The Daydream Blog

In a recent post, Martin Pilkington of M Cubed Software challenged Mac developers to make their apps accessible by the end of 2009. I think this is an excellent suggestion and I will take up the challenge for Differencia.

In Martin’s post and the comments there are some links to great resources to get going with accessibility:

Apple’s Accessibility Developer Page.

Assistive Technology for the Mac Resources

Assistive Ware Videos

At WWDC ‘06 I went to the Accessibility session and it was the best Hands-On sesssion I’ve been to at WWDC. The 2006 Session video does not seem to be available any more, but the 2008 session can be found from the link below. It requires access to ADC on iTunes, you may need to log into ADC on iTunes first, or simply look for session 326.

WWDC ‘08 – Session 326 – Application Accessibility

The 2006 session had an excellent sample application, Dicey, that takes you through stages of increased accessibility. It can be found here:

Dicey Sample Code

However I would like to extend Martin’s challenge. Most independent Mac software developers sell their products exclusively via the web. Therefore for their software to be fully accessible, Mac developers need to make their websites accessible as well.

Information on this can be found at W3C, the web’s standards body, and elsewhere:

W3C’s Accesibility Initiative

Dive Into Accessibility Guide

I would call on all Mac developers to take up the Mac Accessibility Challenge.

I’ve made some update to the website, hopefully making it more useful for existing and potential customers.

• The Differencia application help is now also available online
• The screen shot gallery has been revised to take you through the work flow for using Differencia to diff / compare files
• There is a new Use Cases page giving examples of what Differencia can be used for
• Also added a Release Notes page. There is also a new blog category, specifically for release notes.
• There are also some cosmetic changes. For example, the gallery’s lightbox is now easier to navigate and better matches the overall website design.

Please feel free to explore the updated website and let me have any feedback for making the site more useful.

I believe that Differencia is a truly unique diff tool for the Mac, and want to make its home on the web equally useful for its users.