AlphaBaby

Version 1.4, March, 2004

What is it?

My kids love to play with the computer. Unfortunately, they also have the habit of renaming my hard drive to "axlfkaj". So, I wrote AlphaBaby so they could safely use the Mac without inflicting too much damage! AlphaBaby lets even infants and toddlers have fun playing with the computer. Every time a key is pressed or the mouse is clicked, a letter or shape is drawn. Sounds can be played every time something is drawn. Your own sounds and pictures can also be used. AlphaBaby helps kids to learn letters, plus provides a safe environment for kids to have fun "typing" on the keyboard!

Requirements and Installation

AlphaBaby requires Mac OS X (10.1 or higher). It was built and tested on Mac OS X 10.2.6 and Mac OS X 10.3.3. Drag the AlphaBaby application to your Applications folder (for example) to install. Just delete the application to uninstall. A preferences file is created in ~/Library/Preferences/com.alphababy.plist. You can delete this file to reset the preferences, or when uninstalling. To install the screensaver version of AlphaBaby, first make sure the folder ~/Library/Screen Savers exists. You may need to create it first. Then, drag the AlphaBabySaver.saver file to your ~/Library/Screen Savers directory. Then, use the Screen Saver (or Screen Effects) module in System Preferences to select AlphaBabySaver as your screen saver.

How to play

The most important thing to know about AlphaBaby is how to exit from it. The standard command-Q is disabled to prevent accidental quitting. Instead, you must use the following key combination:

control-option-command-Q
⌃⌥⌘Q

If command-Q is typed, a message appears on the screen displaying key combinations for quitting or changing preferences. An alternate way to quit out of AlphaBaby is to type the word "quit" somewhat quickly (2 seconds from the time the q is typed until the t is typed). If you are running the screen saver version of AlphaBaby, the only way to exit is to type "quit". If you have turned on the option to require a password to unlock the screen saver, the password dialog will only come up once you have first "quit" out of AlphaBaby. If you do not require a password, typing "quit" will unlock the screen immediately.

When a letter or number key is pressed, that letter or number is drawn on the screen in a random color and position. If any other key is pressed, a random shape is drawn instead. If the mouse is clicked, a random shape is drawn where the click occurred. If the mouse is click-dragged, a line of stars will be drawn. Nothing is drawn if the mouse is just moved. Each time a letter or shape is drawn, a random sound is played. You can also have AlphaBaby speak the names of both letters and shapes as they are drawn.

You can customize AlphaBaby by specifying your own folders of images and sounds. Images are randomly displayed when non-letter keys are pressed, or the mouse is clicked. Your own folder of sounds can be used instead of the default set of system sounds. My kids enjoy hearing their own voices when hitting the keys, so you may want to record some of your own sounds. Setting the images folder to one containing digital pictures of the kids is also fun. The speech capabilities of the Mac can also be used to speak the names of letters, or the names of images displayed. You can also match your own sounds to your own pictures, to provide a customized environment. One set of options that my beta testers (i.e. kids) particularly liked was loading a folder of digital pictures of themselves, turning on the Speak Images option (each image was named to describe the picture), and turning on the "Only Images" and "Map Images to Keys" options. They enjoyed hearing the computer "talk" and being able to display a certain picture by hitting the same key over again. See below for more information on these options.

AlphaBaby will, by default, clear the screen after 30 items are drawn. You can change this value in the Preferences panel. However, if you would like to clear the screen at any time, the following key combination can be used:

shift-command-C
⇧⌘C

AlphaBaby tries to trap most key combinations, so that it is difficult for kids to switch out of it and start typing into other programs. However, the volume keys still work, the keyboard eject button (if you have one) works, and the display brightness buttons work.

Preferences

If you want to customize AlphaBaby, the following key sequence brings up the Preferences panel:

control-option-command-P
⌃⌥⌘P

If you are running the screen saver, this key sequence is disabled. Instead, set the AlphaBabySaver options using the "Options" button in the System Preferences Screen Saver window. This brings up the same Preferences window described below. Pressing "Cancel" in this dialog box ignores any changes that were made. Pressing "Done" saves the changes, for this and future sessions of AlphaBaby. Clicking outside of the Preferences panel also saves the changes.

The following options can be set:

General Tab

The colors popup list gives you 5 different choices of color schemes to be used when drawing letters and shapes. They are:
- All - completely random color
- Bright - random "bright" colors
- Pastel - random light, pastel colors
- Infant - red, black, and white
- Primary - red, blue, and yellow
- Rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet

Clear the screen after a certain number of items have been drawn. If you never want the items cleared, select the "Never clear screen" radio button. The default value clears the screen after 30 items.

If "Only capital letters" is selected, then any letter keys typed will be converted to uppercase, regardless of the state of the caps lock key.

The Font field displays the current font used to display characters. The default font is Arial-Black. The default size depends on the resolution of the screen. It is larger for higher resolution screens. The "Select" button allows you to use a standard font picker to change the font used. In general, a thick, large font is the most readable. The "Reset" button sets the font back to the default typeface and size.

The mode popup list gives you different ways to display letters on the main AlphaBaby screen. They are:

Default - the default mode, and the way AlphaBaby has primarily worked. Letters, random shapes, and images are put all over the screen, using either the keyboard or mouse.
Single Letter - only a single item is shown at a time, centered in the screen. Shapes, letters, and images are all shown.
Alphabet - Each letter of the alphabet, followed by the numbers 0-9 are displayed in the center of the screen. It does not matter what key is pressed, each time an item is displayed, it follows the alphabet in order.
Typing - Each letter typed is displayed in order, starting with the upper left corner of the screen, and filling each line until the screen is filled. The clear screen after items value is not used, instead the screen is cleared when it has been filled with characters. Hitting return will advance to a new line. Letters and numbers are drawn. All other characters are turned into a space. Using the mouse still draws shapes over the letters.

The "⌃⌥⌘Q will quit" checkbox enables the ⌃⌥⌘Q key combination. If disabled, that combination will not quit out of AlphaBaby. Whether or not that item is selected, typing "quit" will always quit out of AlphaBaby.

Images Tab

The Images fields allow you specify a folder which contains images to be displayed when keys are typed or the mouse is clicked. The "Clear" button clears the image folder, and no images will be displayed. By default, no images are displayed - you must specify a folder which contains images first. AlphaBaby will load any images files that end in: .png, .gif, .jpg, or .tiff. Nested subfolders are also searched for images.
The Shapes/Images slider allows you to control how often shapes vs. images are displayed when keys are pressed or the mouse is clicked. The default value is halfway in between - there is an equal chance of an image being displayed or shape being drawn. If no images are loaded, then only shapes are drawn, no matter what the slider is set to. If the slider is completely to the left, then only shapes are drawn. If the slider is completely to the right, only images are drawn.
The Only Images checkbox allows to you display only images for any key presses or mouse clicks (including alphanumeric keys). It only makes sense to check if you have custom images loaded.
The Map images to keys checkbox can only be specified if "Only Images" is selected. This option creates a fixed mapping between images and keys. This means that each time a key is pressed, the same image is always displayed (instead of a random one). Images are assigned to keys in the following way. The list of images being loaded is first sorted alphabetically by image name (not including the path to the image). Then, the first 26 images are assigned to the keys A to Z. The next 10 images are assigned to 0 through 9. The rest of the images are then assigned to all other keys in no particular way. If there are only a few images loaded, the same ones are used over again for different keys. However, each key always has its own, fixed image. One way to use this feature is to have 26 images where each image starts with a different letter in the alphabet (A for apple, B for Ball, etc.) Then, when the images are loaded and the "Map Images to Keys" option is used, the letter A key would always show a picture of an apple, etc.

Sound Tab

Turn on sounds. If sounds are on, a sound is played each time a key is typed, or the mouse is clicked. The default sounds used are the system sounds. If a user sound folder is specified, those sounds are used instead.
Speak letters and speak shapes. If Speak Letters is selected, the name of the letter typed will be spoken by the current system voice. A sound will not be played. If Speak Shapes is selected, the name of the shape drawn will be spoken, instead of playing a sound. You can set the current system voice using the Speech system preference panel. The "Default Voice" tab lets you choose from a list of available voices.
Speak images. If Speak Images is selected, the current system voice is used to speak the name of the image when it is displayed. This works best if you have set your image names to something meaningful.
Match sounds to images. If this option is selected, the names of the loaded sounds are matched to the names of any loaded images. When an image is displayed, its matching sound is played. For example, if you have an image named "Beach.jpg" loaded, and also a sound named "Beach.aiff" loaded, the Beach sound is played when the Beach picture is displayed. The name used is the filename of the sound, without the folders containing the sound, and without the sound extension (.aiff). Using this option allows you to have your own voice say something when images are displayed.
The Sounds fields allow you to specify a folder which contains sounds to be played on each key press or mouse click. If a custom sound folder is specified, the system sounds will not be played. Even if a custom sound folder is specified, sounds are only played if the "Enable sounds" checkbox is on. AlphaBaby searches for files ending in .aiff. Nested subfolders are also searched. To record your own sounds, you need a microphone and software to record and save your sounds as .aiff files. Search Version Tracker (http://www.versiontracker.com/) using "sound record" for some possibilities, both freeware and shareware. "Audio Recorder" is a good freeware choice - you can easily create multiple .aiff files using the microphone. Make sure you save the new sound files with the full 4-letter ".aiff" extension. Many Macs have a built-in microphone, or you can attach an external one using USB or the audio line in.

Pressing "Cancel" in this dialog box ignores any changes that were made. Pressing "Done" saves the changes, for this and future sessions of AlphaBaby. Clicking outside of the Preferences panel also saves the changes.

Using the Screen Saver

A screen saver version of AlphaBaby is included in this release. It functions almost identically to the application version. To install the screen saver, first make sure you have a folder named "Screen Savers" in your home Library directory (i.e. ~/Library/Screen Savers). Create this folder if it does not exist. Next, copy the AlphaBabySaver.saver file from the disk image to the Screen Savers folder. Launch System Preferences, and select the Screen Savers (or Screen Effects) panel. AlphaBabySaver can be chosen from the list of displayed screen savers. Use the "Options" button to bring up the Preferences panel for AlphaBaby. Preferences for the screen saver can only be set through the System Preferences screen, not while the screen saver is actually running.

When AlphaBabySaver first starts up, it will pause with no activity for 30 seconds. The background color is set to black instead of white. After 30 seconds, a character or shape will be drawn every second. Even if sound is enabled in the AlphaBaby options, no sound will be displayed for automatically displayed characters. If a user presses a key or clicks the mouse, the automatic display will stop, and user input will be used. Once there is no user activity for 30 seconds, the automatic display resumes. Type "quit" to exit from the screen saver. If a password is required to unlock the screen saver, the password screen will come up once you type "quit".

The screen saver is an initial release, and many things about its behavior cannot currently be configured. This will be addressed in a future release.

Source and Donations

As of the 1.4 release, the source code for AlphaBaby is being released under the GNU General Public License. Any questions, comments, bugfixes, or enhancements to the code can be sent to alphababy.mac@gmail.com . The source code can be downloaded from the main AlphaBaby web site. It is an XCode project provided as a compressed tar file. AlphaBaby is written in Objective-C, using the Mac OS X Cocoa frameworks.

I've really enjoyed the feedback I've received from users, and reading stories of how toddlers are using the program. Some users have even been nice enough to ask if there was a way to support AlphaBaby. I have made donations to AlphaBaby possible through a store on Kagi. A link to Kagi is also on the AlphaBaby web site. Although AlphaBaby will continue to be free, you can support ongoing development with a donation through Kagi. The Kagi web site is set up to accept multiples of $5 or $10 donations. Any donations are certainly appreciated!

Purchase from Kagi

Contact and Feedback

New ideas are always welcome! Please send feedback, feature requests, and bug reports to:

alphababy.mac@gmail.com

I'm probably starting the approach the limit of the number of features that can be added to a simple hit-the-keyboard application. If you'd like to see any additional features for AlphaBaby, or have other ideas for programs for the infant-to-4 age group, let me know!

Check for new versions at:

http://alphababy.sourceforge.net

AlphaBaby is made freely available for use and distribution. Copyrights are retained by the author.

History

Version 1.4, March, 2004 - Added new shapes (triangle, moon, star, hexagon, pentagon, octagon). Made ovals and rectangles distinct from circles and squares. Screensaver is now included. New typing mode. Source code available.

Version 1.3, January, 2004 - Added new way to quit, different modes of operation, and fixed sound-related crash on Panther.

Version 1.2, August, 2003 - Added option to speak images, match sounds to images, display only images, and map images to keys. Can change ratio of shapes to images displayed. New preferences panel design. Added diamond and heart shapes.

Version 1.1, June 29, 2003 - Multiple monitors support. Command-tab now trapped. Added option to speak letters and shapes. Added option to manually clear the screen.

Version 1.0, June 2003 - The first public release of AlphaBaby