Thread Subject: Re: touchscreens

From: Gregg Vanderheiden
Date: Thu, Jul 19 2007 9:35 AM

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Jim Wrote:

> I think that the only people who can't use static or dynamic touchscreens
> also could not use mechanical controls and would need speech recognition
> or an AT solution like scanning or puff-and-sip switches.

I think you forgot all the prosthetics, headstick and other users. They
could use the touch screen but capacitive doesn't work - and the group
didn't want to outlaw capacitive.

So there is a big bunch that would need to use the mechanical controls - but
would not use AT or speech etc.

Plus of course all the people who are blind.





Gregg
-- ------------------------------
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of
> Jim Tobias
> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 9:22 AM
> To: 'TEITAC desktop/portable (hardware) subcommittee'
> Subject: Re: [teitac-hardware] touchscreens
>
> Thanks for your comments, Gregg. I'm going to respond
> separately to the non-touchscreen gesture interfaces.
>
> I want to begin by saying that my goal here is to see whether
> a single touchscreen input device can meet the needs of all
> users with disabilities at least as well as mechanical
> controls. To repeat, a static touchscreen may be accessible
> to people with limited dexterity if the targets are large
> enough and far enough apart. A dynamic, gesture-based
> touchscreen may meet the needs of users with vision loss if
> the gestures can be received anywhere on the active surface
> (which must itself be tactilely discernible -- no fair having
> touchscreens without borders). It *might* be possible to
> have 2 gesture reception areas simultaneously (top/bottom or
> left/right) if the gestures are well designed.
>
> So I'm talking about a touchscreen device that can run either
> static or dynamic input software at the user's choice.
>
> Gregg wrote:
>
> > First lets look at what we have - and then some new ideas your post
> > brings up
> >
> > Currently the language says - "if touchscreen is used then all
> > functionality can be done through tactilely discernable controls."
> >
> > This would mean that people who can't use touch screens (static or
> > dynamic) could achieve the same functions another way.
>
> I think that the only people who can't use static or dynamic
> touchscreens also could not use mechanical controls and would
> need speech recognition or an AT solution like scanning or
> puff-and-sip switches.
>
>
> > 1 - are the gestures like shortcuts? You can use them to do things
> > quickly
> > but there are other ways as well? -- this would be
> > non-gesture access
> > for all gesture input.
> >
> > 2 - are gestures the ONLY way to do some things? If so then
> > some gestures
> > require fine motor and some require simultaneous actions.
>
> I'm assuming that the touchscreen is the *only* input device.
> But the issue of "simultaneous action" is important -- what
> does it mean in this context? It's not as obvious as "CTRL-ALT-DEL".
>
> I think that the bottom line is, can a blind user use a
> well-designed touchscreen gesture interface? If we say
> "yes", we should reconsider the touchscreen provisions.
>
>

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