[laptop-accessibility] XO keyboard

[Mike Gorse]

Thanks; filed as ticket 5859.

Donna, it's a good question what would work as far as markers go.  I have 
some dots lying around the house somewhere (they're called Highmarks or 
something similar), but I didn't think to look for them last night and try 
to mark the XO.  It would be good to figure out what works, though, since 
it would help with existing hardware.  And I use a screen reader (although 
I can't do anything with the current XO image).

-- Mike Gorse / AIM:linvortex / http://mgorse.freeshell.org --

On Sat, 5 Jan 2008, Jim Gettys wrote:

> Please put this suggestion into trac.  Component: keyboard.
>
> Whether we can make such a change sooner rather than later isn't
> entirely clear to me (though my guess is we *might* be able to).
>
> Almost certainly, in this generation, the keyboard membrane would be the
> place to make such a change, rather than the plastic case: this has to
> do with how long the molds last in production, and the difficulty and
> cost of making the changes.  Injection plastic molds are hideously
> expensive, and last a long time.  So changing the case is almost out of
> the question.
>
> Walter was certainly talking about making the f/j nubs slightly larger
> sooner rather than later.  Sooner, btw, is still measured in multiple
> months...  Such is hardware lead times.
>                             - Jim
>
>
>
> On Fri, 2008-01-04 at 22:07 -0500, Mike Gorse wrote:
>> A while ago, there was a thread on here about the keyboard / whether it
>> would need modification to be used by blind students.  I got my XO and
>> looked at the keyboard, counting 71 keys.  What I didn't know was that the
>> three large buttons on the top row are each comprised of several distinct
>> keys.  I would not have known this without having a sighted friend
>> describe it to me.  There is no good way to tactily distinguish these keys
>> from each other, and this is especially problematic for the middle button
>> which is comprised of around seven keys.  I would suggest putting dots or
>> other tactile marks either on the keys or on the frame directly above the
>> keys.
>>
>> Does anyone have any comments?
>>
>> -- Mike Gorse / AIM:linvortex / http://mgorse.freeshell.org --
>> _______________________________________________
>> accessibility mailing list
>> accessibility at lists.laptop.org
>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> -- 
> Jim Gettys
> One Laptop Per Child
>
>
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