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Braille Keyboard

 Learn braille while typing
 
(+1, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

Simple really, add braille letters to your keycaps. Subconciously learn braille as you type. It will also allow you to reach for far keys without looking down and knowing you are getting the right thing. Plus, it would be useful in a blackout, for emergency stenagraphy and in case your eyes fall out without warning. Adjust instantly! amaze your friends!
—johnmeacham, Apr 21 2003

Braille keyboard -- sort of... http://hooleon.com/...%20ready%20keyboard
They don't seem to exist except in overlay. [ldischler, Oct 04 2004]

Trivia http://www.tulok.net/triv/0898.htm
(Under the yellow bit) [angel, Oct 04 2004]

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       Are the syntax and punctuation of Braille exactly the same as those used by sighted people?
—Don Quixote, Apr 21 2003
   

       Good idea, but both Braille keyboards and displays have been available for some time.
—ldischler, Apr 21 2003
   

       The braille keyboards I have seen (meant to be used by native braille users) tend to be a chording type keyboard. you have five buttons and use chord patterns (press multiple buttons at once) to 'type' braille. I want a standard keyboard with braile keycaps. The keycaps could actually be sold seperatly as bumpy stickers and placed on the keys, which would be helpful for us Dvorak typers.
—johnmeacham, Apr 21 2003
   

       A friend of mine showed me a Braille jar of honey (?!). The translation of the Braille on the lid read "H'NE". Bizarre.
—monkeyseemonkeydo, Apr 21 2003
   

       Why is there this great enthusiasm to learn braille?? Its not as if any one of you are gonna 'read' braille out to a blind person.   

       One can always say that he's preparing for the "if I go blind" situation; if that is the case, then why stop at braille?? Buy a crutch and break your leg, block your ears and procure a hearing aid, burn yourself, shoot out your privates... Go wild!   

       As for 'typing in a blackout', I suggest you use the light thrown out from your monitor (assuming you have a UPS; otherwise I suggest you visit the nearest psychiatrist)   

       For the sheer impracticality of this idea: [ - ]
—joker_of_the_deck, Apr 21 2003
   

       <simpsons>I think, in a way, we are very different people.</simpsons>   

       I can't resist the opportunity to learn something, especially at little/no effort. It would be neat to know braille. It would be neat to learn everything.
—johnmeacham, Apr 21 2003
   

       i'm curious about how well a seeing person would learn to read braille... i've often run my fingers along a line of braille with ym eyes closed and i can't really make out distinct shapes.   

       and i know that when you lose a sense, your ability to focus on the other senses increases (no, not like daredevil... the senses don't get better, your ability to concentrate on the senses gets better)   

       so, i don't know. can a seeing person read braille as well as a blind person?
—urbanmatador, Apr 22 2003
   

       Thomas Edison could (linky).
—angel, Apr 22 2003
   

       There are two 'dialects' of braille in use, one that is a direct transcription of the 'native' language and a more 'shorthand' version used by more experienced users. Both have identical alphabets, it's just the grammar/syntax that's different. Our business cards at work have a clear self-adhesive braille overlay stuck to them so this sort of thing could be used to cover your keycaps.
—oneoffdave, Apr 22 2003
   

       To the guy asking what's the use for a seeing person to learn braille. That's not the main point, IMHO. The main point is to be a better touch-typist. Now, you could either invent your own annotation system... or grab an existing standard, time-tested for clarity and comprehension, with a huge user base.   

       Thanks for the idea, I'm definitely going to to that. Now that I have a keyboard tray and can't see the keys anymore, I'm realizing I'm not as good a touch typist as I thought I was.
—f1r3br4nd, Apr 23 2003
   

       Might be hard to find the home keys, though.
—phoenix, Apr 24 2003
   

       + I'm always amazed at how one can even begin to *read* such tiny, subtly different markings with fingertips.
—thumbwax, Apr 24 2003
   

       + for the shear practicality of this idea.
—RayfordSteele, Apr 24 2003
   

       Update: I'm about to order my third Braille overlay now (the first was for my USB keyboard, the second was for my wireless PDA keyboard, and now I have a spiffy new computer with a good old PS/2 keyboard in need of converting). Maybe I'm imagining it, but I might have started to remember the key locations better because of the Braille.   

       Now, the reason it makes sense to use Braille instead of making up my own set of key designations is that 1) Braille was designed by someone who was presumably a specialist in coming up with easily distinguishable tactile symbols and 2) Braille is a widely-used standard that would not have withstood the test of time if it sucked. In other words, why reinvent the wheel?
—f1r3br4nd, Mar 18 2004
   

       Why not just memorize your keyboard? That would make you a better typist. As for learning braille, there are millions of sites on the web where you can do it. Maybe you could go to www.hotbraille.com and send yourself a free letter in braille? Or better yet, make friends with an unsuspecting blind person and bug them until they teach it to you. I know a few sighted people who can read it pretty well with their fingers and/or eyes, so it's not impossible.   

       Very simple, very cool idea.
—janbest, Jun 06 2007
   


 

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