Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

A blind guy I know loves android significantly more than any other platform. To him he can just run his finger over the screen to "feel" what's there by listening to a voice that is WAY too fast for me to even really understand.

I've tried it myself (mostly to test out how some of our web apps work through that system) and it's actually pretty damn intuitive after you spend like 15 minutes getting the basics down.



Makes me wonder what could be done with a pressure sensitive screen and something like electrostatics to produce "texture".


Honestly I don't think that "textured" screens would help all that much, audio can just convey so much more information.

For example, when you have the android accessibility stuff on, when you scroll in any kind of list, it makes these tones. They start at one pitch at the top, and end at another pitch at the bottom. After a bit of use, you start to intuitively understand where you are in the list just by the pitch it's making.

Other things like vibrations for when you are hovering over important elements and more really lets you "see" what is there pretty well.

What would improve it is something 3d-touch-esque. Being able to have a light touch be "hover" and a hard press be "touch" would make it much easier than the current system (IIRC it's double-tapping for touch, and other things like 2-fingers for scrolling)


What if you could produce braille on a touch screen?


There are a few such things out there, http://www.popsci.com/new-touch-screen-design-could-display-...

The cost to produce them is probably very high, I imagine, especially when alternatives (like good audio/voice stuff) can do the job.


That's remarkable.

Years ago, I imagined a mouse with haptic feedback. You'd feel it tock when your pointer passed over a boundary. Different sensations for different boundaries and areas.

I didn't even think of some kind of braille like reading device. That'd be great.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: