Braille touch

It was never rumored to be released. It was stated that it was being worked on, and I'm not sure if it's ready or not yet. The problem is, I don't think Apple allows for apps that change up the keyboard like that. That's my understanding anyway.

There is an app i discovered by accident that is letting me type this comment pretty easily in braille. It is called Type Braille or Learn braille. How you use it is not obvious. You open the app, turn voiceover off, then tap to start and double tap anywhere for the main menu. Then you choose 'free type test'. After the last upgrade, instead of free typing, you now have the choice to type a web address to open in sefari, a phone number to call, or text to copy to clipboard. The last option is, I feel, the one worth all the preliminary fuss. I can type quite fluidly. It seems to work in two directions, one that uses the fingers that would press keys on a braille writer, or letting you type as if you were forming the letters directly. It's very responsive and lovely. I could hope for grade ii, and a shorter path, but it wasn't even presented as a product to do what it does do, so it's pretty remarkable. I tried to contact the developer and couldn't figure out how.

I am also eagerly awaiting the release of the Braille Touch App. If you haven't read the recent Access World article, I do recommend it. Visit http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw130502 John Gassman

I'm glad someone linked to the Accessworld article. However...I see no real benefit of this app for iOS device users because it cannot be integrated into other apps. What good is an app that allows one to enter braille onto an iPhone if you can't use it to send a text to someone?

Well, I mistyped the name.It's Type Brailler Learn Braille. It seems to be very much like the description of the product in the article mentioned, and it is much more fluid typing than the type in braille app. Not being fully integrated is a problem, but it is great for typing anything long. The gestures are really nice - no sideways flicking just pul one-finger to move back through the text you've already typed, and the same finger on the other hand to move forward. Pull two fingers for a space and two fmor backspace. pull three fingers to copy to clipboard. Try it. It's great. Really.

I just tried the lite version of the Learn Braille app. Not only does VO need to be turned off, but there are several steps before you ever get to the actual braille keyboard, the initialization process is oddly worded, and there is no mention of how to save the text you type or edit/review it in any way. The paid version may be better, but I'm not paying ten dollars to find that out after using the lite version. BrailleTouch should be out this summer according to an article I read, so I'll wait for that. TypeInBraille is easy enough once you get used to how it works: you are typing each braille cell row by row, with a gesture to skip a row or tell the app that a cell is finished. Once you think of what you are writing in that way, the app becomes simple enough. There are also very convenient gestures for navigation which, I feel, all of iOS would benefit from greatly. I don't have the app (though I have tried it), but only because I am counting on BrailleTouch. Should that fail to appear, I will get TypeInBraille without a second thought.

I don't know if this is missing in the free version, but in the paid version, you pull three fingers to copy to clipboard. I'm glad that Type in Braille is working for people, it didn't for me. I like the idea, but it is just too slow. Even with the annoyance of having to go through several layers in this type brailler Learn Braille app, to get to the actual keyboard, I find the typing so fluid it's worth the trouble, for things like long email messages and the like. And it sounds like Braille Touch is also going to have the annoyance of not being able to enter text directly, so I'm not sure how much of an improvement it will be. Braille entry can be so efficient, we really should have better access to it.