Blind user project official call for contributors

dataSpheric announces that the blind user (to be known as the blind
webmistress project) is an open project. please put out the call far and
wide. really please. please like "do me a favor" please. pretty please with
sugar on top and a cherry on top of the sugar please.

please help by finding a blind web user in your community and see if they
want to get involved. unfortunately, we must limit this project to the
english language for now.

OR

start contributing code. the template adopted by the blind webmistress is
up for grabs. whichever she chooses, she chooses. dataSpheric will put up
and host all contributions (just style sheets and pages please, no
software) that you contribute (just try and spam us, we'll sick Viper on
you).

WE REALLY NEED a blind-accessible forum to get direct dialogue going.
dataSpheric can host the thing, we have room on our dev server, but i
really don't care who hosts the project as long as it's managed and open.

can anyone think of suggestions for an accessible forum? i'm trying to get
input from blind users on what this might be.

GREY: do you think your software might do this job? i'll schedule a test of
your forum along with phpBB and others as soon as i can.

oh great, Grey isn't listening. HEY GREY! somebody tap him on the shoulder
for me...Christ, the guy's asleep.

-trevor

reference site currently at
http://www.dataSpheric.com/services/...d_webmistress/

I've tried begging Grey before, its just music to his ears and makes
him even sleepier.

BUT, I did end up doing mods on his forum code and its very easy to
make it do all sorts of wonderful stuff. Usually it works 1st go too
because the code is well structured.

1st of all, you need a short address or nobody will go there, pay
deleteddomains.com $10 for your membership and type [words starting
with] BLIND and grab a short catchy domain.

2nd of all, the latest VBulletin features a layout where the poster
info goes ABOVE the post. see http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/ or
straight there http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=49670

Imagine your powerbraille is clunking away line by line, that layout is
going to be much easier to follow. Orca forum may even be able to do
that just by modifying the style.css. check with Grey.

3rd obstacle, you need a forums index, orca forum is only a single
forum nobody goes for them. but it should be easy since you don't need
all the post count info slowing down access to read the forum, remember
using powerbraille you have to read over every line. I had a similar
solution to multi forums with Greys script, I had a [category] and
filtered posts only for the right category which basically does the
same thing. forum = category.

4th, keystroke functionality will make it much easier. [ALT} P to post
and so forth.

I'd use Orca Forum and adapt it into a very basic multi forum, the
polls and buttons and PMs and registration and so forth is just going
to bog it down. and you're looking at 30kb of code instead of 500kb.

Herc

herc777@hotmail.com wrote in news:1115256831.631671.221960
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> I've tried begging Grey before, its just music to his ears and makes
> him even sleepier.
>

i'll have to ask him directly.

> 1st of all, you need a short address or nobody will go there, pay
> deleteddomains.com $10 for your membership and type [words starting
> with] BLIND and grab a short catchy domain.

pay? on an open, voluteer project? that will be concluded in a couple of
months tops? if anything survives or evolves from this, whoever is
interested can take the ball and run with it. i'm not interested in
managing or owning or controlling an ongoing project. that's what i have
a business for.

> 2nd of all, the latest VBulletin features a layout where the poster
> info goes ABOVE the post. see http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/ or
> straight there http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=49670

not until mike d gives me my feederz album back.

> Imagine your powerbraille is clunking away line by line,

ok, i'm there. it is.

> that layout is
> going to be much easier to follow.

OMG, you are right! that's uncanny! how do you do that?

> Orca forum may even be able to do
> that just by modifying the style.css. check with Grey.
>

HEY GREY! CAN WE DO WHAT HE SAID WITH THAT THING HE'S TALKING ABOUT?

oh yeah, am i still imagining my powerbraille clunking away?

> 3rd obstacle, you need a forums index, orca forum is only a single
> forum nobody goes for them.

whatever one is accessible, that's the one we go with.

> but it should be easy since you don't need
> all the post count info slowing down access to read the forum, remember
> using powerbraille you have to read over every line. I had a similar
> solution to multi forums with Greys script, I had a [category] and
> filtered posts only for the right category which basically does the
> same thing. forum = category.
>

well at that rate all we have to do is go to town on phpBB and comment a
whole bunch of stuff out. the SubOracle template is our favorite starting
point, it's lean, mean and mostly stylesheet.

> 4th, keystroke functionality will make it much easier. [ALT} P to post
> and so forth.
>

hmmmm....yes, but what does this do for non traditional input devices?
like my powerbraille which is still clunking away line by line.

> I'd use Orca Forum and adapt it into a very basic multi forum, the
> polls and buttons and PMs and registration and so forth is just going
> to bog it down. and you're looking at 30kb of code instead of 500kb.
>

so now just tell us what the heck powerbraille is, what it does, what
flavors it comes in. please tell us everything else you know about
alternative input/output devices. please.

> Herc
>
>

trevor

you should do a search on powerbraille, its just a line of 40 or 80
characters of braille but the dots are mechanical and solenoids drive
the pins. Some blind people run a program web2text and then send the
text file to the powerbraille, so they can talk in forums and
newsgroups and use search engines and everything.

That's why I figure if the webpage gets dumped to text then it could
get mangled with all the formatting around the posts,

HEADER
POST

HEADER
POST

might make it easier.

Herc

herc777@hotmail.com wrote in news:1115287285.670478.75170
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

> you should do a search on powerbraille, its just a line of 40 or 80
> characters of braille but the dots are mechanical and solenoids drive
> the pins. Some blind people run a program web2text and then send the
> text file to the powerbraille, so they can talk in forums and
> newsgroups and use search engines and everything.
>

gods, that sounds complicated. nightmare support scenario.

> That's why I figure if the webpage gets dumped to text then it could
> get mangled with all the formatting around the posts,
> might make it easier.
>
> Herc
>
>

so you know someone who can proof the reference page with powerbraille?

and where are all these blind people using forums?

yep, in 2001, I just answered his post on rec.games.chess.computer.

A totally new learner to Chess needs a little help Please.
.... yes I access a PC and the net through my Braille Display it is
called a Powerbraille
80 Cell ... all the best to you Herc Yours James -- James Gallagher AZ
....
rec.games.chess.computer - Apr 15 2001, 11:42 pm by James Gallagher - 9
messages - 5 authors

just download the web2text program if you want to proof it. did you
decide on Orca Forum or PHPBB? I could probably do a basic forums
index for the Orca script, Grey might even check it and get it to work!
Keep It Simple Sighted-dude!

Herc