

Browse the web Hands Free (Chrome extension) - aerovistae
http://www.handsfreechrome.com/
This is the initial release. While it&#x27;s not perfect, it works pretty damn well. I&#x27;m hoping this will be transformative for people with injured&#x2F;missing hands or disorders and conditions such as Parkinson&#x27;s or severe essential tremor.<p>For the rest of us, it&#x27;s just fun. Once you get used to it, it&#x27;s very comfortable as opposed to using a mouse&#x2F;keyboard.<p>The main problem relates to the &quot;map&quot; command, which you&#x27;ll quickly learn about once you try it out. It&#x27;s a tricky problem, painting numbers next to all the clickable, visible items. What&#x27;s clickable? What&#x27;s visible? It&#x27;s especially hard because some of the most popular pages (gmail, facebook) don&#x27;t use standard input elements but rather heavily JS&#x27;ed divs that act like inputs.<p>(I know the website looks like it&#x27;s from the 90s. Spare me.)
======
aerovistae
This is an initial release. It's not perfect, but it works pretty damn well. I
know the website looks like it's from circa 2002, spare me.

The main issue relates to the map command, which you'll quickly discover if
you try the extension out.

How do you tell which elements on a page are clickable? How do you tell which
elements on a page are truly visible? It's a bit tricky. Right now I default
to buttons, inputs, anchors, spans, lis, textareas, and one or two others, and
check for display:none, visibility:hidden, hidden parent elements, opacity:0,
and overlapping positions, and maybe something else.

But it's especially hard with major websites like gmail and facebook that use
heavily JS'ed divs instead of inputs. Still haven't found a solid solution to
that one.

------
chrramirez
I love when they say "Hands Free permits easy browsing while eating or
multitasking, finally bringing an end to the dark era in which a comfortable
individual would __have to physically move __in order to click, scroll, or
type. ", like if our sedentaries lives where not sedentary enough already.

------
PauloManrique
The microphone input window keeps asking me for permission to use my
microphone. I click on Allow, but it keeps asking.

~~~
aerovistae
You mean repeatedly, immediately after accepting? As in, it never lets you
have access to the mic?

------
blablabla123
Of course it's primarily intended for browsing the web while eating or doing
other serious stuff

------
infoseckid
Would be really fun to watch this go in a crowded area where there are other
voices :)

------
jawerty
I love playing with this. Thanks for building it.

------
EGreg
Something like this would be great for mobile

Apple should include OpenEars as part of iOS to have an advantage for all iOS
8 apps

------
Dewie
> For the average user, Hands Free permits easy browsing while eating or
> multitasking,

How can you eat and utter voice commands at the same time?

~~~
runaway
I think the point is that your hands may get greasy or have food bits on them
and you can still browse without getting your keyboard dirty.

~~~
reddit_clone
Spraying out food particles and spit all over the keyboard and monitor is ok
then! :)

