Open Window Software News Fall 2005 A Free E-mail Newsletter From Open Window Software Featuring Tips On Using The WinFlash Suite, HandyCards And ProUpdater Contents: 1) WinFlash v9.0 Released! 2) Using v9.0's New QuickDeck Feature 3) Adding Internet Graphics To Your Decks 4) Free Upgrades For Deck Contributors 5) Study Tip - Expand Your Study Opportunities With .MP3's 6) What's New in v9.0? --------------------------------------------------- 1) WinFlash v9.0 Released! We're happy to announce that all three levels of WinFlash - Basic, Scholar and Educator - have been upgraded to v9.0, with new features and improvements added at every level. While the most noticeable new feature is the Text-To-Speech capability in WinFlash Educator, there are many changes which improve the user experience by making the program easier to use. The new QuickDeck mode in the editor is a good example. It reduces the number of keystrokes used in creating text-only decks to the absolute minimum - simply tab between Q and A and then tab to move to the next pair after entering the Answer text. For a complete rundown of the new features, see 6) What's New in v9.0? We hope you'll take a look at the new release of your level of WinFlash and take advantage of our upgrade pricing. Download a trial copy of v9.0 here: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/download-flashcards.htm and purchase your upgrade from our secure order page here: https://www.openwindow.com/pages/oworder.htm --------------------------------------------------- 2) Using v9.0's New QuickDeck Feature One of our favorite enhancements - to all three of the WinFlash levels - is the new QuickDeck feature. Give it a try using this step-by-step mini-tutorial. 1. Create a new deck using File|New. The deck will open in the editor, to the regular Question tab. 2. Click on the QuickDeck tab or type Alt-u to move to the QuickDeck page in the editor. You'll notice that the text "This is the first dummy..." is already selected for you, ready for you to replace with the text of the first question. 3. Type "Q1" and then the Tab key. You should now see "Q1" as the text for the first question and the cursor now in the Text For Answer edit box with the "First dummy answer" text selected, ready for replacement. 4. Type "A1" and then the Tab key. This will enter "A1" as the text for the first answer and then move you to pair 2 with the dummy text in the Text For Question box selected. 5. Go ahead in this manner, using the Tab key to move from Q to A and then on to the next pair - entering "Q2","A2" and "Q3","A3" for the Q&A text for pairs 2 and 3. 6. At the point where you have entered "A3" for the third pair's answer text, hit Tab again. The editor will automatically add a fourth pair to the deck and position the entry point in the Text For Question box, awaiting your entry. 7. Complete this exercise by entering "Q4" and "A4" for the Q&A text for pair 4, then close the editor by clicking the Close button or typing Alt-e. We hope you'll like this new mode for entering "Quick Decks"! You can also use it as a fast start for entering text for decks to which you DO wish to add graphics, sounds, etc. - just use the regular tabs in the editor to add enhancements to the pairs on a second pass through the deck. --------------------------------------------------- 3) Adding Internet Graphics To Your Decks Sometimes a perfect graphic to go with one of your study pairs pops up while you're surfing the net. Before v9.0, adding it to your deck entailed first copying the graphic and then saving it to a file using Paintbrush or other graphics applet - then searching for the newly-saved file using the WinFlash editor's Associated Files tab to associate the new graphics file with the Q or A of the pair in question. Now it's quick and easy: 1. Right click on the graphic in your Internet browser and choose Copy from the pop-up menu. 2. Open the WinFlash editor to the pair where you want to add the graphic and click the Associated Files tab. 3. Click the Paste From Clipboard button in either the Associated Files For Question or Associated Files For Answer area, depending on the part of the pair to which you wish to add the graphic. That's it - you'll see that the Delete and Display buttons are now enabled for that section and you can use these to view the new graphic while in the editor or to remove the graphic from the pair should you decide against keeping it. You can use this technique for quickly adding any graphic that you can copy to your clipboard to one of your WinFlash decks. --------------------------------------------------- 4) Free Upgrades For Deck Contributors Isn't it time to put the final polish on that study deck of yours and contribute it to the WinFlash Users Group Library? We'll give you a free upgrade to the new v9.0 of your edition of the program if you'll share! Plus you'll get credit on the library page for your contribution (unless you'd rather remain anonymous). To submit your deck, see the detailed instructions at http://www.openwindow.com/pages/contribute.htm We'll immediately acknowledge receipt of your submission and, after review, will send you another e-mail letting you know if we've accepted it for use in our library. If it's accepted, we'll e-mail you a free upgrade code for v9.0. --------------------------------------------------- 5) Study Tip - Expand Your Study Opportunities With .MP3's You've heard us talk about using your PDA to turn unproductive time into study time - when you're waiting in line, riding the bus or engaged in a similar activity. How about those times where you can't use your PDA - riding your bike, driving your car, etc? Turn these additional opportunities into study time by using Educator's new Text-To-Speech export capability. Here's how: 1. Open the deck that you wish to convert to audio using WinFlash Educator. It's best to try a small deck first to check results. Remember, the program has to read the text of the deck in real time, so the export operation can take quite a while for larger decks. 2. Select Export Content... from the Educator menu. 3. Select Sound File - Text To Speech from the Select Output Format drop-down list. 4. Set the Export Pauses values. Try the 5 second defaults in your first experiment and then adjust from there if you wish. 5. Select the audio output format. MP3 produces much smaller files with generally-acceptable audio quality. 6. Click OK and give the output file a name in the dialog that appears. 7. Spot-check the result by playing it with Windows Media Player or other audio software on your PC. 8. Transfer the file to your iPod or other personal music player using your regular software. Note: The above instructions assume that you've installed the SAPI4 Text To Speech support on your computer and have selected the voice you'd like to use in Options|Speech. See the Help file's Text To Speech section for more detail. --------------------------------------------------- 6) What's New in v9.0? The following new features are available in all three WinFlash versions: * New editing mode - QuickDeck - allows the fastest possible creation of text-only decks. Simply tab between Q and A and then on to the next pair * Graphics can be pasted directly from the clipboard into a Q or A - making it much easier to include graphics. No need to first convert the desired graphic to a file and then select that file for use in a Q or A * Decks can now be opened directly into the editor from the File|Open menu * Visible down-counter in timed mode * Desktop shortcuts to WinFlash files can now be invoked while the program is open with another file - the open file will be closed and the file targeted by the shortcut will be opened * Clear List function added to Used Files list - remove all the files from the list and start afresh *Hint and Comment buttons now 'flash' to more easily alert the user to the presence of a related hint or comment The following new features are available in WinFlash Scholar and Educator: * Decks can now be opened directly into the editor from the File|Open menu and from the Subject Outline view * Copy Pair now has a shortcut key - Ctrl-d The following new features are available in WinFlash Educator: * Text-to-speech capability - Educator can now read your decks to you - albeit in a somewhat robot-like fashion. One caveat - the text is read in English - thus the feature is NOT useful for language study - i.e. it doesn't know how to pronounce non-English words Note: Text-to-speech relies on Microsoft's SAPI4 system being installed on the computer. If you do not yet have this capability installed you can download an installer for it from the Open Window Software website's downloads page at: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/download-flashcards.htm Export to .wav or .mp3 and use your iPod or other personal audio device to study in on-the-go situations where a PDA or laptop isn't practical. Use that commute time to work on your studies * Pairs can now be imported into the deck by copying two-column text from common table formats (e.g. Microsoft's Word, Excel and Access programs) to the Windows clipboard and then importing the data directly from the clipboard. The import feature has also been enhanced by adding direct import of .csv files * Improved Advanced Statistics, with more meaningful data displayed depending on the deck's current study mode *Background color of the Introduction can now be set to your choice of color Note: Old .FLS files will work just fine with v9.0. Simply open them with the new program and the new entries for the .FLD file will be automatically created the first time you open the file in v9.0 --------------------------------------------------- Need Help? Have A problem? Check out our online listings of the latest releases and the problems that they've solved. For WinFlash programs see: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/wfprobs.htm For ProUpdater see: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/puprobs.htm If your issue isn't covered there, please send e-mail to support@openwindow.com and we'll do our best to resolve your problem. --------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE: Send e-mail to service@openwindow.com with SUBSCRIBE as the Subject. UNSUBSCRIBE: Simply send an email to service@openwindow.com with REMOVE as the Subject. This newsletter is a free service of Open Window Software and is Copyright © 2005 Open Window Software. All worldwide rights reserved.