formEdit and the Web Page Communicator Templates -OATS Forge

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formEdit and the Web Page Communicator Templates

by Jim Luther

Center for Disability Services, Albany NY

luther @ cfdsny.org

formEdit is used to edit special web page templates that are designed to behave like the pages found on dynamic display, speech generating devices used by individuals with speech disabilities. These pages present users with a grid of choices consisting of pictures, labels, sound files, and links to other pages. These templates support multiple access methods including single and two switch scans, linear or row-column scans, auditory scanning, and a random scan method useful for playing games. formEdit makes it easy to edit these templates without requiring any understanding of HTML or javascript. Currently, the templates that formEdit is designed to edit are compatible with Internet Explorer only. These pages will work, however, on any version of Internet Explorer 4.0 or newer, including Internet Explorer for Windows CE. I hope to develop similar pages for other browsers and platforms that formEdit will also be able to edit. The current set of templates was designed to fit the 480 X 800 screen of the Nova 5000EX, a low cost tablet PC running Windows CE. For $599 the Nova 5000EX has sufficient capabilities to act as a dynamic display speech generating device in conjunction with web pages produced with formEdit and my templates at a fraction of the cost of similar commercially available speech devices. Once created the edited web pages and all the resources required are best viewed by browsing them off-line to assure prompt performance. (For the Nova 5000EX, I recommend copying the pages and resources to a Compact Flash card and leaving the CF card plugged into the Nova 5000EX card slot.) The current template set offers layouts with 1X4, 2X3, 2X4, 3X4, 3X5, 4X5 and 4X6 grids of choices. If you are interested in other layouts please contact Jim Luther.

I fully expect that there will be significant enhancements and revisions in the Web Page Communicator concept to improve not only the functionality of these pages, but to improve technical aspects regarding how pages are constructed, and to increase compatibility across popular browsers and platforms. Ultimately, I hope to see web pages that enable even lower cost devices like Nokia N800, Sony Mylo, Sony PSP, or even Nintendo DS to act as useful communications aids (with or without sound output.) Please contact Jim Luther if you would like to participate in this effort.