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Ask Slashdot: Mouse/Pointer For a Person With Poor Motor Control
First time accepted submitter wb8wsf writes I recently found that a friend of mine is losing the ability to do fine-grained motor control. This means that writing, and mouse usage is going down hill.
Watching her was hard. I'd like to come up with possible solutions for her, but I'm not sure anything I know of such as a trackball, trackpoint, etc would be of much use. So far I haven't found much wandering the net. Any pointers or ideas would be most welcome.
Watching her was hard. I'd like to come up with possible solutions for her, but I'm not sure anything I know of such as a trackball, trackpoint, etc would be of much use. So far I haven't found much wandering the net. Any pointers or ideas would be most welcome.
I've seen blurbs over the years of someone making eyeball-tracking "mice". unfortunately I don't know if anyone actually manufactures them for sale. But you may want to look around for one, as it seems to me that it may help.
voice recognition software, this is precisely what it is made for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69i80WCErTM
Use a joystick fed into JoyToKey (Windows), or whatever Linux alternative you fancy. I've been using one for years. They're much more forgiving than a mouse, where a erroneous flick, or a flick to far, means you're practically starting over on trying to get to the button you need.
Voice control may be more productive for a given person than movement-oriented solutions
Table-ized A.I.
Took up laser eye tracking pointing devices & maybe a large-font/maybe Dvorak keyboard. I'd try but avoid a webcam solution-- they tend to be more pain than they're worth but you can't beat the price. Alternatively, simply take the mouse apart & superglue in a lead weight.
An appropriate response to your question requires more detail. What is the cause for the loss of motor control? Parkinson's, ALS, MS, essential tremor, etc?
I have the same problem, arthritis coupled with nerve damage. Go to control panel and slow down the mouse speed. It takes a little while to get used to the new setting but works well.
some kind of filtering or a really slow cursor
they've been discontinued yet you can find them on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-Cordless-Optical-Black-Silver-Trackman-Trackball-T-RB22-Receiver-/331502253090?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d2f12f422
If i was forced to use a mouse or trackpad every day i'd give up computers.
I've got a friend in his 90's who is gradually losing motor control in his hands. it's a rubbish situation.
Anyway, about 5 years ago, I upgraded him from a standard MS optical mouse to a Logitech Trackman Wheel, which was a great help. Over the last couple of months, his motor control has deteriorated to the ponit where positioning the cursor is still ok. but pressing the right buttons is getting tricksy. So he's just upgraded to an Infogrip BigTrack trackball, where the buttons are out of the way of using the trackball. And it's been a great help. Not perfect, but a massive improvement. Each person's needs are going to be different. I'd suggest borrowing a trackball if you can, else buy one, and if it doesn;t work, ebay it, and try the next thing - the only way to find a solution is to try these things out in real life i think.
I get the impression we're in a nascent market - this stuff will likely become huge in the next 5-10 years, as a big chunk of the early comptuer users start hitting age-related motor loss.
1. I've been using a Wacom pen many years for RSI, and I find it much better than a mouse. You can set it to either absolute or relative positioning mode, but if your friend can't hold a pen then it's not very helpful.
2. A trackball or a "vertical mouse" (many examples on Amazon) with the Windows mouse sensitivity turned down might help.
3. I have a friend who uses a Contour Roller Mouse, mainly for RSI: http://ergo.contour-design.com/ergonomic-mouse/rollermouse-free2
4. The folks at Able Gamers may be a good resource to ask. They focus on playing games, but are well acquainted with various solutions for mobility issues: http://www.ablegamers.com/
5. Leap Motion is a short-range Kinect-ish device that may have an appropriate control mode.
I would go too google.com and enter '-slashdot Mouse/Pointer For a Person With Poor Motor Control.'
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
I agree! Besides it's a good workout for the brain, which will probably come handy in this case
Fine motor control? So gross is okay, can move arms or legs in a big way, but not fine finger movement? The general term is "Assistive Technology".
Use built-in system adaptations: change mouse sensitivity, keyboard repeat rate, use the numeric keypad to move the mouse. See Control Panel > Ease of Access Center in Windows. "Make the mouse easier to use" and "Make the keyboard easier to use". http://www.microsoft.com/enabl...
Tremors? http://www.steadymouse.com/ to dampen mouse movement.
Move the mouse using a trackball, can't click? Dwell clicker. http://sensorysoftware.com/mor...
Could move a game controller or joystick, not the mouse? JoyToKey http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/2/...
Can move head? Cameramouse, http://cameramouse.org/
Not use a keyboard? Probably up to using an "on-screen keyboard" and "switching". There's an OSK in Windows, 7 and later is OK, before then not so good. Many others, The Grid 2 is probably the best. http://sensorysoftware.com/gri.... You'll find at this point that everything is starting to look very "special needs" - the market usually addresses people with cognitive as well as physical problems, and starts to get called "AAC". But the technology is in there. You might also want to check out switching with an iPad/iPhone - recent iOS releases have fantastic switching capacity built in. Proloquo2Go is the most famous iOS app. It's expensive for an app, but it's dirt cheap compared to dedicated hardware solutions (like Stephen Hawking stuff)
Operate one control only? http://www.webbie.org.uk/onesw...
In the USA? Try finding your state's Assistive Technology Resource Center. In the UK? ACE Centre is good, http://acecentre.org.uk/.
Key thing: usually people put off acquiring and learning to use the technology until it is too late, because it's too depressing. The medical channels for getting this stuff are often slow (at least in my country, the UK) so if your friend has a progressive, degenerative disease, you might be best going with something you can get right away and is not too off-putting - if you get an iPad and use that, you can get it right now and it doesn't have as much stigma as an obviously medical device. Many of these conditions have a very limited lifespan, so you need to get something soon if it's going to be useful.
It's also worth noting that switching is really slow and painful for someone who is used to normal usage, and that the role of the main carer/partner is essential in successful adoption of this kind of technology.
(Quick whirlwind notes from a technical rather than medical guy, excuse any slightly-off nomenclature. And your friend might just need to adjust her Windows settings, and I've leapt to much more "advanced" systems than she needs - but you don't think a trackball will cut it, and she's clearly been normal up to now, so I'm thinking the worst...)
Normal mouse drivers have some degree of automatic sensitivity adjustment as the pointer speed changes. If the options to change that sensitivity are not enough, there should be 3rd party software out there that would help. There are numerous sites, dealing with various handicaps, that have lots of links to software or devices that can ease the difficulty. For instance a Parkinson's site: http://www.waparkinsons.org/resources/assistive-technology
If you have been to all those kind of sites and have not found a suitable device drive then you probably need to find an assistive technology developer to custom design a driver or device.
Logitech still lists them and I've found them on many sites.
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/...
I love trackballs and I think they may be the answer, but if he jerks a lot they may not be.
Its the way they allow people like Steven hawking to communicate
Speaking from experience as someone with limited fine motor control, voice control is usually best because it doesn't depend on motor control at all. It gets better every year and thrives in environments with limited options (like navigation and the like) but not too shabby, when properly trained, on free form tasks like dictation. This recommendation is amplified when your movement is deteriorating every year as you can get used to it as a supplement and still used the old method at the same time, as in a slow transition, not a jarring one.
After that is a touchscreen; many are optimized to deal with not hitting exactly what you want. They can also be supplemented with a pointing device for finer movement or use of the cursor keys and keyboard in general. In fact, skipping the mouse for keyboard navigation can be quite effective when you get the hotkeys and other special keys down.
However, if you or your friend insist on using some sort of pointing device, there are many options. First, I would recommend slowing the mouse way down and playing with acceleration and the like. That way, you can still get fine movements with the cursor, even with gross movement of the actual mouse. You can also switch to a trackball. They can be much easier to use as you don't have to grab them and many can be operated with your palm, rather than fingers. Another option is using a joystick and mapping that to the mouse. It is different but can be done without too much gross movements. Lastly, you can switch to motion tracking. This can either be of your hand or your eyes. I have friends who swear by both those methods. They get some getting used to, but motion tracking of the hand that I've seen seems less finicky plus he mapped different gestures of the hand to clicking types.
All in all, the best is whatever they: 1. Like and 2. are willing to accept. Different people have different tastes and not everyone is willing to admit their disability or a change in their lives. FWIW, I think the "correct" answer will be some sort of combination of the above.
Mouse software drivers let you input additional [Virtual Inertia] which is more like moving a mouse in water or a thick liquid.
This will give her motor neurons more time to compensate.
Its the sticky viscocity motions that help damp down fast over correcting movements and lead to herky jerky motions.
This should more than help.
But you might also try a Wacom tablet and a thick heavy stylus.. though that will cost a lot more and might not be as intuitive for an older person.
Most people by now have become more accustomed to "mice" and even a trackball can seem more familar.
My Mom liked using a trackball for years but eventually had to give it up because none of the people who could give her help when she needed it could relate to the trackball. She also tried one of thoe big yellow trackballs for children.. but its was too bulky and hard to get use to.. she just knew nice too well.
Its the Inertia that helped the most.. adjust the mouse and everything will be fine.
...or whatever the current cueball-sized equivalent is. Large buttons, large ball that can be moved with the whole hand or all of the fingers instead of a few.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
There are a few products on the market that offer eye tracking mouse control. I don't know much about them or how well they work, but it might be worth a try. I'm pretty sure I've seen one or two brainwave-sensing ones, but those probably require goop or no hair, or both.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I don't know if such a thing exists, but my first thought is a software solution that averages the cursor position over a short time.
Nintendo Wiis, for example, do it on some games, but not all, to take the shake out of your Wiimote hand. It means a little extra lag, but the cursor moves more smoothly.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
is hte first and most ovbious answer that springs to mind. Not to plug or anything, but Nuance leads the pack with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Version 10 is the best so far (yep, even better than v13), it has a very easy interface and it learns rapidly. http://www.nuance.com/dragon/i...
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
I'm getting into the same boat because of progressing MS. I bought a fairly inexpensive gaming mouse by Etekcity. It's a bit bigger than average without being a hand-stretching monster, and it has a 3-position DPI selector that lets me adjust to my ability at any given moment. If I'm shakier, I can slow down the mouse response. Plus it has a pair of programmable side buttons which I have set for volume up/down. All this is not for gaming in my case, it's to help me use the mouse with a fair degree of comfort. Sometimes a product made for one purpose can do wonders for a completely different problem.
The world is my oyster. That's why it's always in a stew.
You didn't say what platform, but this has been an on-going emphasis for both Apple and Microsoft for a long time.
For OS X and iOS, see
http://www.apple.com/accessibi...
http://www.apple.com/accessibi...
For Windows, see
http://www.microsoft.com/enabl...
Hope this helps.
--Paul
In an old catalogue, I find this:
Mouth mouse: You put a stick between your lips, then use it as a pointer. http://www.lifetool.at/assistive-technology/lifetool-developments/integramouse-plus.html?L=1
Button mouse: a mouse where you push buttons to make the cursor move
Joysticks: There specialized joysticks available
Trackballs: There also specialized trackballs available
Head mouse: You have a tracking spot to put on your head and a sensor that recognizes head movements
Eye-tracking: do I need to say more?
I found this selection at a German vendor http://www.rehavista.de/?at=Produkte&ag=18 , surely there is a similar vendor in your region.
Unfortunately those specialized input devices seem to be not particularly cheap.
For many of these devices, it appears to be an important property that the pointing device and the mouse buttons are uncoupled, like if you had a mouse for pointing, but the mouse buttons were on a seperate keyboard.
Also while we are at it, there is Liftware: an electronic spoon (or fork) that stabilizes itself so that you do not spill your food. https://www.google.com/liftware/
It is likely that your friend is not alone with her condition. Try to discuss it with others who are affected, and who have already been through the stages that lay ahead of her. People with motor control issues successfully use vertical mice, touch screens, keys for navigation, gaze trackers, voice recognition, non-standard input methods such as the Dasher accessibility tool, or tailored input methods.
has he considered upgrading fine-motor to a very-fine-motor?
If the person is having trouble using a mouse and writing, I seriously doubt they are going to be able to type effectively.
I'd say something like a joystick mouse control with foot pedals would be the solution.
Have you tried foot pedal mice? They don't generally require as fine of control as a regular mouse and they feel very natural to use.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I gave my Dad a Wacom Touchpad. You can tune down the sensitivity, and they can spend as long as they need lining everything up. The key part here is that the "click" mechanism is totally separate (unlike on a regular mouse), so the click action won't move the cursor. It works great for him.
Perhaps take a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasher_%28software%29
(2) Brush-up on keyboard navigation. Most desktop applications are good in this respect but many web pages are in the stone age.
(3) Tune the driver parameters.
(4) If the user has particular issues (which may not all be motor related) then focus on a 'way to do it'. For example a positive one-click even if the mouse button takes a hammering.
(5) There used to be special drivers but 5 years ago when I looked they seemed to be dying-out.
One of the issues is losing faith/confidence in one's own skills and getting more nervous/flustered. Try and find a fun and 100% no-problem' way of coaching them. Another issue with poke 'n hope is things go wrong and much more confusing. For example a double click or a right-click instead of a left click will start weird dialogs or actions. "Hey! I wandered over that email address and now it's asking me lots of questions!!" and so on. So it's up to your patience to reduce the stress. (And if you're trying to sort it out by phone then without something like Teamviewer you're going to get in a muddle and the user is going to feel a time-wasting idiot and failure.
Pretorian Technologies of Lincolnshire, UK http://www.pretorianuk.com/ specializes in computer devices for disabled, and semi-disabled users. They make a wide variety of trackballs, joysticks, mouse alternatives, big switches that can be activated by your elbow or knee, iPad switches, bluetooth linked switches etc.
Their devices are aimed at those with "limited hand control, fine and gross motor skill difficulties, poor hand-eye coordination, limited manual dexterity, repetitive strain injury, involuntary muscle spasms, spastic and flaccid paralysis, cerebral movement disorder or central neuromuscular disability and inflammatory or degenerative change"
From their website, http://www.pretorianuk.com/n-a...
The n-ABLER Trackball is the most adaptable Mouse Alternative on the market specifically designed to address the needs of computer users with limited hand control, motor skill difficulties, poor hand-eye co-ordination, lack of manual dexterity and involuntary muscle spasms.
In the USA, their products are available through InclusiveTLC.com .... not cheap (the anti-tremor joystick costs $440) but they look excellent for the application. a giant 3 inch diameter bright red switch that talks bluetooth (for the iPad, I think) runs about $150. see http://www.inclusivetlc.com/is...
How about something like the NIA?
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZM...
It really depends on the kind of motor problems they have - there are a bunch of different ways hands can screw up. I've got hand tremors, and my friend has mild cerebral palsy, and although we both have fine motor problems, in a way we've got opposite problems.
Personally, I find using a keyboard much easier for most tasks than using a mouse. I learn all the keyboard shortcuts and command line tricks I can, and only use the mouse when absolutely necessary. When I do need to use the mouse, I usually use my laptop's touchpad instead of an actual mouse. I've also had success with large trackballs. Touchscreens work pretty well for me as well. Lastly, see if adjusting the mouse sensitivity settings helps. Turning down the sensitivity can make jerky movements less of a problem.
Have a look at KinesicMouse, a software for the Microsoft Kinect that is able to simulate keyboard and mouse input based on certain head movements and/or facial expressions. Here's a list of over 50 head movements/facial expressions supported: http://kinesicmouse.xcessity.at/detailed_information.php#tracked_signals
Website for KinesicMouse: http://kinesicmouse.xcessity.at/
Their Youtube channel to see demonstrations: https://www.youtube.com/user/Xcessity
There are many vendors who sell these devices, such as here: http://enablingdevices.com/cat...
For the specific need you mention, here's a start:
http://www.traxsys.com/Assisti...
My wife has Cerebral Palsy, with very poor fine motor control of her hands. She has two of these joysticks, both paid for with grants found for her from our local United Cerebral Palsy center (http://www.ucpsdtechcenter.org/).
It is an analog joystick - the same type used on power wheelchairs: the further you push the stick, the faster the cursor travels in that direction. It has buttons dedicated to single-click, double-click, and drag. It has an axis lock-out button which toggles cursor movement between horizontal-only, vertical-only, and any direction. It has a button which toggles cursor speed from very, very slow to very fast. All these functions are independent of PC hardware and drivers. It also comes with a selection of handles: large rubber ball, T-handle, and small knob.
There is also a trackball version with the same features, other than a very large ball intead of the stick.
It's USB and works with any OS. She has used it with Windows (3.11 - Win7), OS/2, OSX, and currently Linux (Fedora) without need of any device-specific drivers.
We also have a couple of USB and PS2 keyboards with keyguards which were also paid for with grant money.
When looking for assistive tech (AT) for the PC, you can pretty much ignore anything mainstream-PC-ish. There is a huge industry dedicated to AT for most all types of computer and communication devices for the disabled.
[Note: the following assumes you are in the USA. Other countries may have similar programs]
While much of it is pretty expensive, some of it is covered by health insurance. And as I noted above, there is often grant money available from many philanthropic entities (e.g. MDA, UCP, Easter Seals, Rotary Club, Big Brothers, etc.). Funding may also be available from various government programs for the disabled (e.g. Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled, state Disabled Services, Dept. of Rehab, the VA, etc.). Also try checking your local colleges and universities for resources and referrals. Many of them have a Disabled Services office on campus.
It would help to know the nature of the problem. As some of us are not physicians, you'd have to explain the symptoms -- not name the disease -- though e.g. Parkinson is quite well-known.
A mouse works in two (*) linear fashions. Low speed up to a distance and after a threshold it goes with greater speed. In Linux (that's what I know), one can make it work according to a power function which is much easier to control, as many Quake victims of yours truly could attest. :-)
Please have a look at this:
http://i.imgur.com/4LEYh.png (graph)
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=87983 (source)
In Linux (and probably in other Unix derivatives like OS X or *BSD), choosing a threshold of 0 means you want a power function. In KDE, System Settings, Input devices, Mouse, choose the Advanced Tab and fill the Acceleration and Threshold fields with things like 1.5 and 0, respectively.
In the command line, type simply "xset m 15/10 0", for the same values.
This probably works for other devices, too.
As someone who was extremely bad at hand skills since birth, I hope she can overcome that problem and enjoy a meaningful life. I am reminded of a story I read once about a sewing lady who after becoming 85-year old turned to be an acclaimed painter -- because she no longer could sew.
(*) Devices are important: this lousy keyboard ate a "w" and two became "to" (which the spelling checker cannot find). Letters are doubled -- like in "ssucks". Not to mention the operator, whose fingers manage to type out of coordination -- which will eventually make me look as a dyslexic.
Tagline from /. : "Asynchronous inputs are at the root of our race problems. -- D. Winker and F. Prosser"
These things scare me now and then.
Head tracking may work well, depending on ability to control head/neck. There are several methods (mostly originating in the flight sim community).
1. Face tracking (very easy to try, FaceTrackNoIR or Opentrack)
2. Head tracking with IR clip (bit more reliable than face, many DIY guides out there)
3. Head tracking with Aruco marker (available in Opentrack)
.: Semper Absurda
There are several, but I prefer the ITAC Evolution.
http://www.itacsystems.com/evolution-mouse-trak.html
You might try an oversized trackball device such as the old Microsoft Easyball which can be had cheap on ebay for like $15. They were originally meant for kids but work well for people with poor motor control. You can slap at the ball with the whole palm of your hand unlike smaller trackballs that you generally flick with a single or two fingers. The easyball is a serial mouse, though. For a more modern equivalent, you might try something like this:
http://www.infogrip.com/bigtrack-trackball.html
right. let's assume that you need to actually do some programming, here. first thing: get hold of an arduino, or something with an STM32F (waveshare have something). one of the examples in the source code for the waveshare STM32F102 board that i bought is: guess what: a mouse HID emulator.
basically what it does is program the USB port to (a) be a client (b) pretend that it's a mouse HID device. then, it just runs through a sequence creating "mouse move left" events 100 times followed by "mouse move right" events 100 times.
you can probably see where this is going, but basically for around 50 GBP including wires, big buttons and a programmable board of some description) you should be able to put together:
* a simple program
* some large buttons (an up button, a down button, a left, a right, two mouse buttons and a "i want to activate double-click on the next thing i press" button)
and basically quite literally MAKE a mouse that suits the abilities of your friend.
the reason i recommend having a "i want to activate double-click please" button is because she will be able to hold that button down at her own leisure and THEN press the button of her choice. the same button could probably double-up as a "please move a bit faster on the arrows" button.
using the waveshare example source code you should probably be able to code this up in around 400 lines i.e. about 2 days worth of work.
but the *important* thing about this solution is that you can ADAPT it. if her symptoms get worse, or it turns out that she needs something beyond what the commercial offerings provide, or neither you nor her thought "hmm, we should have done that", you can reprogram it. or get bigger or better buttons. or go a bit more advanced and create your own analog joystick to mouse converter with some Industrial PID (proportional integration and differentiation) control to dampen down any loss of motor coordination.
and the other important thing is: it'll be platform-independent. it'll act like... a mouse.
if you don't have the programming skills yourself, btw, contact me and i should be able to help. i think i still have the waveshare STM32F board i bought a couple of years back.
My first thought was Joystick, my second thought was "Slow down mouse speed"
so I promptly googled this into existance:
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Ergon...
That, coupled with using a slower mouse tracking speed, should allow the user to use larger gross movements to nudge the mouse to where it needs to be, and click. Its the first route I would go anyways, instead of multi-hundred dollar eye tracking or voice control software.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Not impossible labs are a charity foundation that create devices and open hardware in this area.
Check out the eyewriter: http://www.notimpossiblelabs.c...
and the brainwriter: http://www.notimpossiblenow.co...
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
Your doctor and the medical community is doing wonderful things with adapting computers to the handicapped.
I have a quadriplegic family member who has written a book on a computer. The computer has paddles and software to interpret head movements as keyboard activations. The Patrica Neal Center at Fort Sanders Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, is the place where my family has gone for all the training and equipment. Surely, other places have the same technology and your doctor should be able to point you in the right direction.
You might try a medical device retailer. One that does wheelchairs and other assistive technology tools. The market and field has exploded and some of the equipment is quite modern and current. A good retailer will try to help you since goodwill eventually equates to sales.
In her case I introduced her to Lynx (tab key navigation) and elinks for browsing, hotkeys (Home, Ctrl+Home, End, Ctrl+End) for editing and reading, and a large "scrollball" for mouse control. As her condition deteriorated her son built her a custom keyboard - a modified keyboard for the vision impaired (large buttons) with the number pad removed and a large, custom, hotkey pad in it's place.
At some point we plan to change to screen reading and speech recognition as she has issues seeing when she can't control her head movements - based on Klaus Knopper's Ariadne (Knoppix is already based on Debian).
http://cameramouse.org/
From the website:
"Camera Mouse was invented at Boston College to help people with disabilities use the computer. We make it available for free download, with no gimmicks or advertisements or registration, because we want to help as many people as possible."
i.e. most gaming mice.
It seems to me that the right approach is incremental movement. I don't have the same problem as the person in the story, but I find that I do much better in paint programs, for example, when I use the trackpad on my laptop then when I use an attached mouse. Part of that is because the sensitivity is lower, but part of it is because I don't rest my hand on the trackpad - so that unintentional motions don't register in the way that they do with a mouse.
With that in mind, a trackpad wouldn't be a bad choice. Contour Design also makes a product called a roller mouse which attaches to the bottom of your keyboard. The intent is ergonomics, but the effect is a pointing device which you touch only when you need it. (I also like their variation on the standard mouse, though it's not a solution to this problem.)
I've got some trouble as well. Some things that are:
+ getting a keyboard without the numpad allowing mouse and arm more freedom of placement.
+ a split keyboard, I like my gold touch/tech?. Again more freedom and also forces better typing habits which means less small movements.
+ physical therapy
+ Logitech m series mouse. Must be wireless and have the super glidy scroll wheel.
+ a window organizer such KDE or Mac divvy to avoid click and drag of window sizings.
+ the vimium extension to chrome browser. Just press f and it makes a keyboard shortcut for every link on the page.
+ when it comes to Word and Excel I would say use medication to help. These two apps are hell for fine motor, only photo editing and other media apps are worse. I actually use power point for short docs and visio type diagrams because it requires less fine motor skills. I find people seem to like the slides better.. It forces you to be terse, which is a dying art.
Kludging a system together yourself makes about as much sense as rolling your own ssl library. There are people who solve this sort of problem for a living - Occupational Therapists. They're almost certainly going to come up with a much better solution than you will.
#DeleteChrome
To solve fine motor control problems with user interfaces, consider an algorithm that makes the pointer 'stick' to clickable objects.
A) As the pointer approaches a control/widget which can be clicked, the algorithm could detect that the user's overall motion is in it's direction and jump the pointer into the control.
B) Once over the control, the pointer would resist leaving it's borders unless a certain amount of motion was achieved.
This should reduce the need for fine motor control with a mouse/trackball/pointing device.
It's not an easy solution to implement but may be useful to people who still have some amount of motor control we can interpret to complement.
As others have said, every person is different in their abilities and limits. And I know nothing about your friend's situation, so I can only tell you about the situation I've worked with.
My aunt was born with cerebral palsy, and she has always had much better control over her feet than her hands. Her solution was to place an ordinary trackball under her desk, (the large kind, not the marble sized one) and she uses her bare foot to control it.
Because it's foot operated and she can't really clean it effectively, it gets dirty much faster than a desktop trackball, and so she ends up replacing it more often than you would a mouse. But overall it's been a pretty cheap investment, and one that works for her.
John
A spinal injury rendered my primary right hand useless. So I write (250k words this year) and code (30k lines C++/C#/Python) using a Logitech Wireless Touchpad and a compact tablet-style keyboard on my PC.
All about me
...that Steven Hawking read slashdot.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Have you tried the Snap To option on Win7 mouse settings?
This makes the mouse jump to the default button on dialog boxes. It takes some getting used to and probably needs good eye tracking but it can reduce required mouse movement a bit.
If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
Great and simple tips!
I have made a program which "smooths" out mouse movements and ignores small tremors. If you want a copy for free (windows only I'm afraid) contact me at youtube@netelligence.co.uk
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/gallery-gdc-2015-shows-off-inventive-controllers-and-atari-history/
I have no real idea if this is any use to you, or anybody else, but as a proof of concept, this Windows executable will smooth out mouse movements over time, a bit like a Nintendo Wii does to take the shake out of your Wiimote-holding hand:
http://horman.net/smoothmouse....
This is very much proof-of-concept only - all parameters are fixed, smoothness is set very high, and if you want to close it you'll have to use Task Manager to kill smoothmouse.exe.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
There are some options for the disabled. Personally I use http://www.orin.com/access/headmouse/
Great tips. I have the same problem. Typing on keyboard is hell.Prople think I have bad ghrammar and spelling because I cant type easily but I have to correct every other letter. It takes forever. This sentence took me 3 minutes. I do a lot of photoshop and what I have found is use as big a monitor as possible and zoom in to 400 to 600 %
I forgot. slow down the mouse when usong big monitor and zoom in - iotherwise you dont gain the benefits
How about controlling the cursor via foot pedals?
Many console dance mats have large arrows that can be pressed with the feet, perhaps from a sitting position. How about repurposing one of these to provide mouse input? Using something like Joy2Key, and Keyboard mouse controls, such a device could be mapped to mouse input.
Twinstiq, game news
I just heard a podcast about ablegamers. They advocate for accessible user interfaces and have a line of input devices for disabled gamers. They should have some good information for your friend.
I deal with a lot of older guys in factories who have hard times double clicking and moving the mouse around for various reasons. The solution is to change the sensitivity on the mouse so people who shake don't keep flinging the mouse everywhere. You can adjust the timing of a double click so older users have time to finish clicking.
No matter what you do it takes hand eye coordination and motor control to move a pointer onto a field or icon. If they can't control their hands there's very little you can do outside of custom make something. The software is what's going to have to handle them at this point.