So now I am really curious, because this keeps coming up periodically. It came up again in a recent thread about using the Mac.
What are you people doing with your hands?
If I'm at a keyboard, my hands are on the home row, ready to type, unless I'm doing something else that's not on the keyboard, like getting a drink. But people keep lamenting the fact that you need two hands to use Voiceover, like it's some sort of obvious defect. I think I've probably done *something* or other on Windows with one hand, but nothing that particularly stands out.
One-handed typing jokes of old aside, seriously, what's going on? Assume you're in your single-handed happy place. You're doing all you can do on a keyboard to control things with one hand, go nuts, one finger even! What's your other hand doing that's so important? I don't get it. Clearly other folks are using their keyboard in a different way than I am.
But I mean, if I'm doing any kind of typing, two hands. Most audio games on Windows? Two hands, because you're usually using arrows and some other key, ctrl, space, and so on. The one thing I can readily think of where one-handed stuff comes up a fair bit is media playback, but even there, you're not getting it unless you remap keys a lot of the time.
I mean, I'm not saying it never comes up or anything. I'm just trying to think of like, basic screen reader controls, e.g. NVDA, and again, you're at least doing multiple keys, if not both hands all of the time, e.g. NVDA-down for say all which would be two hands if you don't have, or aren't using, a numpad with the insert key.
So please, enlighten me. What am I missing here? Because both hands on the keyboard feels super normal to me, and not like I'm living in a super intense eighties hacker movie or something.
I'll grant you that VO's keyboard shortcuts are more two-handed than NVDA's, for example, but I just don't get the wistfulness y'all have got going on for one-handed keyboard operation. I'm clearly missing something and I'd love to know what it is. As it happens, I'm running a Windows VM and I have access to NVDA and Narrator. So I'm happy to go compare operations between the three of them, although I am on a laptop keyboard, no numpad, in case that matters. I do have a keyboard with a numpad though, if that's really necessary to use for comparison, so I can do that no problem.
What's the stuff you're doing with one hand all the time? The stuff that makes you crazy if you can't do it? Does it come down to specific environments/tasks, or is it more general? I'm really interested to hear how people are working here.
Comments
Check Back After Your First Stroke
I'm not sure why you even posted this. Are you asking who would even need to type with only one hand? Do a search for one-handed typing and you'll see lots of OS features supporting this, courses on how to learn to touch type using only one hand, etc. Clearly, lots of people find themselves in that situation.
It's more about whether it is necessary
Having to hold down two keys on one side of the keyboard to arrow through elements is awkward. This has, to some extent, been fixed web quick nav on web applications even if it is a bit buggy.
The obvious comparison is windows where arrow keys alone do most of the heavy lifting and, if you think of just how many items we click through on a working day, the need to hold down modifier keys adds up.
voiceover for Mac, on the whole, is a bad design in stability, learnability, consistency and ergonomics.
I realise you were just trying to get a rise from other members of the forum. I rose. Hope you're satisfied. :)
The reasons seem pretty clear.
Obviously if you can only use one hand for whatever reason, sure. But I type with both hands, regularly. I also don't have the dexterity some people apparently have to use a phone with one hand entirely. Unless it's sitting on something, my phone is in one hand, and my other hand is doing whatever on the screen.
But clearly, not everybody's me. So yes. There may be all kinds of things to learn to touch type with one hand, I haven't seen them. And obviously as I've said, if you can only use one hand, I get it. But no, I don't get why J. Random Person would want to learn to touch type with one hand either. So you can start there if you like. What's it supposed to be doing for people?
Like I said in my post, this has come up a number of times. It's not just a couple of people lamenting the fact that Voiceover requires both hands, and I don't think they only have one hand or have had a stroke. It's clear from the posts that they *can* use VO with two hands, they just would rather not have to.
And I mean, you can do all sorts of interface stuff, right? If somebody was all, "I need to be able to control Voiceover entirely with a game controller!", I'd be wondering the same thing. I'll bet there's an entire Youtube rant about the awesomeness of controlling your OS with a game controller out there too. But that too, to me, would be a fairly unusual choice, and I'd want to know why you're advocating for that workflow.
I mean, let's be real here. We have things like eye tracking and breath switches and the like. But they're for very specific use cases. Nobody's going, "man you guys need to get behind controlling everything with only one switch"! Obviously if you need that, you need it, and I'm not saying it shouldn't happen or anything. But if somebody could use a standard keyboard, let's say, and was advocating for the awesomeness that is single switch control, I'd be asking the same questions. Why? What's so different about it that you prefer it?
It's not at all how I work, and the only way to learn things is to ask about them or try them, you know? I'm not going to take a month to figure out what I can and can't do with one hand on a keyboard because it just seems pointless to me, or I'm not *that* interested, take your pick. But there are obviously people here doing it and who prefer using their screen reader that way. May as well find out what they think about it all. It's no great mystery.