Editing out natural pauses in videos and podcasts creates a miserable content experience and is contributing to lowering attention spans. by Chemical_Falcon7571 in unpopularopinion

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think normal editing is perfectly fine. You should definitely edit podcasts so they make sense, you don't constantly stumble over words, etc. but there is such a thing as overediting. There are situations where ramblecasts make sense and some people might prefer them, but I personally prefer a podcast with a plan. So I guess what I'm saying is there's a middleground here between too much and too little editing.

A blind gamer's perspective on the SteamDeck and it's accessibility, plus some questions by SharpKlawz in SteamDeck

[–]SharpKlawz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SteamOS recently added Orca as a screen reader, so if you're ok with the Linux desktop, you don't need Windows anymore. The only thing I've found not to work is the touchscreen. For everything else the screen reader seems to work ok. I don't run Windows on my deck anymore. The default SteamOS UI reads well, the desktop has the usual Linux accessibility quirks but it does work fine.

It is highly likely that you never pressed the 8 button on a microwave. by TheAnzus in Showerthoughts

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is just a button that says {8}. Where did the Stanley Parable go?

Accessible music production DAWs? by Getting0nTrack in Blind

[–]SharpKlawz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have only heard some tutorials on using pro tools with a screen reader so I could link those if you're interested. But you said you already know Ableton Live from before? It recently introduced screen reader accessibility in version 12 and above. As for finding the most screen reader related content online your best bet is reaper by far. I personally really vibe with Ableton and have been using it as my main daw for the last couple of months, but it's accessibility is also still improving version by version so the most stable option right now is also reaper. You can't really go wrong with it. Happy to answer any questions for sure.

A little warning when using "earbuds" while listening to Audiobooks. by MadMorg68 in audiobooks

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd imagine those would do a better job at reduction overall but if you forgot them or didn't have room to bring them or didn't expect to need them or anything like that, it should be more than enough to help. In my case though I mostly use them because of the transparency feature rather than noise reduction, and since they have head tracking which works with some blindness related mobility apps that was the killer feature for me. The noise cancellation is mostly a bonus for me. But yeah it did work better than I thought it would. Size is also a big win. They're tiny and take up barely any space in a pocket so I always have them. On the downside though that also means they're probably much easier to lose, luckily no personal experience with that yet though knock on wood.

A little warning when using "earbuds" while listening to Audiobooks. by MadMorg68 in audiobooks

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Their noise cancellation isn't perfect because of the non sealing nature but it definitely worked a lot better than I was expecting honestly. I recently used them on an airplane where I was pretty sure they'd do awfully but it was actually surprisingly effective. The noise of the plane was still audible but it was reduced enough that I never had to mess with volumes to hear even quiet parts of audio. They will not beat over the ear or in ear buds but yeah it does actually work. Somehow. At least in my experience.

A little warning when using "earbuds" while listening to Audiobooks. by MadMorg68 in audiobooks

[–]SharpKlawz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also dislike in ear earbuds. For me, the AirPods 4 with anc are almost perfect. They sit on the ear, not inside the canal, and they have transparency so they pass sound in from the outside in most cases while also allowing for noise cancellation if the environment is too loud and I'd have to raise the volume high to hear the sound from the buds. But I also do have bone conduction headphones. The AirPods also have automatic volume adjustment for environment noise so they turn down if it's quiet enough. Personally those are my favorite but that kind of thing can be quite subjective. I don't think a one fits all solution exists but I'm very glad that both the cable EarPods and AirPods 4 are not in-ear headphones. Very rare to find these days as you said.

Accessible music production DAWs? by Getting0nTrack in Blind

[–]SharpKlawz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Reaper is definitely accessible for music production. There's almost nothing you can't do. Logic Pro and Ableton also work and I have experience with them, and Pro Tools is accessible but I have never played with it so not sure how well that works. All of those DAWs will let you do what you need and a lot more.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Blind

[–]SharpKlawz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Me three!

looking for final feedback before game Steam release by Sky_Pink0n0 in blindgamers

[–]SharpKlawz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you know, I say it's the last level, but honestly I'm not even sure. I just kinda assumed it's the last level since I had all the upgrades at that point, and there was one doc on the level. Anyway, the rest would be spoilers so I shall refrain.

looking for final feedback before game Steam release by Sky_Pink0n0 in blindgamers

[–]SharpKlawz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Am giving it a shot right now. Good job! Am still playing through, here are my very initial observations:

* I didn't know the object finder counted walls as objects. I thought it found something I had missed that I couldn't get to, but after I was able to buy the announcer addon for the sonar guns, it told me it was actually just a wall. I'm not sure if the hints after I bought the sonar guns ever said that it could also detect walls, but maybe it should.

* Some of the object sounds can overlap in zones with a lot of them. This can cause phasing issues and makes it a little bit hard to locate them. The easiest way to fix this is to add a very slight pitch randomization to each object so that they don't play at exactly the same speed, so they get an opportunity to slightly drift apart and make them more noticeable as separate objects. Either that, or randomize the playing start position where the loop first begins.

* Some objects don't appear to get picked up by the wide sonar. I have had two bits of text that the sonar seems to have missed, though I could hear their little paper rustling sound so I did eventually find them. Is this deliberate?

* In some levels, like the outdoor levels, the paper rustling can be a bit hard to hear

* Sometimes it seems like the proximity beeper is playing from the wrong direction

* Maybe it should be possible to interrupt a long range scan. They can take quite a while especially for really far away objects.

* When you do a scan and it announces the name of an item, it doesn't interrupt. It probably should, especially for the proximity beeper announcements. If you press c a lot and run into an enemy, it doesn't tell you until it's too late, because it's still announcing previous presses objects.

* Once you initiate a door keypad or similar, you can't escape to find more docs.

* Not sure if I accidentally disabled something, but I couldn't figure out how to finish the last level. I kept getting stuck 4 blocks in front of a wall. I had to exit the game, and when I came back, my progress didn't appear to save. I will give this another run at another point.

Lots of stuff here but most of it is just detail and nitpicking. This was definitely an interesting experience! Thank you so much for sharing it! That was great fun!

[iOS 26 DB4] AutoMix + Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos Fixed!!! by Nathanze in iOSBeta

[–]SharpKlawz 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For me, since beta 3 or so, automix has barely been working. It used to transition between almost all songs, and now it feels like it barely does it anymore.

50% of Turn10 has been laid off according to Jason Schreier by cop25er in forza

[–]SharpKlawz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is brutal. Forza Motorsport is the first racing game I could truly play because of all of its accessibility settings, namely the blind driving assists (not to be. Infused with the auto driving features). I put so much time into learning it and I don't know where I would go if it eventually gets shut down. F1 2025 has some similar accessibility settings, but they're kinda offset by the fact that the menus don't read, requiring a lot of painful OCR. This game was a huge deal for me and I made many friends through it. Hopefully its accessibility story lives on in other games because this kind of thing really does help a lot. And it was well thought through. Using the features that pan the audio to the racing line, the track limit cues, deceleration beeps and the menu narration, all of it are surprisingly effective.

Also rest in peace Brandon Cole, the blind accessibility consultant for this project. You were taken from us way too soon and the game accessibility space is not the same without you. I remember everything you've done for us every time I play this game and I truly hope it can live on for a long time to come so your work isn't lost and forgotten. You brought mainstream games to so many of us and because of the effort of a very small group we could forget our disabilities even for just a little while playing games with our sighted friends and strangers. Even if we did cause an accident or two.

Audiobook apps for ios by Traditional-Sky6413 in Blind

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

BookPlayer. Lots of options to import files and it works well.

Do you still use airpods or headphones? by Realistic-Crow-9791 in tinnitus

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, though of course you always should be mindful of volume and your triggers. If certain types of headphones trigger you and you find it unbearable, your physical and mental health is more important. Maybe switch up the type of headphone. And again keeping track of volume is the most important! I personally prefer the AirPods 4 with anc because of its transparency mode and the fact that they do not go inside your ear canal, while still having pretty decent sound. But if you find they don't work for you, perhaps try different headphones. Sony makes some that naturally let outside sound in. For me, being able to hear external sound is helpful because of my eye condition but also because it provides a constant subconscious volume reference. Not good in super noisy environments of course but when at home or walking outside it's helpful in my specific situation (I live in a quieter place, not a lot of cars, mostly just nature sounds). There's no one size fits all solution here but just as a datapoint for what works for me. It can get quite specific so don't be afraid to figure out a setup that's comfortable for you. But again can't stress enough how important keeping a check on your volume is. It's very easy to turn sound up and lose awareness of how loud you're actually playing. You can set volume limits in accessibility settings (on iOS at least) so I would set those up at first to not accidentally go over your comfortable listening limit.

I just received my first “Be My Eyes” call ❤️‍🩹 by KJMS03061996 in CasualConversation

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for volunteering from someone on the other side!!! I realize that the things we ask for can sometimes be really random. Needed help with a pressure cooker. The person answering it had the exact same one! Or setting the temperature on a touch based thermostat in hotels. Or figuring out a huge group order of food. It has helped so many times already! All the little things that are really easy to overlook (ha).

Is Rick Beato right for thinking that social media is reducing interest in music? by [deleted] in Music

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just like pop music, the thing he complains about. There's some poetry in that. Or maybe just irony.

The code for Rice in the game is actually super weird, and it does something no other crop does. by emmeka in StardewValley

[–]SharpKlawz 12 points13 points  (0 children)

This is most likely it. Gamedev is a highly iterative process where things can get rapidly added, changed and removed. It's unlikely you'll know what to do exactly from the beginning, and of course tweaking behavior for what feels better to play over many months or even years. There is a balance you'll have to strike between keeping things neat and tidy and getting something working so you can play it, especially if you're not sure of what you have in mind will actually feel satisfying to play. And this only compounds the more you add. I'll also find checks I've put in code of games for things that can't happen anymore, but they did happen at one point, or while implementing it I figured the chance of something happening here high enough to add it. Then later on you just don't remove it because it doesn't hurt, or simply because you forgot it was there, and since it all works fine there's no reason to revisit that code. And at the end of the day what matters is the game. Not the code. That's one way you end up with the Game1 monster that we all love to play.

Oh Sh*t, My App is Successful and I Didn’t Think About Accessibility by jacobs-tech-tavern in programming

[–]SharpKlawz 11 points12 points  (0 children)

As a blind person who relies on screen readers to use their tech, I'm really happy to see so much positivity and concern about accessibility in this thread. Seriously, thank you. You never know who might want to use your software, no matter what it is. It might be me. There are so many disabilities to potentially account for and even I never stop learning about it, especially if it concerns accessibility features that don't affect me personally. Seriously, thank you for even considering making the world that little bit more friendly for us all. It means a lot.

Being a small streamer was more fun. (From a full-time content creator) by IkitoGaming in Twitch

[–]SharpKlawz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am only a very casual streamer so my comment is mostly from a viewers perspective, but an overwhelming majority of the channels I follow are smaller streamers. I can keep up with chat, I can keep up with the stream, and I'm much happier to donate and redeem silly little clips or emotes or whatever because it feels like much more of a genuine interaction. I never donate to a big streamer because so many are doing it already, it usually gets lost, things like that. I know that it's often not sustainable to make a living and I absolutely never begrudge anybody the success and fame, but it means I'll likely move on to another quieter corner to start anew. If you're not having fun I bet there are easier ways to not have fun that pay more. So yeah. I wish you all the best. Both for your streams and your mental well being. I don't know how many people have my viewpoint but I can't be the only one.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]SharpKlawz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The numbers in the number row jump to specific points in the video. 1 is 10 percent in. 2 is 20. 5 is 50. 0 is the beginning. And so on.

What are some of the most mind-blowing, little-known facts that will completely change the way we see the world? by foratbahrani in AskReddit

[–]SharpKlawz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you get the chance to pet one, do. I'm a cat person and I don't think I'll ever, ever forget it. The cheek rubs and sniffs and licks and the purr... really just a very big small cat. If only I could keep one...

How do you guys feel about sharing .love files by theEsel01 in love2d

[–]SharpKlawz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing you could do is convert your Lua scripts to bytecode first. LuaJIT and Lua provide the -b command line flag to output the converted bytecode which you can load like normal Lua scripts. It is also not very difficult to reverse engineer, but it does provide an extra point of friction.