Hi James,
Actually, Cocoa and Objective-C is a great way to start. Objective-C
is powerful but it can definitely be a starter language as it is a
relatively small language (and without all of the "baggage" you find
with C (thou you can still dip into C when you need it)). Actually,
since Inform syntax is similar to C syntax you're certainly not a
complete beginner in programming or in C! There are a number of good
Cocoa and Objective-C references/introductions (available from Amazon
and other booksellers) and the Apple documentation and tutorials are
not too shabby either. Not shabby at all. Plenty of really good stuff
at O'Reilly's MacDevCenter as well: http://www.macdevcenter.com/.
A katieplayer update to be released this month has been tested (and
improved to ensure it properly works) with a broader range of DAISY
content than previous versions (including some "difficult" content
which chokes the popularly available DAISY hardware and software
players). To date, we've not had opportunity to test with RNIB
content (strike that: we've done some testing with a single, partial
book). However, there is a very good chance that the update, when
released this month, will work fine with the RNIB content (I'd like
to say I'm *sure* it will...but I know better). The katieplayer
update will appear first as a "build" (available only to katieplayer
registered users) then as public Trial and Full versions once we've
determined that the nobody is having any problems with the build.
When the Trial version has been updated you'll be able to try
katieplayer with RNIB content without risking a purchase. We'd like
to know how you make out.
Side note: the August update to katieplayer is likely the last
significant update before the Cocoa version (but no release date for
the Cocoa version yet).
Joe
On Aug 10, 2006, at 2:05 PM, James Austin wrote:
Hi Joe,
Thanks for clarfying. My mistake. I would be very interested in
developing applications - unfortunately the extent of my
programming is html and inform which is a language used to create
text adventures.
Out of interest, does KD player support Daisy books from RNIB here
in the UK?
Best Wishes
James
Feel fre to ad me to your Skype or MSN
MSN - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Skype - saulky1984
On 10 Aug 2006, at 16:47, Kafka's Daytime wrote:
On Aug 10, 2006, at 11:15 AM, James Austin wrote:
but I read nothing of application support etc.
Hi James,
What do you mean by "application support" specifically? Keep in
mind that Apple has standardized application accessibility for Mac
OS X...so work to ensure application accessibility/compatibility
with VoiceOver falls squarely in the laps of application developers
(including Apple's internally-developed apps viz. iTunes,
GarageBand, Pages, etc. which need accessibility improvements).
Generally speaking, if an app doesn't work properly with VoiceOver,
it means that the developer of the app hasn't updated the app to
meet the published accessibility standards and this is not really a
problem with VoiceOver. For katieplayer, this means a complete
redesign/rewrite in Cocoa (http://developer.apple.com/cocoa/) -
which we're working on now. For us, any gritting-of-teeth
associated with the Cocoa rewrite (which, frankly, needed to be
done anyway) is offset by Apple's making it so "easy" to build
accessible apps (compatible with VoiceOver) when developing in the
Mac OS X-native Cocoa framework. It's certainly not so on Windows,
with closed, "bolted on" screen reading systems (read: expensive to
develop for), lack of standardization, etc. It's, perhaps, easy to
miss the point (particularly if not positioned on the developer
side of things) that VoiceOver is revolutionary for being
integrated into the operating system and native development framework.
My $0.02,
Joe
