Hi Erik, I understand what you mean now. The only thing I'm still confused about is how you assign commands. I cannot find a command for skimming through a message by paratraphs. I have the next and previous commands, pan left and right commands. But I don't see a command to go next and previous paragraphs. I'm sure I'm missing something. I apologize for my ignorance on this matter. I never realized that you could use the Braille display to also perform keyboard functions on the Mac. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Thanks again for answering all my questions.
Happily, Allison My birds are winged blessings, they help me soar! On Nov 11, 2010, at 11:02 AM, erik burggraaf wrote: > Hum, well you're right I'm super confused, but I think I can clarify. > > Actually, I was wrong in my original post which merks things up even more. > > To understand what I'm doing, I'll give you a brief description of the > braille connect. > > The front edge is cut out on a slant and has the following controls left to > right. > function keys 1 and 2, left space, joystick, right space, and function keys 3 > and 4. The function keys are called f1 through f4 on the mac. > on the top face the braille display and it's router keys are at the front. > On each side of the braille display are three round keys running front to > back along the ends of the display. The mac calls these d1 through d6. > behind the router keys is a set of 8 braille input keys which are square and > laid out in an ergonomic braille keyboard style. Mac calls these dot1 > through dot8.When I was talking about d1+d2+d3, I actually meant > dot1+dot2+dot3. > > What I eventualy hope to accomplish is to force my mac to emulate the > conventions of a standard note taker, such as the braille note, braille > sense, or packmate. > > You have some experience with these, so just nod along here. > In the notetaker convention, space+1 = previous letter, space+4 = next letter. > space+2 = previous word, space+5 = next word. > Space+3 = previous sentence, space+6 = next sentence. > Space+2+3 equals previous paragraph, space+5+6 = next paragraph. > Space+1+2+3 = go to top, space+4+5+6 = go to end. > add the word dot before all those numbers if you want to be mackish about it. > > OK, so with the braille connect, we're breaking the convention already, > because next and previous letter are joystick left and right, but that's OK. > > Here's what I'd like to do for the bc. I'll make a nice little table here. > Function, mac OS command, braille connect command, > Previous word, option left arrow, space+dot1, > next word, option right arrow, space+dot4, > Previous paragraph, option up arrow, space+dot2, > next paragraph, option down arrow, space+dot5, > beginning of line, control right arrow, space+dot3, > end of line, control right arrow, space+dot6, > go to top, command up arrow, space+1+2+3, > go to bottom, command down arrow, space+dot4+dot5+dot6. > > I don't know anything about the brailleno control surface, but it wouldn't be > hard to put previous and next letter on dots 1 and 4, then move everything > else outward and put next and previous paragraph on dots 23 and 56. > > If you don't normally use these commands, make yourself a reply to this > message, type some text and then practice going word by word, paragraph by > paragraph, top and bottom. Watch what happens on your brailleno as you > navigate with mac OS10 keyboard shortcuts. It shows you the information you > need without having to interact. Here I am at the bottom of a message I > typed, and if I want to go to the top I press command up arrow. The braille > display says hum, because that's the first word I typed. To get back here > and continue typing I skim the message paragraraph by paragraph til I get > beck to my signature. > > I'm not interacting with the edit box that I'm using to type this message. > The reason is that I don't have a need to interact. I can edit without, but > while I'm not interacting, I can also decide to quickly jump over to the cc > field and copy this message to apple accessibility. Or, I can be monitoring > two parts of the screen at once, making a change in one area and observing > how that change effects another area. > > As I look around for ways to add more features to my braille controller, it > strikes me that there are no provisions for mac OS10 commands. There are > hundreds of voiceover commands to choose from, including the ability to run > scrips from braille keys and all sorts of business, but if voiceover doesn't > do it, neither does the braille display. I think this is a serious oversight > that needs to be corrected, because mac OS itself has a lot to offer in terms > of keyboard functionality. > > Of course, I'm still screaming for grade two braille input and some other > things. It will be interesting to see what OS10.7 offers us in terms of > braille functionality. > > Best, > > Erik Burggraaf > User support consultant, > One on one access technology support and training over the phone or in person, > 1-888-255-5194 > http://www.erik-burggraaf.com > > On 2010-11-10, at 11:26 PM, Allison Manzino wrote: > >> Hi Erik, >> >> I have the same trouble on the Braillino. What is the space plus D 1 2 and >> 3? I'm confused. I saw it in the dialog you spoke of appearing in the >> VoiceOver Braille panel, but I don't understand how to assign keys without >> interacting with the text. I understand what you want, and I think it's a >> great idea. I hope you can create something that will work like that. I know >> when I proofread my messages with the Braillino, I have to interact with the >> message by pressing VO shift down arrow, and then I can use the controls on >> the Braillino to scroll line by line and correct spelling mistakes typos >> etc. I hope this helps, or maybe I have confused you. Have a great evening. >> >> Musically, >> Allison >> My birds are winged blessings, they help me soar! >> >> >> On Nov 10, 2010, at 10:23 AM, erik burggraaf wrote: >> >>> Hi, I'm just hacking my braille connect to try and maximize the controller >>> options and make it more comfortable for me to use as a full braille >>> controller. >>> >>> I want it to emulate my computer. For example, I have reset the joystick >>> on the bc32 so that it performs the functions of the up down left and right >>> arrow keys, as opposed to the standard move lest right up and down. >>> >>> Now, what I would appreciate and find most helpful is if I could have a new >>> custom key dialog box added to the custom menu of the key assignments. >>> >>> I'm not really sure what to call this great dialog box, since custom is >>> already taken by the menu, but it would work like this. You input a key on >>> the key board, the up arrow for example. Then you have checkboxes for each >>> of the command, option, control, and fn keys. You check the appropriate >>> combination of modifier keys. I want command up arrow assigned to >>> space+d1+d2+d3 for example. >>> >>> Command up arrow and command down arrow are the standard mac OS keyboard >>> shortcuts to take me to the top and bottom of a text area such as this edit >>> box where I am typing a message. I'm just typing along, not interacting or >>> any of that nonsense and if I want to read what I've written from the top I >>> can press command up arrow to go to the beginning of what I've just typed, >>> and then I can either read line by line with the arrows, Or I can read on >>> the display. So, I like command up arrow and command down arrow, and I >>> just want to tell my braille controller that when I press space+d1+d2+d3, >>> or space+d4+d5+d6, it means do that thing. I feel the same way about >>> option up and down arrow, option left and right arrow, and control left and >>> right arrow. Or how about tab, command tab, shift tab and command shift >>> tab. >>> >>> I have fiddled with a lot of navigation key assignments that should emulate >>> what I want, but the fact of the matter is, they all rely on interacting >>> with each and every object in order to work effectively. I wouldn't >>> normally interact with things more than %10 or %15 of the time, mostly >>> scroll areas or html frames or some issues involving group mode on the web. >>> Interacting with every single item on the screen to make it work defeats >>> the power and purpose of interacting and so I only do when it's called for. >>> In braille display world, I currently have to interact with every object I >>> am working on to make it behave which is obnoxious and could be completely >>> avoidable by allowing a braille controller to more closely emulate the >>> computer. >>> >>> best, >>> >>> Erik Burggraaf >>> User support consultant, >>> One on one access technology support and training over the phone or in >>> person, >>> 1-888-255-5194 >>> http://www.erik-burggraaf.com >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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