SwitchXS™ 2.2

(Switch Scanning Access for Macintosh running OS X)

Full mouse and keyboard emulation
Works seamlessly with all standard Mac OS and Mac OS X applications
Automatic Menu Scanning
Audio and Speech Cueing
SmartTransparency to hide keyboard when not in use
Handles command-key and modifier key combinations, and dead-keys
Multiple resizable scan panels
Programmable scan speed and cycling, and mouse speed
Works with a wide range of input devices
Support for mixing switch and mouse input
Use with One or More Switches
Enhanced Game Compatibility Special Game Scan Panel
Includes LayoutKitchen™ a Graphical Panel Editor

SwitchXS™ provides virtually complete access to Mac OS X and all standard Mac applications for people who can only use one or more switches. It offers full mouse and keyboard emulation by what is known as switch scanning.

SwitchXS uses both the Auto-Stepping and Auto-Selecting scan methods.

<>pWhen Auto-Stepping with a single switch SwitchXS automatically highlights the next line, group or button at the scan speed rate. The switch is used to select the line, group or button as SwitchXS scans.

Auto-Selecting with a single switch is where each click of the switch is used to scan or move between lines, groups or buttons. If the line group or button is highlighted longer than the scan period it is selected by SwitchXS.

There are several methods for using multiple switches, but one example is to use one switch to move the highlight between lines, groups or buttons and the second to select.

A single switch Auto-Stepping example uses a single adaptive switch to begin scanning the keyboard and in turn each row of keys is highlighted. Select a row by clicking the switch when that row of keys is highlighted. Then each button in that row is highlighted in sequence. When the button of interest is highlighted click the switch and the function of that button is executed. For example, if a letter button is selected, such as "B" that letter is sent to the active application. If one of the mouse emulation buttons is selected, such as "mouse pointer up" the pointer begins moving up. Click the switch again and the mouse pointer stops.

Click here for a simple animation showing SwitchXS in action. The animation shows how SwitchXS can be used with the PolyPredix prediction utility to greatly improve text entry speed.

SwitchXS provides a number of predefined scanning panels for moving the cursor, clicking and typing in all standard Mac applications and even playing games. A scanning panel can be thought of as a keyboard with additional buttons for mouse emulation, menu scanning and managing the scanning process. SwitchXS also has audio-cueing, speech-cueing, adjustable mouse speed, adjustable scanning speed and cycling, key repeat and keyboard transparency. SmartTransparency(TM) makes the scanning panel partially or fully transparent when not scanning and makes it possible to see “under” the keyboard between scans.

With this version of SwitchXS a new graphical panel layout editor known as LayoutKitchen is being introduced. Custom panels can be built using this utility for entering text, opening documents, generating keyboard shortcuts, speaking, launching applications and more.

An example of a special scan panel made with LayoutKitchen for controlling iTunes is shown below.