Hi Bryan,
You are right about the shortcuts with Pro Tools. We need to give this some
thought. Slau's idea of bringing up a Quickkeys menu may help in reminding
someone of the shortcut, but I think a layered approach like you use with mouse
clicks may work in keeping conflicts to a minimum. You may want to have either
one command that starts a Pro Tools layer, or even better a few commands that
access different layers to access different parts of the Pro Tools interface.
Where there are free main keyboard shortcut possibilities you can probably use
those for more common PT commands.
As for the modifier options for the mouse, Option-Shift is a useful one. I am
still not sure if Command -shift or Control-Shift are used for anything
important. One other thing that the modifiers are used in is dragging and
dropping. You can do an Option drag-drop along with all the other single
modifiers. There are also other drag-drop commands with double modifiers like
Control-Shift, and Option-Control-Shift, but I don't know how usable they may
be with the dragging implications for us. It's still worth exploring...
Looking forward to checking out your latest build of VOXKeys.
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: Slau Halatyn
To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: Announcing the VoxKeys project
Hey Bryan,
One thing that might help conserve keyboard shortcuts a bit, if this feature
is still available in QuicKeys, is the option to keep the shortcut in the
QuicKeys menu which can be brought up with a customizable key command. From
there, one navigates a menu with first letter navigation. this would probably
work well for commands or features that are less often used or esoteric. It
might be worth considering.
Slau
On Jan 10, 2011, at 12:37 PM, Bryan Smart wrote:
Thanks, Vinny.
Can you think of other multi-modifier shortcuts that are needed besides
option-command? I can add permutations all day, but would prefer to focus on
what is actually needed.
I have some basic GarageBand shortcuts that will be in the new release
coming out today. The GarageBand 6 user interface is extensively accessible
now, but far less complex than PT, of course, so it has been a good proving
ground for ideas that I hope to try next in PT. In particular, focus-jumping
hotkeys have worked out well. A huge problem with the current version of GB is
that, with all of the accessible UI elements, the interface is time consuming
to navigate. Pro Tools is the same, but on a larger scale. In GB, though, I’ve
added shortcuts that can quickly bounce the VO cursor to areas of the window,
such as the track info group, the timeline, and the editor group. I’ve also
been able to add hotkeys that give you status reports without forcing you to
move the VO focus, such as pressing a key to quickly hear the name, type,
volume, pan, mute/solo/arm status of a track, etc. Using GB is so much faster
with these shortcuts. I’m excited about the potential for Pro Tools.
I am, however, worried about key conflicts. Pro Tools really fills up the
keyboard. A lot of consideration will need to go to choosing good shortcut keys.
Bryan
From: ptaccess@googlegroups.com [mailto:ptacc...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Vinny Pedulla
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2011 3:56 PM
To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Announcing the VoxKeys project
Hi Bryan,
Great work man! I downloaded and installed VOXKeys and it looks very
promising. One little minor snag I ran into was with the installer. For some
reason I wasn't getting passed the second part of the dialog. The next button
was dimmed. I tried a few times and then I tried just using the return key to
activate the default action and I did get passed and all went well. This was
with v1.1.
I think this will be a great addition to Pro Tools accessibility and will
try to help any way I can with future shortcuts. When you get around to the
next release that includes Pro Tools support ,it would be helpful to have mouse
clicks with more than one modifier added. For example Option plus Command with
the mouse, but you may be planning this already...
Again great work and looking forward to what else you have up your sleeve,
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: Bryan Smart
To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 3:06 AM
Subject: Announcing the VoxKeys project
Hi everyone.
Here is info about my project, VoxKeys, that is intended to encourage and
coordinate the development of scripts for VoiceOver. The first test release
didn’t blow up anyone’s computer, so this second release can probably be risked
on a larger audience.
Since most all of you here are fairly technical types, I’m enthusiastic
about any feedback that you’d care to provide in any regard, from the
installer, to the way that the system is organized, to just bug reports.
I’ve included some intro copy below, but, in a nutshell, this is a
collection of extensions for QuicKeys. VoxKeys is the name of the set of
extensions. Once you install VoxKeys, you can look at the help file for an
explanation of why I’m using QuicKeys, as well as technical info toward the
end. It is my hope that by extending/scripting VoiceOver and other apps in this
way, we all can build a collection of accessibility enhancements that can be
installed in a single go.
Though Pro Tools is mostly accessible, QuicKeys shortcuts could help
dramatically increase our productivity by speeding up navigation tasks. At the
moment, there aren’t any PT shortcuts, but basic shortcuts for Pro Tools and
GarageBand are on the road map for the next release. I’m planning to start out
with some simple shortcuts to automatically move the VoiceOver focus around the
PT and GB interfaces. Being able to quickly skip to areas of the user interface
should make a big impact on increasing the speed that we navigate these
programs.
However, a general purpose part of VoxKeys that you all will appreciate
is the extended shortcuts that it provides for mouse clicks. With them, you
can, for example, option click or command click items from the keyboard. Pro
Tools uses this in lots of places, and now its easy to do for VO users.
There are lots of possibilities for the future. QuicKeys can trigger
shortcuts based on MIDI activity. Down the line, we could take a simple
external MIDI controller, and have it trigger functions that aren’t even
available on control surfaces at this point. QuicKeys can also watch the
screen, and trigger shortcuts based on what it sees, so audio notifications for
clipping meters, being able to set certain parts of the screen to automatically
read when they change, and other similar possibilities await us.
Okay, here’s the copy for general audiences.
If you use a Mac with the built-in VoiceOver screen reader, VoxKeys is
intended to help you work faster, and access more, than would be possible with
only VoiceOver.
VoxKeys helps you work faster by adding new shortcuts to applications
that will make it possible to quickly access program functions that would have
previously required many keystrokes. Other new shortcuts make it possible for
you to quickly hear important on-screen information without the need for you to
move the VoiceOver cursor.
Beyond speeding up tasks that you could normally accomplish with
VoiceOver, VoxKeys opens up functions in applications that were previously
inaccessible. VoxKeys can directly click and manipulate user interface elements
on the screen that are invisible to VoiceOver. VoxKeys can also use Applescript
to directly control applications, bypassing their user interfaces altogether,
in many cases. These new capabilities are available through new shortcuts that
VoxKeys adds to your applications.
Currently, VoxKeys provides quick access to status announcements such as
date, time, and power, adds new iTunes shortcuts for speaking track information
and for quickly accessing controls that normally lack shortcuts (like
repeat/shuffle), adds many Skype keyboard shortcuts including globally
available answer/hang-up shortcuts, and provides shortcuts for clicking the
mouse in ways that VoiceOver is unable.
Perhaps its most interesting capability at the moment, though, is support
for web apps. Through a combination of directly accessing the object model of a
web page, and directly manipulating the mouse, VoxKeys can provide specialized
access for web sites when accessed from Safari. Currently, the Netflix and
Rhapsody web players are supported. With VoxKeys, you can, in these previously
inaccessible players, play/pause recordings, navigate between tracks.
Mute/unmute audio, control repeat and shuffle modes, switch to full screen
playback, and more.
For additional information and to download, go here:
http://blog.bryansmart.com/voxkeys-project/
Bryan
