There is nothing to feel on these selector buttons. They don't even feel metallic, although visually, they appear to be metal.

This is in contrast to labels for things actually selected by these buttons, such as water temperatures, where there is at least a faint texture left by the printing atop the machine's surface.

The only thing that can be felt is the indentations between each button.

#tactility
#tactile
#accessibility

2/x

This design looks pretty enough but seems a poor choice for selector buttons where it is reasonable to expect the user to want to know what category of things is being selected.

These buttons are, effectively, the names expected at the top of each column in a chart. Without them, you have to guess at the actual category by the options in the columnar list.

That's a lot of extra mental work to go through just to throw on a load of laundry. 🙄

#endUser
#UI
#UIX

3/x

Now, among close friends, I am well known to be frustated by #interfaces that seem as complex as something the #nuclearIndustry needs for managing a reactor or starting Armageddon.

Indeed, with the same sorts of chips being used in all sorts of different devices, I am *slightly* worried that navigating the complexity of refuelling my vehicle might accidentally trigger said Armageddon.

Who knows where those codes could be hidden, amirite???!? 😳😬😂

#UI
#UIX
#complexity
#design

4/x

But in all seriousness, being #ChronicallyIll and #ActuallyDisabled means that dealing with a constant flood of over-complicated #interfaces can be draining beyond my capacity for any given day.

And it feels pretty darned frustrating to be thwarted from doing laundry just because one doesn't have advanced degrees in graph theory or #cryptography and isn't up to dealing with all this just for some fresh clothes.

5/x

Granted, I am getting to the older end of life now. Certainly far older than I anticipated (this is probably called 'middle-aged' for all you non-disabled folks out there). 😛

Perhaps younger folks find this level of #complexity so normal as to be a mere trifle.

But I miss the days when you could just turn a dial and push a button and be done with something. Whether a washer or a toaster, life did indeed feel simpler, more #accessible back then.

6/x

But managing my many #ChronicIllnesses doesn't afford me the 'luxury' of never washing clothing, bedding, etc ever again.

Nevermind not posing a choking hazard to anyone sitting nearby in a waiting room somewhere, there's also just basic infection control/prevention to worry about.

So, the laundry must be done!

#infectionControl
#infectionPrevention
#laundry

7/x

But what to do about the unreadable 12-pt, thin light grey-on-silver #Helvetica-ish text on the selector buttons?

How can I make the #washer and #dryer #accessible?

8/x

I dislike the idea of pairing my shaky printing with a big Sharpie directly on the buttons. That's where #embossedLabels can help!

You may be familiar with these sorts of things from those wonky, vaguely gun-like things with a big plastic selector disk that you turn to select a letter, then squeeze hard to produce an embossed letter/word on the plastic tape roll it contains.

#Dymo
#labels
#labelling

9/x

And I would guess that more than a few of you are presently expecting that I grabbed a #Dymo labeller and took care of the problem.

The thing is, I don't HAVE a Dymo labeller!

😱

10/x

But I DO have a Braille slate. A few of them, in fact. And at least one of them is designed for this very problem!

Welcome to the awesome #design choice to include slots for labelling tape, allowing folks easy-access to Braille labels without specialised equipment.

#Braille
#BrailleSlate
#brailling
#labels
#accessibility

11/x

For my needs, using a Braille slate to make Braille labels worked just fine. 🙂

#BrailleSlate
#brailling

12/x

The story doesn't end here, of course.

Because unlike #typesetters and other #designers who have a plethora of typefaces and sizes to choose from--including the choice to make them thin and such low-contrast as to be unreadable--Braille comes in just two sizes, and the bigger is only really used for labels on signage.

Here's an overview of the #specifications:

https://www.brailleauthority.org/size-and-spacing-braille-characters

#Braille
#brailling
#tactility
#readability

13/x

A brief caveat--despite having poor and declining vision that *does* interfere with my daily activities, I am NOT legally Blind nor am I considered Low Vision.

Presently, I have no Blind people close to me.

If I make any egregous errors in my claims about Braille, please feel free to correct me.

I am enthusastic about Braille but also very much a beginner in the art of #brailling!

#Blind
#LowVision
#VisuallyImpaired

14/x

So I wanted to make tactile labels, and with equipment on hand, I could only do that in Braille.

And the Braille will be whatever size my slate can produce, monospaced.

So, time to do some measuring!

#measureOnce
#Braille
#tactility
#accessibility
15/x

I then did some sketching, using my Braille slate as a tracing template to ensure I wasn't trying to convince myself I had more room than was actually available, lol!

Each button on the strip of selector buttons was individually 1.25" wide, and 3/4" high, meaning I would have enough room for up to five characters per line, two lines maximim per button.

#Braille
#measureOnce
#monospace
#typeface
#tactility
#labels

16/x

I also did some quick and dirty visual Braille transliteration of the words on each button.

(This just means I made some highly-variable 6-dot Braille 'blanks' in a pale pen, then coloured in the suitable dots needed for the actual character needed.)

#transliteration
#Braille

17/x

Apologies if the word #transliteration isn't quite right to describe what I was doing.

It had been ages since I #brailled by hand (I've been practising on a classic #PerkinsBrailler but it can't manage Dymo tape, lol!)

So I wanted to make certain I had each character correct in advance of making the labels.

#Braille
#brailling

18/x

The thing is, with Braille being monospaced and one-size (roughly equivalent to 26-point #Helvetica Condensed, with a fixed-width spacer between each character), it can take a LOT of 'real estate' for writing out even a short paragraph.

Braille books may be several volumes compared to their print-text editions.

Accordingly, Braille has a cool system of shortening things, known as #ContractedBraille.

https://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca/en/braille

19/x

If you learn the Braille alphabet, you've essentially learned uncontracted Braille, aka 'grade 1 Braille.' This type of Braille takes up a LOT of space on a page.

#ContractedBraille has contractions, short forms, word signs and so forth to let more words be conveyed in this #monosized, #monospaced print environment.

This link leads to a handy summary chart (but doesn't reflect all the additional rules that may apply):

https://www.duxburysystems.com/braillechart.asp

#Duxbury
#Braille

20/x

For example, #ContractedBraille would let me use the character "p" as a stand-alone that means "people."

Or a special character that means the entire word "the", "and", or "for."

There are many, many others! 🙂

#Braille
#brailling

21/x

Ideally, I wanted to transliterate my washer and dryer buttons into proper Braille.

I'm not fluent in #ContractedBraille so I wrote out what I thought was correct, then found some online Braille translators to double-check.

I love that 'speed' can be written in just four characters, as "spe[ed]". ❤️

22/x

There was just one button that I couldn't make work at all with the Braille character limitations: "DAMP DRY SIGNAL".

I hemmed and hawed about this and then figured that the 'dry' is implied by the device's present existence as a dryer.

Dry fits on one line.

"Signal," however, does not. One extra character. One!!!!1! 😐

23/x

I tried a few things. I even tried to see if there were common shorthand terms for 'signal' in #amateurRadio or other coding systems but either I missed it or the term is implied by methods of *answering* or *providing information about* signals.

Sigh.

24/x

Anyhow, that's how I eventually ended up at "sig".

I even flirted with 'sgnl', as sounding out those consonants sounds reasonably like the word, 'signal'.

… but I knew that future-me would end up endlessly stuck contemplating the paradox of words such as 'spe[ed]' versus my own kludge, so went with the less-interpretation-heavy option.

#translation
#transliteration
#interpretation
#accessibility

25/x

Remember, the point here (there is a point to all this, yes!) is to improve my accessibility with a washer and dryer interface, not throw me into an endless loop of quirkly language-oriented obsessions!

😂

#washer
#dryer
#laundry
#accessibility
#readability
#tactility
#UI
#UIX

26/x

The brailling went well. It was easy to setup the Dymo tape in my slate and also easy to braille on the plastic material.

It was a bit harder than brailling on paper, but not by much.

And I only goofed up on two words! 🙂

#Braille
#brailling
#Dymo
#labels

27/x

The trickiest bit was cutting the labels correctly to width and also so they would each align with their partner label below: Braille labels should always begin flush-left for each new line.

I ended up making a paper ruler with a long line of Braille cell dots along it, with the 1.5"
for cutting marked off, aligning this with the centreline of the middlemost possible character (character 3 out of 5).

After aligning this against the completed Dymo tape, I cut each with a utility knife.

28/x

To keep track of all the labels whilst still in-progress I taped them to a sheet of paper alongside their label names.

#labels
#accessibility
#tactility
#Braille

29/x