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Hi Stefan,<br>
<br>
Thanks for your great work and interest. I appreciate hearing how
you and your class use SignPuddle. Know that an improved SignMail
is on the way. <br>
<br>
For the old SignMail, I just fixed the "Load into SignText" link.
After loading into SignText, press the options button when you're
done. On the options page, you can use the 4th command button down
for SignMail to resend. <br>
<br>
I've been spending my time on intricate and technical details. The
details have been evolving faster than I can keep up with. I
thought the major changes would be done with the initial release of
my Internet Draft; however, for the Unicode proposal, I have a
focused and substantial change to make. After I release the "01"
version of my Internet Draft, no further changes are planned. <br>
<br>
I have an automated conversion working for SignPuddle 1.5 to
SignPuddle 1.6. The data is being converting from the ISWA 2008 to
the ISWA 2010. This part of the conversion is working perfectly by
design. <br>
<br>
The format of the data is changing from build strings & XML with
symbol IDs to a lite markup with proposed Unicode characters.<br>
<br>
The storage of the data is changing from thousands of files, down to
1 XML file for each puddle. Even the German dictionary with 14,000+
entries is available as a single file that is only 6 MB as XML, and
only 1.5 MB when zipped.<br>
<br>
These changes may seem abstract and unrelated to the end user, but
they are key. The primary goal is standardized and portable data.
The secondary goal is to be able to write a simple and standardized
SignWriting plugin for any application.<br>
<br>
For example... A plugin for the Firefox browser could enable any
online application to use SignWriting in standard text fields. A
plugin for the Thunderbird email application could use a downloaded
puddle dictionary to recreate SignMail without requiring access to
the SignBank server. A plugin for the Abiword text editor could
provide a basic SignWriting text editor that would be available on
most operating systems.<br>
<br>
In June, we hope to get an encouraging response from the Unicode
consortium on our proposal. An ISWA 2010 font file should be part
of the proposal.<br>
<br>
The dam is about to burst. We're about to fill the world with
written sign. <br>
<br>
Have a great day,<br>
-Steve<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:
12pt;" lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></font>
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