The problem isn't with blindsoftware, it's with the development tools
available for the mac. There are several of us who have dug into
programming on the mac. Unfortunately, the tools aren't very
accessible, and making programs that are very mac-like in appearance
requires use of those tools. When apple makes XTools accessible,
then you will see more blind developers working to bring you mac
applications. The only way to do it now with 100% accessible tools
is either to use terminal applications, or to use the pascal GPC
plugin for XTools. The C and C++ programming tools can't be used by
blind developers to do anything resembling a standard mac
application. Using the pascal plugin allows creating apps that are
very mac-like, but everything needs to be hand-coded from scratch,
including buttons menus, and display areas. It's relatively easy
when compared to the tools we have to work with when trying to write
C or C++ apps, but having to code everything from scratch isn't
exactly a time-saver, not to mention the need to dig *very* deep to
find the information needed to make standard calls that are done with
a click of a mouse in the C or C++ tools. It all adds up to sighted
folks doing the development, and those generally aren't going to
spend their time making games for blind folks. I've got several
projects in the works, though at the moment, only one or two are
actual games, but progress is slow on most of them, because of the
need to work around the access limitations imposed by the
inaccessible tools we have to work with. Give it time. More folks
will come to the mac, and as they do, more developers will as well.
Given enough time, folks will find other means of developing that
don't require the standard apple tools, (like the gpc plugins) and
then you'll start to see new games and additional programs appear.
Be patient, this is still new, and those of us who are tackling it
now have to learn it largely on our own, since there's nowhere we can
go to ask for help on how to do this or that using accessible tools.
The windows community has had more than 10 years to get where it is
now, and only in the last couple years have we seen the explosion of
developers of accessible games. Give the mac more time, I have no
doubt that it will eventually meet and even surpass the pc for it's
share of accessible software including games.
On Feb 20, 2006, at 10:28 PM, Rafael Bejarano wrote:
Hello,
Has anyone on this list heard of blindsoftware.com? It is owned and
operated by a blind programmer, whose mission is to develop Windows
applications accessible by the blind. As blindsoftware.com welcomes
suggestions for future releases, I strongly urge the subscribers to
this list to contact this company, to suggest that it may be
financially prudent on their part to develop software compatible
with Tiger and VoiceOver.
I can think of three reasons why blindsoftware.com might wish to
consider doing this. First, Macvisionaries.com has a record of 91
blind computer users who have switched to Tiger and VoiceOver, many
of whom are in need of accessible applications. Second, apple has a
strong presence in education, which, because of equal-access laws,
means that blindsoftware.com has an untapped market. Finally,
critical applications compatible with Tiger and VoiceOver--namely,
spreadsheet and word processing applications--have yet to be released.
I think that, if enough people wrote to blindsoftware.com informing
them of the need for more applications accessible to blind Mac
users, they might respond.
Cordially,
Rafael Bejarano
