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.
You’re using the Utter Command Site list utility to go directly to websites, e.g. “Twitter Site”. And you’re comfortable saying the numbers that appear next to links to get around websites, e.g. “11 Go”. What’s next?
Is there a place where you find yourself constantly using two link numbers in a row? Try speeding things up by saying them as one phrase. For instance, in Google documents, I say “7 Go” to drop-down the Insert menu and “84 Go” to choose Horizontal Line. After a few times you don’t have to look: say “7 Go 84 Go” to do it all at once.
Here’s another tip that starts with a riddle: how are the following two tasks connected?
1. Going directly to a website but not in your default browser
2. Emailing a website link to a friend
Answer: you can use the same command to do either one.
Say you’re in a browser that’s not your default browser, and you want to go to the Twitter website. Put the cursor in the address bar (“Go Address”). Then paste the path of any website that’s on your Site list by adding “Path” to whatever you’d normally say to go to the site, e.g. “Twitter Site Path”.
Same goes for when you want to drop a link into an e-mail message. If the site in question is on your Site list, there’s no need to go to the site and cut and paste — use the Path command to paste the Web address into your message.
Have you found a good application for double Link numbers? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.
A few weeks ago the folks at Nuance posted a Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 user workbook. It’s an excellent resource. It includes detailed instructions on NaturallySpeaking speech engine utilities that will make your speech experience better.
Here are my favorite parts:
The instructions for creating a user profile (page 1) explain important concepts like choosing the right dictation source. If you accidentally choose the wrong dictation source, your accuracy will not be as good.
The Vocabulary dialog box (page 8) allows you to add custom vocabulary including phrases, and import custom vocabulary from existing documents. I make sure my users have “Utter Command” and “Redstart Systems” as phrases. I have a usability complaint about the Vocabulary dialog box, however. It’s difficult to find in the menus because the menu name doesn’t match the dialog box name: NaturallySpeaking/Words/View-Edit. I think the label should be Vocabulary Editor instead.
The Formatting dialog box (page 23) allows you to control automatic formatting of special text like numbers. This section explains what you can control and how to control it.
The My Commands dialog box (page 44) allows you to create Text and Graphics commands. These boilerplate commands are relatively easy to create and can save you a lot of time. You can assign a command like “My Address” to a larger block of text, complete with line breaks and formatting.
The improving accuracy section (page 50) includes instructions for the Train Words, Acoustic Settings and Acoustic and Language Model Optimizer dialog boxes.
Here are some resources that have to do with using NatSpeak utilities with Utter Command:
In the Utter Command manual we touch on how Utter Command dovetails with NatSpeak Correction, Vocabulary, Recognition and Train Words utilities in UC Lesson 1 (1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.11). Also see the “Dragon NaturallySpeaking” section on UC Exchange.
Once you get used to naming a mouse click, you might want a little more. Take a look at UC Lesson 10.24 and you’ll find you can combine named mouse touches with other keys in a couple of useful ways.
Here’s a good use of combining a named mouse touch with a letter key. When you’re in an e-mail message in Thunderbird*, you can click on the Sender’s address to drop down a menu that includes Copy e-mail Address and Add to Address Book.
To enable copying the sender e-mail address or adding it to the address book in a single speech step, name a mouse Touch to click on the sender address:
1. Position the mouse on the Sender’s address using a command like “20 By 11″
2. say “Add Touch” to bring up the Touch dialog box
3. name the touch something like “Sender”
4. say “Enter” to put the touch on your Touch list
5. say “Window Close · Yes” to close the UC List dialog box and save changes
6. If necessary, say “Restart NatSpeak” to restart the speech engine.
Now try the command and some combinations.
With an open email in Thunderbird you can say “Sender Touch” and it will click the Sender address to drop down the menu.
Better yet, you can say “Sender Touch c” (or “Sender Touch Charlie”) to copy the address to your clipboard, or “Sender Touch b” (or “Sender Touch Bravo”) to bring up the New Card dialog box with the address entered into it.
Have you found a good application for advanced Touch commands? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.
*Thunderbird is a free, open-source, full-featured e-mail program from Mozilla. It’s included in the UsefulFreeSoftware list on the UC Exchange Wiki (say “UC Exchange”).
Long URLs are awkward in many situations, most especially on Twitter, where character count is paramount. The Firefox Tiny URL Creator add-on gives you more room by reducing any URL to just a few characters.
Tiny URL creator also solves an occasional issue with the Utter Command Site List. The Site List — the list of websites you can get to using a single speech command — handles URLs of up to 100 characters. The Tiny URL Creator eliminates this limitation.
To set up the Tiny URL Creator, download it. It will add a menu item to the Firefox Tools menu. To create a URL from the current URL in Firefox say “Under t t c” to click Tools/Tiny URLCreator/From Current URL. Creating a tiny URL puts it in your system clipboard. Say “This Paste” to paste it anywhere.
See the UC Exchange page UCandFirefox for more details.
Have you found Firefox or Thunderbird add-ons that make things easier when you’re using speech? Tell me about them – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.
Ever close a webpage, then wish you hadn’t? In Firefox there’s a shortcut that undoes a tab close: “Shift Control t”.
Ever close several webpages in a row and wish you hadn’t? You can use the same shortcut to get back the last few pages you closed at once, e.g. “Shift Control t Times 3″. Here are some related commands: use “Document Close Times 3″ to close tabs and “Control t Times 3″ to open blank tabs.
Computers can be frustrating when they don’t act as you anticipate. You can anticipate better, however, if you know what they’re going through.
One thing I’ve found with speech recognition is when something is misrecognized the common instinct is to speak more loudly into the microphone — like you’re talking to a person who didn’t quite hear.
This usually makes things worse. Most good microphones are fairly sensitive, and are more likely to interpret the sounds coming out of your mouth more accurately if you speak a little softer rather than louder.
If you notice recognition falling off a bit, speak a little more softly. Picture someone onstage singing so loudly into the microphone that its distorted, and how nice it is when the person backs off a bit. Also think about putting the microphone further away from your mouth — I keep mine about 2 inches away.
Another common cause of recognition falling off is breathing into the microphone. It’s important that the face of the microphone is pointed slightly downward so you’re not breathing directly into it. Picture someone on an outside stage trying to use a microphone in a heavy wind. It’s lots easier to hear when the wind dies down.
Computers can be frustrating when they don’t act as you anticipate. You can anticipate better, however, if you know what they’re going through.
One thing I’ve found with speech recognition is when something is misrecognized the common instinct is to speak more loudly into the microphone — like you’re talking to a person who didn’t quite hear.
This usually makes things worse. Most good microphones are fairly sensitive, and are more likely to interpret the sounds coming out of your mouth more accurately if you speak a little softer rather than louder.
If you notice recognition falling off a bit, speak a little more softly. Picture someone onstage singing so loudly into the microphone that its distorted, and how nice it is when the person backs off a bit. Also think about putting the microphone further away from your mouth — I keep mine about 2 inches away.
Another common cause of recognition falling off is breathing into the microphone. It’s important that the face of the microphone is pointed slightly downward so you’re not breathing directly into it. Picture someone on an outside stage trying to use a microphone in a heavy wind. It’s lots easier to hear when the wind dies down.
We’re continuing to find new uses for Utter Command’s naming-a-mouse-touch ability.
Here are some new ones:
- “Folders Touch” to click the folder tree button in Windows Explorer. This lets you toggle the folder tree pane on or off – thanks to Bill Z the trainer
- “Web Touch” to click on the top left corner of a Web page, away from any links. This lets you return focus to the page – thanks to Jill
- In general, iTunes buttons – thanks to Jill
- “Snapshot Touch” to click the snapshot button on the history window in Photoshop – thanks to Eric
- “Highlight Touch” to click the highlighter button in Word – thanks to Jeff
And here’s a new one I’ve been using: “Right Touch” and “Left Touch” to click the right and left side of a horizontal scroll bar in Excel. This lets you scroll left and right by page.
We’re also finding some new uses for naming two mouse clicks in a row.
- “Balloon Middle Touch” to dismiss the Dragon NaturallySpeaking balloon that comes up in NaturallySpeaking 10 Service Pack 1. The command clicks the balloon to make it go away, then clicks the middle of the screen to put the focus back on your application – thanks to Bill Z the trainer
- “Capture Settings Touch” in FastStone Capture. The command clicks the tiny main menu icon on the software toolbar menu, then clicks settings. This makes it easy to switch among full-screen, active area and window capture – thanks to Eric
And here’s one from Daniel:
- “I use a Microsoft address book that always opens in the wrong folder (“shared contacts” instead of “main identity contacts”). The window is also divided so I can’t switch folders with the cursor without moving the mouse or tabbing a lot. So I named a Local Touch to click “main identity contacts” and another one to click inside the portion of the window that lists the names and addresses. What it comes down to is that the brief command “Local Contacts Names Touch” puts me where I want to be after the window opens. This is extremely convenient!”
Thanks, and keep them coming – reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.
4/30/09 Note: see the naming a mouse touch video.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about Microsoft Office 2007 versus Microsoft Office 2003.
My stock answer is I prefer the 2003 drop-down menus to the 2007 ribbon. It’s funny, at the same time as Office made the switch from drop-down menus to the more Web-like ribbon, the Web application Google Documents made the opposite move — changing from a tab-based interface to drop-down menus. Out of the box, 2007 is less efficient — it takes up more screen space and requires more steps than 2003.
Having said that, the 2007 interface is also very configurable. You can put any drop-down menu or menu item on the Quick Access Toolbar that runs across the very top of the screen. And you can hide the ribbon. If you take the time to put the items you use most on the Quick Access Toolbar, you can make Office 2007 much more accessible.
For details on setting things up and using Microsoft Office 2007 with Utter Command, see UCExchange: UCandOffice2007 .
What’s your opinion on 2007 versus 2003? Reply here or let me know at info@ this website address.