Hello,
I had no idea that programming on Mac OS 10 was so difficult for
blind programmers. I have been considering learning JAVA on the Mac.
Do you know whether this language is accessible by blind programmers?
Rafael Bejarano
On Feb 21, 2006, at 10:08 PM, Travis Siegel wrote:
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
