We are excited to announce Dasher v6, a complete rewrite of the classic predictive text interface. This release brings modern architecture, improved performance, and expanded platform support.
<h2>Project History</h2>
<p>
Dasher was originally developed starting in 1997 by the Inference Group at the University
of Cambridge, led by David MacKay. For over two decades, Dasher has provided an
information-efficient text-entry interface driven by natural continuous pointing gestures.
</p>
<p>
The project has gone through several major versions, with v4 and v5 being widely used
on multiple platforms. However, as technology and development practices have evolved,
it became clear that a modern rewrite was needed to ensure Dasher's continued development
and accessibility.
</p>
<h2>Why v6?</h2>
<p>
Dasher v6 represents a complete rewrite of the codebase with several key goals:
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Modern Architecture</strong> - Built with contemporary software development practices and tools</li>
<li><strong>Better Performance</strong> - Optimized to run efficiently on low-power devices</li>
<li><strong>Expanded Platform Support</strong> - Easier to build and deploy on new platforms</li>
<li><strong>Improved Maintainability</strong> - Cleaner codebase that's easier for contributors to work with</li>
<li><strong>Enhanced Accessibility</strong> - Building on Dasher's accessibility-first design</li>
</ul>
<h2>What's New</h2>
<p>
The v6 release includes significant improvements under the hood:
</p>
<ul>
<li>Cross-platform codebase with unified architecture</li>
<li>Improved language model support and performance</li>
<li>Better configuration options</li>
<li>Modernized build system</li>
<li>Comprehensive documentation</li>
</ul>
<h2>Looking Forward</h2>
<p>
This is just the beginning for Dasher v6. We have a roadmap of planned features and
improvements that we're excited to work on with the community.
</p>
<p>
We're particularly interested in hearing from users about their experiences with Dasher.
What features would you like to see? What platforms should we prioritize? Your feedback
helps guide our development priorities.
</p>
<h2>Get Involved</h2>
<p>
Dasher is an open-source project, and we welcome contributions from everyone. Whether
you're interested in writing code, improving documentation, reporting bugs, or just
providing feedback, there's a place for you in our community.
</p>
<p>
Join us on <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#dasher:matrix.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Matrix</a>,
check out our <a href="https://github.com/dasher-project/dasher" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GitHub repository</a>,
and follow our progress as we continue to improve Dasher.
</p>