Question

We are building an companion presentation that will be displayed on computer screens next to a museum exhibit. I believe the machines are going to be running OSX (no touchscreens) and the users will need a mouse at minimum.

Does anyone have an recommendations for what environment to build in (flash, air, web, cocoa, etc) that will allow us to restrict access to the computer itself? Our main concern is with people alt-tabbing, command-q’ing, command-option-escape’ing, etc etc etc. Anything that will let them exit the presentation and access the main system is a major issue.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I think what you are looking for is called “Kiosk mode”:

http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.19/19.12/KioskModeFeatures/index.html

Also, I would avoid giving the users a mouse. Mice will get destroyed in such exhibits over time. A better option might be a touchpad. I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine they will have a longer lifespan in a display. I know trackballs used to be very popular for kiosks but the ones I’ve seen look like specially purchased devices, not the standard Kensington ones you get at the shop around the corner…