[Blindmath] Updated version of my SVGDraw01 SWT/SVG based drawing program

Sat Sep 3 23:41:05 UTC 2011

I have posted an updated version of my SVGDraw01 drawing program at
http://www.austincc.edu/<http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/SWT-SVG/SVGDraw01.jar>
baldwin/SWT-SVG/SVGDraw01.jar<http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/SWT-SVG/SVGDraw01.jar>

The new version contains many updates to improve the accessibility of the
program. I will be interested in hearing your feedback on those updates.

The new version also contains a new feature that makes it much easier to use
in some situations. When drawing a polyline or a polygon, you can now import
a csv file that contains the data, thereby eliminating the rather tedious
process of entering the x and y coordinate values individually. This is by
far the easiest and most reliable approach if your polyline or polygon has
more than two or three vertices.

More detailed instructions regarding this feature, along with general
operational instructions and three sample csv files are contained in an
attached file titled _Instructions.zip. Try drawing the csv files. Use
Amanda's approach with vOICe to see if you can identify the mathematical
function described by each graph. If you have access to a graphical
embosser, try embossing them to see how well that works. They should be
embossed in an 8.5x11 inch portrait format. I will also be interested in
hearing your feedback on this new feature.

Thank you.
Dick Baldwin

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 9:02 PM, Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>wrote:

> For those who may be interested, I have posted my first attempt at putting
> an SWT GUI front end on my SVG graphics library and have posted the
> resulting program in a file named SVGDraw01.jar at the following URL:
>
>  http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/SWT-SVG/SVGDraw01.jar
>
> I would appreciate it if some of you would download the program, try it,
> and provide feedback in several different areas. You will need the Java
> virtual machine installed on your computer to run the program. On Windows,
> you can run the program either by double-clicking on the jar file, or by
> opening a command prompt in the folder containing the jar file and entering
> the following command at the command prompt:
>
> java -jar SVGDraw01.jar
>
> When the program starts running, you should find yourself in an SWT Combo
> object with an item labeled "User Instructions" highlighted. Pressing the
> Enter key at this point will take you to the beginning of a page containing
> user instructions. A screen reader should tell you to press shift-tab to
> return to the combo box or to press the tab key to continue.
>
> Pressing the tab key will cause the screen reader to begin reading the
> instructions. At the end of the instructions, the screen reader should tell
> you to "Press tab to return to the combo box." (Of course, you can press tab
> at any time. You don't need to wait until the screen reader finishes reading
> the instructions.)
>
> You can navigate up and down the list in the combo box using the arrow keys
> and act on an item by pressing the Enter key when that item is selected. The
> combo box currently contains the following items:
>
> User instructions (which is what you should do first)
> Start a new drawing (which is what you should do next)
> Draw a line
> Draw a rectangle
> Draw a circle
> Draw an ellipse
> Draw a polyline
> Draw a polygon
> Write drawing file (which is what you should do next to last)
> Stop program (which is what you should do last)
>
> When you press the Enter key on the item labeled "Start a new drawing," an
> empty SVG page of a specified size with optional title and description
> attributes will be created in memory.
>
> When you press the Enter key on the item labeled "Write drawing file", that
> SVG page will be written to an output SVG file with a name of your choosing
> and an extension of .svg.
>
> Between starting a new drawing and writing the drawing file, you can add
> elements for any number of any of the six shapes (which are the SVG basic
> shapes) in any order to the SVG page.
>
> When you press the Enter key on a shape item, you will land on a form that
> allows you to enter the most commonly used attributes for that shape. Fill
> in the blanks, check the check boxes (if any), and finally push the button
> labeled "Push to draw ---" to add the shape element to the SVG page. You can
> navigate up and down the the form with the tab key and shift-tab.
>
> I would appreciate receiving feedback in at least the following areas.
> Feedback in other areas not listed below will be appreciated also.
>
> 1. Will the program be accessible to a blind student? What could be done to
> improve accessibility?
>
> 2. Will the navigation structure of the program be functionally useful to a
> blind student? What could be done to improve the navigational functionality
> and make the program easier to use?
>
> 3. Will the "fill-in-the-blanks" concept for creating technical diagrams
> and drawings, such as vector diagrams and free-body diagrams, be useful to a
> blind student? If so, which of the many additional capabilities of SVG, such
> as arcs, paths, etc., would be appropriate as an upgrade to the program.
> (I'm already planning on adding the ability to create text elements. I just
> haven't resolved all the questions regarding fonts yet.)
>
> 4. To what extent is the output SVG file compatible with graphics embossers
> that can work with SVG files as input? What could be done to improve that
> compatibility?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Dick Baldwin
>
> --
> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>
> Professor of Computer Information Technology
> Austin Community College
> (512) 223-4758
> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
>

-- 
Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
http://www.DickBaldwin.com

Professor of Computer Information Technology
Austin Community College
(512) 223-4758
mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: _Instructions.zip
Type: application/zip
Size: 4049 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindmath_nfbnet.org/attachments/20110903/b6635541/attachment.zip>