


                           FASTALK

        The problem for the speech impaired is the time taken to type
        in a response. Some are very slow typists. By the time a response
        is typed, the conversation has often moved on to a new topic.
        This can be very frustrating. This program reduces the number
        of keystrokes by assigning  macros (or abbreviations) to
        commonly used words and phrases.

        Let's suppose you want to say -

         "What time are you going to school tomorrow?"

        That totals 43 keystrokes. Whereas with this program and
        suitable macros you only have to type -

        "Wt ti r y gg to sc tm?"

         wt = what
         ti = time
         r = are
         y = you
         gg = going
         sc = school
         tm = tomorrow

        This is only 22 keystrokes - half of the number normally
        required!

        If you use this phrase often then you could make the
        macro "wtgsc" for the whole phrase. That is only 5 keystrokes.
        Macros should be intuitive, for instance: "hru" for "How are
        you" and "wrug" for "Where are you going", etc. If you use a
        phrase frequently like "please help me to get up" you can
        assign a special macro like "za" so that only two keystrokes
        are needed. For example:

        Macro    Sentence
        hru      "how are you?"
        wrug     "where are you going?"
        za       "please help me to get up"
        zb       "what is for dinner?"
        zc       "I would like some juice now please"
        zd       "What's new at the office?"
        etc., etc.

        Single letter macros are particularly useful such as:

        t       "the"
        n       "and"
        p       "please"
        r       "are"
        y       "you"
        w       "with"
        d       "dollar"
        k       "know"
        etc., and easy to remember.

        Everyday expressions can be programmed with the Instant Talk
        keys like "hello", "goodbye", "yes", "no", etc.

        How do you remember all your macros? You don't have to.
        Just type the first letter then press SHIFT key (left shift is
        default) and you will get a list of your macros immediately
        below the letter. Visually scan the list then finish typing
        the macro - it will be expanded with the next SPACE or "." or
        "?" or "!" keystroke and the list will disappear.

        If your sentence is on the top line then there is room for 22
        macros before the list starts scrolling. This is plenty because
        the time taken to visually scan more than this defeats the
        whole reason for this program.

        The program is initially set up for a black and white screen to
        be compatible with laptops with an LCD screen. If you have a
        colour screen then goto the Help section-<F1> and select
        Configuration-<F2> then select Color option-<F7>.

        If you do NOT have a synthesizer you can try the program by
        typing FASTALK/S at the DOS prompt.

        Alan
