After listening to Scott Hanselman's podcast on BabySmash I wanted to have a go at creating a proof on concept Silverlight "BabySmash Web Edition". I have embedded the current version at the bottom of the page if you want to skip the technical discussion.
The web edition has the following differences from the original BabySmash
- Uses Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 instead Windows Presentation Foundation application for Windows XP/Vista.
- Silverlight 2.0 download size much smaller (Around 4 MB)
- No need to install the .Net Framework 3.5 (Around 33MB).
- Smaller download size for the application (Currently around 450KB).
- Hosted inside the web browser.
- Can be run on all platforms supported by Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 (i.e. Window XP/Vista and Intel Mac's).
What are the limitations?
- Capturing system keys. Obviously limited to keys that the plugin can capture.
- For my son I use an external usb numeric keyboard similar to one made by Targus.
- Mouse click limited to left click only. Right click brings up Silverlight Configuration
What is working?
- Keyboard and basic mouse integration.
- Ability to play audio.
- Basic options dialog UI.
What is missing?
- Animations (Character blinks & fades).
- Click animations.
- ClickOnce deployment/updates - Not needed for web version.
- Letters.
- Loading and Saving options.
- Text to speech.
Work yet to do:
- Suggest refactoring's to allow common WPF/Silverlight codebase.
- Install experience for users that do not have Silverlight 2.0 installed.
- Complete the options dialog.
- Open the options dialog by clicking in each of the corners of the control.
- Animations (Character Blinks & fades).
- Add support to display letters.
- Add full screen mode.
- Mouse scroll wheel support.
- Test with experimental 2.0 Moonlight plugin.
- Include sound files for letters and numbers.
- Separate out sound files into another downloadable component.
So here is the current version. Any suggestions/feedback appreciated.
By using the application please note the BabySmash Licensing Terms