Sensory Boards User Guide

1. Overview

Sensory Boards is a web-based AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) board builder that puts powerful communication tools in your browser. Design boards with over 2,000 built-in symbols, import and export using the open OBF/OBZ standard, run boards with the PiCom communicator for real-time speech output, and print or share your creations — all without installing any software.

2. Home Screen

The home screen is the starting point of Sensory Boards. It presents four action cards and a settings button.

3. Settings

The Settings panel lets you configure default values that apply to every new board you create, manage symbol libraries, and toggle advanced features.

Language

Choose the interface and speech language. This affects text-to-speech output in PiCom and the symbol search language.

Default Grid Size

Set the default number of columns and rows for new boards. The default is 4 × 4. You can always change the size of individual boards later.

Default Colours

• Board Background — the colour behind the entire grid.
• Cell Background — the default fill colour for each cell.
• Text Background — the colour behind the label text within each cell.

Default Font

Configure the default font family, size, style (normal, bold, italic), and position (top or bottom of the cell) for labels.

Symbol & Annotation Libraries

Load custom symbol or annotation packs by selecting a .zip file. After loading, the settings panel shows the number of symbols or annotations available in the library.

Communicator

A checkbox that enables the Run card on the home screen and the Run Board buttons throughout the app. When disabled, the PiCom communicator features are hidden.

4. Creating a New Board

Follow these steps to create a new board from scratch.

1. Click the New Board card on the home screen.
2. Enter a name for your board. Board names must be unique — if the name is already taken you will be asked to choose another.
3. Set the grid size by adjusting the number of columns and rows using the + and − buttons.
4. Click Create to open the board in the editor.

5. Opening & Loading Boards

The Open Board screen displays all your saved boards as cards. Each card shows a thumbnail preview, the board name, and its grid dimensions.

Each card has two action buttons:

• Edit Board — opens the board in the full editor.
• Run Board — builds the board and sends it to PiCom for communication use (visible only when Communicator is enabled).

In the top-right corner of this screen you will find the Load OBF/OBZ button for importing boards from files. See the Importing OBF/OBZ section for details.

6. Importing OBF / OBZ

Sensory Boards supports the Open Board Format standard for importing boards created in other AAC applications.

File Formats

• .obf — a single board in JSON format.
• .obz — a board set packaged as a ZIP archive, containing one or more .obf files along with their associated images.

How to Import

1. Go to Open Board from the home screen.
2. Click the Load OBF/OBZ button in the top-right corner.
3. Select an .obf or .obz file from your device.
4. If the file contains images hosted at external URLs, a progress bar will appear while those images are downloaded and embedded.
5. Once import is complete the board (or boards) will appear in your board list.

7. Board Editor

The Board Editor is where you design your communication board. It is divided into three areas.

8. Adding Symbols

The Add Symbol panel in the top-right of the editor provides four ways to find and add images to a cell.

Searching

Type a keyword into the search bar. The search engine uses synonym matching, so searching for "happy" will also find symbols tagged with "glad", "pleased", and other related words.

Symbol Sources

Four tabs provide different sources for symbols:

Adding a Symbol to a Cell

1. Select a cell in the board grid by clicking on it.
2. In the Add Symbol panel, search for a keyword or browse a source tab.
3. Click on a symbol thumbnail to add it to the selected cell.

9. Cell Editor

The Cell Editor panel in the bottom-right lets you fine-tune every aspect of the selected cell.

10. Editor Toolbar

The blue toolbar across the top of the editor provides quick access to common actions.

11. Exporting

Export your boards in the Open Board Format so they can be backed up, shared, or used in other AAC applications.

Export Options

1. Click the Export button in the editor toolbar (or from the Manage screen).
2. Choose Export as OBF or Export as OBZ.
3. A progress bar will appear while images are prepared and packaged.
4. The file will download automatically when ready.

12. Managing Boards

The Manage screen provides a complete set of tools for organising your board collection.

Each board card offers the following actions:

13. Running in PiCom

PiCom is the built-in communicator that turns your boards into an interactive, speech-enabled communication tool.

Enable the Communicator

Before you can run boards, you must enable the Communicator feature in Settings by checking the Communicator checkbox. This reveals the Run card on the home screen and Run Board buttons throughout the app.

Two Ways to Run

PiCom Start Screen Settings

Using PiCom

1. Configure your settings on the start screen.
2. Tap the green arrow button to start the communicator.
3. Tap any symbol on the board to hear it spoken aloud.

14. Board Sets

Board sets are collections of linked boards packaged together in an OBZ file. They allow multi-page communication layouts where tapping a cell can navigate to a different board.

How Board Sets Work

• An OBZ file can contain multiple boards, each with its own grid and symbols.
• Cells can be configured as linked cells that navigate to another board in the set when tapped.
• This enables multi-page layouts — for example, a home board with category cells that each open a topic-specific board.
• Board-to-board navigation works seamlessly in PiCom.

15. Tips & Shortcuts

General Tips

• Auto-save — Your boards are saved automatically as you edit. No need to manually save.
• Undo / Redo — Use the toolbar buttons to step backward and forward through your changes.
• Synonym search — The symbol search understands synonyms. Try different words if your first search doesn't find what you need.
• Export for backup — Regularly export your boards as OBZ files. Browser storage can be cleared unexpectedly, so backups are important.

Board Design Best Practices

• Colour coding — Use consistent cell background colours to group words by category (e.g., green for verbs, yellow for nouns, pink for descriptors). This helps users find words faster.
• Core vocabulary placement — Place the most frequently used words in prominent, easy-to-reach positions on the board. Core words like "I", "want", "go", "help", and "more" should be immediately accessible.
• Consistent layout — Keep navigation and frequently used cells in the same position across boards so users can build muscle memory.
• Appropriate grid size — Start with fewer cells for beginners and increase complexity as the user becomes comfortable.

Troubleshooting