I’ve been reading lots of articles about how game designers, fashion designers, musicians, and other creative types are using Kickstarter to crowdfund various project, which got me thinking about how it could be used to fund accessible technology. And then I started thinking about the on-screen keyboard that I use to write things like this. It’s proprietary software that hasn’t been updated in several years and a single-user license costs $350. And then I thought about how many people with disabilities simply don’t have that kind of money to spend on adaptive software.
And then I thought that it would be great if there was an open-source, cross-platform on-screen keyboard with plenty of customization features that anyone could download for free.
And then I wondered if it would be possible to pay a talented programmer or two a few grand (or ten or twenty) to design something like that. And then I wondered if this could be funded via Kickstarter.
Thoughts? Do you think it would get funded? Would I be able to find reputable coders to work on something like this? I wouldn’t keep a dime, so I’m not interested in making a profit. It just seems like a cool project that could help people.
Have you ever heard of Dasher? It’s not what you’d expect as an on screen keyboard, but it has most of the functionality you’re looking for. It’s available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. I think it’s supposed to be best on Windows these days, but I’ve never used it on Windows so have no idea. It’s what I use when I can’t type and can’t use Dragon Dictate. http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ is the website. It’s supposed to be usable with head tracking, switches, and other similar hardware, but I’ve never tested on those so, again, can’t report back on how well it works.
Also, I’m a long time reader of yours and I also happen to run the community side of the Ubuntu (a linux-based operating system) Accessibility Team. There are definitely some good more traditional onscreen keyboards out as open source on Linux. I’ll look around and see if any of them are cross-platform as well. Feel free to get in contact with me or the team if there’s anything else you’re interested in that we can help with. We currently don’t have loads of volunteers so I can’t promise help, but we definitely have people who can research and are also happy to talk about what Linux currently has and where we’re lacking.
Ubuntu includes the Onboard on screen keyboard by default, it is customisable, I did a few themes for it. There is also maliit and others which are in various states of completion. What features do you want?