. I should add that I am a deaf person and Cannot use speech > at all! For instance there's a line of dots at the bottom of the display > which I believe are called attributes? This is to say the least somewhat > distracting. Also though I have my BE. set to Grade two translation there > is no such though strangely enough there is with my pacMate display which > doesn't look like it will be useable in this regard. If I am wrong in that > someone please set me straight. Anyhoo, where Do I go to find braille > settings and how do I clean things up just a bit?? Also for those of you if > there are any out there who use a braille display with your Mac how do you > find the experience?? Thanking you kindly in advance I am cordially yours > Jack Zimmerman > > Sent from my iPhone > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
