My blog maintenance/reorganizing is probably playing hell with RSS. I do apologize…But I’m done reorganizing for a while. Promise.

One of the things that annoys me about using Dragon with Microsoft Word 2007 is that when my dictation reaches the status bar, the status bar gets in the way; even if I continue to dictate, the screen does not always advance to the next line until I actually take a breath and start a new sentence. So, I googled and copied the VBA code for hiding the status bar. You lose the nice automatic word count that way, but you can always just say “show word count.” Perfect. The code is: Application.CommandBars(“Status Bar”).Visible = False

It’s a little trickier to actually apply this code if, like me, you’re not used to VBA.

Step 1: Say “office button” and then “word options.” Under Popular, say “show Developer tab in the ribbon.”

Step 2: Say “developer,” then “macros.” In the macro name box, name the macro something like Hide, so you know what it refers to. Then say “macros in,” then choose Normal. This means that you can use the macro in any document once you set up.

Step 3: Say “create.” You’ll be taken to a Visual Basic editing window. Paste the code into that window, and save it.

The next thing you want to do is create a button, so that when you tell Dragon to click it, it will run the macro and hide your status bar. This is done via the Quick Access Toolbar (the one with the tiny icons).

Step 4: Using the mouse commands, right-click the Quick Access Toolbar and say “customize quick access toolbar.”

Step 5: Say “choose commands from,” then “macros.” Hide, or whatever you called it, should be on that list, though its name will be surrounded by a bunch of programmy stuff. Once it’s highlighted, say “add.” Your macro will be moved to the list on the right hand side.

Step 6: Tab until Hide is highlighted again, then say “modify.” Tab into the Display Name field, and rename it simply Hide or whatever, without the programmy stuff. Say OK.

Step 7: Now there should be a new button on the toolbar, named Hide. This is what Dragon “sees”. Say “Click Hide.” NOTE: You MUST include the click before the name, or Dragon won’t click it. I’m not sure why.

Step 8: Enjoy dictating without the speedbump.

I now have an e-mail address posted on my “About My Blog” page, for those who want to contact me about tech or disability related items. hand2mouthtech@gmail.com Now if I could get it in a mailto format…

I finally figured out where all the searches for “Scrabble keyboard” came from on my blog stats. I know the Maltron single-handed and stick keyboards resemble the tiles because of the dual letter/number keys, but somehow I don’t think that many people have even heard of the Maltron to be hearing that comparison enough to look it up.

Sure enough, there is a “real” Scrabble keyboard out there, and it’s not the Maltron. The real Scrabble keyboard is an actual do-it-yourself wooden keyboard, with wooden tiles over the key switches — you could indeed use Scrabble tiles. There is a writeup of it on Geekologie: Do It Yourself Wooden Keyboard Available.

My keyboard reminds me very vaguely of a typewriter, at least when it’s in its case. I know they’re totally different except for their portability, but even so, that thought led me to look up an old friend — Typewriter Guy, formerly of Sesame Street. I’m glad I did. He’s still cute — his voice resembles Bill Cosby, he narrows his eyes like Mo Willems’ pigeon, and (odd for his species) has only 4 fingers on each hand.

I could never actually type on the electric typewriter we kept in the kitchen; I dictated little stories to my sister when I was 6. (My first brush with proofreading, a harbinger of my present equipment: she’d typed “no” for “know” and I cried.) So, I was fascinated by the little red typewriter who wheeled around singing “nuni-nuni-nu” and getting in and out of trouble with the letter or word of the day by typing on himself. The result of his hunting and pecking startled him: the punchline of being knocked out by yellow yoyos or engulfed by green umbrellas. I like to think I started to understand words then. To this day I cannot fully understand the spoken word unless I see it. Somehow that made it easier to adjust to using Dragon years later, once I got over the initial shock and the longer disorientation period (which I will never quite get over). I knew the shapes my mouth would make, and so could mentally “type” them before I said them. (Even so, I feel relieved every time I see that my words have survived their leap to the screen.)

Typewriter Guy has a cousin in my keyboard, besides: the letter H is designated by a hand that looks as though it could span all his keys, no problem. (I should add that TG himself was quite the one-handed typist — the other mitt was busy making magic tricks or poking a pencil in his tire.) If you want to see Typewriter Guy’s adventures with shrinking cats, giant ears and making words come alive, a YouTube fan has collected many of the cartoon shorts here. Nuni-nuni-nu…

I know what anthropology is — the study of evolution and different cultures. From dictionary.com:

But how does anthropology help to design a keyboard? I saw that in a keyboard publicity claim — “close analysis of human anthropology.” Did the inventor/s (I won’t say who, because I don’t want to embarrass them) perhaps mean “anatomy”? I myself am leery of someone who can’t tell the difference, or worse, throwing around what they think are big important sounding words. That suggests to me that they are using “ergonomic” as a buzzword to sell their product, having no clue what it really entails — not only layout, but design that accounts for posture, impact, amount of force and so on, and materials that are suited to those needs. Ergonomics is not just a fad — it is vital. And I expect that anyone making a truly ergonomic product would not make the mistake of using such out of context words.

A kid in the library said that the keys on my keyboard looked like Scrabble tiles.  I think I’m keeping that description.  Come to think of it, the keys do kind of feel like the tiles too — smooth and cool and solid.  And I love word games; they’re comforting.  (As a matter of fact, I memorized the Malt layout by playing Boggle with my keyboard, making words with my eyes.)  Kids say beautiful things without realizing it sometimes.  I would post a picture, but I can’t get it to work. There it goes! Yay.