3 ms·

Why couldn't the blind appreciate this software?

yebyen 9y ago
Assuming this is a serious question, I think you will know the answer if you look at how any braille display works. They basically "display" one line of text in braille at a time. So unless you can appreciate your pixel graphics one printed line at a time, it's unlikely that any blind person will be able to get any benefit from this application.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  Existing one-line braille displays don't understand braille unicode anyway. What's to stop a blind person from making a braille display with a greater display area?
  - yebyen 9y ago
    I'm not the one who downvoted, and I don't know how many blind people make their own braille displays. It seems unlikely to me. (Not impossible. Another quick search reveals that multi-line braille exist, so it has been done.) TBH I just did a quick search for braille displays to validate my assumption, and when the first few results came up looking roughly like the one-line display that I expected, I wrote this comment. I'm not an expert in this kind of thing though.
  - callahad 9y ago
    My understanding is that braille displays are quite mechanically complex, as each cell needs to be able to individually raise and lower six pips. An 80-character, single-line terminal display would require 480 tiny actuators.
    - katastic 9y ago
      Except they already make bigger than that. A 25x40 display. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Refreshable_braille_display https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Refreshable_braille_display A full page braille display with 1,000 cells (25 lines of 40 cells) was developed in 2015 by the Tactisplay Corp.[3] With total 12,000 pixels configured in 120*100, it can show any BANA compatible braille graphic page in 8 seconds. This video shows operation of the device. http://www.tactisplay.com/product/tactisplay-table http://www.tactisplay.com/product/tactisplay-table
      - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
        Why did you link to this instead of the actual article? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display That site is proprietary, adds trackers, etc. -1
Raphmedia 9y ago
Because blind people can't see animations made with dots even if those dots were originally meant for the blinds. Even if you were to print those on a braille display, it would be meaningless letters over and over.
- qiqing 9y ago
  Wouldn't this library be useful for rendering graphs or diagrams in a braille embosser / printer? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_embosser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_embosser Not sure if that's what Sir_Cmpwn meant, but that was my first interpretation of the question.
- Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
  I reject this idea that a blind person is too stupid to recognize that the dots aren't representing letters when they use this software, and instead appricate it as a kind of art.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - Raphmedia 9y ago
    The braille displays you typically encounter will only display one line of braille at a time. You are telling me that a blind person will be able to remember the entire line of gibberish as the geometric shape gets "printed" line by line and then remember those at 30 frames per seconds? Come on, it's not about being too stupid to understand. It's about this technology having nothing at all to do with the blind except for hijacking useful Unicode characters.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  I can look at ANSI art without being baffled by meaningless letters. I'm inclined to credit blind people with the same ability.

Assuming this is a serious question, I think you will know the answer if you look at how any braille display works. They basically "display" one line of text in braille at a time. So unless you can appreciate your pixel graphics one printed line at a time, it's unlikely that any blind person will be able to get any benefit from this application.

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
Existing one-line braille displays don't understand braille unicode anyway. What's to stop a blind person from making a braille display with a greater display area?
- yebyen 9y ago
  I'm not the one who downvoted, and I don't know how many blind people make their own braille displays. It seems unlikely to me. (Not impossible. Another quick search reveals that multi-line braille exist, so it has been done.) TBH I just did a quick search for braille displays to validate my assumption, and when the first few results came up looking roughly like the one-line display that I expected, I wrote this comment. I'm not an expert in this kind of thing though.
- callahad 9y ago
  My understanding is that braille displays are quite mechanically complex, as each cell needs to be able to individually raise and lower six pips. An 80-character, single-line terminal display would require 480 tiny actuators.
  - katastic 9y ago
    Except they already make bigger than that. A 25x40 display. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Refreshable_braille_display https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Refreshable_braille_display A full page braille display with 1,000 cells (25 lines of 40 cells) was developed in 2015 by the Tactisplay Corp.[3] With total 12,000 pixels configured in 120*100, it can show any BANA compatible braille graphic page in 8 seconds. This video shows operation of the device. http://www.tactisplay.com/product/tactisplay-table http://www.tactisplay.com/product/tactisplay-table
    - Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
      Why did you link to this instead of the actual article? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display That site is proprietary, adds trackers, etc. -1

Raphmedia 9y ago

Because blind people can't see animations made with dots even if those dots were originally meant for the blinds. Even if you were to print those on a braille display, it would be meaningless letters over and over.

qiqing 9y ago
Wouldn't this library be useful for rendering graphs or diagrams in a braille embosser / printer? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_embosser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille_embosser Not sure if that's what Sir_Cmpwn meant, but that was my first interpretation of the question.
Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
I reject this idea that a blind person is too stupid to recognize that the dots aren't representing letters when they use this software, and instead appricate it as a kind of art.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- Raphmedia 9y ago
  The braille displays you typically encounter will only display one line of braille at a time. You are telling me that a blind person will be able to remember the entire line of gibberish as the geometric shape gets "printed" line by line and then remember those at 30 frames per seconds? Come on, it's not about being too stupid to understand. It's about this technology having nothing at all to do with the blind except for hijacking useful Unicode characters.
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
I can look at ANSI art without being baffled by meaningless letters. I'm inclined to credit blind people with the same ability.