forum SignWriting List Forum
  Message 774  |  Previous | Next  [ Up Thread ] Message Index
From:  Valerie Sutton
Date:  Wed Dec 30, 1998  2:48 pm
Subject:  Re: SignWriter 5.0


Wed, 23 Dec 1998, Trevor Jenkins wrote:

>I can touch-type and hate taking my hands off the "home position" to press
>other keys or move a mouse. I hope that SW5 will have keyboard shortcuts for
>*every* menu option or mouse event. There are some parts of Microsoft Windows
>that are inaccessible without a mouse. With all the advanced features of
>Microsoft Word I long for the original Wordstar for its keyboard layout.

>I also hope that the interface will be Windows like on MS-DOS machines and Mac
>like on Apple machines. It would be nice if it were X like too---as SW5 is
>supposed to be written in Java there is no reason why it should not work on my
>Linux workstation. Some of the User Interface conventions of Windows are
>unacceptable to a Mac user (and vice versa).
_____________________________

December 30, 1998

Hello Trevor!
Thanks for this message. Yes...we type using the "home position" in both
SignWriter 4.3 and SignWriter 5.0. In regards to SignWriter 5.0...yes...we
are developing ways to use keystrokes instead of the mouse too, so I don't
think there will be any problem there.

As far as the interface goes - you are correct that the Mac and Windows do
act and look different, and it would be great to have a different kind of
interface for the two java versions. That will be a good goal. And yes, a
java program should work on a Linux workstation, but there may be some
"tweaking to do". Perhaps you can help us with that?

In regards to SignWriter 5.0 development, right now we are not at the
"feature stage". We are doing more internal work, that is necessary for the
future, such as improving the symbol set, and improving the ID# system for
the Sign-Symbol-Sequence, so that we can sort by SW symbol in future
dictionaries.

Anyone new to the SignWriting List must think we do nothing but talk about
computer software, but actually there is much more to SignWriting than
typing it! We write by hand too - ha!

Let us hope that a lot of these "computer software issues" will be resolved
in 1999!

Best -


Valerie :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valerie Sutton at the DAC
Deaf Action Committee for SW

SignWriting

https://www.SignWriting.org

Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Message 774  |  Previous | Next  [ Up Thread ] Message Index