We use an ipad to track the weaving treadle patterns using iWeave It! After many days of tired arms from reaching up to tap on the ipad to advance the treadle tracker, we decided that a solution was needed. We were sure there was a way to tell the ipad to “tap” without actually touching the screen
How do people who cannot tap an ipad tap?
We looked into sticks that could be attached to your head – too difficult to use and might mess up our hairdo! Then we looked into a mouth stick – that might not be good for the teeth and well, teeth are expensive to fix. Then we considered an elbow switch! Yeah! That could work while we’re weaving!
Which Switch is the Best Switch?
It doesn’t take much research to learn that switches that work with an ipad are EXPENSIVE! No really…EXPENSIVE! Our wallet started shaking from fear! That’s when we had to get more creative. Further research showed that a “switch” didn’t just mean a “big button”. A keyboard can be a switch, a page turning device can be a switch. And both keyboards and page turners are relatively cheap, compared to switches.
Ooohhh…then we remembered that little portable keyboard that is barely bigger than a hand. It was only $12 from Amazon, but in this case we already owned it (does that make it “free”???!).
How do We Make the Switch Control the iPad?
The ipad has “accessibility” features that use switches to help control the ipad. We used these accessibility features to configure the ipad so that when we click on the space bar of the little keyboard, it will “tap” on the ipad.
The video below will show you exactly how we did it: