The Touch Barrier – Stylus enquiries continue
October 10th, 2008 | by dnw |
I received an email from a reader, Scott Sands, around the touch barrier issues I’ve been writing about here and here on the blog. Scott graciously agreed for me to put his email here for my response so all might benefit from the issues discussed.
Scott outlines how he uses his computer and his issues as follows:
I have Duchenne muscular dystrophy and have just enough movement in my right hand to use a dried out, lightweight plastic Bic pen as a stylus on a very old wired touchpad that is no longer being made. When the touchpad started giving me problems six months ago, I began looking all over the web for a newer touchpad that will work with a plastic stylus, but have had no success. I recently found your blog and read your post about the Pogo Stylus. First, I have a question. Does this stylus work well on the touchpad of a MacBook? Second, I just found an application that is supposed to turn an iPhone or iPod Touch into a wireless touchpad, and was wondering if you knew about it or have tried it. My thought is it that this application combined with the Pogo Stylus on an iPhone would give me what I have been looking for – a touchpad that I can use with a lightweight, plastic stylus. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on my idea. You can find all the information on this application at: www.touchpadpro.com
I hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you,
Scott Sands
Scott,
Frstly I’d be very interested in knowing what make and model touchpad you use that responds to a plastic stylus. I’m interested in any pointing device that responds to a passive stylus and doesn’t require ‘skin’ touch.
It’s my contentention that touchpads could use an overhaul that makes them ‘dual touch’ so they respond to a finger and a stylus – similar to how some tablet computers incorporate both passive and active screens in the same unit. Even if there were ‘swap-over’ units that could be retrofitted to a desired device, that would be ideal.
To your specific question, I’d say that your idea to use an iPhone or even the iPod Touch as an input panel would work fine. I’ve had quite a few discussions via email with Jenny Skinner over at Ten One Design, the makers of the Pogo Stylus, who says that “the Pogo is meant to be in contact with your hand“. So if you can hold the Pogo so your skin is touching the body of the stylus – which is metal – I think you’d be fine. It does however seem an expensive proposition unless you already own an iPhone/iPod Touch.
As to the Stylus working well on a macbook, most of my experiments have involved using the stylus without holding it. My particular use for computer input is via a mouthstick (as the picture on my blog header shows). I did have others test it for me however and the Pogo stylus will work to a degree on a macbook trackpad with a few caveats. Firstly, the stylus needs to be held as close to 90deg to the pad surface as possible, if it’s not, it won’t function. The option under the system preferences panel on the mac for the touchpad that stops accidental operation needs to be unchecked. Also the system is more responsive to the stylus when the tracking speed is set to fast. When set lower it takes excessive pressure on the stylus to get it to work. The pad on the Pogo will wear a lot in that case too.
It needs to be stated however that these caveats are for the macbook trackpad and operation on the iPhone/iPod Touch screen is much more responsive and easy. As you’d expect as they were designed for those devices.
I hope that helps you Scott. I’m not a spokesperson for any company or product mentioned or have I received anything other than correspondence from some. My sharing here is not to suggest I know all there is on these things but is based firmly on my personal experience.
While I’m happy to answer direct questions as I can, my vision is not for me to be a conduit but for Lifekludger to be a network to connect others. In that light, I’d love you to share your outcomes of your issues with us as you are able.
Regards,
Dave
You can reach Scott by Email: scott AT scottsandsalive.com or visit his website at http://www.scottsandsalive.com
Flickr image by the Comic Shop
Technorati Tags: accessibility, adaptive, touch, touch-barrier, touchpad
