one-handed braille is now a reality with braille easy!

By Karok, 14 August, 2016

Forum
Braille on Apple Products

i have just stumbled across this brailleeasy application for ios, and thought i'd share with the applevis community. This app lets you type braille in to your phone by just using 1 hand. you do the gestures in 2 parts so the left hand part first then the right. for example to do an m you would hold down to do dots 1 and 3 the first and third finger of your hand then release them. to complete the m, in this example you would then just press once with your first finger which now indicates dot 4 in the right-hand column. i find this a neat way of working. the tutorial is a bit odd it is supposed to guide you through all of the alfhabet, then punctuation etc. but it is just randomly selecting letters for me to practice with not sure why. the app supports arabic and english but not it seems grade 2. what are people's thoughts?

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Comments

By brandon armstrong on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

Can somebody please do a Podcasts or a demo on how to do this? I got to the tutorial, but I cannot seem to get past the first lesson for your typing the alphabet and type the letter J. It says something like to type Jay, type two then one too, that's where I get stuck.

By Karok on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

In reply to by brandon armstrong

For Brandon and others,The concept is not too bad. think of the 2 columns of braille, only separated out. so in these 2 examples i will explain from what i have practiced with although an audio demo will be the better option.for the letter j, we have dot 2 prefsed down on the left-hand set of 3 keys and dots 4 and 5, which altogether make this letter. now, when you start the app you have to configure it for what hand you are using. so you are not using both hands, but when you are asked to type your first letter, you need to imagine that your left hand is going first. so, for j, when it says enter 2 this is the index finger of the hand you are using in my case, the right hand. the first finger on your hand is dot 1, secod is dot 2, and the ring finger, so your 3rd one is dot 3. so, for j you press once and release so a single tap with your index finger. this means you have completed the left hand portion of this letter j, by entering dot 2. then you tap 2 fingers together when you have done the single finger, as we are now completing the letter j by entering the right-hand column of dots which are 4 and 5. as these need to be entered together that's why you have to do the 2 fingers together. so the sequence is second finger of hand tap once then tap with 2 fingers for a second separate gesture. now let's pick the letter p. so you do 3 fingers together first second and 3rd all at the same time to produce the left-hand part of the letter p, the l in fact. withhen you want dot 4 so your secod gesture just requires one tap again with the first finger of that same hand as the 2nd part of the letter is focusing on the 2nd column of keys if it were a brailler so first finger is dot 4 second dot 5 and 3rd on your hand is dot 6. so the letter p is 3 fingers altogether release then to finish it off do a dot 4 so first finger sorry all for rambling an audio demo will be a lot easier but hth

This sounds interesting; I'm gonna check it out. I was able to understand your written description. Perhaps you rambled a bit as you said, but heck, you did well. (smile) It reminds me somewhat of writing on the slate and stylus because you begin with your dot sequence on one side of the cell, then the other.

By brandon armstrong on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

I finally got past the first lesson, when I need somebody to do is do a podcast on the second one concerning the capital letters I'm not understanding that one very well. It says something like to Cuyp type of A, tap one then asked then swipe what the heck does that mean?

By Orinks on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

This is great and all, but once you braille stuff, where does it go? To the clipboard? So we'll have to old school Flexy to get it into apps such as messages?

By kool_turk on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

Capitals aren't that difficult once you know what to do.

Swipe right then tap once with the right ring finger.

So for example, the capital A is done by doing a swipe right, followed by a tap once with the ring finger, then a tap once again with the index finger, followed by another swipe to the right.

To ignore empty colums, we do a swipe to the right, which you should already know from the tutorial.

Some of the instructions could be explained better, like how to enter the at symbol, which I'm currently stuck on.

I like the concept of typing with one hand, the type in braill app also has a similar concept, but that developer seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

If you want to just type quickly, I'd stick with the braille screen input.

Even if I could master this app, I think I'd find myself pausing to think about how to input the braille dots, unlike BSI, which feels more natural.

By SoundSchemer on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

This app is a bit odd, due to the fact that I only use my left hand, but I like it anyway

By brandon armstrong on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

I agree with the one poster that said the instructions could be a little bit better. I think they need to be revamped and made clear. Especially the section that concerns capitalizations and symbols.

By alex wallis on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

I suppose this app could be good for someone with limited mobility or a small screen, but I think I will stick to braille screen input. someone should submit this as an app directory entry just so it doesn't get lost as a forgotten forum topic.

By WaferGirl on Monday, August 22, 2016 - 05:32

I managed to get to the lesson on Capitalized Words, then hit the wall. Can't get past the first word. It's USA (how I'd write itk, but the pgm doesn't like that one).

Wish it would tell you you were wrong, then how to correct your mistake.

But subject line says it all. Can't wait for that podcast. Would love to use this as my main keyboard, but obviously can't if I can't capitalize and write sentences and do punctuation. *sigh*

Thanks,
Nilla

By Adam Samec on Sunday, January 22, 2017 - 05:32

Hello,

while this is not faster compared to Braille Screen Input when using on a flat surface with the display facing upwards, I find it useful in environments where you need to hold your phone securely, such as in a bus. Then this would be faster than using the standard qwerty keyboard.

I would welcome if there is an optional full screen mode when using this app as a keyboard. Currently, you only have a portion of the screen available corresponding to the area occupied by the qwerty keyboard. On small devices, such as iPhone SE, full screen might be more error-proof, although leaving a portion of the screen for the conversation area etc. might in some situations come handy as well.

I am also missing Braille tables support for languages other than just English and Arabic.

However, I appreciate this effort and wish the best to the devolopers.
Adam