Introducing the Jade Gazebo input method

[Ted C.]

Oops. Sorry the website is down.

 

I'll try to fix it this weekend, but I'm also really busy this weekend. (I am moving house at the end of the month, and my taxes are also due.) It might have to wait until the following weekend.

 

I'll post a message here when it gets done.

[imron]

Good to see you back, and to see that this IME hasn't disappeared in to the ether.

[Takeshi]

Wow!

 

Good to see you back!

 

I saw this earlier and remember thinking the input method concept was very interesting. I don't really have a need to care for it now because I am already a proficient user of Cangjie, but I really like your design principles, and I definitely would have been interested in your method if I stumbled upon it before learning Cangjie.

But I'm glad I know Cangjie and I'm not using Jade Gazebo, for one simple reason: portability. Cangjie is free software and there are many implementations of it and its specifications are easily available publicly. Jade Gazebo on the other hand requires you to download an exe file and you are expected to trust it because the author posts his linkedin account in the same thread.

 

Anyways, I'm not trying to insult your input method at all, I'm just wondering if it would be possible for you to open it out more so that it will be more accessible to people? For small personal projects like this, it's not uncommon for the website to suddenly disappear for some time (as it has now), and this would be a big deterrent to people from using the input method, as even if they prefer it and find it technologically superior, what's good in it if you have to worry that one day in the future it may die and you may never be able to use your favourite input method again once contemporary OSes no longer support it?

 

I haven't tried your input method (because the site is down, and I don't run windows so I can't even if it was up), so I'm not sure exactly how it works, but you don't even need to give the source code for your implementation of it really. If you could provide conversion tables in a text format, that's probably the most portable way of holding the specifications of your input method for other people to use easily as they could import them into whatever contemporary input method framework they have at the time, or use them as a basis to develop an implementation.

 

Anyways, I'm not complaining, and you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to. You have the right to make non-free software if you so desire. This is just a suggestion that I think might help your input method get more recognition. Either way, I'll be a happy Cangjie user.