This temporary keyguard allows you to test the suitability of a keyguard for a Proloquo2Go user.  The keyguard uses the same design files as our regular keyguards, so you know it will fit the layout of the screen perfectly.  

Temporary keyguards are laser cut from 1/8" foam board, the same thickness as our standard keyguards, so you can see how the end user will deal with the size and depth of the openings.  The keyguards do not fit any particular case, and they're not intended as a permanent solution, so they don't come with any attachment method.  You attach them with a temporary means like tape or Blu-Tack.  Suction tape is an excellent, more reliable attachment. 

There are two styles from which to choose:

• Visible screen - The keyguard is slightly bigger than the visible portion of the screen.  It will fit loosely in 90% of iPad cases just the way it is.  If your case has a very small screen opening, like a GoNow or AMDI case, you can easily shave a hair off the edge with a razor knife to fit it.  
• Full iPad - Select this style if you can test the iPad out of the case.  The keyguard will be made to cover the iPad screen.  This makes it stronger and gives you much more room for mounting to the iPad.  

Proloquo2go allows you to select up to 12 rows and 12 columns. While we can make the keyguard with this configuration we do not recommend going over 8 rows and 10 columns due to the fact that anything more will make the buttons, and therefore the openings in the keyguard, very small.

App Settings and Options

This keyguard supports different designs based on user settings and preferences.  Each of these affects the positioning of items on the screen, and thus the design of the keyguard itself.  Your temporary keyguard will be truly custom-designed to match every one of the choices you make for the end user.

Rows and Columns - Specify the number of rows and columns in the Appearance: View: Default Grid Size Setting.  Note the Proloquo lists rows first, then columns.

Message Window Size - The message window size is controlled by a combination of the first two settings in the Appearance: Message Window section: Message Window Size and Toolbar Size.  As Toolbar Size increases, so does the message window size, so if you increase the toolbar size, you may want to decrease the message window size. If you've turned Show Message off, choose Message Window Size of None.  Otherwise, make it the same as the setting in the app.

Toolbar Size - From the Appearance: Toolbars section.  Important:  Never choose Small toolbar size without understanding the repercussions of your choice.  If you choose Small, we will have to compromise other openings to make room for the toolbar openings, and even with Medium we may have to combine the top toolbar openings with the message window.  The Toolbar Size setting controls the size of the top toolbar as well as the bottom, so Small messes up the keyguard at both ends!  Medium Toolbar Size sometimes makes for non-ideal keyguards, but Small makes for bad ones, every time.  Before you try cutting the toolbar size, please try cutting the message window size, instead.   For example, a Medium toolbar size with a Small message window size makes for a great keyguard.

Bottom Toolbar Items - This is not a direct setting, but determines how many openings we create on the bottom toolbar.  For example, the default is 5 items, but if you turn off editing, Proloquo removes the edit tool and leaves you with 4 items.  If you know the number of tools in the bottom toolbar will be changing, you can specify 1 toolbar item and write in the Special Instructions field to make the bottom toolbar one full width opening. Note that that's not preferred, because it doesn't help the user differentiate the items.  Choose 0 toolbar items to leave the entire bottom toolbar closed.

Bottom Toolbar Opening Shape - If you choose anything greater than 0 for the number of Bottom Toolbar Items, you can also specify the size and shape of the openings themselves.  Selecting Full Size makes the openings rectangular, the same size as the buttons on the screen, unless they have been compromised by your specifying the Toolbar Size to be Small or Medium.  Selecting 1/3" Circles will make the bottom toolbar openings so small it may require the use of a stylus, and will make them inaccessible to most users.  Select 1/4" Circles to make the openings so small it will probably require a pointed stylus to access them.

Upper Toolbar Openings - Proloquo2Go puts two buttons on the upper toolbar for navigating back from within folders.  The center button takes you back to the home page.  The button on the left takes you back one folder.  These buttons are normally open on the keyguard, but for users who do not navigate folders, you may choose to close them.  Warning:  If you don't leave at least one of these buttons open, you may not be able to navigate back to the home screen.

Button Spacing - This setting is found in Appearance: View: Advanced Options.   It controls the amount of white space between the cells.  Never choose Very Compact, because it will leave no space and the keyguard will obscure some of the text and/or graphics near the edges of the cells.  For the same reason, don't choose Compact on a smaller iPad, only on big ones.  Also, don't choose colored acrylic if the button spacing is Compact or Very Compact.  Loose and Very Loose allow for the easiest differentiation of the cells, but shouldn't be used on grids of more than 40 cells or so, because the openings start to get very small.

Scroll Bar - Older versions of Proloquo2Go required the user to swipe up and down to see all the cells in a large set.  If you still need that, choosing Open will tell us to place a vertical opening between two columns of cells where the user can swipe.  This makes the surrounding openings smaller and is not needed in recent versions unless you need to swipe to see all the cells.

Sharing/Cancel Button - At the right end of the upper toolbar, there's a sharing button that appears when you've set up the user to do social media.  In Search mode, there's a Cancel button that takes you back to the grid.  Choose Cancel if you want the wider opening for the Cancel button.  Choose Sharing if you want the narrower opening for the Sharing button.  If you want neither, choose the default Neither. 

Cell Openings - The default cell openings are rectangles with rounded corners, the same size as the cells. Elliptical openings are the same size as the cells.  If you choose square or circular openings, they will be centered in the cells, reduced to fit in the cell. The extra space helps the user differentiate between the cells, and allows a little place for fingers to rest. If you choose anything other than full-sized rectangles, do not choose a colored material, as some information in the cells will be covered by the keyguard.

Reduce Openings To - If you specify a maximum opening size, the dimensions of the grid cells will be reduced so they are no bigger than the maximum you specified.  If the cells would naturally be 1" wide and ".5" high, and you specified a maximum of  0.75", the cells would be reduced to 0.75" x 0.5".  Round or square openings are reduced in both dimensions to the specified size.  If the cells are already smaller than the specified size, nothing will change. 

Swipe to Home - Newer iPads don't have a home button for returning to the home screen, so they require the user to swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen to return to home.  If the user doesn't need access to the home screen, or if you're using a virtual home button, you can leave this closed for a much stronger and more esthetic keyguard.  If the user will need to swipe to return to the home screen, you can open this, but note that this leaves an ugly notch in the bottom edge of the keyguard.  The keyguard will be much weaker, and it may allow access to items on the bottom of the screen that would otherwise be unaccessible.

Special Instructions - Use this field to communicate any other information we need to know about the keyguard.