But if the user is only interested in searching files he/she is working on or responsible for, from a much larger project, this would be impractical. But sometimes a global browse is what you want. Perhaps the user could specify global or local search... --le ----- Original Message ----- From: Andreas Stefik To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 9:55 PM Subject: Re: Auditory interface ideas, what would help? Interesting idea Alex. Maybe the system could automatically sort all files in the development project, regardless of their hierarchy, then you can scroll or search with just a few keypresses? Might not be that tough to work up a protype and run a pilot for that one. Hmmm ... Stefik On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 5:30 PM, Alex Hall <mehgcap@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: Multiple files... What about having a dialog that lets you add a bunch of files, and once they open, you can scan down through them like they were all in one file? Modifying text anywhere is immediate, but saving will update each file with any text added, even though the user felt like they were navigating one file. I hope this makes sense. Hotkeys for going up and down files, and a hotkey to invoke a list of all files and jump to the start of any one of them, would be needed, which brings us to hotkeys for code navigation. You said that part of the problem is switching focus to another window in which to type, but if you just popped up an edit box with an okay button, then returned focus to the code when the button was pressed or the dialog was closed, that may be easier; at least then there is no hotkey to get back to the code and no tabbing all over the place. Also, what about some hotkeys involving P for previous and N for next? Press one, and then select from a list of options (function, loop, condition, try, whatever). Each option could have a hotkey, so ctrl-p, f moves to the previous function. Far from ideal, but it is all I can think of. Have a great day, Alex New email address: mehgcap@xxxxxxxxx ----- Original Message ----- From: Andreas Stefik To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 5:34 PM Subject: Re: Auditory interface ideas, what would help? When a sighted individual navigates code, the most often navigate it by scrolling, often very quickly, up and down the source looking for something they are interested in. Right now, we're working to build some tools that we will hope will make it easier to scan the code looking for items of interest only using audio. While failure is always an option, I'm really hoping we can make scanning just as fast for the blind. The most obvious example I can think of is a "navigator window" that jumps to the beginning of a method. This solution, while fine for the sighted, requires one to change focus to a new window, finding what you want by browsing (not searching), then typing a key to jump focus back and find what you want. Here's a couple possible ideas. None of them are perfect, just brainstorms: 1. Press a key combination to jump to the "next point of interest." This might be the end of the current scope, the beginning of the next one, or whatever. A cue would indicate where you jumped. 2. Have a series of hotkeys that jumps you to various places, like the "next" or "previous" method, the end or beginning of a loop, if, or other construct. Requiring someone to remember lots of hotkeys seems like a bad idea to me, but it's just a thought ... So yaa, that's two ideas. I know Sina has told me in the past that navigation amongst various files can be excruciating. Ideas related to that would be good as well. Search can obviously help, but we want an improved "browsing" experience as well. Hope that helps give you an idea of what I mean. Really, we're open to pretty much any wacky idea people can come up with, that folks think might help everyone program more effectively. -- Andreas Stefik, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science Southern Illinois University Edwardsville -- Andreas Stefik, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science Southern Illinois University Edwardsville