Thank you for the very cool math app
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 19:10
I love PI^3! I am saving up for an 8g ipod touch and this will be one of my first apps for it.
Btw, as a disabled user, will you take advantage of some of the accessibility features in 3.0 update? How does it support landscape mode?
And, please, I would love to be a beta tester for the desktop version. Your GUI allows me to do very little typing which is a very helpful thing for me. I want to be part of the solution for other disabled math loving folks ;-) I have many suggestions for Pi^3! Keep up the hard but cool work!
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 19:13
#2
Brad,
Thank you for being open to accessibility stuff for mobile and desktop apps.
I like to solve GUI accessibility puzzles so everyone benefits. :-)
The key for me is rapid input via point/click&drag/drop. For me, working smart is better than working hard with a computer. GUI is everything for me.
One of the first things I did when I was given Mathematica Home Edition for my 50th was to make a palette that gave me full and quick access to all 2500 functions; so I rarely have to type much now. Frankly, MMa Gui is still stuck in late 90s; besides they are trying to be too many things for one app. You have striven for clarity not confusion.
You have shown a better way. I suspect more from you is coming too. ;-) Keep it up!
And thank you for considering me for beta testing.
The application currently runs only in landscape mode (it just forces the device into it, no matter the rotation), but will rotate to orient itself to whichever way you hold the device (with the home button on the left or right).
I honestly hadn't thought of the iPhone / iPod touch being that accessible a device, due to the lack of tactile response, but a number of developers were talking about implementing the new accessibility features while at WWDC. I'll take a look and see what can be done.
I can see how many of the usability issues that I focused on could also improve accessibility, such as pinch-zooming to enlarge features and the higher contrast I try to maintain with the equation layout. For the desktop application, I had planned on providing the keyboard as an alternative input to the more graphical input technique on the iPhone, but the two input methods would be interchangeable. If the current means of input works best for you, then you'll be able to use that on the desktop. For those more comfortable with entering in things quickly via the keyboard, that will also be possible.
I'm hoping to start beta testing the desktop application sometime this fall, but I'm working on some of the larger interface issues. I'll let you know when I start the tests.