Kawal Gucukoglu – Braillecast

Braille Screen Input: What’s New in iOS and iPad OS 18? (Extra 77)

Braille Screen Input has been overhauled!

iOS and iPad OS 18, released on Monday 16 September, include the biggest refresh of Braille Screen Input since the feature was first introduced in iOS 8. Although you can, for the most part, still use Braille Screen Input as you always have done, the new functionality in Apple’s latest flagship operating systems is a source of much excitement throughout the blind community and will almost certainly take your Braille Screen Input experience to the next level.

Join us in this episode as Matthew Horspool talks us through what’s new.

Summary of New Features

New gestures for entering and exiting: double tap the far edges of the screen with two fingers to enter. To exit, pinch outwards or inwards, or perform a two finger scrub. BSI is also still available in the rotor and if this is enabled, the rotor gesture still works to exit, but it does not work if BSI is removed from the rotor.
You can now braille a for sign.
There are keyboard clicks and haptics during text entry, the same as those for the QWERTY on-screen keyboard.
When searching for apps on the home screen, you can now use grade 2.
You now have access to a Braille Item Chooser from within Braille Screen Input. It works in a similar way to searching for apps on the home screen, but functions within apps.
You can now enter Braille Screen Input automatically when encountering a text field.
Braille Screen Input now uses the Braille Table options in Settings, Accessibility, VoiceOver, Braille to determine whether input is contracted, uncontracted etc. Swipe up with two fingers to change braille table.
There is a new Command Mode, accessible via a three finger swipe left or right from within Braille Screen Input, or a tripple tap with two fingers at the far edges of the screen from elsewhere. Gestures in Command Mode are akin to braille display commands with the space bar held down, e.g. type the letter h in Command Mode to go to the home screen. You can also move the cursor and perform text selection with one finger and two finger swipe gestures.
When using the Braille Item Chooser or searching for apps on the home screen using Braille Screen Input, you can opt to remain in Command Mode when swiping right with two fingers rather than exiting Braille Screen Input altogether.
When in Command Mode, if the setting to enter Braille Screen Input when encountering a text box is enabled, VoiceOver will automatically switch from Command Mode to Braille Entry Mode when a text box is encountered.
There are new sounds for entering and exiting Braille Screen Input, calibrating the dots and changing between Command Mode and Braille Entry Mode.
There is now a setting to determine whether translated text appears on the screen whilst Braille Screen Input is active.
All Braille Screen Input gesture assignments, plus the assignments for entering Braille Screen Input, can be customised.
Braille Screen Input now supports Japanese braille.

N.B. if the master toggle for VoiceOver sounds is switched off in Settings, Accessibility, VoiceOver, Sounds and Haptics, the new Braille Screen Input sounds will not play.

Supported Devices

iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, 2024
iPad Pro (M4), 2024
iPad Air (M2), 2024
iPad Pro 11-inch 5th generation, 2024
iPad Air 6th generation, 2024
iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, 2023
iPhone 14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, 2022
iPad Pro 12.9-inch 6th generation, 2022
iPad Pro 11-inch 4th generation, 2022
iPad Air 5th generation, 2022
iPad 10th generation, 2022
iPhone SE 3rd generation, 2022
iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, 2021
iPad Pro 12.9-inch 5th generation, 2021
iPad Pro 11-inch 3rd generation, 2021
iPad 9th generation, 2021
iPad mini 6th generation, 2021
iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, 2020
iPad Pro 12.9-inch 4th generation, 2020
iPad Pro 11-inch 2nd generation, 2020
iPad Air 4th generation, 2020
iPad 8th generation, 2020
iPhone SE 2nd generation, 2020
iPad 7th generation, 2019
iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, 2019
iPad Air 3rd generation, 2019
iPad mini 5th generation, 2019
iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd generation, 2018
iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation, 2018
iPhone XS, XS Max and XR, 2018

Apple Support Articles

00:00 / 1:11:33

From Print To Braille: The Key to Accessible Word Documents (Extra 68)

For many years now, Sight Scotland have championed National Braille Week, an opportunity to celebrate braille usage and raise awareness of the importance and value of braille. It runs in the second week of October, to coincide with World Sight Day.

In 2023, we celebrated National Braille Week at the Braillists by running five Masterclasses, one each day, following the journey “From Print to Braille”. These episodes are the recordings of these Masterclasses.

In this episode, discover how making a few small tweaks to your Microsoft Word documents will not only lead to better automated braille, but also speed up your word processing tasks! Using styles, inserting proper characters and ensuring tables are created effectively will all be covered.

The session was presented by Barry Coates, Technology Training Manager at RNIB.

00:00 / 1:00:46

From Print To Braille: What Should Our Braille Look Like? (episode 55)

This week, we unpack the rules and conventions of braille layout in different parts of the world. Are headings always centred? What happens if a table is too wide for the braille page? Find out the answers to these questions and so much more!

Our panel of braille transcribers was comprised of:

Jen Goulden from Canada
Anja Gibbs from New Zealand
Craig Morgan from Wales

00:00 / 58:15

Revitalise your Braille Reading Technique (Extra 59)

Whether you’re new to braille or an experienced braillist, reading is an important and fundamental process. To fully appreciate the brilliance of braille for use in daily life, reading is something you should enjoy and feel comfortable with. But what can you do to improve your reading skills once you have learned all the letters and perhaps some contractions as well? How can you enhance your reading speed and accuracy even if you’ve been doing braille for a while?

On Tuesday 20 June 2023, Chantelle Griffiths, Co-Founder and CEO of New Zealand’s Tactile and Technology Literacy Centre, shared some practical tips and tricks to get you on the right track with your reading, no matter how much braille you’ve done or where you are on your braille journey. There is something here for everyone.

We learnt:

What actually happens when we read and how reading by touch is different — or not — from reading visually.
How to press the “reset button” for your fingers and brain when you’re just not feeling it. Literally.
The fundamental braille technique you didn’t know you knew and how it enhances your reading.
The three C’s of braille reading; what they are and how they work together to help you connect the dots between your brain and fingers.
How playing the viola relates to reading in a straight line and how you can experience something similar yourself, even if you’re not a musician.
How to start from exactly where you are and enjoy the process.
Lots more practical tips, ideas and experiments you can try on your own.

This was a very practical session. If you’d like to follow along with the recording, please have some hardcopy or electronic braille handy and a couple of random objects that feel nothing like braille.

For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

00:00 / 1:21:17

Meet Hable One: the Portable Bluetooth Controller for your Smartphone (Extra 52)

Hable One is a powerful, fun and exciting way for you to interact with your smartphone or tablet using braille. As well as being a fully functional braille keyboard, supporting both grades 1 and 2, it also serves as a wireless remote control for every aspect of your smartphone or tablet, from moving around the screen to selecting, playing and pausing music, dialling numbers and changing settings.

For beginner braillists, it is a uniquely satisfying way of putting your braille skills into practice. For more advanced braillists, it is a vital productivity tool. It works in partnership with the smartphone or tablet’s screen reader and supports all popular apps including messages/WhatsApp, Facebook/Messenger, Twitter, Spotify, mail, contacts, calendar, reminders and notes.

On Tuesday 21 February at 7:30 PM GMT, we were joined by representatives from Hable, who told us more about this innovative device. We learned how easy it is to set it up and saw some practical examples of how it works both as a keyboard and a remote control. There was also plenty of opportunity for the audience to ask questions.

00:00 / 1:00:47

Using Braille Displays with Phones and Tablets (Episode 45)

The Braillists Foundation recently held its first face-to-face event since the Coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, we catch up with some of the people who attended, and we also hear recordings of the three presentations which took place:

Reading multilingual text using an iPhone, the Kindle app and a Focus 14
Text entry with an iPhone and a Brailliant BI40X
Reading books with an iPhone, the Kindle app and an Orbit Reader 20

00:00 / 59:18

An Evening With George Bell (Episode 44)

George Bell has been at the helm of Techno-Vision Systems for at least 35 years. In that time, he has brought many blindness products to the UK market, repaired numerous machines which would have otherwise been condemned, and provided countless hours of technical support. He is particularly well-known for his involvement with the Duxbury Braille Translator, not only as UK sales and support but also through his tireless oversight of the documentation. He also enjoyed a very fruitful relationship with Dancing Dots, and imported many of their products including the Goodfeel braille music translator.

As we approach the end of George’s long and established career, we thought it would be fitting to spend some time in conversation with him, picking out the highlights of the past three and a half decades and thinking about what the future might look like.

00:00 / 46:34

Formatting Your Braille (Extra 43)

It’s often said in the industry that garbage in = garbage out, but what does this mean in practice?

On 17 May 2022, our Chairman Dave Williams held a conversation with Kawal Gucukoglu, who worked for many years as a braille transcriber at RNIB. They discussed the principals of effective braille layout – headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and so on – and how to implement them in electronic file formats to achieve optimum quality.

00:00 / 58:51

Care and Usage of your Perkins Brailler (Extra 41)

The Perkins Brailler has been a staple in the lives of braille users ever since the first one was manufactured in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1951. To this day, the Perkins is widely considered to be the most durable braille device on the market, with machines over 50 years old still going strong.

They are so popular, in fact, that it is easy to forget that we need to teach new braillists how to use them! Furthermore, even established braillists do not always know how to diagnose faults when they arise, or how to take the best care of their machines so as to minimise the risks of faults arising in the first place.

On 15 March, we were joined by Alan Thorpe of Eyecan, a certified Perkins Brailler Repair Centre. Alan took us on a tour of the Perkins Brailler, introducing us to the proper names of all of the parts! He explained how to insert paper and write braille, and described some common faults and how to overcome them. He also explained when a professional service or repair may be required and briefly explained the differences between the different models of Perkins Brailler available.

For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

00:00 / 1:02:30

Braille on iOS, Part 2 (Extra 39)

Following the first successful Masterclass, we were delighted to have been joined once again by Scott Davert, one of the most well-known authorities on the use of iOS with a braille display, to continue his exploration of this winning combination. Scott is the Coordinator at the Technology, Research and Innovation Center, part of the Helen Keller National Center for DeafBlind Youths and Adults, and serves on the editorial team at AppleVis.

In this Masterclass, he introduced some more advanced navigation commands, including using the rotor, and then discussed and demonstrated text editing.

This session was recorded on Tuesday 15 February 2022. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

00:00 / 1:12:09