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Version 2005.0003
Section 1
Aurora Suite 2005
Aurora Suite 2005 is the first release in Aurora Systems' new line of assistive technology tools.
If there is something you need your PC to do, chances are good Aurora Suite can help.
Some of the features in Aurora Suite are:
Advanced, effective Word Prediction that learns your writing style and works with all the applications you need to.
Fast and easy conversational speech output for public speaking or day-to-day discussions.
Spoken feedback as you type so you can hear if you make mistakes.
Simple screenreader reads documents, email or web pages when reading is a chore.
Talking Spellchecker works with any application and is tuned to the needs of the most creative spellers.
Automatic Spelling Corrections correct common misspellings instantly. Add your own with the touch of a button.
Homonym alert, definitions, and usage examples for over 2100 homonyms make sure you use the right word.
Run-on-Sentence alert lets you know when it is time to consider adding some punctuation.
Question alert reminds you when you start a question, but don't finish it with a question mark.
Abbreviation Expansion saves keystrokes by letting you program a short code to type instead of often used phrases.
Phrase prediction learns phrases as you type for even more effective keystroke savings than single-word predictors.
Grammatical Rules help the word prediction system give you better suggestions.
AutoPunctuation, AutoCapitalization and AutoSpacing save keystrokes by typing spaces and capitals where you need them.
Feature Editor allows you to tailor Aurora Suite's feature set to the needs of your user.
The Dictionary Editor allows you to edit your dictionary, or even import vocabulary from documents you've written to get prediction up to speed on your writing style.
Pretrained English word prediction vocabularies from 1,900 to 625,000 words, many including 20,000 common names and places.
Additional language dictionaries for UK English, French, German, Italian, Finnish, Spanish, Swedish, Polish and Portuguese.
Easy language selection.
UNICODE support for foreign languages.
Support for synthesizers that use industry standard Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) versions 4 and 5.
Pronunciation correction system assures words are always pronounced correctly by the speech synthesizer.
Multiple users can use Aurora Suite on a single PC using Windows logins.
Full support for end-user or reseller translation.
For detailed information on these and many more features included in Aurora Suite, please browse this guide.
Section 2
Changes for 2005
Aurora Suite 2005 is the first in a new line of products from Aurora Systems.
Some of the differences between it and Aurora 3.0 for Windows are:
Aurora Suite offers three levels of functionality so that the user can choose features appropriate
for their needs at the best price.
Value Edition - basic support for learning disabilities.
Standard Edition - enhanced support for learning disabilities and basic support for augmentative communication.
Professional Edition - the most effective assistance for both learning and augmentative communication.
Visual Highlighting for speech output, highlighting each word as it is spoken,
with complete visual customization of font, size and colors.
The application is now all UNICODE internally, meaning better support for foreign languages.
The user interface can now be easily translated to different languages even by end-users.
Prediction now includes the option to give recently added words a priority boost.
Echo has a new button to stop the speech synthesizer while it is speaking. Prediction and Talk
offer this as a menu item.
Echo will now check if questions end in a question mark and speak a warning if they don't.
The Feature Editor's fine grained feature control lets teachers control exactly what help
Aurora Suite offers students.
Both Microsoft Speech API Version 4 and 5 speech synthesizers are now supported making
Aurora compatible with nearly all modern software speech synthesizers.
The look of the program is improved, using Windows XP skins and new raindrop icons for Echo.
For people who have difficulty with next word prediction, now it can be turned off.
Placing the mouse over a homonym or other macro displays its full text in a tooltip.
Windows user profiles are now supported along with roaming profiles.
The Prediction window can now display up to 40 words to select from.
All the Aurora programs are now integrated into one easy to manage package.
There are also many other minor additions, changes and fixes you will discover as you use the software.
In order to take advantage of features available on newer platforms, we have deleted
support for a few older and lesser used features. If you require any of these features,
please consider purchasing Aurora 3.0 for Windows instead.
Support for 16-bit Speech Synthesizers and external hardware synthesizers has been removed.
The Aurora Realvoice is no longer supported.
Windows 3.1, 95, 98, Me, and NT 4 are no longer supported.
Section 3
Getting Started
Getting Started
To install Aurora Suite, insert the CD-ROM into your disk drive. If your computer has autorun
enabled, it should start the installation program automatically. If it doesn't, open My Computer,
then double-click on your CD-ROM drive. On some computers, the installer will start now. If
it still hasn't started, find the Setup.exe or Setup Application in the My Computer window to
start the installer manually.
Running Aurora Suite
To run Aurora Suite, double click on the Aurora Suite 2005 icon on your desktop. Alternately,
click on Start, Programs, Aurora Suite 2005, Aurora Suite 2005.
Starting Automatically
If you would like Aurora Suite to start automatically each time you start your computer, add it's icon to the
Startup group in your Programs folder.
Section 4
Welcome
When Aurora Suite starts, if it is not Activated, you will be presented with the Welcome screen.
Enter Serial Number and Activate Software
If you have already purchased Aurora Suite and have your 12 digit serial number ready, press
Enter Serial Number and Activate Software to enter it and activate the
software for full operation.
Buy Now
If you are ready to buy your own copy of Aurora Suite, and want to purchase it instantly and
securely over the internet, press the Buy Now button.
With Buy Now, you can get access to Aurora Suite while you wait for your CD and Manual to
arrive, or you can save a few dollars and purchase Aurora Suite without the CD and Manual.
Tip: Your Aurora Reseller can use Buy Now to instantly purchase and receive a fully activated
serial number for Aurora Suite, you don't have to wait for order processing or your software
to arrive in the mail.
Demonstration
If you are new to Aurora Suite, choose Demonstration to give Aurora Suite a try for yourself.
Exit Aurora Suite
You can choose Exit Aurora Suite to return to Windows and end Aurora Suite.
Section 5
Enter Serial Number
Once you have received your Aurora Suite serial number you need to enter it in order to activate
Aurora Suite for full operation. Serial numbers for Aurora Suite are 12 digits, like 0000-0000-0000.
The simplified serial numbers in Aurora Suite are much easier to enter than our previous products.
Aurora Activation sends your serial number along with a special Hardware Code unique to your
computer to Aurora Systems servers which provide an Activation Code which enables the software for
full operation. You can learn more about activation from our online
Activation FAQ.
Please Note: your Aurora Suite serial number is your key to access the software and
services you have purchased from Aurora Systems. Aurora Systems is a small company and we rely on
the support of customers like you to continue in our mission to produce affordable, effective solutions
for people with special needs. Please do not share your serial number with others and be sure to
protect it like your Social Security Number (SSN), Social Insurance Number (SIN) or other confidential
personal information.
Enter the serial number you have been provided. If you have purchased Aurora Suite through its Buy Now
feature, this should be filled in automatically for you.
Select Users for this Serial Number
Most users will select Use this serial number for all users so that any subsequent Windows users
added to the system will be able to use this serial number.
Tip: Network administrators should select to use the serial number for all users so that Aurora Suite
will work for roaming users.
If only a single Windows user will be using the software, or if different users are using unique
installations of Aurora Suite, choose Use this serial number only for the current user.
Automatic Activation
If your computer is connected to the internet, press Automatic to connect to Aurora Systems servers and
activate your software automatically.
If the Activation process is successful, you will be provided with an Activation Code as shown above. If
you prefer, you can use this code in the future to activate manually provided your computer has not changed.
Manual Activation
If you do not have access to the internet on the computer you are installing Aurora Suite onto, you can
also activate the software for full operation manually. Choose Manual to start manual activation and to
view detailed instructions on Manual Activation.
Your Privacy
Aurora Systems respects your privacy. We have a corporate privacy policy that explains what information
we collect and what we use it for. If you are connected to the internet, you can click on Your Privacy to view
our privacy policy.
Section 6
Register for Support
Registration of your Aurora Systems product provides access to features for registered users such as
technical support, fixes and updates, new product notifications and more.
Registration is entirely optional, however to gain access to support resources such as software
updates, you need to enter a Technical Support Access Information Password.
We hope you will complete the other fields so we can use it to provide better services.
Automatic Registration
Complete the registration form, then if you are connected to the internet, press Next to
send your information to Aurora Systems servers. After a few moments, the results of your
registration will display.
Aurora Systems respects your privacy. We have a corporate privacy policy that explains what information
we collect and what we use it for. If you are connected to the internet, you can click on Your Privacy to view
our privacy policy.
Section 7
Voice Choice
When you first start Aurora Suite, if you want spoken feedback or if you are using Aurora
to communicate verbally with other people, you will need to select a speech synthesizer.
If you have never used Aurora Suite before, it will prompt you the first time you start it
to select a speech synthesizer.
You can get back to the Voice Options dialog through the menu bar or right-click menu
of any Aurora Suite window.
Voice Options
The Voice Options dialog will list all the speech synthesizers that are installed on your computer.
Select one of the voice drivers from the list, you can press Try It to hear the selected
synthesizer speak. You can try the different voice drivers until you find one you like.
Windows 2000 does not come with any speech synthesizers by default. Windows XP comes
with one Microsoft voice. Additional Microsoft speech synthesizers should be installed
during the Aurora Suite installation.
Visual Highlighting
If you would like visual highlighting when Aurora Suite is speaking, you should check
the box next to Highlight Feedback in the Visual Highlighting box. This will make the
Visual Highlighting window appear on your desktop.
Pronunciation
If you find that certain words are mispronounced by your speech
synthesizer, you can correct the pronunciation of words in the
Aurora Voice Options dialog with
Edit Exception File.
Prediction appears as a window full of words on your desktop.
By default, the Prediction window will stay on top of any application that
you want Prediction to help you with. When you go to an application that
you don't want help with, Prediction will display a ZZZZzzzzz message and
disappear behind any windows you put in front of it.
The first time you start Aurora Suite, it will prompt you to select a dictionary
to use for the Prediction window. There are several dictionaries that ship with
Aurora Suite, these are:
CORE.DCT - a core vocabulary of 1900 of the most common words in English.
SPELL.DCT - a dictionary of words optimized for users who just need the spellchecker.
PREDICT.DCT - a dictionary of 125,000 words, trained extensively to offer the best word
prediction experience for all users, right out of the box.
MONSTER.DCT - a dictionary of over 625,000 words trained for word prediction.
Aurora Suite also ships with a number of language specific dictionary files you can choose from.
Getting Started
Aurora Prediction is easy to get started with, just start typing in your
Word processor or other Windows application. In a moment, either the application is one
that Aurora Suite is preprogrammed to work with and word
prediction will start working, or it is one Aurora Suite is not familiar with and it
will prompt you to see if you want word prediction to help you with this application.
The Prediction Window
The Prediction window lists words it thinks you might be typing or might
want to type. To the left of the first nine words is a number. You can type
that number to have Aurora Prediction type that word into the program you
are working with for you.
Words in the window display in different colors to cue you to special features
of those words. Green words are homonyms, blue words are words that are spelled
differently, but sound like what you have typed.
Macros also appear in the Prediction window, Text macros display the macro code,
a red arrow, and the abbreviation expansion. Speech macros display the macro code,
a red S, and the message to be spoken.
Getting into Aurora Prediction's Settings Dialogs
You can get to the Prediction program's setup dialogs from the
Prediction window System menu (the square box at the top left corner of the
Prediction window,) or by right clicking anywhere on the Prediction window and
choosing Prediction Options.
You may want to look through the Prediction Options dialog
before starting. There are easy setup buttons on the first tab page of
options that will get most people started quickly.
Echo appears as a toolbar at the top of your Windows desktop. Echo offers
a number of reading tools, you can read the name of each tool by placing
the mouse over the toolbar buttons until the tooltip for that button appears.
Echo is easy to get started with, just go to any program you like
and start writing. Echo will start talking as you type providing spoken
feedback so you can hear if you make any mistakes.
Tip: If you didn't select a speech synthesizer during installation or you don't hear any
speech, you will need to select a synthesizer in the Aurora Voice Options dialog.
You can get to that dialog by clicking the Voice Options icon. You can also
get to Voice Options by right clicking anywhere on the Echo toolbar.
Choosing Things to have Echoed
Generally having fewer things echoed in Echo Options is best,
especially with faster typists, as the more it has to say, the longer it
takes, and the more it can get behind. We recommend having Words,
Punctuation and Sentences on to start. You may also need to use the Every
N Words option if you don't use punctuation. You can add other options as
you use the program.
Stopping Speech
You can stop speech output at any time by pushing the button with the lips with the
red stop circle over it.
Run-on Sentence Warning
Aurora Echo can warn writers when they construct a run-on sentence that
has too many commas or words. It is not fooled if the person constructs a
list of items following a colon.
For information on setting up the Run-on Sentence Warning, see
Echo Options.
Punctuation Monitoring
Aurora Echo can also warn writers if they construct a sentence that looks like
a question that doesn't end in a question mark.
Choosing Toolbar Tools
Generally we recommend you choose the tools you think
you need. You will probably not need the Echo Clipboard, Echo Options,
Voice Options, Help!, About Aurora Echo and Close Aurora Echo tools once
you have Echo working the way you like. Most of these tools are still
available on the Echo Menu if
needed.
Changing Echo's Looks
You can also select larger icons if the default icons are too small. If you prefer,
the toolbar can be vertical rather than horizontal.
Talk appears as a window at the bottom of your desktop. The top part of the window
features a summary of the defined function keys. Function keys can be programmed either
to do actions within the program such as Help or Muting the voice, or as phrases to be spoken.
There are a number of actions you can program.
The lower portion of the window allows you to type in phrases which can then be spoken
any time you like. Phrases can be repeated any time, just by using the arrows to navigate to the
phrase and pressing Enter to speak it.
Function Key Phrases
You will want to add your own function key phrases for things like your
address, telephone number, favourite expressions etc. You can do this in
the Talk Options dialog in
the box marked Function Key Phrases, just click on one of the buttons to
add new phrases or edit existing ones. If you don't like having part of
your screen used to display the function keys, you can get rid of this
display in the Talk Options dialog by turning off Show Function Keys Help.
Repeating Phrases
You can repeat any phrase you have typed by placing the caret (the
vertical bar) anywhere on the phrase and pressing enter.
Saying Part of a Phrases
If you only want to say part of a phrase you can do that by highlighting
the part of the phrase you want to read with the mouse (or by holding the
shift key and using the arrows on the keyboard.) If anything is marked,
pressing Enter will read it.
Deleting old Phrases
You can delete a phrase by putting the caret at the start of a phrase
and holding the Del key until it is entirely deleted, or you can use the
mouse or keyboard to mark what you want to delete and then press the Del
key once.
Conversations
You might want to organize your phrases into topics called Conversations to make them
easier to manage. You can have one for home, one for at school, one
for with friends, and so on. Aurora Talk allows you to switch between conversations
quickly and easily with F11 and F12. Find out more by reading about conversations.
Speech Problems?
If you didn't select a speech synthesizer during startup or you get an error
message when you try to speak, you will need to select a synthesizer in the
Voice Options dialog. You can get to that dialog by
choosing Options from the Talk menus, then Voice Options... You can also get
to Voice Options by right clicking anywhere on the Talk window.
Pronunciation
If you find that certain words are mispronounced by your speech
synthesizer, you can correct the pronunciation of words in the
Aurora Voice Options dialog with
Edit Exception File.
Public speaking is challenging for some, and a necessity for others.
Recognizing this need, Aurora Suite offers a number of tools for public
speaking which should give you the comfort and assurance you need
when you get up in front of a crowd.
Using Aurora Talk
Aurora Talk allows you to do public speaking from a prepared speech and
interact with your audience quickly and easily.
Prepared Speeches
If you have a speech prepared in your word processor, you can put it
into Talk quickly and easily by copying the speech to the clipboard, and
then pasting it into Aurora Talk with Edit|Paste. (It is best if you do
this with a new conversation that you have created with Conversations|New.)
This will put your speech into the current conversation and split it into
sentences so that you can easily control the flow of your presentation by
repeatedly pressing Enter each time you wish to speak the next sentence.
Tip: Before you do the paste, you might want to change the History Lines
setting in Talk Options to
512 to make sure that a long presentation doesn't run off the top of the
conversation.
Handling Questions
If you receive questions from the audience, you can answer quick yes and
no questions with preprogrammed phrases in the function keys. If a
question requires a longer answer, switch to a different conversation
(again, created with Conversations|New) by using Next! (F12) or Previous!
(F11) and write out your longer response with the help of Aurora Word
Prediction. When you are done answering, again use Next! and Previous! to
return to your presentation.
Using Aurora Echo
Although Aurora Talk is a better solution for public speaking, Aurora
Echo will also allow you to do public speaking from a prepared speech.
Prepared Speeches
If you have a speech prepared in your word processor, you can mark
sections of it to be spoken and use the Read Marked Block button to read
it.
Handling Questions
If you receive questions from the audience, you can answer quick yes and
no questions by typing them into another document in your word processor
and using Echo to read back what you are typing.
Using Aurora Prediction
Aurora Prediction also offers abbreviation expansions which provide speech
output. You can preprogram your presentation, then use the abbreviation
expansions and word prediction to give it.
Pronunciation
We strongly recommend going through your presentation ahead of time to
make sure that your speech synthesizer pronounces everything correctly. If
there are problems, you can correct them in the Aurora Voice Options
dialog with Edit Exception File.
Section 12
Demos
Demos
We recommend anyone thinking about purchasing Aurora Suite give it a try
before they buy. Aurora Suite offers two types of Demo so you can choose the
one that best suits your needs.
All-Day Demo
The All-Day Demo allows most functions of Aurora Suite to operate for up to 24 hours or until
you quit Aurora Suite. You can continue to request the All-Day Demo for up to 30 days from
the first time you request one. Click on More Information About All-Day Demo for detailed
information.
Note: The All-Day Demo requires an internet connection so that
Aurora Suite can contact Aurora Systems servers to verify eligibility for the All-Day demo.
Standard 20 Minute Demo
The Standard 20 Minute Demo offers limited functionality and a per-run time limit of 20 minutes.
You can use the 20 minute demo even if you don't have an internet connection.
Aurora Systems respects your privacy. We have a corporate privacy policy that explains what information
we collect and what we use it for. If you are connected to the internet, you can click on Your Privacy to view
our privacy policy.
Section 13
Demo Level
Aurora Suite offers three levels of functionality so that the user can choose features appropriate
for their needs at the best price.
Value Edition - basic support for learning disabilities.
Standard Edition - enhanced support for learning disabilities and basic support for augmentative communication.
Professional Edition - the most effective assistance for both learning and augmentative communication.
Once you select a demo, you will be prompted to select the level of functionality for
the demo software.
Tip: Resellers note that your sample software will prompt you for the demo level
just as if it was a demo.
Click any of the three buttons to choose the demo level you want.
Don't Ask Again
Check Don't Ask Again and the next time you choose a demo, it won't ask you this question.
Aurora Suite's Prediction system is designed to speed typing input
and improve spelling and
grammar in programs for the Microsoft Windows operating environment.
Word Guessing
Aurora Prediction attempts to guess what word you are typing as you type
it. If you press H for example, you will see a list of words that start
with the letter H in the window like: he, his, had, her, have, him etc. Pressing
E will then cause Prediction to offer you a list of words starting with HE.
Pressing L will give a list of words that start with HEL. If you were
typing "helpless" and you saw it appear in the prediction window,
you could then either type the number next to it in the prediction window
or click on it with the mouse to have Prediction complete the word for you.
So for four keystrokes "HEL4" you get nine keystrokes output,
eight for "helpless" plus a trailing space. You've doubled your
typing speed.
To improve keystroke savings even more, Aurora Prediction attempts to
predict what word will follow the word you have just typed, so after the
"helped" example above, you would see words that have been seen
to follow "helped" before, the most likely one being
"the". In this case, you type 1 to select "the" for a
savings of 3 keystrokes. Much better than you can get with guessing alone.
Multiple-Word Prediction
Once you have typed "helped the" a few times using the
technique above, you may notice that the phrase "helped the"
appears in the prediction window after you have typed "hel". You
can then pick the phrase for a savings of 8 keystrokes. Three better than
you can get with the word guessing/prediction combination.
As you use Multiple-Word Prediction you can build even longer phrases
like "Hello there how are you" for savings of 20 characters or
more, plus you don't need to preprogram macros and remember all those
codes.
It Learns Your Writing Style
As you use Aurora Prediction, it learns your personal writing style, so
the more you use it, the more effective word guessing, prediction and
multiple-word prediction will get.
AutoPunctuation
After you press a punctuation character (period, exclamation, question,
semicolon, comma) Aurora Prediction automatically inserts the appropriate
number of spaces after that punctuation character.
Tip: If you don't need the spaces, you should go back with the left
arrow key rather than the backspace because backspace will delete both the
space and the punctuation character.
AutoCapitalization
After a terminating punctuation character (period, exclamation,
question), Aurora Prediction will automatically set the shift key so that
the first character of the next sentence or paragraph will automatically be
capitalized.
Tip: If you don't want that character to be capitalized, you should type
it, then go back with the left arrow key and type over top of it with the
desired lower case letter.
AutoSpacing
You may have noticed that after words and punctuation that Aurora
Prediction automatically puts the appropriate number of spaces after the
word or punctuation character for you. This is called AutoSpacing.
Tip: If you don't need the spaces, you should go back with the left
arrow key rather than the backspace because backspace will delete both the
space and the punctuation character.
AutoBackspace
In Aurora Prediction, the backspace key is more of an undo key than a
simple backspace. It remembers the last twenty keystrokes and can undo any
changes that Aurora Prediction has made to the typed results in your
application.
Tip: Pressing any arrow key, delete, PgUp or PgDn will cause
AutoBackspace to forget its backspacing information, returning it to
regular backspace operation.
Macros
Aurora Prediction also supports preprogrammed text and speech macros that
can be used for Logical Letter Coding schemes and are automatically
expanded when you hit the expand character. This character defaults to a
space, but can easily be changed to any other character using the
ExpandCharacter= setting in the AURORA.SET.
There are two types of macros, text and speech. Text macros are typed
into the application you typed the macro code into. Speech macros are
spoken. After a macro is autoexpanded, the macro code is erased out of the
window where you typed it. Text macros are automatically followed by a
space. Text macros can be unexpanded by pressing the backspace key,
backspacing after a speech macro will return the macro code to the screen.
Word Endings and Suffixes
This is one thing that Aurora Prediction doesn't do since this feature
was originally designed to compensate for limited dictionary capacity.
With Aurora Prediction's million word capacity dictionary, it can easily
contain all variations of words (park, Parker, parking, parked, parks,
park's etc.) without the added cognitive difficulty of managing suffixes.
And More...
We recommend you read through the following sections to find more about Aurora
Prediction.
Section 15
For Learning Disabilities
Talking Spellchecker
Aurora Prediction helps improve writing with a talking spellchecker that
can work as you type to mark or correct words, or help you correct your
entire text after you are finished. Advanced phonetic and rule based spell
matching make sure the spellchecker makes the right suggestions.
Error Logging
You can log your spelling errors for later analysis. You can even
convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling corrections
automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Knowledge of Common Dyslexic Errors
Aurora's talking spellchecker applies knowledge of common dyslexic
errors such as confusing b/d/p/q to find the word the writer meant more
often than conventional spelling assistance tools.
Automatic Spelling Correction
Automatic correction of commonly misspelled words fixes common mistakes
without help from the writer. You can even convert your spelling errors
into automatic corrections automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Homonym and Homophone Selection
Visual and audio cues, definitions and examples help the writer choose
between homonyms and homophones.
Definitions, Thesaurus and Usage Examples
Some words include definitions and usage examples, and you can
add as many as you like to help you with word selection. You can also
enter thesaurus words for vocabulary variety.
You can find out more of what it does in the What Does it Do?
section and Spelling Aids section.
Section 16
For Communication
Aurora Prediction helps speed typing input or allows you to type longer
without tiring by attempting to guess what you are typing and allowing you
to complete a word or phrase by pressing the number next to the word or
phrase in the prediction window or by clicking on it with the mouse. You
can improve your results with Aurora Prediction by using the strategies
discussed in Strategies for using Prediction.
Effective Word Prediction
Aurora Prediction contains one of the most effective next word
prediction and word completion algorithms ever developed. That means you
can type faster or longer than you could with help from other word
prediction programs.
Multiple-Word Prediction
Once you have typed "my name is" a few times, you may notice
that the phrase "my name is" appears in the prediction window
after you have typed "my". You can then pick the phrase for a
savings of 8 keystrokes. This also will learn people's names and other
handy phrases as you use them. You can also program your own phrases if
having prediction learn them isn't fast enough. Multiple word phrases have
the added benefit that you don't have to remember macro codes any more.
It Learns Your Writing Style
As you use Aurora Prediction, it learns your personal writing style, so
the more you use it, the more effective word guessing, prediction and
multiple-word prediction will get. To make sure that it is effective right
out of the box, we have trained our dictionaries on several master works of
the English language.
AutoPunctuation, AutoCapitalization and AutoSpacing
Aurora Prediction saves you keystrokes by putting the right number of
spaces after punctuation, putting a space after a word you choose from the
prediction window, and automatically capitalizing the first word of a new
sentence for you.
Macros
Aurora Prediction also supports preprogrammed text, speech and WAV (sound effect) macros
that can be used for Logical Letter Coding
schemes and are automatically expanded when you hit the space bar.
There are three types of macros: text, speech, and WAV file. Text macros
are typed into the application you typed the macro code into. Speech
macros are spoken. WAV macros play the WAV file you name.
Grammatical Rules
Grammatical Rules can be used to make sure that Aurora Prediction
doesn't make grammatically incorrect suggestions. Since English is such a
complicated language and is impossible to completely define with a limited
set of rules, we recommend Grammatical Rules be left off as our statistical algorithms
have been shown to be less subject to error in informal testing.
Talking Spellchecker
Aurora Prediction helps improve writing with a talking spellchecker that
can work as you type to mark or correct words, or help you correct your
entire text after you are finished. Advanced phonetic and rule based spell
matching make sure the spellchecker makes the right suggestions.
Error Logging
You can log your spelling errors for later analysis. You can even
convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling corrections
automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Automatic Spelling Correction
Automatic correction of commonly misspelled words fixes common mistakes
without help from the writer. You can even convert your spelling errors
into automatic corrections automatically using the
Log Spelling Errors feature.
You can find out more of what it does in the What Does it Do?
section.
Section 17
Adult Content
Warning: There may be words contained in Aurora
for Windows' dictionary files that some users find offensive. Rather than
censoring our dictionary files, we have made a best effort to hide these
words from our younger or more sensitive users with our Show Adult Words
feature. Unfortunately, what is considered "offensive" varies
widely over individuals and we may simply have missed some
"adult" words. If you find words you find offensive in our
dictionaries that are not marked as "adult," we sincerely
apologize, and please be sure to let us know so we can make sure they are
marked as adult content in future releases.
Aurora Prediction's Show Adult Words feature is designed to make the use
of Aurora Prediction easier for parents of younger users, or in a school
setting. Aurora Prediction's vocabulary contains many words that are
generally considered "adult." Rather than censoring these words,
Aurora Systems has made a best effort to mark any "adult" words
so that they will not be shown to users unless specifically enabled by
checking the Show Adult Words checkbox in the Dictionary tab of the
Prediction Options
dialog, and so that they can be easily removed from the dictionary using
Dictionary Optimization.
If the Show Adult Words checkbox on the Dictionary tab of the Prediction
Options dialog is not checked, words marked as "adult" content
will not show up in the prediction window, and will show as asterisks
(*****) in the dictionary editor. You also will not be able to edit
"adult" content words in the dictionary editor.
If You Find Adult Words We Have Missed
If you find words that you consider "adult" that we
have not already marked, you can mark them yourself by editing the words in
the Dictionary Editor and
checking the word's "Adult Vocabulary Word" checkbox. We would
be interested in hearing about any words we have missed.
Removing Adult Content Words from the Dictionary
You can remove all words marked as "adult" content from the
dictionary by choosing Optimize Dictionary... from the Aurora Prediction
menu, checking the Delete Words Marked as Adult Content checkbox, then
clicking on the Start button at the bottom of the Optimize Dictionary
dialog. This may take a few hours. Please see Optimizing a Dictionary
before starting. Note that this must be done for each dictionary file
individually, it cannot be done for all dictionaries all at once.
Displaying Adult Content Words
If you wish to have full access to words that are "adult"
content, check the Show Adult Words checkbox in the Dictionary tab of the
Prediction Options
dialog.
Section 18
Spelling Aids
Aurora Suite contains several features designed to help poor
spellers, each of these is discussed briefly below.
Unlimited Dictionary Size
Since the dictionary size is practically unlimited (roughly 1 Million
words), nearly any word you might want to spell (roughly 125,000 words
including more than 20,000 names and places in the prediction dictionary)
will already be in the dictionaries.
Spelling Autocorrection
The standard dictionaries shipped with Aurora Suite contain
a number of Spelling Autocorrection text macros. These macros make
Prediction correct commonly misspelled words automatically as you type,
like "recieve" to "receive". You can even
automatically convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling
corrections, find out more under the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Talking Spellchecker
Aurora Prediction helps improve writing with a talking spellchecker that
can work as you type to mark or correct words, or help you correct your
entire text after you are finished. Advanced phonetic and rule based spell
matching make sure the spellchecker makes the right suggestions.
Error Logging
You can log your spelling errors for later analysis. You can even
convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling corrections
automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Knowledge of Common Dyslexic Errors
Aurora's talking spellchecker applies knowledge of common dyslexic
errors such as confusing b/d/p/q to find the word the writer meant more
often than conventional spelling assistance tools.
Phonetic Spelling
Prediction has the ability to guess words that sound like a word you are
spelling if the word you are typing is not in the dictionary. Typically
this helps if you are spelling a word incorrectly by offering you the
correct spelling in the prediction window once you have typed most of the
word. See Prediction Options for more information.
These phonetically similar words appear as blue words in the Prediction window.
Spell Check as you Type
Aurora Prediction can check the words you type to see that they are in
its dictionary and spelled correctly, and if not, ask you to correct the
spelling or add the word to the dictionary as you go. Unlike the spelling
checkers in commercial word processors, it can read the selections to you
to help choose the correct word. See Prediction Options for
more information.
Spell Check Clipboard
Aurora Prediction can spell check any text that you copy to the
clipboard so that you can mark a passage in your document, copy it to the
clipboard, spell check it, then paste it back into your document to make
the corrections permanent. See Prediction Options for
more information.
Extra Words
Aurora Prediction allows the user to display up to 6 31 extra words at the
bottom of the Prediction window that can only be selected by clicking on
them with the mouse. These words can help if a poor speller can get the
first two or three letters of a long word by allowing them to see the word
earlier than if only the top 6 or 9 words were shown.
The Aurora Spellcheck dialog appears if you type a word that is not in
the current dictionary file. The dialog shows you the word and a number of
suggestions and allows you to make any desired changes.
Note: If the Aurora Spellcheck dialog is onscreen in one application,
Aurora Spellcheck is disabled in all other applications until the dialog is
closed. So if you get a spelling error in one application, take care of
correcting it before you go to a different application.
Tip: When the spelling dialog opens, the word in the dictionary that is
most likely the word you meant will be entered here. If it is the correct
word, just hit Enter and it will go into your document.
The top line of the dialog box contains the context of the word you are
correcting. For spell checking as you type, this will just be the
misspelled word. For spell checking the clipboard, this will be the part
of the sentence after the misspelled word.
Below the context is a text entry box that is where you can enter a
correction for the misspelled word.
Below the text entry box, the left side contains a list of suggestions
for what the correct word might be. You may double-click on any of the
words in this list to move them into the correction text entry box. To see
more words, click on the scroll bar to the right of that window (if
present.) The words in this list are ordered with the most likely word at
the top of the list.
More Suggestions
If the word you are looking for is not in the suggestion list and you
have the spell checker set to not give you every possible suggestion right
at the start, the More Suggestions button will cause the spellchecker to
look further for the correct word. This button will go gray when it has no
more suggestions to make.
Replace
The Replace button will put the text in the correction text entry box
into the document you are working on, or into the clipboard. The word in
the correction text entry box will be added to the Aurora Prediction
dictionary.
Was Spelled Right
The Was Spelled Right button will make Aurora Prediction assume the word
you typed is correct and add it to the dictionary.
Autocorrect
The Autocorrect button will put the text in the correction text entry box
into the document you are working on, or into the clipboard. The word in
the correction text entry box will be added to the Aurora Prediction
dictionary as an autocorrection so you never have to correct this mistake again.
Say
The Say button will make Aurora Prediction speak the word in the
correction text entry box. If you click the Say button a second time, it
will spell the word for you. You can click on any of the words in the
suggestion list to have them read to you.
Mark
The Mark button will make Aurora Prediction surround the misspelled word
with curly brackets {} in the document you are working on, or in the
clipboard. The word will not be added to the Aurora Prediction dictionary.
Ignore
The Ignore button will make Aurora Prediction ignore the word in the
correction text entry box, and will not add it to the dictionary. This is
useful if the word is an unusual or made up one and you just want to get
back to your work without making any changes or adding the word to the
dictionary.
Alarm Sound
If the Alarm Sound checkbox is checked, Aurora Prediction will make a
sound when the Aurora Spellcheck dialog appears.
Aurora Prediction can read the prediction window to you if you press the
` key (above the tab on 101 key keyboards, it also has the ~ character on
it) and have a speech synthesizer attached and configured correctly. You
can set up your speech synthesizer in the Voice Options dialog.
If you decide you don't need to hear any more while Prediction is speaking, select Stop Speaking
from the Prediction menu or right-click menu.
Pronunciation
If you find that certain words are mispronounced by your speech
synthesizer, you can correct the pronunciation of words in the Voice Options
dialog with Edit Exception File.
Section 21
Prediction Strategies
Aurora Suite's Prediction system can be used most effectively if you
use a few simple strategies which take best advantage of its features.
Remember your Phrases
Aurora Prediction's multiple word prediction feature is designed to
maximize the speed of typing input. The way it does that is by offering you
longer phrases for selection in the prediction window. In time, the
phrases you use often will start to be offered earlier, but until that
time, you can often get a phrase you know Prediction has learned by typing
one or two more characters of the first word of the phrase after that word
appears alone in the prediction window. If you type the whole first word
and still don't see the phrase you want, don't worry, the phrase you are
looking for probably just hasn't been typed as many times as the other
options in the prediction window so it doesn't show up.
Building Longer Phrases
If you don't use two-word phrases, Prediction will never learn longer
ones. If "I want" has been learned, you need to select it and
"to" to build the phrase "I want to".
Getting Words Spelled Right
With the larger dictionaries, nearly any word you might want to spell
should already be in the dictionary. If you do not see the word you are
spelling, you may be making a spelling mistake. If you think that might be
the case, spell the word out the way you think it is spelled, and if
Phonetic Spelling doesn't offer the word you are typing before you press
the space at the end of the word and you don't have Spell Check as you Type
on, stop! Don't press that space. You might want to check that you
have spelled the word correctly before you press the space and Prediction
learns the new word.
If you have Spell Check as you Type on, you will not have this problem.
Section 22
Typing Numbers
Prediction allows you to disable prediction
temporarily for any window by typing 0 (zero). To turn prediction back on,
type ;0 (semicolon, zero). This feature is particularly useful when you
want to type numbers where those numbers would usually select words from
the prediction box. Note that if you switch to another window, that
prediction will come back on for that window, then turn off again when you
switch back. This feature only turns prediction on and off for a single
window.
Section 23
Prediction Performance
Several options can greatly improve the performance of the Prediction
program. These options and their associated tradeoffs are discussed
briefly below.
Dictionary Optimization is recommended if you find that your dictionary is slow
during prediction, or when you are editing, and you have been using the
same dictionary for a long period. Over time as new words are added to a
dictionary, it is possible for the dictionary to become fragmented so that
it can no longer make optimal use of the available cache memory.
Increasing Cache Memory is recommended
if you find your dictionary performance slow even
after dictionary optimization. Note that increasing cache memory may
affect the performance of other applications. If you increase the amount
of cache memory over the size the dictionary is optimized for, we recommend
you optimize the dictionary for the new cache size.
Use an Uncompressed Dictionary.
Compressed dictionaries are slower than uncompressed
dictionaries, this can make a significant difference to the performance of
Aurora Prediction on slower computers without enough memory to cache the
entire dictionary. Note that uncompressed dictionaries use roughly double
the amount of disk space than their compressed equivalents. The standard
dictionaries shipped with Prediction are not compressed.
Set the Learning Options to Don't Learn
so that new words are no longer added and words'
priorities no longer change. Much of the time taken after selecting a word
from the prediction window is used up adjusting words' priorities.
If you are not using too large a dictionary, Cache the Entire Dictionary.
This will put the entire dictionary file in memory for maximum performance.
Use a smaller dictionary.
Several dictionaries are provided with Prediction, smaller ones require
less cache memory and will generally perform better than larger ones.
Tip: We do not recommend using smaller dictionaries if you are using
the spell checking features.
Section 24
Prediction Options
The Prediction Options dialog allows you to set up Aurora Prediction for
your needs. When you are in the options dialog you can move to the next
tab by pressing F12, or the previous tab by pressing F11, or click on the
tab to go directly to that page.
You can get to the prediction options dialog by right clicking on the
Prediction window and choosing Prediction Options from the menu or by
opening the System menu for Aurora Prediction and choosing Prediction
Options.
Choose the tab you need help with below for detailed feature
descriptions:
Click on OK to accept changes, or click Cancel to abort changes.
Section 25
Easy Setup
To quickly set Prediction for the best options for you, you can
use the Easy Setup buttons. If these preset configurations do not suit
your needs, you may modify the options on the other tabs in the Prediction
Options dialog box as you choose.
Best Settings For Spellchecking
This button optimizes Aurora Prediction's settings for a person who is
using it for spellchecking while you type only. With this choice, you will
usually minimize Aurora Prediction to run in the background. This enables
all features of the talking spellchecker and optimizes Prediction to
operate most quickly. You may make Aurora Prediction even faster by
increasing the Dictionary Cache on the Dictionary
tab. You may wish to log your spelling errors for later analysis.
You can then convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling
corrections automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Best Settings For Word Prediction
This button optimizes Aurora Prediction's settings for a person who is
going to use Aurora Prediction for word prediction and typing speed
enhancement, but who is a good speller. If you misspell a word, it will be
added to the dictionary unless you check the Spell Check as you Type
checkbox on the Spelling tab or
the Just Learn my Writing Style radio button on the Learning tab.
Best Settings For Word Prediction with Spellchecking
This button optimizes Aurora Prediction's settings for a person who is
going to use Aurora Prediction for word prediction but who needs spelling
assistance. This option enables the Show Phonetically Similar Words option
on the Dictionary tab which may
make prediction performance much slower. You may wish to log your spelling
errors for later analysis. You can then convert your spelling errors into
automatic spelling corrections automatically using the
Log Spelling Errors feature.
Section 26
Dictionary
Show Phrases
Aurora Prediction has the unique ability to learn the phrases that you
use to greatly speed up input and reduce the need for preprogrammed macros.
So if you type "Fred Jones" several times, eventually it will
learn to offer you "Fred Jones" as a single choice in the word
prediction window. If you do not wish to have multiple word phrases offered
in the prediction window, uncheck this option. Changing this option does
not take effect until the next time you open a dictionary
Show Adult Words
Check this checkbox if you wish to have words that are marked as
"adult" content presented in the Prediction window and the
Dictionary Editor. Please see Adult Content for more
information before checking this checkbox.
Show Phonetically Similar Words
Prediction has the ability to offer you words that sound like a word you
are spelling if the word you are spelling is not in the dictionary.
Typically this helps if you are spelling a word incorrectly. If the
Use Color to Indicate Word Type
checkbox is checked on the Window tab, these words will be drawn in the
Prediction window in blue. Uncheck this if you do not wish to be offered
similar sounding words in the prediction window. Changing this option does
not take effect until the next time you open a dictionary.
Tip: Aurora Prediction will be much faster when typing if this option is
turned off. A larger Dictionary Cache setting can mitigate this slowdown.
Don't Show Grammatically Incorrect Words
Prediction has the ability to apply grammatical rules to reduce the
number of inappropriate words it offers in the prediction window. Uncheck
this if you do not wish to have grammar rules applied to the prediction
window. Changing this option does not take effect until the next time you
open a dictionary.
Note: This feature only works for English dictionaries.
Tip: In languages as complicated as English, it is very difficult to
cover all cases with a finite set of grammatical rules. Aurora
Prediction's prediction and guessing algorithms are very effective at
presenting the correct words, you will generally receive best results if
this feature is turned off.
Recent Words Priority Boost
If Recent Words Priority Boost is checked, new words added to the dictionary
recently will be given an additional priority boost and presented sooner
than they might otherwise by the word prediction. Since new words are
often used repeatedly, such as when writing a school report, this should
save additional keystrokes by presenting such words earlier.
Predict Next Words
Some users have difficulty with next word prediction, but still need word
completion. This option allows you to turn next word prediction off.
Activate Prediction Automatically
If this checkbox is checked, Aurora Prediction will ask you if you wish
to have Aurora Prediction help you with your typing in a new application
when you type a word followed by a space in that application.
If you answer Yes, Prediction will start helping in that application.
If you answer No, Prediction will not help in that window unless you use
the manual Activate Window feature.
Do Automatic Spacing After Punctuation
Aurora Prediction automatically adds spaces after punctuation characters
like .,?! Uncheck this checkbox to turn off the automatic spacing for
punctuation.
Dictionary Cache
In general, the cache size of a dictionary should be about 25% of its
uncompressed size. So if you have a 2 megabyte compressed .DCT dictionary file
(the standard dictionaries shipped with Aurora are not compressed,)
you should use 1024K(1M) of cache (2 megabyte dictionary file, double the
size because it is compressed, and divide by 4). For a 2 megabyte
uncompressed dictionary, you should select at least a 512K cache.
The Professional Edition supports a cache of up to 31744K,
the Value
and Standard Editions support a cache up to 8192K.
Tip: For systems with 64M of RAM or more we recommend a cache of at least 4096K.
If you have 256M or more of RAM, we recommend setting the dictionary cache to its
maximum. You may also want to see Optimizing the Dictionary
for more information.
You can find out how your cache is performing in Dictionary Info from the
Dictionary Editor.
Tip: You are not penalized if you choose a cache larger than the
dictionary you are using needs. In that case Prediction will cache the
entire dictionary and the balance of the cache will remain free for use by
other applications.
Cache Entire Dictionary
Check this option to get maximum performance from a dictionary. With this option
checked, the entire dictionary will be loaded at startup. Note that this
option may significantly increase the time needed to open a dictionary and
if you do not have enough memory, it can make Windows and your other
applications very slow.
Tip: If your computer has 64M or less of RAM, we recommend you don't use this feature.
Tip: If your dictionary is smaller than the maximum Dictionary Cache and you set
the Dictionary Cache to its maximum setting, you will get a similar performance benefit
without the increased time at startup.
Section 27
Spelling
Spell check Text in Clipboard
If this checkbox is checked, any time you copy text to the clipboard,
you will be offered an opportunity to spell check the text you copied to
the clipboard. This feature can be distracting, and you may want to look
at Spell Check as you type below as an alternative.
Important: If you make any changes, you must paste the text back into
your document to make the corrections permanent in your document and you
may lose any formatting you have entered. If you are going to apply formatting, we
recommend you write your document first and get it all spelled correctly before
formatting it.
Note: We recommend using the SPELL.DCT dictionary if you are using
spell checking features.
Spell check as you type
If this checkbox is checked, any time you type a word that Aurora
Prediction does not recognize, a spelling dialog will appear in your
application and allow you to correct the spelling of the word, or tell
Aurora Prediction to learn the word. This feature can be distracting, and
you may want to look at Spell Check Text in Clipboard above as an
alternative. You may wish to log your spelling errors for later analysis.
You can then convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling
corrections automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Note: We recommend using the SPELL.DCT dictionary if you are using
spell checking features.
Tip: If you are using Aurora Prediction solely for spell checking as you
type, we recommend minimizing the prediction window and unchecking Allow
Selections when Minimized on the Window tab to allow normal use of the
number keys and semicolon.
Only Mark misspelled words
If this checkbox is checked, whenever you type a word that Aurora
Prediction does not recognize, it will mark the word by bracketing it with
curly brackets like {werd}. The word in brackets will not be added to the
dictionary. If you later decide to spell check text marked with the Spell
Check Text in Clipboard feature, the brackets will be automatically
removed. You may wish to log your spelling errors for later analysis. You
can then convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling corrections
automatically using the Log Spelling Errors feature.
Ignore Words with Numbers
If this checkbox is checked and you type a word containing a number like
"hel3lo", the word will not bring up the spelling dialog, and
will not be added to the dictionary. This option is only enabled if you
have checked Spell Check as you type above.
Ignore Words with all Capitals
If this checkbox is checked and you type a word that is all capital
letters like "HELLO," the word will not bring up the spelling
dialog, and will not be added to the dictionary. This option is only
enabled if you have checked Spell Check as you type above.
I confuse b/d/p/q
If this checkbox is checked, Aurora's spellchecker will match words
where you have confused b/d/p/q example if I typed "Pobe" or
"Poqe" for "Pope" the spellchecker would suggest
"Pope." If you don't make these types of errors, unchecking this
will make the spellchecker faster.
Suggestions
This drop box allows you to choose the type of suggestions offered when
the Spell Check as you type dialog box opens. The closer you get to
Similar First Letter, the longer it will take for the Spell Check while you
Type dialog to appear although it will make the alarm sound as soon as it
notices a word it doesn't recognize to tell you the spelling dialog is
coming.
Corrections will only list corrections that you have made previously for
the misspelled word.
Phonetic matches will also list words that are phonetically similar to
the misspelled word.
First Two Letters will also list words that have the first two letters
the same and similar spellings.
First Letter will also list words that have only the first letter the
same and similar spellings.
Similar First Letter will also list words that have similar sounding
first letters and similar spellings.
We recommend leaving this set to Phonetic Matches as this will make the
Spell Check while you Type dialog appear quickest, and often the phonetic
match will give you the desired word. Also, you can always click on the
More Suggestions button in the Spell Check while you Type dialog box to get
more suggestions if they are needed.
Match Quality
This drop box allows you to choose how similar the words in the
dictionary must be to the misspelled word in order to be listed in the
suggestions list in the Spell Check while you Type dialog box. If you
choose Very Close, only words that are very similarly spelled will be
listed. If you choose All, then all similarly spelled words will be
listed. Your choices are: Very Close, Close, Loose, and All.
Log Spelling Errors
If this checkbox is checked, any time you do an action in the Aurora
Spellchecker the action will be logged. The default log file is ERRORS.TXT
in your \Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora Suite 2005
directory. You can change the name of the log file with the
SpellingLogFile setting in the aurora.set.
Changing Spelling Errors into Automatic Spelling Corrections
If you have corrected errors with the Aurora Spellchecker and have had
Log Spelling Errors on, you can import those corrections using the
Dictionary Editor and its Import feature to make them into automatic
spelling corrections so that your specific spelling errors are corrected
automatically. To convert your spelling errors into automatic corrections,
do the following:
Open Aurora Prediction.
Choose Edit Dictionary from the Aurora Prediction menu.
Choose Import Vocabulary from the Edit Dictionary window menu.
Click on the Import Aurora Vocabulary File from Disk radio button.
Click on OK.
Choose ERRORS.TXT from the file selection dialog and click on OK.
Importing will then begin. When it is complete, you can close the Edit
Dictionary window and your new automatic corrections will be entered.
Section 28
Window
Always Bring Prediction Window to Top
If this option is checked, the prediction window will always stay on top
of other applications when prediction is on. When Prediction goes to sleep
(displays the Zzzzzz message) it will sink to the bottom to allow the full
screen display for the application which doesn't require word prediction.
Use Semicolon for Selection
If this option is checked, the semicolon key will be used to select the
first word from the prediction window allowing ten words to be directly
selectable from the keyboard. This keeps a fast typist on the home row
more. To type a semicolon with this option checked, turn word prediction
off by pressing 0 (zero) then ; then ;0 (semicolon zero) to turn prediction
back on.
Show Selection Numbers
If this option is not checked, the Prediction window will not show
numbers next to the words in the window. This is generally done when words
are going to be picked from the prediction window exclusively by clicking
with the mouse. If this option is unchecked, we recommend changing the
Number/Word Separator on the More
tab to nothing.
Allow Selections when Minimized
If this option is checked, the Prediction window will allow you to
choose words from the prediction window using the numbers and semicolon
keys even when it is minimized. Regardless of this setting, when the
Prediction window is minimized, the number and semicolon keys will work as
they are set with the Use Semicolon for Selection option above and with
Words in Window on the More tab.
This option is primarily intended for use when Aurora Prediction is
being used as a spell as you type system. See Spell Check as you Type on
the Spell tab for more
information.
Read the Word Under the Mouse Cursor
If this option is checked, any time you put the mouse cursor over a word
in the Prediction window it will be highlighted in red (if you have Use
Color to Indicate Word Type checked) and spoken. You need to have selected
a speech synthesizer in Voice Options for this to work.
Use Color to Indicate Word Type
If this option is checked, words in the Prediction window will be color coded
to indicate additional information about them.
Blue words sound like the word you are typing but are not spelled the same.
Green words are Homonyms.
Red words are currently being spoken.
All other words are Black.
Prediction Window Tracks the Cursor
When turned on, this causes the Prediction window to follow the Cursor (Caret)
in many applications. If there is insufficient room for the Prediction window
between the Caret and the edge of the screen, the Prediction window will move
to an alternate position where it can fit.
Note: This feature does not work in all applications, it only works in those
that use the Windows standard Caret. If it does not work in the application you want
to use, check if the application has any accessibility options, as often such applications
give you the choice to enable updating of Windows standard Caret.
Show Homonyms
If this option is checked, words that have homonyms information will be displayed
with the additional information. If you have Use Color to Indicate Word
Type checked, homonyms will appear in green. Also, any time you type a
word that has homonyms information, a bell sound will occur. Homonyms
usually include the word's homonyms plus an example of correct usage. For
example:
If this option is checked, definitions will be displayed for words that
have them. Definitions are usually short and only list the main definition
for words that mean more than one thing for example:
their - belonging to them
You can add your own definition entries or edit existing ones by using
the Dictionary Editor.
Show Thesaurus
If this option is checked, thesaurus words will be displayed for words
that have them. For example:
If this option is checked, notes you have entered about a word will be
displayed. You can add your own notes using the Dictionary Editor.
Choose Font
Press this button to choose the font that will be used in the prediction
window. The Prediction Window's text and background colors are controlled
by Windows and will match what you have chosen for your other
applications' windows.
Section 29
More Window
Spacing
The prediction window can single, 1.5 or double space the words in it to
help individuals with visual acuity problems. When the prediction box is
wider than it is high or Horizontal List presentation is selected, this option allows you to adjust the horizontal
spacing between words.
Words in Window
This option allows you to control the number of words that are offered
in the prediction window. Although only 10 words can be picked by typing a
number or semicolon (if enabled), up to 40 words can be displayed. These
extra words can be picked using a mouse, or just used as a cueing system
for poor spellers to tell what words are coming.
Note: The Value Edition can show 9 words, the Standard edition can
show 15 words and the Professional Edition can show 40 words.
Tip: If you are using the alternate sorting features and have resized
the prediction window to show fewer words than specified by Words in
Window, it is important that you change the Words in Window setting to make
sure you are presented the words in the proper order.
Longest Word to Show
This option allows you to limit the length of words suggested in the
Aurora Prediction window. If this option is set larger than 0, words
longer than that number of characters will no longer appear. Note that
longer words that were in the list when you went into Prediction Options
will remain in the Prediction window after you leave the Prediction Options
dialog. This number must be greater than or equal to the value for
Shortest Word to Show below. Set this option to 0 and Shortest Word to
Show below to 0 to disable this feature.
Shortest Word to Show
This option allows you to limit the length of words suggested in the
Aurora Prediction window. If this option is set larger than 0, words
shorter than that number of characters will no longer appear. Note that
shorter words that were in the list when you went into Prediction Options
will remain in the Prediction window after you leave the Prediction Options
dialog. This number must be less than or equal to the value for Longest
Word to Show below. Set this option to 0 and Longest Word to Show above to
0 to disable this feature.
Number/Word Separator
This option allows you to change the character or characters that
separate the numbers from the words in the prediction window. This
defaults to a single right parentheses character ), but can be set to one
or more other characters.
When Predicting
The prediction window can be sorted by priority, alphabetically or by
length when it is predicting next words for you.
Research into the effectiveness of word prediction has shown that the
traditional approach of showing the "most likely" (sorting by
priority) word first in a list of words is not the best way of presenting a
list of words for selection in some cases. Research has found that lists
sorted by length, or alphabetically are much more efficiently searched.
Since spelling words and predicting words are two different activities, we
allow you to choose the sorting method for each activity individually.
This allows Aurora Prediction to offer the most likely word when it is
predicting the next word, and offer the quickest to scan list when you are
spelling out a word and searching for it in the Prediction window word
list.
Tip: We have found that when predicting next words that Sort By Priority
is generally the best option.
Note: If you are not sorting by priority, it is important that if you
have resized the prediction window to not show some of the offered words,
you change the Words in Window setting to match the number of words
actually visible in the window.
When Spelling
The prediction window can be sorted by priority, alphabetically or by
length when it is spelling words for you.
Tip: We have found that when spelling words, that Sort by Length,
Shortest First is generally the best option.
This setting is always set the same
as When Predicting above.
List Presentation
The words in the prediction window can be displayed either in a vertical
list or horizontally. If you want the list to be presented a specific way,
you can choose Vertical, Horizontal or Automatic display here. Automatic
determines the list presentation based on the dimensions of the Prediction
window.
Section 30
Learning
Learn new Words and my Writing Style
This is the normal setting if you want to have the dictionary learn your
writing style and new words as you type them. If you are a poor speller,
you may want to turn on Spell Check as you Type..
Just Learn my Writing Style
Use this setting if you just want Aurora Prediction to learn your
writing style, but not new words. Note that words that are specifically
added through the spell checking features are added regardless of this
setting.
Don't Learn my Writing Style or New Words
Use this setting if you want maximum performance from the Prediction
system while not learning your writing style or new words. Note that words
that are specifically added through the spell checking features are added
regardless of this setting.
Tip: Performance of Aurora Prediction will be much better if this radio
button is selected.
Length of Shortest Words to Learn
To reduce the number of nonsensical words learned by Prediction, set
this to the number of letters a word must contain before Prediction will
learn it. If you have Spell check as you type
on, this setting is not used.
Tip: To disable learning new words and phrases at all (with the
exception of words added in the spellchecker,) set this to 1000.
Section 31
Activate Prediction
Before Prediction will work with a Windows application, the Windows
application's window must be activated. This tells Prediction to pay
attention to what is typed in that window so that it can guess what you are
typing and finish words for you.
This can be done automatically, see the Dictionary tab in
Prediction Options for
the Activate Prediction Automatically for New Applications checkbox. Once
this is on, whenever you type a word and a space in a new application, Prediction
will ask you if you want help in that application.
Many programs come preconfigured to work with Aurora Suite. These
include Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Microsoft Works, Write, WordPad,
Microsoft Excel, Lotus Ami Pro, Corel Draw, Borland C++ and Borland Pascal.
To activate an application's window, for example a word processor:
Open the application you wish Prediction to work with.
Open a document, or the dialog box where you want prediction to
work.
Make sure the document portion of the application's window is
visible.
Select Activate Window from Prediction's system menu.
Click on Yes in the Activate Window dialog box.
Click on the document. Make sure you click on the document, on
the cursor is usually a good spot, not on the scroll bars or window
frame. The ZZZZZzzzzzzz. message should immediately disappear from the
prediction window.
Note: Some applications, like Microsoft Word, need to be clicked twice
to activate them before the ZZZZZzzzzzzz. message will disappear.
Important: If you are having trouble activating an application, make
sure you click on or near the cursor, because sometimes Windows programs
have hidden status windows that you may activate by accident. In this case
it will appear that Aurora Prediction hasn't activated, even though it has
- on the wrong window. Or use the Activate Prediction Automatically for
New Applications on the Dictionary
tab.
If your application supports multiple views of a document, ie
"Draft", "WYSIWYG", "Preview" you may need to
repeat the Activate Window procedure for each view.
If you later decide you do not want Aurora Prediction to help you in
that application, use Deactivate Window
to make Aurora Prediction not work with it.
Section 32
Deactivate Prediction
If you no longer wish to have Prediction work with a Windows
application, you must deactivate the application's window.
To deactivate an application's window, for example a word processor:
Open the application you wish Prediction to work with.
Open a document, or the dialog box where you want prediction to not
work.
Make sure the document portion of the application's window is
visible.
Select Deactivate Window from Prediction's system menu.
Click on Yes in the Deactivate Window dialog box.
Click on the document. Make sure you click on the document, on
the cursor is usually a good spot, not on the scroll bars or window
frame. The ZZZZZzzzzzzz. message should immediately appear in the
prediction window.
Note: Some applications, like Microsoft Word, need to be clicked twice
to deactivate them before the ZZZZZzzzzzzz. message will appear.
Important: If you are having trouble deactivating an application, make
sure you click on or near the cursor, because sometimes Windows programs
have hidden status windows that you may deactivate by accident. In this
case it will appear that Aurora Prediction hasn't deactivated, even though
it has - it just hasn't deactivated the window you hoped for.
If your application supports multiple views of a document, ie
"Draft", "WYSIWYG", "Preview" you may need to
repeat the Deactivate Window procedure for each view.
You may also deactivate windows by deleting their corresponding WATCHn=
lines from the aurora.set file.
Section 33
New Dictionary
Aurora Prediction allows you to create a new, empty, dictionary. To
create a new dictionary, choose Open
from the Prediction system menu, then type in the name of the new
dictionary file.
If the file doesn't exist you will be prompted if you
wish to create it. If you do wish to create a new dictionary, choose Yes
and you will be placed in the Create New Dictionary dialog where you may
enter a description and copyright information for the new dictionary.
After you have entered your description and copyright information,
press Enter to create the dictionary or click Cancel to not create it.
Select the dictionary (.DCT) file you wish to open. If you wish to
create a new dictionary file, type in the name of the new dictionary file.
Important: If you open an Aurora 2.x or 3.x for Windows dictionary with Aurora
Suite, it will NO LONGER BE ACCESSIBLE from those previous products.
Please see Old Aurora Dictionary Files
for more information.
There are four dictionaries included in the CD-ROM edition of Aurora Suite, they are:
PREDICT.DCT - Word prediction dictionary for slow typists.
SPELL.DCT - Spellchecking dictionary for people who need help
with their writing, not their typing speed.
CORE.DCT - Core 1900 word vocabulary for younger users.
MONSTER.DCT - 600,000+ words, thesaurus information and more, 64M
RAM recommended.
Aurora Suite will load Aurora 2.x and 3.x for Windows dictionaries,
however when it does so, it converts them to Aurora Suite format. They
will no longer be accessible from Aurora for
Windows. We recommend making a backup copy of the .DCT file before you
open it if you plan to use it with Aurora for Windows in the future.
Aurora for DOS and Aurora 1.0 for Windows Dictionaries
Aurora Suite will not load Aurora for DOS, or Aurora for
Windows 1.0x dictionary files. We had to sacrifice absolute backwards
compatibility in order to take best advantage of many of the advanced new
features when we introduced Aurora for Windows 2.0. To make sure your
investment in Aurora 1.0 for Windows and Aurora for DOS isn't wasted, words
and macros that have been added to these dictionaries may be
imported into
any Aurora 3.0 for Windows dictionary
and then opened with Aurora Suite to convert it to Aurora Suite format.
This is done using the Import program which may be obtained from Aurora Systems
Technical support. Import includes Version 3 format dictionary files.
Section 36
Optimize Dictionary
Dictionary optimization may need to be done from time to time to improve
performance of the prediction system. If you notice long delays when
selecting words from the prediction window, or if scrolling in the
dictionary editor is slow, you should consider dictionary optimization.
Dictionary optimization will only have a limited benefit if you are using
a large dictionary with a small dictionary cache.
Note: For optimization to complete, you will need enough free disk space
to hold the new dictionary. If you have not chosen to Compress Dictionary, you will
need roughly double the amount of disk space free than the dictionary used
before optimization. The dictionaries distributed with Aurora Suite
are not compressed.
Tip: When you plan to optimize your dictionary, you should consider
doing this overnight as it can take a very long time for
large dictionaries to be optimized.
If you are using a laptop, it is a good idea to plug it into the
wall to prevent its batteries from dying in the middle of optimization.
Repair Damaged Dictionary (will not Optimize)
If you receive error messages that there was Internal damage detected
in dictionary or you find that the Prediction program is hanging while
you are using it, or regular optimization fails with an error message other
than a segment load failure and you are sure you have enough free disk
space, you should check this checkbox to repair the dictionary rather than
optimize it. Dictionary repair takes roughly the same time as optimization
and should repair most damage or internal inconsistencies in the
dictionary. We strongly recommend you make a backup copy of your
dictionary before using this option.
Note: Words which were damaged or that you have deleted using the
dictionary editor will be included in the Words in original
dictionary count as well as the Deleted and damaged words
removed count. These words will be removed from the repaired
dictionary, as well as any prediction information that is invalid. If you
find that the bulk of the words in the dictionary have been lost, or
hundreds of fixes made, you might consider contacting Aurora Systems
Technical support before continuing. It is possible that the dictionary
will be irreparable, in which case, we recommend contacting Aurora Systems
Technical Support or
restoring from a backup.
Note: The repaired dictionary is not optimized so you might want
to run dictionary optimization on the repaired dictionary.
How much Memory should optimization use?
This value should be set to at least 8192K. The larger the value here,
the faster optimization will proceed. This value may not be set less than twice the
Cache Size target value.
Compress Dictionary
This feature controls the use of compression on dictionary files.
Dictionary performance can be improved on slower computers by not checking
this checkbox. Note that not checking this checkbox will roughly double
the disk space needed for the dictionary (.DCT) file being optimized. The
standard dictionaries are not compressed.
Save Backup Copy of Dictionary File
If you do not want to save a backup copy of your unoptimized dictionary,
you may uncheck this option. It is generally a good idea to save a backup
copy when optimizing. Note that you will need enough free disk space for
the optimized dictionary while optimization is running, even though the old
one is to be deleted.
What Cache Size should we Optimize For?
This should be the same as the Dictionary Cache setting
under the Dictionary tab of the Prediction Options dialog. Dictionary
Optimization attempts to build a dictionary that will work best with this
amount of cache memory.
In general, the cache size of a dictionary should be a minimum of about 25% of its
size. So if you have a 2 megabyte compressed dictionary on disk, you
should use 1024K of cache (2 megabytes, double it because it is compressed,
and divide by 4). For a 2 megabyte uncompressed dictionary, you should
select at least a 512K cache. If you have lots of RAM, you can only get
better performance by choosing a larger cache. A
minimum 1024K cache is recommended.
Delete unused Words
If checked, dictionary optimization will delete all words with a 0
priority value. Generally words with a 0 priority value are ones that the
prediction system has only seen once, which may include junk words.
Delete unused Phrases
If checked, dictionary optimization will delete all phrases with a 0
priority value. This may significantly improve performance on dictionaries
which have been used a great deal. Generally phrases with a 0 priority
value are ones that the prediction system has only seen once, which may
include junk phrases.
Delete unused Macros
If checked, dictionary optimization will delete all macros with a 0
priority value.
Delete Words Marked as Adult Content
If checked, dictionary optimization will delete all words that have
their Adult Vocabulary
checkbox checked.
Word Prediction Statistics Thinning Factor Caution!
This number determines how much the statistics used for word prediction
are thinned out to reduce the size of your dictionary. Removing these
statistics can severely reduce the effectiveness of Aurora Prediction's
ability to predict next words. We recommend optimization with the Delete
Unused Words and Delete Unused Phrases checkboxes checked before using this
feature. A setting of one will remove prediction statistics for rarely
used words and may significantly reduce dictionary size. We do not
recommend using a value above 1 for this setting.
Click on the Start button or press Enter to start dictionary
optimization. Click on Cancel to abort dictionary optimization.
Dictionary Optimization Status
Dictionary optimization shows a status bar to indicate the percentage
complete. This bar is only an indicator that optimization is progressing,
most often you cannot predict how long optimization will take based on it.
If Optimization Fails
If optimization fails with an error message and you are sure you didn't run out of disk space, it is
possible that there is internal damage to the dictionary. To fix this, you
should run optimization again with the Repair Damaged Dictionary, (will not
optimize) checkbox checked to repair the dictionary. See above for
more information on this option.
Section 37
Edit Dictionary
The Dictionary Editor allows you to add, change or delete words, phrases
and macros from the dictionary. It also allows you to Import
vocabulary from your
documents to get prediction up to speed on your writing style quickly, Export words that you have
added to transfer them to other dictionary files, and display Dictionary Info on your current
dictionary file. If you have logged your spelling errors, you can convert
your spelling errors into automatic spelling corrections using Import
feature.
Note: Words are listed in order alphabetically by their first two
letters, and then by frequency rather than strictly alphabetically so
generally, it is fastest to use the Find option when you wish to
edit a specific word..
Adult content words will appear as asterisks (*****) if the Show Adult
Words checkbox is not checked on the Dictionary
tab in the Prediction Options dialog.
Words with "Spelling Correction History Entry" next to them
are used by the spell checking features, and may be deleted but not edited.
To add a word, press Ins, or select Add Word from the system menu. You can also
right click on the dictionary editor to get to the menu.
To edit a word, move the highlight to the word using the arrow keys or the
Find Word command, and press Enter, or select Edit Word from the Edit menu.
You can also right click on the dictionary editor to get to the menu. You
cannot edit words marked as "adult" content unless the Show Adult
Words checkbox is checked on the Dictionary tab in the Prediction Options
dialog.
To delete a word, move the highlight to the word using the arrow
keys or the Find Word command, and press Del, or select Delete Word from
the Edit menu. You can also right click on the dictionary editor to get to
the menu.
Keys
Ins - Add word to dictionary
Del - Delete highlighted word from dictionary
Enter - Edit highlighted word
Home - Move highlight to the first word in the dictionary
End - Move the highlight to the last word in the dictionary
PgUp - Move the highlight up one screen
PgDn - Move the highlight down one screen
Section 38
Add/Edit Word
The Add/Edit Word dialog box allows you to change or add a word or macro
to the prediction dictionary while in the Edit Dictionary window.
Word/Macro code
Enter the word you want to add to the dictionary, or the code for a
macro you want to add. If you are editing a word, you can change its
text here. Macros must be two or more letters. To expand them
in your documents, type the macro code followed by a space.
Read
Press the top Read button to read the word in the Word/Macro code box. Press the
bottom Read button to read the text in the Macro value box.
Grammatical Type
This information is used by Prediction to apply grammatical rules to the
words in the prediction window. Words default to "None" which
means that the word is not to have grammatical rules applied to it.
Adult Vocabulary Word
If the Adult Content checkbox in the Prediction Options dialog is
checked, you cannot edit words that have been marked as adult vocabulary
words. These words appear as asterisks (*****) in the dictionary editor
window. You can automatically remove adult vocabulary using Dictionary Optimization.
You can also read more in the section Adult Content.
Word Completion Priority
This number ranges from 0 to 65530. Words with higher priority values
will be presented by the Prediction system sooner than words with lower
priority values. Words with a priority of 0 are considered
"unused" by Aurora Prediction and may be removed by checking one
of the Automatic Deletion Options checkboxes in the Optimize Dictionary
dialog.
This dialog box will not close if you have entered an invalid priority
value.
Choose Type of Macro or Word Information to Add, Edit or Delete
You can make the word you entered a macro, or associcate extra
information like a definition, example or note with it using this drop box.
Choose the type of extra information you wish to add here. Entries that
already have information in them will have an asterisk * before them.
Spelling Correction History Rec - This is an entry maintained by
Aurora's spellchecker. The only thing you can do with these entries is
delete them.
Text Macro - Text that will by typed into the current application when
you type the word you entered.
Speech Macro - Text that will be spoken when you type the word you
entered. The word will then be erased from the screen. If you use both a
WAV macro and a Speech macro for the same macro code you may find
only one will play since both will try to use the sound card at the same time.
Homonyms - Enter words that sound like or are spelled like another word
along with an example for correct usage. Words with this extra information
will show up in green in the word prediction window if the Show Homonyms
checkbox on the Window tab of
the Prediction Options dialog is checked.
Definition - Enter a definition for this word. Words with this extra
information will show up in the word prediction window if the Show
Definition checkbox on the Window tab of the Prediction
Options dialog is checked.
Thesaurus - Enter thesaurus words for this word. Words with this extra
information will show up in the word prediction window if the Show
Thesaurus checkbox on the Window
tab of the Prediction Options dialog is checked.
WAV Playback - The name of a WAV file that will be played when you type
the word you entered. The word will then be erased from the screen.
If you use both a
WAV macro and a Speech macro for the same macro code you may find
only one will play since both will try to use the sound card at the same time.
WAV files must be
stored in the \Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005 directory, not in a shared network directory. You can
get around this by specifying the name of the WAV file in your macro
relative to the \Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005 directory for example ..\..\windows\sounds\ding.wav
would cause Aurora Prediction to look for the file ding.wav in the
\windows\sounds\ directory.
Delete
Once you have selected the type of macro or word information you can
delete the data for that selection by clicking on the Delete button.
Enter Value for Selected Macro or Word Information Type
Once you have selected the type of macro or word information you can
enter the information or macro expansion here.
Click on Ok so save changes, or Cancel to leave without saving changes
to the word.
Section 39
Find Word
The Find Word dialog box allows you to search for a specific word in the
dictionary while in the Dictionary Editor. This is usually much faster than looking through the
dictionary manually, since the dictionary is not presented in alphabetical
order.
To find a word, type in the word and then press Enter or click on the
Find button. The mouse cursor will change to an hourglass while the
dictionary editor searches for the word. If the word is found in the
dictionary, the highlight will be placed on it, otherwise, the highlight
will be placed near where the word would be if it were in the dictionary.
Note that searching for a word in a large dictionary can take some time.
Tip: To find a macro, type in the macro code. Find does not search for
macro expansions.
To leave this dialog without looking for a word, click the Cancel
button.
Section 40
Import Vocabulary
The Import Vocabulary dialog allows you to import vocabulary and your
writing style from documents you have written previously, or from special
Aurora vocabulary files on disk in order to train Prediction on your personal writing
style and make it more effective.
Import Document from Clipboard
If this radio button is selected when you click on OK, Aurora Prediction
will display a verification box to make sure that it is going to import the
text you intended, then import that text, learning new words and the
writing style of the document's author. This is great for getting Aurora
Prediction up to speed as quickly as possible when you first start using
it.
To import a document:
Mark the text you want Prediction to train on in your word processor
or other application.
Copy that text to the clipboard using the word processor or other
application's menus.
Click on the Import Document from Clipboard radio button.
Click on OK.
If you have successfully copied the text to the clipboard, a
confirmation dialog will appear. Check that the text is correct in the
verification dialog. If the confirmation dialog does not appear, there was
a problem copying the text into the clipboard, and you should try again.
Click on Yes if it is the text you want, otherwise no. A status
indicator will appear while it imports.
Import Aurora Vocabulary File from Disk
If this radio button is selected when you click on OK, Aurora Prediction
will open a file selection dialog where you can choose an Aurora Vocabulary
file you have previously created using the Export feature. This is great
for transferring vocabulary, macros and definitions and other word
information from one dictionary file to another. This is especially useful
for administrators, trainers and installers who set up macros and
specialized vocabulary ahead of time to allow them to enter it once, then
import it into other dictionary files.
To import an Aurora Vocabulary File
Create a vocabulary file using the Export feature.
Click on the Import Aurora Vocabulary File from Disk radio button.
Click on OK.
A file selection dialog will appear, select the previously created
file and click on OK. A status indicator will appear while it imports.
Importing your Spelling Errors Log to make Automatic Spelling Corrections
If you have logged your spelling errors for later analysis you can use
the Import feature to convert your spelling errors into automatic spelling
corrections automatically. In the file selection dialog, choose the file
ERRORS.TXT, this is the file that is created to log spelling errors. Note
that this file name can be changed in aurora.set so that may not be the
name if you have changed that setting. You can find out more about his
under the Log Spelling Errors
feature.
Allow Non-English Characters
If this checkbox is checked, Import will not restrict the importing of
text to A-Z, but will allow accented characters to be imported. Note that
if you accidentally import a binary or other non-text file that this will allow that junk
to get into the dictionary file during import.
Section 41
Export Vocabulary
The Export Vocabulary dialog allows you to export custom vocabulary,
macros, and extra word information that you have entered such as
definitions or homonyms to disk so that you can easily transfer them to
other dictionary files. This is especially useful for administrators,
trainers and installers who set up macros and specialized vocabulary ahead
of time to allow them to enter it once, then Import it into other
dictionary files.
Once you have chosen the items you wish to export, click on OK, you will
be prompted to enter a file name to export to. Once you have done that a
status bar will appear to let you know how the export is proceeding.
Note: Export will not export any vocabulary that was in the dictionary
when you received it, only words that have been added through use.
Words
Words that you have added will be exported. Note that if a word also
has a Homonym, Definition, Thesaurus, Wav Playback Macro, Note, Text Macro
or Speech macro and any of those checkboxes are checked, that that word
will be exported regardless of this setting.
Text Macros
Words that have a Text Macro defined for them will be exported.
Speech Macros
Words that have a Speech Macro defined for them will be exported.
Multiple Word Prediction Phrases
Phrases containing spaces that have been learned automatically will be
exported.
Phrases
Phrases containing spaces that you have added in the Dictionary Editor will be exported.
Homonyms
Words that have homonyms defined for them will be exported.
Definition
Words that have definitions defined for them will be exported.
Thesaurus
Words that have thesaurus words defined for them will be exported.
Wav Playback Macros
Words that have WAV playback macros defined for them will be exported.
Note that you will have to make sure that the paths to .WAV files are
correct if you have placed your .WAV files in a directory other than the
\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005 directory.
Notes
Words that have notes defined for them will be exported.
Click on OK to perform the Export, or Cancel to return to the Dictionary
Editor
Section 42
Dictionary Info
The Dictionary Info dialog displays information about the current
dictionary and cache usage.
Dictionary Info
This section provides details about the contents and usage of your
dictionary file. The most important information is the number of words,
the amount of space used by deleted words, and the percent full. These
give you a quick indicator of how your dictionary is doing. If the Percent
Full numbers get near 100, you should consider using the dictionary
optimizer and removing some older and unused words. The space used by
deleted words will also be recovered during optimization.
Cache Info
This section provides details about the size and usage of your
dictionary cache. Used tells you how many 4K cache pages are in use.
Pages tells how many you have allowed on the Dictionary Tab.
Generally if Pages
equals Used and you have less than a 10:1 ratio in the hits:misses numbers
you should consider making the cache larger to get better performance.
Dictionary Copyright Info
The copyright and description entered when the dictionary was created are displayed at the
bottom of this dialog.
Section 43
Error Messages
Below is a partial list of error messages Aurora Prediction can report.
If the error message you receive is not listed below and you need more
information, please contact Aurora Systems technical support.
Disk access error, or internal index error, or dictionary corruption detected! Please see online help "Error Messages" section immediately for more information. Editor will now quit.
This is a catch-all error message. One of three things has happened.
The most likely is a disk error, usually meaning you are low on disk
space, or you need to run a disk diagnostic program like
SCANDISK. Otherwise the dictionary index or word lists have internal
damage and may need to be repaired. Please see Optimize Dictionary
for more information.
Internal damage detected in dictionary. You should choose 'Optimize Dictionary... With the 'Repair Dictionary, no Optimization' checkbox checked to repair the damage.
This indicates that internal damage has been detected in the dictionary.
This damage should be repaired immediately using the Optimize
Dictionary option with the Repair Dictionary, no Optimization
checkbox checked. Without repairs, Prediction is liable to crash or
hang at any time, or the dictionary may become unrepairable and all
information in it lost. Please see Optimize Dictionary for more information.
Error in Dictionary
Catch-all error message, depends on what you are doing. Can be caused
by running out of memory, a disk being full, a network access error, a disk
error, or a corrupted dictionary file.
Invalid word address
Indicates internal damage to a dictionary file. A backup of the
troubled dictionary file should be made, and then Optimize should be run on
the original. Please see Optimize Dictionary for more information.
Word save error or Word load error
Usually caused by running out of memory, a disk being full, a network
access error, a disk error, or a corrupted dictionary file.
Next word area full or Dictionary full
The dictionary is full. Run Optimize with the "Delete Unused
Words" and "Delete Unused Phrases" checkboxes checked to
free some space in the dictionary file.
Word already in dictionary
You should never encounter this error message. If you do, please
contact Aurora Systems technical support.
Unknown language selection
Indicates you attempted to load a dictionary file that uses a language
unsupported by this version of Aurora Prediction.
Dictionary created with newer version
The dictionary you are attempting to use was created by a later version
of this program and Aurora Prediction doesn't know how to handle it.
Contact Aurora Systems about upgrading.
Wrong character set
Indicates a dictionary file using a character set language unsupported
by this version of Aurora Prediction.
Dictionary file too large
Indicates a dictionary file created using a more capable system which is
unsupported by this version of Aurora Prediction.
Dictionary file damaged, possible loss of data
Indicates that the Dictionary check routine was unable to repair damage
to the dictionary file. Please see Optimize Dictionary for more information.
Dictionary file corrupted
Indicates that the Dictionary file is corrupted and cannot be read.
Restore your dictionary file from a backup.
Out of memory
Indicates that Aurora Prediction has run out of memory. You should not
encounter this error message. If you do, it is generally fatal. It is
recommended you restart Aurora Prediction and quit one or more other
applications before continuing.
Dictionary file was not closed properly
Indicates that the dictionary file was not closed properly the last time
it was used. Generally this happens if Windows crashes or if you turn the
computer off without leaving Windows. The Dictionary check routine will be
run to fix the dictionary if possible.
General disk error accessing dictionary
Usually caused by a disk being full, a network access error, a disk
error, or a corrupted dictionary file.
Unknown dictionary error code!!!
Indicates an internal program error, you should not encounter this error
message. If you do, please contact Aurora Systems technical support.
Dictionary corrupt or not a dictionary file.
Indicates you attempted to open a file that Aurora Prediction does not
recognize as a dictionary file. You may encounter this error message if
you attempt to open an Aurora for DOS dictionary file.
Invalid dictionary file name.
You have entered a dictionary file name that is not valid.
Not enough disk space for optimization.
Optimization ran out of disk space before it could complete. Free some
disk space and start optimization again.
Word too short.
You should not encounter this error message. If you do, please contact
Aurora Systems technical support.
Section 44
Damaged Dictionary
Should you receive an error message indicating the dictionary is
damaged, you can repair it using the Dictionary Optimization
dialog's Repair Damaged Dictionary checkbox. This will go through the
dictionary and rebuild its internal structure and verify that all internal
links are correct. It will also tell you if there are any unrecoverable
errors.
Repairing the dictionary can take some time, and you may want to
optimize the dictionary for best performance afterwards.
Tip: Make a backup copy of your dictionary file before you repair it.
This is just a precaution, but it is a good idea in case there is still a
problem with the repaired dictionary.
If dictionary repair cannot fix your dictionary, contact Aurora Systems
Technical Support for more
information.
Section 45
Echo
What is Echo
Aurora Echo provides audible feedback as you type and is designed to
help writers catch when they make errors. It provides both services while
you work, and a toolbar full of assistive choices.
Keyboard Echo
Echo's Keyboard echoing features read back to you as you type. It can read back each keystroke,
words, partial words, sentences, paragraphs or anything you copy to the clipboard. If users find
constant reading distracting, Echo can also read every so many words so you still get feedback, but
it is not constant.
Reading Tools
The Echo Toolbar shown above offers a number of handy reading tools. It can read text you mark
in your word processor, email or web browser, it can read menus, dialogs and buttons in all your
favourite applications. As you type, you can have it read back your word, sentence, or paragraph so
far as well as anything that is in the Windows clipboard.
Run-On Sentence Monitoring
If you forget to use periods, or tend to use too many commas to string together sentence fragments,
this is the feature for you. If you put too many commas, or too many words in a single sentence, it
speaks a warning aloud to remind you.
Punctuation Monitoring
If you put together a sentence that starts in who, what, where, when, why or how, and you don't end
it in a question mark, Echo will speak aloud to let you know so you are sure that is what you meant.
And More...
We recommend you read through the following sections to find more about Aurora
Echo.
Section 46
Echo Toolbar
The Echo Toolbar gives you quick access to the key features of Aurora
Echo at any time. Each of the toolbar buttons are discussed below. The
Echo Toolbar is completely customizable, you can control which buttons
appear, whether it is vertical or horizontal, and whether the small or
large icons are used. For information on customizing the toolbar, see
Echo Toolbar Options. Many of the features
included on the toolbar are also available from the Echo Menu.
Read Marked Block
Mark a block of text in your word processor, then click on this button. The block
will be read. Note that this button will not work with applications that
do not support the standard windows shortcut key for copying to the
clipboard (Ctrl-Ins.)
Read Button or Window
When this button is clicked Aurora Echo will read most buttons, icons or windows that
you move the mouse cursor over and then stop for a second. Be warned that
if you put the mouse over a word processor window, it may take quite a
while to read everything in the window. Once you are done reading items,
click the Read Button or Window button again to turn reading off.
Read Clipboard
This button lets you read back the contents of the clipboard. This is useful if
your application doesn't work with Read Marked Block above. To use this
feature, mark the section you want read with the mouse or keyboard, then
use the program's menus or keyboard shortcuts to copy the text to the
clipboard, then click this button. If you prefer you can have the contents
of the clipboard read automatically each time it changes with Echo Clipboard.
Read Word So Far
This is a
convenience button that lets you read back the word that you have typed so
far. If you prefer you can have the word read back to you after each
keypress with Echo Partial Words.
Read Sentence So Far
This is a
convenience button that lets you read back the sentence that you have typed
so far. If you prefer you can have the sentence read back to you at the
end of the sentence with Echo Sentences.
Read Paragraph So Far
This is a
convenience button that lets you read back the paragraph that you have
typed so far. If you prefer you can have the paragraph read back to you at
the end of the paragraph (when you press Enter) with Echo Paragraphs.
Stop Speaking
This
button causes the speech synthesizer to stop speaking if it is speaking. Also available
on the Echo Menu.
Turn Echo Off
This
button changes as you use it and indicates whether Aurora Echo's voice
feedback is on or off. Click it to turn Aurora Echo off. Also available
on the Echo Menu.
Turn Echo On
This
button changes as you use it and indicates whether Aurora Echo's voice
feedback is on or off. Click it to turn Aurora Echo on. Also available on
the Echo Menu.
Echo Options
This
provides access to the options dialog for Aurora Echo. For information on
the options, see Echo Options. Also available on the Echo Menu.
Voice Options
This
provides access to the Voice Options dialog that allows you to choose
and set up your speech synthesizer. Also available on the Echo Menu.
Echo Help
This
provides access to the Aurora Echo online help. Also available on the Echo Menu.
About Aurora Echo
This
displays the version information for Aurora Echo. Also available on the Echo Menu.
Close Aurora Echo
This
button closes Aurora Echo. This is one button you may wish to remove from
the toolbar in Toolbar Options if you are likely to hit it accidentally. Also available on
the Echo Menu.
Tip: If you hold down the shift key when you press this button, all Aurora Suite windows will close.
Section 47
Echo Toolbar Mouse Actions
To access the Echo menu, right click anywhere on the toolbar. With the
keyboard, switch to Echo using Alt-Tab, then press Alt-Space to bring up
the Echo menu. The Echo menu provides access to important features if you
have disabled the toolbar tools for those features.
You can use either the mouse or the keyboard to move the Echo Toolbar.
To use the mouse, right click anywhere on the toolbar and drag it to where
you want it. To use the keyboard, switch to Echo using Alt-Tab, then press
Alt-Space to bring up the Echo Menu, then choose Move and use the arrow
keys to move the toolbar where you want it. When you are done moving it,
press Enter.
Section 48
Echo Options
Letters
Letters causes Echo to say each letter, punctuation, bracket or any
other character on the keyboard.
Numbers
Numbers causes Echo to say each number. Many users will wish to have
this feature turned off so that Echo does not echo the numbers typed to
select words from the Prediction window.
Punctuation
Punctuation causes Echo to say each punctuation character on the
keyboard.
Gray Keys
Gray Keys causes Echo to say all of the gray keys on the keyboard
including arrows, Enter, function keys etc. We recommend that most users
turn this option off, it can be quite distracting and the speech synthesizer
may have trouble keeping up.
Keystrokes
Keystrokes causes Echo to say all of the non-alphabetic, non-gray and
non-numeric keys on the keyboard including the symbol and bracket keys. We
recommend that most users turn this option off, it can be quite distracting and the speech synthesizer
may have trouble keeping up.
Words
Words causes Echo to read each word when you end it with a space or
punctuation character.
Partial Words
Partial Words causes Echo to read the word you have typed so far each
time you press a character.
Sentences
Sentences causes Echo to read each sentence when you end it with a
punctuation character.
Note: Pressing arrows, Del, PgUp or PgDn will cause Echo to forget the
current sentence, and the sentence so far will not be read.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs causes Echo to read back the sentences typed since you last
hit the Enter key when you press Enter to end a paragraph. Due to a minor
conflict with the Talk program (described below), this feature defaults to
off.
Note: Pressing arrows, Del, PgUp or PgDn will cause Echo to forget the
current paragraph.
Note: We recommend you do not use the Echo Paragraphs feature if you are
also using the Talk program, as typing a sentence into Talk and pressing
Enter will cause Talk to read the talk phrase, and then cause Echo to read
the talk phrase again, since pressing Enter also ends a paragraph.
Clipboard
Clipboard causes Echo to read back any text cut or copied to the Windows
clipboard. Due to the somewhat intrusive behavior of this feature, it
defaults to off. When turned on, a dialog box will pop up each time the
clipboard changes, offering to read it for you. Select Yes to read the
contents of the clipboard, No to not read them. This dialog will appear
when you cut or copy to the clipboard, and quite often when a new
application starts or one ends.
Every # words (0 is off)
Every # Words causes Aurora Echo to read back every so many words. This
is useful for writers who do not use punctuation but don't want feedback
after each word. If this value is set to 0, this feature is disabled.
Speech Recognition Delay
Speech Recognition Delay is for use with speech recognition programs
that do not put a space after they type a word. If you are typing and you
wait longer than the speech recognition delay, the word typed so far will
be read. This delay is in milliseconds, so setting this field to 1000 will
cause Echo to wait 1 complete second before reading a word with no space
after it. If you are using this feature, we recommend a value of 100.
Toolbar Options
For information on setting up the toolbar see Toolbar Options.
Run-on Sentence Monitoring
Aurora Echo can warn writers when they construct a run-on
sentence that has too many commas or words. It is not fooled if the person
constructs a list of items following a colon.
Commas before warning (0 is off)
This is the number of commas in one sentence before Aurora Echo will
speak the warning below. The default for this is 3.
Words before warning (0 is off)
This is the number of words in one sentence before Aurora Echo will
speak the warning below. The default for this is 30.
Warning
This is the message that will be spoken by the speech synthesizer if a
run-on sentence is detected.
Punctuation Monitoring
Punctuation Monitoring alerts the user when they type a punctuation character
other than a question mark at the end of a sentence starting in one of:
who, what, where, when, why, how, which, is.
Tip: You can add additional words to this list by editing the aurora.set file to add
additional QuestionWord# entries where # is the next higher number for example:
QuestionWord7 C Whatever
You can also use this same mechanism to change the question words to
words appropriate for other languages.
Check question sentence punctuation
Check this box to turn on Punctuation Monitoring.
Warning
This is the message that will be spoken by the speech synthesizer if an
incorrectly punctuated question is detected.
Click OK to save changes, or Cancel to abort without saving changes.
Section 49
Echo Toolbar Options
The Echo Toolbar is completely customizable. You can choose the size of
the icons, whether the toolbar is horizontal or vertical, and which buttons
appear on it. For information on the individual tools available in the
toolbar click here.
Large Buttons on Toolbar
Aurora Echo includes two icon sizes, the 32x32 small icons and
the 64x64 large icons. Check this checkbox to use the large icons.
Horizontal Toolbar
The Echo Toolbar can be either vertical or horizontal. Check
this box to have the toolbar display horizontally.
Available Tools
This list contains the list of toolbar tools that you are not
currently using. Highlight any tool in this list and click on the Add
button to add it to the toolbar. Note that many tools are also available
on the Echo Menu.
Read Marked Block, Read Button or Window and Read Clipboard are
not available in the Value Edition although they do appear in the Available Tools
list.
Tools in Toolbar
This list contains the list of toolbar tools that you are
currently using. Highlight any tool in this list and click on the Remove
button to remove it from the toolbar. Note that many tools are also
available on the Echo Menu.
Click on OK to save your changes or Cancel to abort without saving
changes.
Section 50
Talk
What is Talk
Aurora Talk provides the ability to "Type and Talk," do public
speaking or carry on a conversation at home, school or work. It is simple
to operate, just type what you want to say, and press the Enter key to have
it spoken.
Conversations
Talk provides the ability to have multiple conversations,
so that you can have one set of phrases for at home, one for school, one for work and so
on. And you can switch between them quickly.
History
Talk keeps the phrases you type for as long as you need, so you can arrow up to repeat
any phrase you've spoken before without having to retype it. You can even make phrases
permanent so they are kept forever rather than scrolling off the top of the conversation.
Function Key Phrases
Talk allows you to assign frequently used phrases like
"yes," "no," and "thank you" to function keys
for speech at the press of a key.
Public Speaking
If you need to do public speaking, Talk is a great tool. You can import
pre-written presentations, answer questions and more, easily.
And More...
We recommend you read through the following sections to find more about Aurora
Talk.
Section 51
Operation
The Talk window allows you to add, change, delete and speak phrases.
Each phrase is contained on a single line although partial or multiple
phrases can be selected to be spoken at one time using the keyboard or
mouse.
Speaking Phrases
To speak a phrase, move the cursor to the line containing the phrase
using either the keyboard or mouse, and press Enter.
You can also double click on a phrase to speak it.
Combining Phrases
You can highlight multiple phrases, or parts of phrases using the mouse,
or by holding down the shift key while pressing the arrow keys. When
the entire combined phrase you want to speak is highlighted, press the
Enter key to speak it.
Function Keys
You can assign the most common phrases you speak to
function keys so that all you have to
do say any of those preprogrammed phrases is to press a function key.
Stopping Speech
If you speak something and then change your mind, you can stop the
speaking by choosing Stop Speaking from the menu.
Clipboard
Any passage you select can also be copied to the clipboard or deleted by
pressing Del. If you paste text from a word processor, email or web page,
into Talk, each sentence will be made into a separate phrase, one per line.
This allows you to easily import presentations and control the speed of
you talk on a per-sentence basis.
History
Talk Options allows you to specify the number of
History lines each conversation should maintain. Each new phrase you
type at the end of a conversation counts as one towards that total. When
a conversation has that many phrases, any new phrases you add will cause
a phrase to be removed from the top of the conversation, thus maintaining
a constant size for your conversations. If you prefer to have some phrases
kept forever, you can increase the Permanent Lines setting so that rather
than the top line being removed, the first line after the number of Permanent
Lines you've selected will be removed and the Permanent Lines will remain.
Conversations
Conversations are much like documents in other applications, they can be
Closed, Opened and even Deleted. A very fast way to switch between
open conversations is to use the F11 and F12 keys.
Section 52
Keys
F1
Online help (key assignment may be changed by user.)
F2
Delete all phrases except permanent ones (key assignment may be
changed by user.)
Shift-F2
Delete all phrases including permanent ones (key assignment
may be changed by user.)
F3
Mute Voice (key assignment may be changed by user.)
F9
Stop Speaking (key assignment may be changed by user.)
F11
Switch to previous conversation (key assignment may be changed by
user.)
F12
Switch to next conversation (key assignment may be changed by
user.)
Enter
Speak phrase under the cursor
Ctrl-Enter
Break line at cursor
Ins
Toggle insert/overwrite mode
Del
Delete the character under the cursor
Home
Move cursor to the start of the phrase
End
Move the cursor to the end of the phrase
PgUp
Move the cursor up one screen
PgDn
Move the cursor down one screen
Backspace
Delete the character to the left of the cursor
Shift+Arrows
Select partial or multiple phrases for speaking.
Ctrl-Ins
Copy marked text to clipboard
Ctrl-Del
Cut marked text to clipboard
Shift-Ins
Paste contents of clipboard into Talk window and split into
sentences
Ctrl-L
Select all text in conversation
Ctrl-F
Find text in conversation
Ctrl-A
Find same text Again
Ctrl-W
New Conversation
Ctrl-O
Open existing conversation
Ctrl-N
Switch to Next conversation
Ctrl-P
Switch to Previous conversation
Ctrl-S
Select conversation to switch to from list
Ctrl-H
Help!
Ctrl-R
Display registration information
Ctrl-X
Close Aurora Talk
Section 53
Conversations
Aurora Talk allows you to split your phrases into groups for easier
management. Each group of phrases is called a Conversation. You can have
as many as 25 conversations.
Each time you open a new conversation, you will be prompted to enter the
name of the new conversation that will show up in the Talk title bar and in
the conversation selection list.
All of your conversations are stored in a single file, TALK.PHR in your
\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora Suite 2005 directory.
Switching Between Conversations
You can quickly switch between conversations with the menus or use the
shortcut keys (F11/F12) or (Ctrl-P/Ctrl-N) or choose Select (Ctrl-S) from
the Window menu to choose the conversation to switch to by name.
Open Conversations
You can control which conversations show up in the Select list by
opening (Ctrl-O) and closing them from the Conversation menu. If you need
to get back to a closed conversation, you can open it again.
Delete Conversations
If you have more than one conversation you have created, you can delete
any one with the Conversations|Delete option. This option will be grayed
if you only have one conversation created.
Section 54
Talk Options
History Lines
History lines specifies how many phrases Talk maintains in its history
buffer. If you have history lines set to 10, when you add phrase number
11, the first phrase after the permanent lines is automatically deleted so
that only ten phrases are available and saved when you quit Talk. History
lines must be between 10 and 1000 and 3 more than Permanent lines or you
will not be able to leave this dialog.
Permanent Lines
Talk can preserve a set number of phrases at the top of the phrase
history buffer so that they never get deleted. This is useful if you have
phrases that you say regularly that you do not want deleted when you add a
new phrase and the history buffer is full. Permanent lines must be 3 less
than History lines or you will not be able to leave this dialog. All
Permanent lines may be deleted by pressing Shift-F2.
Save History
Talk automatically saves what you have typed previously in a file called
TALK.PHR in your \Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora Suite 2005
directory. If this checkbox is not checked, when
you start Talk, previous phrases will not be loaded into the Talk window
for you.
Choose Font
Choose Font allows you to select the font that is displayed in the Talk
window. If you want to change the font used in Talk's dialog boxes and
menus, you will have to change the fonts used by Windows. This setting may
be in control panel, however many video cards have a separate utility
program that lets you set Windows' font size.
If Show Function Keys Help is checked Aurora Talk will list the phrases
assigned to function keys at the top of the Talk window for easy reference.
Section 55
Function Key Phrases
The Talk window allows you to preprogram phrases and attach them to
function keys for very quick output of frequently used phrases like
"Yes", "No", "My name is..." etc. If you
don't like having part of your screen used to display the function keys,
you can get rid of this display in the Talk Options dialog by
turning off Show Function Keys Help.
Adding New/Editing Phrases
To add a new phrase or edit an existing one, press one of the
*-Fnn buttons in the "Function Key Phrases" group box in
the Talk Options dialog box. This will bring up the function key phrase
assignment dialog where you can enter phrases to be spoken when you press
the Function key, Shift and Function Key combination, or Ctrl and Function
key combination. This dialog contains a list of the key combinations down
the left hand side, and the phrase to be spoken down the right hand side.
Special Function Keys
There are six function keys which are preprogrammed to perform special
functions. You may change these key assignments, or remove function key
access to these features by using the keys for other messages. To change
the key assignments for these features, put the reserved message (listed in
quotations below) into another key entry.
F1
Online Help (Message is "Help!")
F2
Clear all messages from the Talk Window except permanent ones.
(Message is "Clear!")
Shift-F2
Clear all messages from the Talk Window INCLUDING permanent
ones. (Message is "ClearAll!")
F3
Mute voice (Message is MuteVoice!)
F9
Stop Speaking (Message is Quiet!)
F11
Previous conversation (Message is Previous!)
F12
Next conversation (Message is Next!)
Section 56
Talk Menu
The Aurora Talk menus allow you mouse access to most program features.
The menus are discussed below. There are also shortcut keys for many menu
features. These are accessed by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing a
letter. These shortcut keys are listed next to the menu items.
Conversations
New (Ctrl-W)
Create a new conversation and give it a
name. You can create at most 25 conversations before you will have to
delete one to make room. This option is grayed if you have already created
25 conversations.
Open (Ctrl-O)
Open a conversation that you have closed previously for use. This
option is grayed if you do not have any closed conversations.
Close
Close a conversation to remove it from the Select list if you aren't
going to need it for a while. This option will not do anything if you have
only one open conversation.
Delete
Delete a conversation you have created. This option is grayed if you
only have one conversation created.
Stop Speaking
Tells the speech synthesizer to stop speaking whatever is currently being
spoken.
Exit (Ctrl-X)
Exit Aurora Talk and save all conversations (if Save History checkbox is
checked in Talk Options.)
Edit
Copy (Ctrl-Ins)
Copy the marked text to the clipboard. If no text is marked, this
option is grayed.
Paste (Shift-Ins)
Paste the contents of the clipboard into the Talk window at the current
cursor position. If there is more than one sentence in the clipboard, the
clipboard data will be split up, one sentence per line in Talk. If the
clipboard is empty, this option is grayed.
Cut (Shift-Del)
Copy the marked text to the clipboard and delete it from the Talk
window. If no text is marked, this option is grayed.
Insert (Ins)
Toggle insert/overwrite mode in the Talk window.
Delete (Del)
Delete the character at the caret, or the marked block.
Select All (Ctrl-L)
Select all the text in the current conversation.
Find (Ctrl-F)
Find a word or string in the current conversation starting at the first
line of the conversation.
Find Next (Ctrl-A)
Find the word or string that was last searched for again. This can be
used to find a word if it exists several times throughout a conversation.
Options
Talk Options...
Open the Aurora Talk Options dialog to set the features of Aurora Talk.
Voice Options...
Open the Aurora Voice Options
dialog to set the features for voice output in any Aurora program.
Window Options...
Open the Window Options dialog to specify what Aurora Suite
windows should open when Aurora Suite starts.
Feature Options...
Open the Feature Options dialog to customize what Aurora
Suite features are available to the user.
Change Language...
Open the Language Selection dialog to change the language
used by the application user interface including dialogs and menus.
Window
Next (Ctrl-N)
Switch to the next open conversation.
Previous (Ctrl-P)
Switch to the previous open conversation.
Select (Ctrl-S)
Switch to an open conversation by selecting from a list of all open
conversations.
Show Predict...
Open the Prediction window if it is closed.
Show Echo...
Open Echo if it is closed.
Help
Help Contents (Ctrl-H)
Open the online help.
Registration Info...
Show the current registration status.
Buy Online...
Open Aurora's builtin online store to purchase your own copy of Aurora Suite and support
Aurora Systems development of affordable, effective solutions for people with special needs.
About
Display the Aurora Suite version number and copyright information.
Section 57
New Conversation
Each time you create a new conversation, you will be prompted to enter
the name of the new conversation that will show up in the Talk title bar
and in the conversation selection list. This is not a file name, so don't
worry about paths etc, just type a name you like.
You can control which conversations show up in the Select list by
opening (Ctrl-O) and closing them from the Conversation menu. If you need
to get back to a closed conversation, you can open it again.
To open a conversation from this dialog, select it with the mouse or
keyboard, then press Enter or click on OK. Click Cancel to skip opening a
conversation.
If you have more than one conversation you have created, you can delete
any one with the Conversations|Delete option. This option will be grayed
if you only have one conversation created.
To delete a conversation from this dialog, select it with the mouse or
keyboard, then press Enter or click on OK. Click Cancel to skip deleting a
conversation.
You can quickly switch between conversations with the menus or use the
shortcut keys (F11/F12) or (Ctrl-P/Ctrl-N) or choose Select (Ctrl-S) from
the Window menu to choose the conversation to switch to by name.
To select a conversation to be active from this dialog, select it with
the mouse or keyboard, then press Enter or click on OK. Click Cancel to
skip changing to a conversation.
Enter the word or string you wish to find in the current conversation.
Press Enter or click on OK to search, or press Esc or click on Cancel to
skip searching. You can get to this dialog fastest by using the shortcut
key (Ctrl-F).
Find Next (Ctrl-A)
Find the word or string that was last searched for again. This can be
used to find a word if it exists several times throughout a conversation.
Section 62
Voice
What is Voice
Voice provides speech output for Aurora Suite. It supports a number of
different speech synthesizers and allows you to set settings
for each speech synthesizer often including volume speed and pitch.
Pronuncation Correction
The Exception Editor allows you to change the
pronunciation of mispronounced words. This is particularly useful for
names.
Visual Highlighting
Visual Highlighting allows you to have visual feedback
when the speech synthesizer is speaking. Often this is helpful in improving understanding
and reinforcing relationships between spelling and spoken language. Voice allows you to
choose whether regular speech, feedback speech, or both are highlighted. You can also
change the font and colors in the highlighting window.
And More...
We recommend you read through the following sections to find more about
Voice.
Section 63
Voice Options
The Aurora Voice Options dialog box allows you to choose which speech
synthesizer you want to use and if you want to use Aurora's pronunciation
exception system to correct the synthesizer's pronunciation. It also
allows you to configure the selected speech synthesizer.
Select a Voice Driver from the list below.
Choose the speech synthesizer you want to use. By default, Voice will
offer all Microsoft Speech API 5 (SAPI) speech
synthesizers that you have installed on your computer. If you have SAPI 4
voices installed, you have to first enable the SAPI4 driver, at it is often
troublesome and disabled by default.
Autodetect
If you press this button, Aurora will search for all installed speech
synthesizer drivers on the computer. After autodetection
is complete, you will be given the option to choose from the list of
synthesizers it was able to locate.
Voice Setup
Press this button to set up the options for the selected speech
synthesizer. For detailed help setting up the selected speech synthesizer,
press F1 or click on the Help button when in the Voice Setup dialog for the
synthesizer.
Try it!
Press this button to test your synthesizer to make sure it is working.
If it is working correctly, you should hear it speak "This is a
test." If nothing happens and the buttons on the Aurora Voice Options
dialog remain grayed, wait up to a minute, the voice driver should time out
and return control or an error message. You can then adjust the voice
settings or choose another synthesizer.
Note: If you are using a Microsoft Speech API 4 (SAPI) synthesizer, you
may experience static or halting speech. If this occurs, go into Voice
Setup and adjust the Speed setting downwards. This symptom occurs when the
speech synthesizer requires more computer horsepower than you have.
Use an Exception file to do Pronunciation Correction
If this checkbox is checked, Aurora will attempt to use the currently
selected exception file to correct the pronunication of words. If the Edit
Exception file button is grayed, no exception file is currently selected
and pronunciation correction is disabled.
Select Exception File
Aurora's voice drivers support generic pronunciation exception handling
to correct the pronunciation of words mispronounced by the speech
synthesizer. Use this option to select the exception file to use with your
speech synthesizer. Exception file names have the extension .X. For this
option to have any effect, you must also check the Use an Exception file to
do Pronunciation Correction checkbox.
Tip: .X files from previous Aurora releases are not compatible with Aurora Suite.
New Exception File
To create a new, empty exception file, choose Select Exception File and then rather than
selecting a pre-existing .X file, type in the name of a new one to be created and select Ok.
Edit Exception File
Press this button to start the Aurora Exception Editor to edit the
exception file you have selected in Select Exception File above. If
this button is grayed, you have not selected an exception file in Select
Exception file above.
Highlight Speech
If this is checked, the Aurora Visual Highlighting window will appear on the desktop, displaying
the text to be spoken and highlighting each word as it is spoken. Speech generated by
deliberate actions such as using Aurora Talk, or manual reading features in Echo will be
displayed.
Highlight Feedback
If this is checked, the Aurora Visual Highlighting window will appear on the desktop, displaying
the text to be spoken and highlighting each word as it is spoken. Speech generated by
spoken feedback features in Aurora Echo will be displayed.
Note: If both Highlight Speech and Highlight Feedback are unchecked, the Aurora
Visual Highlighting window will not appear.
Font
This allows you to select the font face and size to be used in the Visual Highlighting window.
Text Color/Back Color/Highlight Color
This allows you to select the colors to be used in the Voice Feedback Window for the text, the
window background, and the color used to highlight the current word being spoken.
Press Ok to save changes, or Cancel to not save changes.
Section 64
Exception Editor
The Exception Editor allows you to edit the pronunciation of any
word or phrase spoken by your speech synthesizer. These pronunciation
exceptions are stored in exception files that have the file name extension
.X.
Note: .X files for Aurora Suite are not compatible with .X files
from Aurora for Windows. If you have an existing .X file, you will need to
recreate it for use with Aurora Suite.
By default, the Aurora Exception Editor loads the currently active
exception (*.X) file.
Exceptions allow you to customize the pronunciation of your speech
synthesizer, to correct mispronunciations - especially names, to adjust the
pacing of your speech synthesizer's speech for specific phrases, and even
make it incapable of saying certain words, such as cursing.
Pronunciation Correction
Each exception is made up of two parts, the Word that is pronounced
incorrectly, and the Exception or phonetic spelling that the speech
synthesizer pronounces correctly. For example, on one early speech
synthesizer, the word "are" was pronounced like "air",
so it needed a pronunciation exception of "r" to make it
pronounce "are" correctly. Typically getting a good
pronunciation for the exception is a matter of trial and error - try a
spelling variation, have the synthesizer say it, try another variation and
so on until an optimal variation is found.
Adjusting Synthesizer Pacing
On some synthesizers the pacing of the voice is very mechanical "I
- WANT - TO - GO - TO - THE - STORE". Exceptions can be entered that
slur words together to make them more natural sounding, so you could enter
exceptions for "I want to" like "I wantoo" and "go
to" like "gotoo" and "the store" like
"thuhstore" to get "I want to - go to - the store"
which sounds nicer. For this technique to be successful, a large number of
exceptions need to be entered that cover the most common phrases used by
the user.
Censoring
You can prevent your speech synthesizer from saying certain words by
entering the words as the Word, and nothing or "fudge" as the
exception. It is a good idea if you are doing this to also do the same
thing for any spelling variations you can think of.
Section 66
Edit Exception
To edit or add an exception, you need to move to the Mispronounced
Word field and type the word.
Mispronounced Word
Enter the word that is being pronounced incorrectly as we have entered
ROBERT below. A word may not be longer than 32 characters. Click
on the Say button to hear your synthesizer say the word in the Word field.
This will generally tell you if the word needs to have an exception
entered for it.
Correction
Enter a phonetic variation of the word that is being pronounced
incorrectly. Click on the Say button to hear your synthesizer say the
exception in the Correction field. This will generally tell you if the
exception you have entered is pronounced as desired. An exception may be 0
characters long, but not longer than 32 characters.
Ok
Click on Ok to save the new correction for the mispronounced word. Note
that if you later click on the No Save button, your changes will be lost.
Delete
Click on the Delete button to delete the correction for the word that is
in the Mispronounced Word field.
No Save
Click on the No Save button to leave the exception editor without saving
any of the changes you have made while editing pronunciation exceptions.
This will close the Edit Pronunciation Exceptions dialog.
Save
Click on the Save button to save all the changes you have made while in
the pronunciation exception editor to disk. This will close the Edit
Pronunciation Exceptions dialog.
If you have problems with speech output in Aurora, there are a number of
common problems described below with solutions.
No Speech Output
If you have a sound card, and the volume setting for WAV audio is turned
up, and the speakers are working, select a Voice Driver from the list in
Voice Options and see if the Test button works afterwards.
If it doesn't try another voice driver until you find one that works.
Crackling or Halting Speech
If you are using a Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) synthesizer, you may
experience static or halting speech. If this occurs, go into the Voice
Options dialog and click on the Voice Setup button and adjust the Speed
setting downwards. This symptom occurs when the speech synthesizer
requires more computer horsepower than you have.
Aurora Suite Takes Forever to Start
Often long delays starting Aurora Suite are caused by the
Microsoft Speech API Version 4 (SAPI) driver. If you are not using a SAPI 4 speech
synthesizer you can get rid of this delay by renaming or deleting the file
PCV_SAPI4.DLL from your \Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005 directory.
Section 68
Microsoft Speech 4
This voice driver supports speech output using any speech synthesizer
supported by the Microsoft Speech API Version 4 (SAPI) on Windows 2000 and XP.
If your speech synthesizer software supports
SAPI Version 5, we recommend you use that driver instead.
Note: This driver is rather unstable and operates strangely or extremely
slowly on some systems. Our testing has shown the exact same problems in
the Microsoft supplied test programs for the Speech API which indicates the
problem is not within our software. We have done everything we can to
mitigate crashes and provide dialog boxes to warn you of trouble spots.
We're sorry this driver is so unreliable but there isn't anything we can
do about it.
Tip: If you experience static or halting speech, adjust the Speed setting
downwards. This symptom occurs when the speech synthesizer requires more
computer horsepower than you have.
Free SAPI4 Speech Synthesizers from Microsoft
Microsoft has made a number of languages available for their free L&H speech synthesis
engine available at the Microsoft Agent website.
Windows XP: You need to install Microsoft Speech API 4.0a (here (850K)) from the
Aurora Suite CD before these voices will work.
By default, the SAPI 4 driver is disabled. If you select to enable it, you will see the following
dialog
SAPI 4 Options
The basic options dialog for SAPI 4 offers a volume control. To get voice-specific options, select
the Driver Setup button.
Driver Setup Options
The Microsoft Speech API dialog will change depending on the options
available on the SAPI compatible synthesizer you have chosen.
General
General voice options specific to the synthesizer you have chosen. This
button is grayed if the speech synthesizer you have chosen does not support
this setup feature.
Country
Country specific voice options for the synthesizer you have chosen.
This button is grayed if the speech synthesizer you have chosen does not
support this setup feature.
Pronunciation
Word Pronunciation adjustments. This button is grayed if the speech
synthesizer you have chosen does not support this setup feature.
About
Version information on the selected speech syntheszer. This button is
grayed if the speech synthesizer you have chosen does not support this
setup feature.
Volume
Volume allows you to set the output volume of the speech synthesizer you
have chosen.
Note: This setting is also affected by Windows volume control. If you
do not get any sound out when you speak, and this volume is not zero, check
that the volume control is set to maximum in Windows, and that the volume
dial on the back of your sound card (if available) is not at zero.
Speed
Speed allows you to set the speed of speech of the speech synthesizer
you have chosen.
Note: If you experience static or halting speech, adjust the Speed
setting downwards. This symptom occurs when the speech synthesizer
requires more computer horsepower than you have.
Pitch
Pitch allows you to adjust the pitch of the speech of the synthesizer
you have chosen.
Use DirectSound for Output
On some systems this checkbox may provide better performance or may
allow the synthesizer to work where it otherwise doesn't.
Don't Crash, Leak Instead
Some SAPI synthesizers have a bug in them that will make them crash from
time to time. If you have crash problems, check this checkbox, the quit
the Aurora programs and restart Windows. This will limit the number of
times that speech applications may be started, but should get rid of
crashes.
Section 69
Microsoft Speech 5
The Microsoft Speech API Version 5 (SAPI5) driver provides support for all synthesizers that support
Microsoft Speech API 5. Most modern software speech synthesizers include support for SAPI 5.
Aurora Suite installs a number of SAPI5 speech synthesizers from Microsoft.
Options
The SAPI5 driver only supports changing the volume and speed of synthesizers. See individual speech
synthesizer documentation for additional options that may be provided by the speech synthesizer
software.
Section 70
Feature Options
Feature Options
Aurora Suite's Feature Options Editor allows teachers or parents to selectively enable or disable features
within Aurora Suite. This can be used to control what features are available in a testing situation,
or to streamline and simplify Aurora Suite for the cognitively challenged user.
To enable or disable a feature, double click on it. When you are done, press Ok to save
your changes, or Cancel to exit without saving. You can push Reset Defaults at any time to restore
all settings to their default values.
Tip: If a feature's default value is Disabled, you will not be able to Enable it.
Warning: It is possible to disable the Feature Options Editor itself, if you need to get it back, delete
the file \Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora Suite 2005\Features.set
which stores the settings defined in the Feature Options Editor.
Section 71
Window Options
Window Options
Window Options allows you to specify which Aurora Suite windows open when Aurora
Suite starts.
After Aurora Suite is running, you can close individual Aurora Suite windows by closing them
through their menus or by clicking on their Close buttons.
Once all three Aurora Suite windows are closed, Aurora Suite will exit.
You can open any Aurora Suite window from the menus of any other Aurora Suite window.
Tip: You can close all Aurora Suite windows simultaneously by holding down the Shift key when
you close Prediction, Talk or Echo.
Section 72
Languages
Language Selection
Language Selection allows you to select the language to be used for the application user interface.
The language to be used by speech synthesizers can be selected in Voice Options
and the language for word prediction is selected by opening a dictionary for the
appropriate language.
You Can Help: If you would like to help other Aurora users and you have a gift for a language that
isn't supported by Aurora, we have made it is easy to translate Aurora's user interface
to other languages. If you send us the messages.txt file for a new language, we will make it available to other
Aurora Suite users. If you need any assistance, please feel free to contact us.
Section 73
Internationalization
Flexible support for multiple languages
was a key design element of Aurora Suite. This section discusses existing support for individual languages
and provides specific information and examples to help individuals translate some or all of the software.
Additional support for specific languages will be added as translations can be arranged.
UNICODE and International Characters
Aurora supports entering characters using Alt+Numpad and typing in the character's decimal
code with the Numeric Pad keys. You can get the decimal codes of characters you wish to type by using
Windows Character Map tool. This can be found by clicking on Start|All Programs|Accessories|System Tools.
To type international characters:
Alt+<xxx>, where xxx is the decimal value of a code point, generates an OEM-encoded character.
Alt+<0xxx>, where xxx is the decimal value of a code point, generates a Windows-encoded character.
Alt+<+>+<xxxx>, where xxxx is the hexadecimal Unicode code point, generates a Unicode-encoded (UTF-16) character.
Note: In Microsoft Word, the NumLock key must be on for this to work.
Note: WordPad incorrectly processes Alt+<xxx> as if it was Alt+<0xxx>.
Aurora currently does not support the Alt-X feature of Wordpad and Microsoft Word for converting hex values
to UNICODE characters.
Translation
The Aurora Suite software is designed to be able to be translated by end-users and overseas distributors
with only minimal assistance from Aurora Systems. The application supports both ANSI ASCII and UNICODE
(little-endian) character sets, all language-specific files are user-accessible, speech synthesizer drivers
are implemented as executable plugins, and there is a speech synthesizer toolkit that will allow overseas
developers to add their own language speech synthesizers to Aurora Suite if they are not already supported
by the SAPI drivers.
You Can Help
If you would like to help other Aurora users and you have a gift for a language that
isn't supported by Aurora, we have made it is easy to translate Aurora's user interface
to other languages. If you send us the messages.txt file for a new language, we will make it available to other
Aurora Suite users. If you need any assistance, please feel free to contact us.
Section 74
User Translation
Translating the Menus and Messages
The first step in making your own translation of Aurora Suite is to go to the
\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005\resources\lang folder and create a
new folder that is the name of the language you are going to translate.
Once that folder is made, go to the english folder and copy the
messages.txt file to the new language folder of the language you are translating to. So if you
were translating to Spanish, you would copy messages.txt from
\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005\resources\lang\english to
\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005\resources\etalk2\lang\spanish to start.
Selecting an Editor
To edit the messages.txt file, any ASCII editor such as Windows Notepad will work, however
if you require accented characters, you may need to instead use an editor that supports
UNICODE. Windows Notepad in Windows 2000 and later support UNICODE as an option when
you save the file and this is the editor we recommend. Note that if you use UNICODE rather than ASCII, the messages file will take
longer to load at startup as it will take double the disk space of the ASCII version. We recommend you
do not use Microsoft Word or other word processor to edit this file, it will most likely damage the
formatting rendering your work difficult and possibly unusable. Be very careful of using any
editor that does automatic line-length wrapping, since each line must stay intact for the translated
file to work.
Anatomy of messages.txt
The messages.txt file contains instructions throughout to assist you in your translation. Here is some
additional information about the file:
When there are instructions or when you want to add additional information to the file that you want the program to
ignore, place them on comment lines. Comment lines start with a ; in the first column and are shown in red here. Such lines
will be ignored by the application. You can place a semicolon anywhere else in a line and it will be
treated as a semicolon as shown in this example:
; This is a comment that the program will ignore.
Name But this is a message that includes a semicolon; you follow?
Each line in the file is a single string (or text element) from the program such as a button label, error message, or line of instructions.
Each string is organized on a single line where the first word on the line is the name of the string used internally by the program.
These names are blue in the examples. The rest of the line is the string value (shown in green.)
Support For technical support see http://www.aurora-systems.com
Warning: Do not split lines to make them more readable. The following won't work:
Support For technical support see http://www.aurora-systems.com
Warning: Do NOT translate, or in any way change the name of the string (the first word on each line
as shown in blue in the examples.) The following won't work:
Assistance Pour assistance aller au http://www.aurora-systems.com
Sections are labeled with either LOCALIZE or DO NOT LOCALIZE and we recommend you follow these guidelines.
For DO NOT LOCALIZE sections additional information is provided if you insist on localizing them anyway.
It is most likely that we will be unable to support translations that do not follow our guidelines and you will find
compatibility problems with other translations if you do not follow the guidelines.
Defining the Language Name
Within the messages.txt file there is one line that looks like:
LanguageEnglish English (U.S.A./Canada)
This is the one exception to the "don't change the name rule." The name of this line must be modified
to include the folder of the language you are translating to, and the string part (green) must be changed to
the language name you wish to have presented to the user in the language selection dialog. So for example,
for French, change the line to:
LanguageFrench Francais (Quebec)
The word added to the end of "Language" MUST be the name of the language directory
that this version of messages.txt is stored in.
An Example
Below are three lines taken from the top of the messages.txt file. These lines are colored to make it clearer the two parts
of each line. In the messages.txt file when you are editing, unfortunately the lines are not colored. To translate these, ignore the first (blue) word
on each line which is the name of the string, and translate the rest (green).
MSGNOTFOUND >> Message not found, sorry. <<
Copyright Copyright (C)2004 Aurora Systems, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Support For technical support see http://www.aurora-systems.com
So if I were translating these into imaginary language (since my high school French is very rusty,) they would become:
MSGNOTFOUND >> Gleeker nada founda, toobadda. <<
Copyright Na maken da copies (C)2004 Aurora Systems, Inc., All stufsa reserven.
Support Whensuh broken goda http://www.aurora-systems.com
Note that the blue name parts on each line in both the original and the translated versions are identical.
Parameters
Some strings in the file have special characters within them, they are a % sign followed by a case-sensitive
letter or sequence of letters. These %x markers will be replaced by other information when the string is displayed.
Do not remove, add, or rearrange the order of these markers. Doing so will result in incorrect displays
on the screen. There is a possibility that these parameters may need to be rearranged for optimal translation,
however in this release this is not supported. Please work with them in the order provided.
SMsg1 Script Error: %S '%S' on line %i
would translate in imaginary language to:
SMsg1 Writen Boo Boo: %S '%S' atsa locashun %i
If your language's syntax would better be served by a translation like:
SMsg1 Writen atsa locashun %i Boo Boo: %S '%S'
Don't! You've rearranged the parameters and the resulting string will either display incorrectly or cause
Aurora Suite to crash. Find a way to work your translation around the requirement that these parameters
stay in the right order. We have endeavoured to minimize the number of such strings.
When the message is presented to the user, the % markers will be replaced and the resulting message will look something like:
Script Error: Missing Identifier 'strcpy' on line 4
Context
You may find determining context within the messages.txt file difficult. To aid in this, each section of strings
has some information before them about where they will end up in Aurora Suite when you run it.
; Speech error messages
SynthTitle Speech Synthesizer Warning
SynthNoneFoundPC No Speech drivers (PCV*.DLL) found. Speech output will be disabled.
SDE_NONE No error.
SDE_ERROR Generic error.
SDE_BADPARM Bad Parameter for Function
SDE_NOTIMPLEMENTED Not Implemented
SDE_BADERRORCODE Bad Driver Error code returned
As indicated by the red comment line, all of the above messages are related to speech synthesis and are
error messages.
Technical Terms
There are computer technical terms and terms related to this program that are used throughout the messages.txt file. Translating these
terms can be difficult if you are not familiar with their meaning. Most of the terms can be found in this manual
with some looking. I'd suggest using your web browser's "find" feature on the Printer Friendly version.
For computer and other technical terms, you might find a computer related online glossary
such as this one to help you.
Testing your Translation
Once you have started your translation and have moved the messages.txt file to the correct directory and
changed the LanguageXXX line as described above,
you are ready to test your new translation. Start Aurora Suite, go into Setup, and select your new
language on the Language page. The user interface should immediately change to
use your translation.
Fit
One issue that will come up during testing is that you will most likely find that some of the translations do not
fit in the space provided. All that can be done is to look for these problem areas and try to adjust them to
fit.
Efficiency
If there are sections of the file which you are not going to translate, we recommend that you delete those
lines from the translated messages.txt file. Any messages that do not exist in the translated file will be taken from the English
resources, and a smaller language-specific file will load faster.
Section 75
Buy Online
Buy Online
Aurora Suite includes the Aurora Systems Online Services (ASOS) secure purchasing system. This system allows users
to quickly, easily and securely purchase an Aurora Systems product through their internet connection. Once you
make a purchase, the purchased product's serial number will operate in All-Day Demo mode.
As soon as payment has been processed, your product will become available for activation,
often long before the software could show up by regular shipping.
Reseller Tip: If you are a reseller, you can obtain a reseller ID from Aurora Systems so
that when you are at a customer's location and they decide to buy, you can install the software
from your demo CD, and then purchase and activate the software for full operation while the
customer watches. Once your order is submitted the user will get full access to the software they've
chosen to buy without having to wait for order processing, and the software and manual can be shipped directly
to the customer with the invoice going straight to the reseller with no additional paperwork.
Note: There may be times when ASOS is not available due to network outages,
system maintenance, or other unforseen circumstances. If this is the case when you try, please
try again later.
Security
Aurora's online purchasing is secured by industry standard 1024-bit RSA encryption. All information
entered in the purchasing system is encrypted during transit to Aurora Systems servers, rendering it
unreadable to anyone trying to intercept the information. We take extra
steps to protect your credit card information, ensuring it is always encrypted from the time you submit
your order, even after it has been transmitted to Aurora Systems servers. The lock icon shown below
is your indication that the information you are entering will be transmitted securely to Aurora Systems
via the internet.
Your Privacy
Aurora Systems respects your privacy. We have a corporate privacy policy that explains what information
we collect and what we use it for. If you are connected to the internet, you can click on Your Privacy to view
our privacy policy.
Section 76
Start Shopping
The first step is to use Start Shopping to retrieve the current product and price list from Aurora
Systems Servers.
Note: An active internet connection is required to use this service.
Retrieve Product List
Push this button to connect to Aurora Systems over the internet and retrieve the current product and price
list. A status window will appear to let you know how the download is proceeding.
I am a registered Aurora Systems reseller
If you are a registered Aurora Systems reseller and have a reseller ID and password, and you want to
purchase a product using ASOS, check this box so that you will be prompted to enter your
ID and password.
Cancel
Press Cancel to return to the previous page.
Your Privacy
Push this button to view Aurora Systems privacy policy. The privacy policy is a web page and requires
an active internet connection to retrieve.
Section 77
Reseller Information
If you have selected the I am a registered Aurora Systems reseller box on the
Retrieve Pricelist page you will be prompted
to enter your Reseller ID and password.
If you did not check the box, you will skip to Select Payment Means.
Please carefully protect your reseller password, as it confirms your identity as an Aurora Reseller and
its use conveys your authorization for Aurora Systems to charge purchases against your company's account.
If for any reason you think your reseller password may have been compromised or lost, please
contact Aurora Systems customer serviceIMMEDIATELY to prevent any
unauthorized charges against your account.
Warning: Make sure you are very careful entering the Reseller ID and password, these
will not be verified until you submit the purchase for processing, and an error may cause your purchase
to be rejected.
Reseller ID
Enter your reseller ID.
Password
Enter your reseller password. The password will not display, asterisks will be shown for each letter typed.
Next
Press Next to submit your information and proceed to the next step. If there is an error in the information
or you have not entered all required information, you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 78
Select Payment Means
Once the pricelist has been retrieved, you will be prompted to select how you wish to
pay for your purchase.
Highlight the payment means you choose using the mouse or keyboard.
Credit Card
If you choose a credit card payment, once you submit your order for processing, you will be
provided a serial number that will operate in All-Day Demo mode for up to 30 days.
Once your credit card payment has been processed, the software will become available for activation
the next time you start Aurora Suite, typically within 24 hours.
Bill Me
If you choose Bill Me, once you submit your order for processing, you will be
provided a serial number that will operate in All-Day Demo mode for up to 30 days.
You will also be sent an invoice for your purchase via mail. Once payment for the invoice has been
processed by Aurora Systems, your software will become available for activation the next time you
start Aurora Suite.
Reseller Purchase
If you are a reseller, you may choose either payment method. Once your order has been processed and
accepted by Aurora Systems, the software will be available for activation immediately.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If you have not made a selection,
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 79
Select Currency
Once the payment method has been selected, you may be prompted to select a currency
if your payment method supports multiple currencies. If your payment method does not
support multiple currencies, you will skip directly to Select Products.
Highlight the currency you choose using the mouse or keyboard.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If you have not made a selection,
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 80
Select Products
Select the Products you wish to purchase by entering the quantity of each item
you would like to purchase.
Each line displays the product name, single unit price, and the total price of the number of
product copies selected. To view the complete list of products, use the scroll bar. The currency
of the prices is stated at the bottom.
Product Info
If you have an active internet connection, you can get detailed information on any of the products
by clicking on the i buttons.
Subtotal
This is the total price of the products you have selected, not including shipping charges and taxes.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If you have not set the quantity
for any of the products greater than zero, you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 81
Shipping Country
Select the Country you are going to have the products shipped to. This is used to calculate
shipping charges and any applicable taxes.
Note: If your country is not listed, you will not be able to use the automated purchasing
system to make your purchase. Please contact Aurora Systems Customer Service
for assistance with your purchase.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If you have not selected a country,
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 82
Shipping Territory
Some countries have shipping charges and taxes that are specific to individual provinces, states or territories.
If your selected country does not have such territories, you will skip directly to
select a Shipping Method. Select the Territory the product will be shipped
to.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If you have not selected a territory,
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 83
Shipping Method
Select the Shipping Method you prefer. Depending on your shipping destination, you may have different
choices here. This also provides a detailed summary of the total charge for the order including all
fees and taxes in the currency specified.
The prices for each shipping method are listed and the currency for those prices is specified at the bottom
of the dialog.
Shipping Costs and Taxes
Any applicable taxes for your selected territory will be listed in the specified currency. On the screenshot
above, Canadian GST applies to the shipping charges for the purchase. If there are no
taxes that Aurora Systems is responsible for collecting, this area will not be visible.
Software Total
This is the total price of the products you have selected to purchase in the specified currency.
Order Total
This is the total of your order including products and shipping
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 84
Credit Card
Once you are satisfied with your selections and are ready to make a purchase, if you have selected
to pay via credit card, you will be prompted to enter your credit card information. If not, you will skip
directly to entering your Billing Address.
Note: Currently Aurora Systems is only able to accept VISA cards. If you do not
have a VISA card, please go back and select a different Payment Means.
Security
Aurora's online purchasing is secured by industry standard 1024-bit RSA encryption. We take extra
steps to protect your credit card information, ensuring it is always encrypted from the time you submit
your order, even after it has been transmitted to Aurora Systems servers.
Card Number
Enter the number from your VISA card.
Good Thru (Expiry) Date
Select the month and year that your VISA card is good thru.
Good From Date
Select the month and year that your VISA card is good from. This is optional, however it may
help prevent submission of an invalid card.
Card Verification Value
The Card Verification Value (CVV) is the three digit number from the back of your VISA card as shown
in the picture. The CVV is optional, but it can help speed credit card processing.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If the card number or good
thru date is invalid you will not be able to proceed. If the good thru date is correct and Aurora Suite
will still not let you continue, check that the date on your computer is set correctly.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 85
Card Billing Address
Enter your Credit Card billing address exactly as it appears on your bill.
Shipping Address for purchase is same as Credit Card Billing Address
Check this box if the address you would like your product shipped to is the same as the
Credit Card billing address, this will save you re-entering the information.
Billing Address for purchase is same as Credit Card Billing Address
Check this box if the address you would like the invoice for your product sent to is the same as the
Credit Card billing address, this will save you re-entering the information.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If the address entered is incomplete
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 86
Billing Address
Enter the address where you would like the invoice for your purchase to be sent to.
Shipping Address for purchase is same as Billing Address
Check this box if the address you would like your product shipped to is the same as the
address you would like the invoice for your purchase sent to, this will save you re-entering
the information.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If the address entered is incomplete
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 87
Shipping Address
Enter the address where you would like your purchase to be sent to.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If the address entered is incomplete
you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 88
Contact Information
Enter Contact Information to be used to complete the purchase.
Telephone
Enter the daytime telephone number where you can be reached in case there is any
question while processing your order.
Email Address
Enter an Email Address in case there is any question processing your order. This is optional unless
you check Please notify me of new products and product updates below. If you wish to be able
to check the status of your order online, you must enter an email address.
Password
Enter a password to be used when you want to check the status of your order online.
Please notify me of new products and product updates.
If you have entered an Email Address above and you wish to be notified when product
updates or new products from Aurora Systems become available, check this box.
Your Privacy
Aurora Systems respects your privacy. We have a corporate privacy policy that explains what information
we collect and what we use it for. If you are connected to the internet, you can click on Your Privacy to view
our privacy policy.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your entries and move to the next step. You must enter a telephone
number before you will be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 89
Complete Purchase
You have now entered all the information needed to process your purchase. Please verify the
information is correct and when you are ready to make your purchase and authorize payment
with the selected payment means, press Complete Purchase to send your order to Aurora Systems for
processing.
Note: Before you continue, you must have an active internet connection.
Ship To
This is the Ship To address you entered.
Bill To
This is the Bill To address you entered.
Selected Product(s)
This is a summary of the products you have selected to purchase.
Shipping
This is the shipping method you have selected.
Payment Means
This is the means of payment you have selected.
Currency
This is the currency that your order will be processed in.
Total
This is the total of your order including all shipping charges and taxes and the amount
that you will be billed for this purchase.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Complete Purchase
Warning: This is your last chance to cancel this purchase. Once you press this button, your order
will be processed.
Press this button to confirm your selections and send your order to Aurora Systems for processing. By
pressing this button, you are authorizing Aurora Systems or its suppliers to process your order
and payment with the selected payment means.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 90
Purchase Result
Once your order has been submitted for processing, after a few moments the result will be
returned. Assuming the order is successful, please make a note of this information, you may
need your order number and serial number in the future. If there is a problem with the order,
an error message will be provided.
Print
Press this button to open the result of your purchase in Internet Explorer so it can be printed.
We strongly recommend you print a copy of this document.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and move to the next step. If you have not set the quantity
for any of the products greater than zero, you will not be able to proceed.
Cancel
Leave the purchasing system.
Section 91
Select Serial
If you wish to activate the products you have purchased for full operation on the computer you have purchased
them on, select the serial number for the product you wish to activate.
Aurora Activation sends your serial number along with a special Hardware Code unique to your
computer to Aurora Systems servers which provide an Activation Code which enables the software for
full operation. You can learn more about activation from our online
Activation FAQ.
Please Note: your Aurora Suite serial number is your key to access the software and
services you have purchased from Aurora Systems. Aurora Systems is a small company and we rely on
the support of customers like you to continue in our mission to produce affordable, effective solutions
for people with special needs. Please do not share your serial number with others and be sure to
protect it like your Social Security Number (SSN), Social Insurance Number (SIN) or other confidential
personal information.
Select Users for this Serial Number
Most users will select Use this serial number for all users so that any subsequent Windows users
added to the system will be able to use this serial number.
Tip: Network administrators should select to use the serial number for all users so that Aurora Suite
will work for roaming users.
If only a single Windows user will be using the software, or if different users are using unique
installations of Aurora Suite, choose Use this serial number only for the current user.
Previous
Press this button to return to the previous step.
Next
Press this button to confirm your selection and submit the serial number over the internet to Aurora
Systems for activation on this computer.
Once the automatic activation has been processed, the process with continue with registration.
For additional information, please see Registration.
Cancel
If you do not wish to activate the serial number automatically, press this button to leave the purchasing system
without activating a serial number.
Your Privacy
Push this button to view Aurora Systems privacy policy. The privacy policy is a web page and requires
an active internet connection to retrieve.
Section 92
Advanced Topics
Export Warning
This software product uses strong cryptography. Import, export and/or use of this software
may be illegal or subject to restrictions in some parts of the world.
Details
RSA encryption with a 1024 bit modulus is used to protect personal and financial information transmitted over
the internet during financial transactions, and during product activation and registration.
The encryption software included in this product is not directly available for use by the end user.
Section 93
File Locations
Aurora Suite places files in the following locations:
\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005 - Program files and settings
\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005\UserFiles - Default User Files
\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora Suite 2005\ - User Specific Files
Section 94
Settings & Data Files
Common Settings File
The common aurora.set file can be found in the \Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005 folder. This
file contains settings common to all users of Aurora Suite on this computer.
Private Settings File
There is also an aurora.set file for each user. This is stored in the
\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora Suite 2005\ folder. This file contains
the bulk of the settings for each user. This folder will not exist unless Aurora Suite has been started
with the given %USERNAME% logged in to Windows.
Tip: On some systems the Application Data folder may be hidden. Changing the My Computer
window's Folder Options to show hidden system and operating system files may make
this folder visible.
User-Specific Files
Each time a new Windows user starts Aurora Suite, a new Aurora Suite 2005 folder will be created
under the Application Data folder of that user. This folder contains dictionary files, type and talk
history, settings, and other files created during the operation of Aurora Suite.
Section 95
MS-DOS Windows
Aurora Suite does not provide support for DOS applications running
under the Windows Operating Environment.
Section 96
Import Dictionary Utility
Note: This tool is no longer supported, and is not included with
Aurora Suite, it is available upon request from Aurora Systems Technical
support and provided on an as-is basis.
The Aurora Dictionary Import Tool allows you to import words from Aurora
1.0 for Windows or Aurora for DOS dictionaries. Aurora Suite will read Aurora 2.0 and 3.0 for Windows
dictionaries directly, so you do not need to use this tool if you are upgrading from Aurora 2.0 for Windows or later.
This program does not import prediction information, so any next word
prediction information from the previous version's dictionaries will be
lost.
This program may take several hours to run so we recommend running it
overnight. Don't forget to plug in your computer if it is a portable
system.
Note: This tool comes bundled with the dictionaries from Aurora for Windows 3.0.
This tool does not support Aurora Suite format dictionaries directly, so to import an Aurora for Windows
1.0 dictionary or Aurora for DOS dictionary, it must first be converted to version 3 format using this
tool, and finally opened with Aurora Suite which will then convert it to Aurora Suite format.
Aurora 1.0 for Windows or Aurora for DOS Dictionary File to Import Words From
Enter the full path and file name of the Aurora for DOS or Aurora 1.0
for Windows dictionary file that you wish to import vocabulary words and
macros from. You do not need to import Aurora 2.0 for Windows or later
dictionaries, Aurora Suite will read them directly.
Example:
C:\AWIN\DCTSMALL.DCT
Aurora 3.0 for Windows Dictionary File to Receive Imported Words
Enter the full path and file name of the Aurora 3.0 for Windows
dictionary file (provided with this tool, NOT an Aurora Suite dictionary
file) that you wish to add words from the Aurora 1.0 for Windows
or Aurora for DOS dictionary to. You may also enter a new dictionary file
name to create a new Aurora 3.0 for Windows dictionary file containing the
vocabulary from the old dictionary but this dictionary will not contain any
next word prediction statistics.
Example:
C:\AWIN3\PREDICT.DCT
Import Standard Words
If this checkbox is unchecked, Import will complete much more quickly
because it will only import words and macros that you have added, or that
have been learned. Words that are part of the standard vocabulary will not
be added.
Note that some words that were standard in the Aurora 1.0 for Windows
dictionaries are not standard in the Aurora 3.0 for Windows dictionaries
and to add those words to your dictionaries, you will need to check this
checkbox.
Memory Limit
This is the amount of memory that the Import tool is allowed to use. We
recommend you set this value to at most 2048K less than the amount of
memory in your computer. The larger the value here, the faster this
program will complete.
If you have 4M of RAM (memory) in your computer set this to 2048.
If you have 8M of RAM (memory) in your computer set this to 6144.
If you have 12M of RAM (memory) in your computer set this to 10240.
If you have 16M of RAM (memory) in your computer set this to 12288.
If you have 24M of RAM (memory) in your computer set this to 20480.
If you have 32M of RAM (memory) in your computer set this to 20480.
Optimize Dictionary
If this checkbox is checked, after the words have been imported, the
Aurora 3.0 for Windows dictionary file will be optimized for best
performance. If this checkbox is not checked, all options in the
Optimization Options group will be disabled.
Cache Size Target
This should be set to the same value as Cache Size in Aurora
Prediction's Prediction Options dialog. For an 8M RAM system, we recommend
1536 for this setting. For a 16M RAM system, we recommend 2048, 3072 or
4096 where larger values will give better performance.
Statistics Thinning Factor
This should be set to 0. Setting this to any other value will remove
prediction statistics information from the dictionary reducing its ability
to predict next words.
Save Backup Copy of Dictionary
If you check this checkbox, a backup copy of the Aurora 3.0 for Windows
dictionary file will be made during optimization. Note: You will need
enough free disk space to contain two complete dictionary files for
optimization to complete.
Delete Unused Words, Phrases, Macros
Delete learned but unused words, phrases, and macros from the
dictionary. It is generally good to check words and phrases, and uncheck
macros.
Compress Dictionary
Do not select this option, older compressed dictionaries are not compatible
with Aurora Suite. After conversion to Aurora Suite format, the dictionary
can then be compressed using dictionary optimization.
Section 97
Technical Support
Glossary
Activate Window -
Before Aurora Prediction will do word prediction for a window, the window
must be activated. This can be automatic in Aurora Suite.
Aurora Prediction - A program that attempts to guess what you are
typing to help speed input and improve spelling.
Cache
- Memory used to improve the performance of the Aurora Prediction program.
Compression -
A technique used to make dictionary files smaller on disk in exchange for a
performance loss on slower computers.
Deactivate Window - If you no longer want Aurora Prediction to do word
prediction for a window, it must be deactivated.
Dictionary
- Collection of words, phrases, macros and other information used by Aurora
Prediction, usually in a .DCT file on disk.
Grammatical Rules - Set of English grammatical rules applied to the
words in the dictionary to reduce the number of inappropriate words offered
to the user in the prediction window.
Homonyms/Homophones
- Words that sound similar but have different spellings and meanings, for
example their, they're and there or too, two, and to.
Macro -
Preprogrammed short code used to expand a longer phrase.
Macro Code - Preprogrammed short code used to expand a longer
phrase.
Macro Expansion - Phrase generated when a macro code is typed.
Can be speech or text output.
Multiple Word Prediction - Technique which allows Aurora Prediction to
learn phrases as they are used as opposed to traditional preprogrammed
techniques.
Optimization
- Feature of Aurora Prediction that can improve dictionary performance by
improving dictionary files' internal structure.
Phrase -
Two or more words treated as a single word, can be preprogrammed or learned
automatically.
Priority
- Determines which words and phrases are offered first by Aurora
Prediction. Priority changes dynamically as Aurora Prediction is used to
adjust the dictionary to the individual user's writing style.
Phonetic Spelling - Aurora Prediction uses a technique to attempt to
guess the word the user is typing if the word is not one already in the
dictionary. It presents the user with words that sound like or have
similar spellings to the word they are typing.
Speech Macro - Short macro code and expansion that are spoken.
Spelling Autocorrection - Special text macros that correct the
spelling of commonly misspelled words.
Text Macro - Short macro code and expansion that are typed into
the current application.
WAV Macro
- Short macro code and expansion that cause a sound effect WAV file to be
played.
Section 98
System Requirements
Minimum system requirements for Aurora Suite 2005 for Windows are:
Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
A 400MHz Pentium compatible CPU.
64M of RAM.
50M of disk space.
A display resolution of at least
800x600.
Speech output requires a windows supported sound card and speakers.
Some program features require an internet connection.
Section 99
Support Resources
If you can't find the information you need in this user's guide, technical support regarding the installation,
features and operation of this product is available from Aurora Systems or your reseller.
Free Support
The first place to look for support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world is
our online support resources. These include
software updates, lists of known problems, frequently asked questions, and more.
Registered Users Support
Registered users with a valid support contract can get the fastest response to specific
questions by contacting our development team directly via e-mail on the Internet at
or by fax 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (604)291-6310.
Support requests MUST include the following information:
Your name.
Product Serial Number.
Contact e-mail address, telephone number or fax.
Where you are calling from, and when is the best time to call back.
Detailed description of problem, including the EXACT text of any error messages.
For fastest results, also include the following:
File \Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005\aurora.set
File \Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Application Data\Aurora 2005\aurora.set
Voice technical support is available Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 5:00pm Pacific time (12:00pm to
8:00pm Eastern time) at (604)291-6310. For most questions you will receive the quickest response and best
information if you use our online resources or email or fax our development team.
Technical support questions cannot be answered by our toll-free order line staff. Please do not call them for
technical support questions.
Trademarks and other marks are the property of their respective owners.
This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit.
www.openssl.org This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com).
This product includes software written by Tim Hudson (tjh@cryptsoft.com).
While Aurora Systems has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this document, it may be out of date, contain errors, omissions or
typographical or other errors. This document is provided "as-is" without warranty of any kind and Aurora Systems accepts no liability or responsibility
for damages or costs incurred from its use.
indicates sections relevant to the Value Edition.
indicates sections relevant to the Standard Edition.
indicates sections relevant to the Professional Edition.
.
This is a
convenience button that lets you read back the word that you have typed so
far. If you prefer you can have the word read back to you after each
keypress with Echo Partial Words.
This is a
convenience button that lets you read back the sentence that you have typed
so far. If you prefer you can have the sentence read back to you at the
end of the sentence with Echo Sentences.
This is a
convenience button that lets you read back the paragraph that you have
typed so far. If you prefer you can have the paragraph read back to you at
the end of the paragraph (when you press Enter) with Echo Paragraphs.
This
button causes the speech synthesizer to stop speaking if it is speaking. Also available
on the Echo Menu.
This
button changes as you use it and indicates whether Aurora Echo's voice
feedback is on or off. Click it to turn Aurora Echo off. Also available
on the Echo Menu.
This
button changes as you use it and indicates whether Aurora Echo's voice
feedback is on or off. Click it to turn Aurora Echo on. Also available on
the Echo Menu.
This
provides access to the options dialog for Aurora Echo. For information on
the options, see Echo Options. Also available on the Echo Menu.
This
provides access to the Voice Options dialog that allows you to choose
and set up your speech synthesizer. Also available on the Echo Menu.
This
provides access to the Aurora Echo online help. Also available on the Echo Menu.
This
displays the version information for Aurora Echo. Also available on the Echo Menu.
This
button closes Aurora Echo. This is one button you may wish to remove from
the toolbar in Toolbar Options if you are likely to hit it accidentally. Also available on
the Echo Menu.
Flexible support for multiple languages
was a key design element of Aurora Suite. This section discusses existing support for individual languages
and provides specific information and examples to help individuals translate some or all of the software.
Additional support for specific languages will be added as translations can be arranged.
