A tactile windowing system for blind users

Abstract

Today's window systems present the information in a graphical and thereby a spatial manner making the text-only access of a standard Braille device insufficient to enable blind users an equivalent exploration of the data. In this paper we present the planar Braille Window System (BWS) designed for a tactile display consisting of a pin-matrix of 120 columns and 60 rows. The system is composed of six separate regions enabling the user to receive different types of information simultaneously. The content of the main region containing Braille windows can be shown in various manners (text-or graphics-based) through four different views. The interaction within our Braille Window System is implemented not only by keyboard shortcuts but also by the use of multitouch gestures. Therefore the user is able to interact directly on the touch-sensitive display. A study conducted with eight blind users has confirmed the concept of Braille windows, regions and views. Especially the gestural input for exploring details of the content offers new possibilities in interacting within a GUI.