The Spoken Word is a colouring program that encourages children to read.
1. Choose a mode with 256 or more colours (e.g. mode 36, 21, 15 or 28 on machines other than the RiscPC). The program will run in other modes, but the colours will not be properly displayed. The font cache must be set to at least 64k, and the font cache limit to at least 256k.
2. Double click on the Fonts directory.
3. Double click on the SpokenWrd icon, which will load it onto the icon bar, then double click on the 'pig' stencil. If you simply double click on the stencil, it will load Talking Pictures in preference to The Spoken Word - all stencils run in both programs.
4. Use the mouse and pointer to select object and colour words. The colour pane appears when you move the pointer over the palette icon. Click select once over a colour word and once over an object word. The computer will respond with the colour adjective and object noun together, and will colour in the object. There are also rubber and writing icons.
5. The icon bar menu :
The Picture click option permits objects to be selected by either clicking on the word or by clicking on the object within the stencil.
The Fixed window option 'clamps' the picture to the screen - the Close, Back, Toggle size and Size icons disappear, the window cannot be moved by dragging the title bar, and the function keys are disabled. To get out, press Ctrl-Shift-Copy.
If the Colours option is not selected, blocks of colour will not be displayed behind the colour words.
The Save option enables you to save coloured in pictures by dragging the sprite file icon to a directory in the usual way. Pictures can also be printed out if the sprite file icon is dragged to a printer icon.
6. Inaudible sound : check the Configuration status SoundDefault, and set it to 1 7 1. Use the Configure program.
7. The full version of The Spoken Word contains six outline pictures to colour, and there is a facility for making your own 'talking' stencils, providing that you have your own sound recording software. There are two packs of Extra Pictures, containing six outline pictures each, which run in both The Spoken Word and Talking Pictures. There is also an Overlay Pack for The Spoken Word, so it will run with overlay keyboards.
