Does anyone know if there is a text comparison app that works with VoiceOver? I used to use Beyond Compare which I loved but it's not at all accessible. I also try PyCharm's built-in comparison but I can't find a way to know what the differences are.
The only thing I've found that works at all is Bitbucket when I'm reviewing a pull request. It's not perfect but at least I can tell what has changed.
I'm wanting to use this mainly alongside git for viewing history, resolving conflicts etc. I have also developed a terrible tendency to accidentally type rogue characters in the editor (like w when I meant to use cmd+w) and then I find I have a file to commit but am not sure what I've done. So either something that works with git, or something I can tell PyCharm to use.
Anyone know if such a thing exists? I found a similar topic on here a while back specific to resolving conflicts and the suggestion was to just open the git-mangled file and manually sort it. So I suspect I can do something similar with patches and so on, but would love something more user-friendly.
Comments
Kaleidoscope
I managed to stumble across an app called Kaleidoscope because I heard about a VoiceOver bug they had fixed. So I installed the trial. The app is certainly usable with VoiceOver. I found one unlabelled button but otherwise all seemed good.
I'm not sure how you can tell where the differences are, although you can jump to previous/next. So it might be doable but it needs a bit of effort to figure out.
There's a 14 day trial available from their web site:
https://kaleidoscope.app
Has anyone else tried it?
Beyond Compare 5
Well, if Beyond Compare 4 and below was totally unusable with VoiceOver, the new public beta of Beyond Compare 5 is a big step in the right direction. Now it seems VO can move around the app and interact with things. Unfortunately most buttons aren't labelled which makes it a bit tricky and I don't quite have the patience to figure out how to use it. It does seem that the devs are trying to make it more accessible, although I think they have quite a small team. I've reported the unlabelled buttons so hope they will get fixed then I might have a proper play with it.
I really, really hope this app can become usable with VoiceOver as I have such fond memories of it from the past. It was always one of those apps that was just simple and worked as it should. I would love to be able to use it again.
No real solution
From the command line, diff will show you file differences, and what changed from one file to the next. But you have to know what it's outputting or it won't make any sense. Not really designed for blindies. However, it's a great way to demonstrate that saving and restoring VoiceOver settings fails to do a complete job.
I recall subversion (version control system) had a built-in GUI file compare tool that let you pick changes from one version or another to incorporate into the current version. Even as a sighted person, it was clumsy to use. If all I had to do was select a code snippet from one file or another, it was probably fine. But I usually had to make some alterations after selecting the snippet, and I resented being in subversion's GUI editor while doing that. I wanted to be in my own editor.
I can't comment on the current state of git, but my recollection is that it punted (did nothing to address the issue) while simultaneously claiming to have solved the problem of merging branches. Git worked for me for small personal projects, and I thank my lucky stars I never used it for large collaborative projects.
Git
Git is fine for merging conflicts. You can open the file, search for angled brackets and then just delete the bits you don't need. Not perfect, but usable. I'd really like something to help understand differences in the history of a file. I know there is a diff thing built into git, but it just feels like this is the kind of thing I would want in a GUI.
PyCharm does have very good git integration although I'm not sure how accessible it is. I have struggled to review a file's history but I've not tried in a while. On my old Mac, the side-by-side comparison was unusable - I just got not responding all the time. This isn't the case now - maybe because my Mac is beefier or maybe they have fixed it in later versions. I'm not sure exactly how you can easily see differences but maybe with a bit more effort and learning the keyboard shortcuts it can be used.
I'm not holding my breath that Beyond Compare will ever be very good to use but it's nice that it's gone from being completely inaccessible in any way.
I'd like something a bit like the bitbucket comparison when doing a pull request. It's not perfect but feels like it could be great if taken out of a wobbly Safari.
I suspect the real answer may be Visual Studio Code but I always struggle to get on with it. Again, probably just needs a decent amount of time and energy to devote to it. But I've always found the editor a bit too quirky, probably because it's all built on Chromium I think. I do like that the headline changes in most of their recent updates have had accessibility first and foremost.