[sonarblindbeta] Re: Sonar blind control surface progress
- From: Steve Matzura <number6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: sonarblindbeta@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 20 May 2015 15:23:29 -0400
On Wed, 20 May 2015 03:11:41 -0500, you wrote:
Maybe something will come out of the emerging 3d printing technology
perhaps.
Materials that can hold shape but change quickly and then be re-formed
Funny you should say that, Chris. Developments are going on right now
to make refreshable surfaces just like you describe. It will work
similar to how LCD displays work, but instead of changing seeable
characteristics like color and brightness, the pixels will raise and
lower themselves from the background surface slightly. I'm thinking,
though, that with the crowding of onscreen controls and indicators, it
would have to be a pretty big surface, minimum 24-inc diagonal, to
give enough tactile resolution to distinguish things, and even then,
they'd be pretty small to feel. The one thing nobody's figured out yet
is how to represent color catually. This could give us access to more
touch interfaces, but it would also present a problem for those whose
spatial perception isn't good. Most visually impaired people I've ever
known, especially those people who've never seen anything to any
degree of usability, have had problems with tactile maps, so once
again this will not solve all problems for all people. But it sure
would tilt the playing field a little further toward us working like
sighted people do, rather than using some interpretive bolted-on
solution like we're stuck with now.
Other related posts:
