SignBank 8

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
September 11, 2006

Stuart Thiessen wrote:
> Hi! Philip and I found a project where we believe SignBank 8 will  
> be very useful. We were wondering when the runtime would be  
> available for release. What again is the difference between using  
> the runtime version and using it with Filemaker 8? Thanks, Stuart

Hi Philip and Stuart!
Thanks for this message and question.

That is good to know you are interested in SignBank8!

What is the difference between using SignBank8 inside FileMaker,  
versus using a Runtime? The Runtime is free, does not require owning  
FileMaker, and is stable. The Runtime is created from the official  
program that runs in FileMaker. It is like a copy of the same program  
in a stable format that does not require owning FileMaker.

But the Runtime is hard to create for our programmer, Todd, so he  
doesn't want to do the Runtime until we are sure we are happy with  
the official program running in FileMaker.

Right now, we are working on coordinating SignPuddle with SignBank,  
so there will be an Import Button in SignBank8, that will make it  
possible to import all the signs from SignPuddle automatically into  
SignBank...(well...at least partially automatically)...but certainly  
faster than just dragging and dropping individual signs one at a  
time...so this will be a great new feature. But it is not ready yet.

Once the Import Button is working, we plan to release it as a  
FileMaker 7 - 8.5 program, without a Runtime. Then, once we have used  
it a little while, inside FileMaker, to make sure it is working well,  
then we will create the Runtime.

There are two advantages to running SignBank8 inside FileMaker...it  
is a tiny bit faster than the Runtime, plus FileMaker itself is a  
useful program for other reasons. It is a database program, competing  
with Oracle, and is quite powerful, and since it was originally a Mac  
program that became a Windows program too, it is very cross-platform.  
Using SignBank8 inside FileMaker or as a Runtime feels exactly the  
same from the users point of view...but owning FileMaker is nice in  
general...

Dr. Penny Boyes Braem, in German-Switzerland, is using FileMaker for  
their own Sign Language linguistic database, having no connection to  
SignBank....There are a number of sign language linguists around the  
world using FileMaker now for their own unique and separate  
databases...so it has its uses...

Anyway, right now, I can try to get you a donated copy of FileMaker  
8.5 so you can run the new SignBank8 inside FileMaker when we release  
it...

What are your thoughts?

Val ;-)