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- ^ TOUCH TYPIST INSTRUCTIONS&
-
- Welcome to Touch Typist for the Commodore Amiga computer.
- This program is written by David Batty and published by
- Sector Software, please respect the authors time and
- effort in writing this software by not allowing any
- copying of the program to take place. Before starting
- with Touch Typist I suggest that you take a look at
- the^'DO TUTORIAL'&option from the ^'PROJECT'& menu, this
- will tell you about the home keys and which fingers go
- where.
-
- When you select from the^'DO LESSONS'&menu the option ^'DO
- SINGLE LESSON'& you will be asked to press any key to
- start, when you press a key you will be presented with a
- lesson to copy, you are now being timed from the moment
- you see the lesson so don't hang around before commencing
- typing. Remember when you are doing the lessons never
- look down at the keyboard but always look at the screen,
- this may seem hard at first but the results will be worth
- the effort in the long run. If you want to see how I have
- progressed with my typing while writing and testing this
- program you can load the file^DAVIDSRESULTS&in to the
- graph. Press any key to advance to the next page. While a
- page is being printed you may press^'ESC'&to quit viewing.\
- Type the letter above the cursor and continue to the end
- of the line. Correct responses will be printed as you
- type. If you press the wrong key there will be a warning
- sound and the computer will not print the error character
- but will wait until you press the correct key, counting
- any wrong keys pressed in the process. When you have
- reached the end of the line you will be given a speed in
- words per minute and the percentage accuracy obtained.
- These scores are then compared with the target scores and
- if either is not reached then you will have to repeat the
- line until the targets are achieved. When you reach both
- targets you will then continue with the next lessson. If
- you are unable to reach either of the targets then you can
- alter them by calling up the menu. If you are asked to
- retype the lines five or more times, then you will be sent
- to a lower lesson to resume from there.
-
- Selecting ^'SET SPEED TARGET'&and^'SET ACCURACY TARGET'&
- will allow you to alter the targets that must be reached
- to progress to the next level. Speed is calculated in
- words per minute and accuracy is expressed as a percentage
- of correct keys to total keys pressed. \
- ^'START FROM LESSON'&allows you to select the lesson to
- start at (1-201)
-
- ^'DO SINGLE LESSONS'&is the default option where you are
- given your speed and accuracy after each lesson, if you
- achieve the targets you are given your speed and accuracy
- before going on to the next lesson.
-
- ^'DO RANDOM LESSONS'&is similar to^'DO SINGLE LESSON'&but
- after correctly typing a lesson you will be sent to
- another randomly chosen lesson. This option is handy when
- you get used to knowing which lessons are coming up next.
-
- ^'DO SLOWEST LESSONS'& will first move you to any lessons
- that you have not attempted, if you have attempted all 201
- lessons then it will look for the lowest speed recorded on
- the graph and move you to that lesson. This is an
- excellent way to build up your average speed as it will
- force you to work on those keys that you are slowest at.
- If you have completed all your graph then I recommend you
- use this option.
-
- ^'DO MOST INACCURATE'&is similar to ^'DO SLOWEST LESSONS'&
- but will advance you to the lesson you made the most
- mistakes on.\
- ^'KEYBOARD PROMPTS'& switches the screen's simulated
- keyboard on or off. When the keyboard is ON and a
- sentence is waiting to be typed in, then the key to be
- typed lights up in green on the screen keyboard showing
- you the keys location. If you press the correct key then
- the light is extinguished and the next key is lit up. If
- you press the wrong key then the key stays lit but the key
- you wrongly pressed gets a red cross placed on it to show
- how far away you are from the correct key and you can
- therefore try again until you get it. When using the
- interactive keyboard you are limited to a speed of 800
- words per minute!!!!, hardly a limitation as I believe
- your fingers will catch fire at 650 WPM !!.
-
- If the letter is a capital letter then the shift key on
- the opposite side will light up indicating that this is
- the shift key that should be used with this key. If the
- letter to be typed is a capital letter and you hit the
- correct key but without pressing the shift key then the
- letter will still be highlighted in green but will also
- have a red cross on it, pressing the key again but this
- time with the shift key will advance you to the next
- letter.\
- ^'GRAPH OF RESULTS'& will show you a graphical
- representation of your speed for each of the 201 lessons.
- This is shown in the form of a bar chart with 2 pixel wide
- bars for each lesson. The last speed obtained is shown as
- a white vertical bar with the scale on the left hand side
- indicating your speed in Words Per Minute. If the last
- speed obtained is not the fastest you have achieved, the
- graph will indicate the fastest speed obtained by a
- vertical red line behind the white. Your average speed is
- indicated by a horizontal green line. In the window above
- the graph you will be shown your speed and accuracy in
- figures.
-
- You can save your graph out once completed and store it on
- disk for a week or two, then do all the lessons again and
- compare your average speed and accuracy, I am sure you
- will see a marked improvement.
-
- ^'DEMO MODE'& is where the computer attempts the lessons
- and should obtain 100% accuracy, if it gets less than 100%
- then start worrying. The computer is quite good at the
- lessons and to prevent it typing every one at 800 WPM I
- have put a random delay in for each lesson. The results
- obtained by the computer are not entered on the graph, you
- will have to obtain the high speeds by practice.\
- ^'FREE TYPE'&is totally unconnected with the lessons and
- the graph, this option opens up a window and allows you to
- type anything you want, the content and spelling are not
- checked for accuracy but the number of characters typed
- and the speed are, once you press a key to start you are
- being timed and your keypresses counted, when you have
- finished typing, quickly press the^'ESC'&key, this stops
- the clock and gives you your speed and number of
- characters and words typed. Remember one word in typing
- terms is considered to be five characters.^FREE TYPE& was
- included for you to copy a passage out of a book or just
- make up sentences as you go along, some people find this
- easier than doing the lessons.
- ^'KEYCLICK'&will sound a beep with each keypress, most
- people do not like keyclick but some do so I have set this
- option to default to off.
- ^'ERROR SOUND'& is normally switched on and will make a
- sound indicating each wrong keypress, if this bothers you
- then switch it off.
- \
- ^'SPACING SENTENCE'& is a feature that I have never seen
- on any typing tutor, but I am sure that others will copy
- this idea. When this option is switched on and you reach
- the end of a lesson, the lesson will be reprinted above
- itself but the characters will either have gaps between
- them or they will be overlapping each other. The distance
- from the first letter to the last in the spacing sentence
- represents the time taken to complete the lesson, each
- correct keypress stores the time you pressed the key, when
- the spacing sentence is reprinted, the letters are printed
- with a spacing corresponding with the time each correct
- key was pressed. A gap before a letter indicates that you
- took your time in finding that key while letters that
- overlap each other were typed fairly quickly compared with
- the rest of the lesson, by looking at the spacing sentence
- you will be able to see your strengths and weaknesses.
-
- DO NOT attempt to increase your speed without keeping your
- accuracy up, it is no good being able to type at 60 words
- per minute if your accuracy is only 80%, I try and keep
- 95% accuracy or more as you can see if you load my results
- in to the graph.\
- If you have any ideas for new features for inclusion in
- future versions of Touch Typist or any comments on this
- version then please send them to
-
- ^David Batty
- Sector Software
- 39 Wray Crescent
- Ulnes Walton
- Leyland
- Lancashire
- PR5 3NH
- Telephone 0772 452414&
-
- We are developing new disks of lessons to provide you with
- a variety of tasks. These will include lessons based on
- specialist subjects to provide education as well as typing
- practice. Phone us for more details.\