[blindza] bzPersonalAssistant - possible bits of 'beta' testing..?
- From: "Jacob Kruger" <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "NAPSA Blind" <blind@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:34:13 +0200
Not really important, but, like mentioned a little while ago, started putting
together a form of smallish personal assistant software package for windows
users, and think it's roundabout ready to at least let people try it out a bit,
give me suggestions, let me know if there are issues/problems that crop/pop up,
etc.
Sort of a trade-off in that sense in that if you want to play around with this,
please let me know if you think anything could/should be changed, added in, etc.
Part of the specific accessibility related approach with regards to this is
also that aside from trying to work with an interface that should/would work
for fully sighted guys as well - and that's sort of a new field for me in terms
of software development - this app should also make use of some spoken prompts,
using either your screen reader's spoken output, or even the MS SAPI voices,
and will, for example, on the change of the hour announce the time using voice
clips generated currently using the scansoft/realSpeak Lee synthesized voice,
and if you hit ctrl + T in the app at any time, it will also announce the
current time to you in the same way.
Now, part of possible issue with this is that since have been focusing on
website development for years, something have had minimal experience with
regards to is actually making 100% sure that something like an installable
software package is 100% compatible with all different operating systems,
different configurations, etc. etc., but, think have gotten that side of it
mostly sorted out for now.
Anyway, what it currently includes/offers is a simple audio note recording
section, which will just use your system's default audio input/recording
channel as such - have tested it with my machines set to microphone etc. mostly
- and will let you categorise and label notes, start and stop recording, play
recorded clips back to you, etc. and if you want to, then let you browse to the
actual generated audio clip file to do something else with it thereafter, but,
while will at some stage implement something like a call to an audio encoder to
convert these clips to something like MP3, they are thus far just standard
microsoft format .wav sound clips, and suppose, aside from recording actual
audio notes, you could also use this on a laptop for recording something like a
meeting, etc.
Secondly, it has a section for a calendar - need to make one or two small bug
fixes in this just now - but, that really just, thus far lets you decide which
month you want to look at/browse, add/edit/remove entries, etc., and will also,
shortly be adding in something like popup/spoken alarm notifications, etc.,
but, that's also part of the type of suggestion might want about interface/use
thereof, etc.
Then, it has a form of address book/contacts section, which really just lets
you add in records for things like name, address, phone numbers, e-mail
address, and a description field, which it will then make use of to look for
keywords later on, if you want to search for a contact, and it also lets you
categorise contacts as well - work, private, bluc/society, etc.?
It then has a links section, for website/internet links, and these can also
sort of be categoriesed, search, have the default piece of software for their
type/protocol brought up - not sure how well that would work for all types,
but, it's there, and also lets you categorise them, search for different ones,
etc.
Lastly, there's the text notes section, where you can also add, remove and edit
categories, and then add in plain text notes under them, which can be
edited/viewed later on again, can be searched for etc. - maybe you could do
something like have a category for recipes, and then do a search for an
ingredient later on..?
And, those are all that it currently offers, but, plan to implement things like
recurring alarms/wake-up calls, once-off reminders, calendar event
notifications, with possible varying notification advance times, possible bits
of eBook reading/listening functionality, including bookmarking, and most
likely one or two smaller, less serious aspects, or small bits of fun, etc.,
but, again, first need to make sure that have managed to work around all/any
possible issues relating to interface implementation, end-user configuration
compatibility, and, yes, do still need to get a sighted person or two to have a
look at this for me, and make sure it's all rendering/displaying properly,
since have thus far just tested it a bit with jaws and NVDA, since those are
the two screen readers actually use myself, but, while may not mean too much to
guys, this is done using a form of GUI framework called wxPython, programmed
using the python programming language - BTW, that language seems to actually
have been named after Monty Python - but anyway...if you'd like to test/try
this out for me, let me know off list, and should be able to pass on download
links for setup/install package not too long from then:
jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
While have actually uploaded a version that think is mostly operational onto my
website, there are two small changes/additions want to make first before
passing this on to guys as well, FWIW, but, you can let me know sort of in
advance for now, since just want to double check at least one small time-frame
filtering thing relating to calendar section, and also want to slap together
form of documentation that will be included in install package, be available to
launch from inside application, and will also have it's own shortcut under
start menu program group.
Lastly, current name for this whole thing is the bzPersonalAssistant, and, no,
if it's operational/functional/works, don't plan to charge for it at all - more
important to try develop something like this that can/does offer something to
users, and it will also then, by itself, provide a form of word of mouth
reference for me, but, have also used this primarily as a form of experiment
with regards to this development platform - which is also why can't thus far
promise it will work properly at all times/under all different configurations,
but, hope to sort that side of it out as well, and you're also welcome to pass
this on to other guys if you think they might be interested in testing/trying
this out for me as well, as long as they're then also prepared to provide forms
of feedback/suggestions, and will be trying to sort out/handle any bugs/issues
ASAP if relevant.
Stay well
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
"Roger Wilco wants to welcome you...to the space janitor's closet..."
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- » [blindza] bzPersonalAssistant - possible bits of 'beta' testing..? - Jacob Kruger
