[gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard

Sat Jan 2 17:55:25 UTC 2010

David,

You've got me smiling broadly. So I've been making the challenge 
unnecessarily difficult by trying to go by the book. Holding the laptop on 
my lap when using it. I'll bet normally-sighted folks accomplish this more 
easily, right out of the box, because they can glance down to see where 
their fingers go on the tight little keyboard.

But I think you've got a very good point. I barely have enough room on my 
writing desk to accommodate the laptop right beside the desktop, and it must 
look a bit silly. And to put it on the coffee table will require me to bend 
forward in a way that isn't good touch typing posture, but then neither is 
holding it on your thighs, I guess. I know, by the way, that they sell 
accessories that will tilt the thing up a few degrees at the back, and 
although the product descriptions on Amazon all stress that this allows for 
a better viewing angle of the screen, I'm sure it tilts the keyboard up at 
its rear more like the conventional instead of flat way, although that huge 
blank slab beneath the keyboard sure isn't much help. I never needed 
anything like a palm rest before when typing. You're taught to keep your 
hands elevated and just strike with your fingertips. Sort of like piano.

Well, good suggestion, and heartening. Thanks. Now I'll open your second 
message with this subject line to see what else you might have thought of to 
say, a moment later.

Joel
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "davidw" <dwermuth1 at earthlink.net>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 11:17 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard

Joel,

At first and still today after using my lap top I still find it a bit
awkward to type with it in my lap, or on my knee's.  I can do it but put it
on a hard surface and work from there.  Once you get comfortable with typing
then slowly introduce it back to your lap.

I know it is called a "lap top" but I assure you that unless your on a bus
or in a car most people use a table, coffee table, desk, it's much easier.

Again Hang in there,

David Wermuth

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Deutsch" <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard

> Hi Lloyd,
>
> I'm aware that there's an area faintly outlined by grooves in the central
> area of that big flat hand rest slab beneath the keyboard area. I knew to
> look out for it just from things people said on lists, and the sighted
> friend who configured this particular Acer for me pointed out exactly
> where
> it was, disabled it partly in the bios (he's an I T professional, so he
> knows what  he's doing) but warned me to simply keep my hands clear of the
> area, no matter what. So far I've put in hours sitting with this machine
> on
> my knees and learning slowly to use it, and I've so far been entirely
> successful in avoiding that patch that is the touch pad. I'm not
> misspelling
> words like that last one, just breaking them up so that Jaws doesn't
> mispronounce them, which drives me nuts.
>
> Thanks for the warning, though. And Happy New Year!
>
> Joel
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Lloyd Rasmussen" <lras at sprynet.com>
> To: "'NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List'" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 3:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard
>
>
> The central part of that "hand rest" is probably a touchpad, which acts
> like
> a mouse.  If you haven't already done so, you need to deactivate it and
> learn how to deactivate it in the future in case it decides to come back
> to
> life.  Clicking or touching in the wrong places can really mess you up.
>
> Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, Maryland
> Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
> Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
>> Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2009 1:08 AM
>> To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Still hassling with my laptop keyboard
>>
>> Ted,
>>
>> Thanks a lot for the moral support. I've been putting in about an hour of
>> just practicing nearly every day, and I can see that I've begun to
>> memorize
>> and visualize (a formerly sighted person's habitual way of mapping things
>> the little keyboard, and I guess I'm making some progress. I'm still a
>> long
>> way from my fantasy of sitting back in an easy chair with the laptop on
>> my
>> knees and just typing away; even when I get more of the keyboard
>> memorized,
>> I know I'll probably always be struck by the feeling that it isn't a
>> normal
>> typist's keyboard. Wrong hand position, and that slab of "hand rest," I
>> guess it's thought of, just screws things up if you're a serious typist.
>> If
>> children were all given their first piano lessons on something akin to
>> this,
>> not many of them would grow up to be serious pianists, I'm afraid.
>>
>> But I'll keep working at it and see if I can develop a level of skill and
>> comfort that's "good enough," to steal a phrase from psychology. The
>> good-enough mother, it was.
>>
>> Thanks again for the moral support. I was starting to think I was really
>> lame. Now I see it's truly difficult, but can be done if you're
>> determined.
>>
>> Joel
>
>
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