This page describes Calíope 1.5, the version we are building right now. 1.4 is finished and in App Review, and the store serves 1.3 on the Mac and 1.2 on iPad. The changelog says which version each feature landed in.
Adds an “Open in Calíope” button to every topic. It only works with the app installed.
Every actionable control has a name, and the results grid can be activated without a mouse.
Calíope is built so that the whole workflow — connect, browse the schema, write SQL, read the grid, edit a cell — can be done with the screen off.
Results grid
- Each cell announces its column and its value, not just the value.
- Activating a cell opens its detail. The rotor also offers Copy, Generate UPDATE, Edit value and Delete row: they are accessibility actions, so the double tap that VoiceOver reserves for activating is not taken by the grid's own double tap.
What gets announced on its own
- Connecting and disconnecting.
- The result of a batch: rows returned, rows affected, or that the query failed.
- A finished backup, with its file name.
Voice Control
Every icon-only button has a spoken name, so «tap Refresh» works without turning on the numbered overlay.
Where it does not reach. Tab traversal (Full Keyboard Access) does not cover the areas that are not buttons — the results grid among them. VoiceOver does reach them; the focus ring does not.
The app follows the system text size, including the results grid.
Larger text (iPad and iPhone)
Calíope follows the system text size setting up to the accessibility categories.
- The results grid scales too. The +/− buttons in the toolbar still choose your size; the system category multiplies it, so your choice survives. There is a ceiling: past a point a monospaced grid stops having columns, and the cell detail is the way through.
- The connection form stops laying label and field side by side at accessibility sizes and stacks them instead. It is Apple's pattern for forms, and it is the only way both fit.
Contrast
Text that was painted at low opacity has been raised across the paths you actually walk. What the app does not do is react to «Increase Contrast»: it does not offer a separate high-contrast palette.
Dark appearance
The app is theme-aware by design, on all three and in the widgets.
Keywords: larger text, dynamic type, text size, contrast, dark mode, appearance, grid, form
With «Reduce Motion» on, no animation in the app moves anything.
Reduce Motion
Every animation in Calíope, on all of its devices, goes through a helper that turns it off when the system setting is on. That includes the banners that slide in from the top: with the setting on they still appear — no information is lost — they just do not move.
Reduce Transparency
The translucent backgrounds fall back to a solid colour.
Differentiate without colour
No state in the app is carried by colour alone: connection status is a filled dot versus a ring, severity carries its own icon and its label, and in the schema comparison the before and after are marked − and + besides being red and green.