Cool Mac Gear

Regular readers will recall that one of the reasons I aborted my test flight using OS X for production work on and just after the Easter weekend was that the mouse drivers in X would not support clicking with one mouse while dragging with another - -one of the key workarounds I use in dealing with my chronic polyneuritis/fibromyalgia problem. Clicking with a foot mouse button while moving the cursor around by hand helps spread out the stress on my aching limbs (and it also speeds up work significantly, I’ve discovered, once you get used to doing it this way -- I would use this mode by choice even if pain weren’t an issue).

Anyway, after four-five days of conventional mousing, my pain levels were up to a point where I knew I couldn’t continue working with OS X for extended periods of time - -a pothole in the Odyssey road that I hadn’t anticipated. Since then, I’ve been looking for potential solutions, and one piece of the puzzle could be the subject of this review -- Niemeijer Consult’s new Keystrokes X.

Keystrokes is an on-screen virtual keyboard that I’ve been using for several years, since back when it was a freeware demo with limited functionality. It has helped get me through some rough periods, and has evolved into a very useful little helpware (or “assistive software”) application for Mac users with disabilities. (You can read my review of an older version of Keystrokes here:
http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/ksrev.shtml)

The current legacy of Mac OS version of Keystrokes, 2.2, includes function keys and a typing completion feature whereby you type the first letter of the word and then select from a menu of dictionary suggestions that come up, sort of like autofill in a browser. This allows you to “type”, albeit slowly, by selecting only a few letters per word from Keystrokes’ on-screen keyboard using just a mouse clicks.

Whether this typing completion feature has not proved especially popular in user feedback, or is just still in development, it is not included in the Keystrokes X release. However, what is included is an entirely new feature which automates mouse clicking and dragging when the cursor “dwells” for a preset interval over an icon or just a point on the screen.

I was quite excited to hear about this innovation. For the past half-decade I’ve been struggling with typing and mousing pain, a condition associated with an autoimmune disorder that makes computer input very painful much of the time. Dictation software is a partial workaround, but you still have to point and click, and mouse clicking is far more irritating to the nerves, muscles, and tendons, and merely pointing by pushing the mouse around.

Another of my workarounds has been to spread the stress by using several pointing devices of different types -- one for each hand, plus a foot mouse for clicking (which, as I said above, has also turned out to be very fast and efficient mode of operation once you get used to it). This works especially well with OS 9, whose mouse drivers seem happily disposed to accommodating simultaneous input from two pointing devices -- be they ADB, USB, or combinations thereof.

Unfortunately, OS X’s mouse drivers have proved less supportive. I can click with my foot mouse (or even click and drag with it if I were sufficiently coordinated, which I am not). However, it will not support clicking with the foot mouse while dragging or pointing the cursor with one of the hand input devices, which is most efficient and comfortable methodology for me.

So, any potential alternative is intriguing to me, and I was anxious to give Keystrokes’ X a tryout.

KeyStrokes for Mac OS X provides a fully-functional on-screen keyboard that works by drawing a keyboard image on the display and using a mouse, trackball,head pointer or other mouse emulator to type characters into any normal application.It works seamlessly with all standard Mac OS X applications (including those running in the Classic) allowing a person with a disability to type virtually anywhere a hardware keyboard can be used. KeyStrokes for Mac OS X automatically adjusts to US and international keyboard layouts and has multiple resizable keyboard models.

The integrated system-wide dwelling function allows people with disabilities to click, double click, drag,and right-click by simply holding the cursor motionless for a programmable period of time.

Dwelling behavior can be configured in two ways.You can set the amount of time that the cursor needs to be motionless before an automatic click is issued and you can set how much the cursor may move around for it still to be considered motionless. The latter option allows you to still benefit from dwelling if you are unable to hold the cursor motionless in exactly one spot.

Aside from the new mouse dwell feature, Keystrokes X includes a fresh new interface that evokes the white keyboard used on iBooks. The virtual keyboard can be displayed in a variety of preset sizes or custom resized, and in different key configuration formats -- standard, extended (with F-Keys), and with or without a numerical keypad.

The Keystrokes keyboard window also contains a toolbar with buttons that control minimizing the keyboard to a small icon, bringing the application to the front, opening the Preferences dialog, accessing the keyboard size menu, toggling the dwell palette, and the various dwell modes, which include on-off toggle, single click, double click, drag, and right-click buttons. The dwell control functions, as well as the menus and Preferences toggle buttons, are duplicated on an optional floating palette, which also has a small dwell progress bar at its top.

The dwell function works quite well once you get the hang of it. This is the sort of thing that becomes progressively more efficient with practice, but I got onto it, albeit still clumsily within a few minutes of experimentation. The dwell delay interval can be set with a slider controls in the Preferences dialog. The default is 1.5 seconds, which I find about right for learning with. I suspect that as one becomes more skilled in using Keystrokes’ dwell feature, one might want to shorten the delay, while for some types of work, a longer dwell interval might be appropriate.

The practical joke potential of this application also occurs. You could really rattle someone’s cage by sitting some unsuspecting soul down at your computer with Keystrokes dwell turned on but the application hidden. The computer would appear to have developed a mind of its own.

So, is Keystrokes X dwell the solution to my point and click dilemma with OS X? I think it will be part of the solution, although to what degree remains to be seen. I need more practice with the dwell feature before I can determine what level of efficiency I can ultimately achieve with it.

It’s very hard to beat manual -- or in my case manual/pedal -- control input. I can really fly using a hand and foot mouse in tandem. The necessary lag with the dwell function does slow one down. Those extra seconds and up.

Still, this is a very cool innovation that I am sure will prove tremendously useful and helpful to many users who suffer from typing and mousing pain, or inhibited motor control.

Keystrokes X Simple Mode allows you to control keyboard and dwelling access. It allows you to fix several keyboard properties such as keyboard size and keyboard location, but also whether for example the command key of the on-screen keyboard is blocked or not. Simple Mode is typically used in a situation where you use KeyStrokes for a student (or child) and want to make sure the student only works with the standard keyboard and does not accidentally push any of the toolbar buttons.

You enter and exit Simple Mode through the “Mode ” menu..When entering Simple Mode you need to specify a password and repeat that same password once more to make sure you did not make any typos. Once this is done,you can determine which features should be blocked and which features should be left in operation . To exit Simple Mode,return to the “Mode ” menu and choose “Exit Simple Mode...”.This will present a dialog requesting you to type the password you typed on entry.Without this password you will not be able to exit Simple Mode. Simple Mode is only active on a per launch basis.If you quit KeyStrokes it will be launched in full mode again.

You can iconize the keyboard window by clicking on the iconize button of the keyboard window toolbar. This shrinks the keyboard window to icon size.The iconized window can be placed anywhere you want and you can even make it a little smaller or bigger depending on your needs. Clicking the KeyStrokes icon in the iconized window will bring back the full keyboard window again in its old position.

Main features
• Fully functional on-screen keyboard
• Works seamlessly with all standard Mac OS X applications (including those running in the Classic environment)
• Offers dwelling to click,double click,drag and right-click without pushing a mouse button
• Handles command-key combinations,dead-keys,and modifier key -click combinations
• Works with US and international keyboard layouts
• Offers five interactively resizable keyboard models (standard,standard with numeric pad,extended,extended with numeric keypad,block)with key labels in any font the user desires
• Offers many options including:auto key-repeat,different key designs,and customizable key spacing
• Provides a collapsible toolbar to access the most important features right from the on-screen keyboard
• Offers an iconizable and collapsible keyboard window floating above other applications
• Provides a customizable Simple Mode to control what users can and cannot do with the on-screen keyboard

The only real downside to Keystrokes X that I can see is the price. Keystrokes 2.2 sold for $49.95, which was already on the high side (IMHO) for this sort of utility, but Niemeijer Consult has raised the price of Keystrokes X to a rather daunting $195, which, I think is going to inhibit sales of this otherwise excellent software.

I ran this suggestion by David Niemeijer, who replied:

“Yes, that is a very good question and we have given a lot of thought to the pricing issue.

“The price increase is based on our experience with KeyStrokes 2 over the last year. We offered it at a very affordable price of US$45, but found that only a small proportion of the users of the freeware version 1.2 were upgrading to the new version despite of the many new and improved features (such as word prediction, improved typing speed, PPC native support, etc.). At the same time we experienced (through emails we received) that a large part of our potential users were not able to buy our product because they were either unable to order online (individual people with disabilities) or not allowed to order online (schools and other organizations). Also, in certain European countries (and perhaps elsewhere as well) the assistive technology market is highly institutionalized whereby insurance companies have deals with just a handful of firms and organizations that are the only ones who may supply assistive technology to people with disabilities at the expense of their insurers. Being a small firm and a relative newcomer in this field we could, for these countries, thus not sell to people with disabilities in a way that would allow them to get back the money from their insurance. In fact, in many cases these specialized firms the insurers work with try to move people with disabilities over to the Windows platform unless they are really hardcore graphic artists that insist on using the Mac.

“Altogether, it turned out impossible to sell enough copies to cover our development costs. As we did get a lot of enthusiastic responses from users claiming that this was the least obtrusive and best on-screen keyboard they had ever used, it was clear that there was a serious demand for KeyStrokes. We therefore decided to continue development but to abandon the Internet-only distribution model. As an immediate consequence prices had to go up to cover the additional costs of preparing CDs and to allow for sufficient margins for distributors and dealers.

“Also, the move towards Mac OS X has required us to make considerable investments in development time as everything had to be done differently to make things work on the new OS. KeyStrokes for Mac OS X was basically re-written from scratch and at a time when Mac OS X was still very much a moving target. Being the first to do these things also meant that we ran into various glitches in Mac OS X that thanks to Apple’s cooperation were mostly eliminated with the release of Mac OS X 10.1.3.

"All in all, we arrived at a price point of US$ 195 for KeyStrokes for Mac OS X, which is still at the low end of the assistive technology market (with on-screen keyboard prices going as high as US$395), especially if you consider that it includes system-wide dwelling and a license for KeyStrokes 2 that allows you to work on systems as far back as System 7.1. At the same time we have also developed TouchStrokes for Mac OS X (http://www.assistiveware.com/touchstrokes.html), which does not offer dwelling and does not include a license for KeyStrokes 2 but at US$95 is very affordable, also for individuals. We also continue to supply our shareware KeyStrokes 2 for use on pre-OS X systems. Customers now have a choice between various feature sets and at various price points. We think that in this way we can best serve the assistive technology market while being able to cover our development costs and continue working on further innovations.

"As you see it is a pretty lengthy answer to your short question, but you raised an important issue. Obviously we would prefer to offer our software at a lower price, but experiences has learned us that in this niche market this is not a viable option.

"As a P.S. you might like to know that the splash screen, application icon and snow keyboard design were all made by a disabled KeyStrokes user.

"Cheers,
David"

Fair enough, and of course, David Niemeijer has every right to charge whatever he determines is appropriate for the fruit of his programming labors.

I’m going to give Keystrokes X two Applelinks ratings -- one price dependent and the other price independent.

Price independent, I’ll give it a full, 5-A Applelinks rating. It works well, does what it’s advertised to do, and there’s nothing else available with the mouse dwell function.

However, price-dependent, I’m dropping it back to a 4-A rating.

System requirements:
KeyStrokes for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X 10.1.3 or higher and can be used with any mouse, trackball, head pointer or other mouse emulator that is compatible with Mac OS X. KeyStrokes for Mac OS X includes a license for KeyStrokes 2 for use on System 7.1 through Mac OS 9.2. KeyStrokes 2 can be used with any mouse,trackball, head pointer or other mouse emulator that is compatible with Mac OS.

The suggested introductory retail price for KeyStrokes for Mac OS X is US$195 or Euro 220 (excl. VAT). This price includes a copy of KeyStrokes 2.2 for applications running natively on Mac OS 7.1 through 9.2. Discounts will be available for users of KeyStrokes 2 and for volume purchases.

There are detailed PDF manuals available for KeyStrokes for Mac OS X. You can download them at:
http://www.assistiveware.com/download.html

For more information about Keystrokes X, visit:
http://www.assistiveware.com

Charles W. Moore

Cool Mac Gear