Monthly Archives: July 2009

Tip: What to do when dictation isn't recognized as text

Occasionally the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech engine will get mixed up about whether or not the program or field in focus is something you should be able to type text into. When this happens you’ll see lots of question marks in the recognition box.

The problem is usually easy to fix — move the focus out of whatever program this is happening in, then back in. Here’s a quick way to do that — the UC command “Notepad Open · Notepad Close”.

Tip: What to do when dictation isn’t recognized as text

Occasionally the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech engine will get mixed up about whether or not the program or field in focus is something you should be able to type text into. When this happens you’ll see lots of question marks in the recognition box.

The problem is usually easy to fix — move the focus out of whatever program this is happening in, then back in. Here’s a quick way to do that — the UC command “Notepad Open · Notepad Close”.

Tip: Faster correction

Here’s a very quick tip that’ll speed the correction process.

If you start spelling in the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Spell Correction dialog box, but realize too late that you spoke too soon because the correct answer was one of the choices after all, all is not lost. Say the UC command “Line Delete” to get the original choices back.

Keep it simple: Keys don't need pseudonyms

I have a pet peeve in the Keep it Simple, Stupid department.

Keyboard shortcut labels containing Enter should say “Enter”, which is what’s written on the key, rather than the antiquated “Return”. Having the label match the key is better both for people who pay keys and people who speak keys.

Thunderbird/File has an example of what not to do — two labels containing “Return”. It’s a small thing, but using any amount of brainpower for this type of translation is unnecessary.

What are your speech pet peeves? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.

Keep it simple: Keys don’t need pseudonyms

I have a pet peeve in the Keep it Simple, Stupid department.

Keyboard shortcut labels containing Enter should say “Enter”, which is what’s written on the key, rather than the antiquated “Return”. Having the label match the key is better both for people who pay keys and people who speak keys.

Thunderbird/File has an example of what not to do — two labels containing “Return”. It’s a small thing, but using any amount of brainpower for this type of translation is unnecessary.

What are your speech pet peeves? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.