Open Window Software News Winter 2006 A Free E-mail Newsletter From Open Window Software Featuring Tips On Using The WinFlash Suite, HandyCards and Flashcard Exchange Contents: 1) WinFlash v9.1 Released - Skins! 2) Editor Speed In v9.1 3) Importing Decks From Flashcard Exchange 4) A New Way To Earn Free Upgrades 5) Study Tip - Cramming 6) What's New in v9.0/9.1? --------------------------------------------------- 1) WinFlash v9.1 Released - Skins! In response to a number of requests for a more vibrant-looking user interface, we've added a library of 'skins' to the WinFlash programs. What are skins? A 'skin' is a set of colors and control behaviors that changes the appearance of a program without changing its functionality. Skinning allows the user to select from interfaces that mimic the Mac OS, the various XP themes or many other, more fanciful, looks. We hope you like this new capability and find a look for the program that's just right for you! There are 22 skins included with the latest versions of the program and an additional 77 that can be downloaded from the skins page on our website at: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/skins We thought this enough of an enhancement to warrant a full tenth step in the version identifier. IMPORTANT NOTE: The v9.1 update uses a new third party control for display and editing of the Introduction and RTF Support Files. While this new software provides needed capabilities beyond that previously used, it does NOT yet support the embedded object functionality that was present in earlier versions of WinFlash Educator. If you require this support, please stay with v9.00.03 until we announce an in-line release of v9.1 which contains OLE support. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. You can download v9.1 from our downloads page at http://www.openwindow.com/pages/download-flashcards.htm What? STILL haven't upgraded to v9? Perhaps the cool look of the new skins will entice you :-) Check out the other great features added to v9.0 below in 6) What's New in v9.0/9.1? and purchase your upgrade from our secure order page here: https://www.openwindow.com/pages/oworder.htm --------------------------------------------------- 2) Editor Speed In v9.1 When working in the editor, WinFlash does a complete save of your information each time you move from an edited pair to another pair location. When it does this, it ALSO redisplays the program. The computational overhead required by the skins processing when refreshing the editor and main screens increases the time the computer takes for this operation. This is not an issue on fast machines but may cause an objectionable pause on slower ones. If you find this to be the case and you're planning to edit or add several pairs, just turn off the skins in Options|View|Skins and then turn them back on when you're done editing. Or, if you prefer, simply leave them off altogether. --------------------------------------------------- 3) Importing Decks From Flashcard Exchange If you haven't checked out Flashcard Exchange yet, you owe it to yourself to give it a look. They currently have over 3 million flashcards available! They may already have just the deck you need or, at least, a great start on which to build. If you decide you'd like to become a member, we offer a $5 discount for users who already own or are upgrading to WinFlash Educator - only $11.50 for a lifetime membership! As a member of Flashcard Exchange you can download any decks that you wish and use them with WinFlash Educator and/or HandyCards. One caveat - decks using the Unicode font sets such as Chinese or Japanese cannot be imported by Educator or HandyCards at this time. We are working on an upgrade that WILL allow the use of Unicode, but this won't be available for some time. To export flashcards so they will work in WinFlash Educator, access your Flashcard Exchange account using your web browser. 1. Click on the flashcard file you want to export and then click the Export/download link under Activities. 2. From the export formats list click the “Export to WinFlash Educator” button. 3. In the File Download dialog that appears, click the Save button. 4. The standard Save As dialog will appear. Select the location where you want the file to be stored and give it a name ending in .hc – e.g. multiplication.hc. Click the Save button. Your file has now been saved in the directory you selected with the name you entered. 5. Open WinFlash Educator and create a new file into which to import the flashcards you have saved in the step above. Close the editor that opens upon creation of a new file, leaving the newly created file open. 6. From the Educator menu select Import Content… Choose Flashcard Exchange as the Import Format and select the Overwrite Currently-Open file option. Click OK. 7. In the Import From File: dialog window that appears, navigate to the .hc file that you saved in step 4 (multiplication.hc in this example) and click on it – this will enter it in the Filename box of the dialog. Click Open. 8. A message will appear confirming that you have successfully imported your flashcard file. Click OK and your flashcards will be opened in Educator ready for your use. --------------------------------------------------- 4) A New Way To Earn Free Upgrades You've already heard about earning free upgrades by referring your friends or contributing a deck to the WinFlash Users Library. We're now offering a third method for you to get your next upgrade free! If you're an artistic person with a flair for computer graphics, try out our free Skin Builder application available here: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/skins.htm After you've created an original look that you're proud of, send us the .skn file. If we add it to our collection you'll get a free upgrade to the current release. If you're already current we'll flag you for an upgrade to v10.0 when it becomes available. --------------------------------------------------- 5) Study Tip - Cramming Note - We thought that this tip, first run in 2003 was worthy of a repeat for our newer readers. While we don't recommend cramming as a study mode, who hasn't had to occasionally prepare at the last minute? If you're stuck with learning a week's worth of vocabulary words for Friday morning's test and it's now Thursday night, what's the quickest way? What's needed is a time-compressed version of Frequency Based on History, so that you don't waste time on learning words that 'stick' right away. The best way to do this is with the simplest Q&A mode, Ask All Questions Equally Often with a few additional options. Here are the steps and settings needed: 1. Open the study deck and set Options|Q&A Modes to Ask All Questions Equally Often. 2. In Options|Pair Order & Size select Repetition = One Pass 3. Run through the deck and, after the pass is complete, click 'Yes' in Continuation dialog and 'Yes' again in the 'Only Include Missed Pairs? dialog. As you continue to repeat the deck, the 'learned' pairs will drop off while the tough nuts will continue to appear. Once you've gotten all the remaining pairs correct the deck will automatically reset to asking all of the pairs again, letting you review the full set again, working through it until all are answered correctly again. 4. Repeat step 3 until you feel confident you've mastered the deck. You can add variety to the 'cram session' by using the Options|Pair Order & Size|Order = Random setting as well as the features in the Options|Q&A Modes|Settings Common To All Modes grouping. Take an occasional break and don't burn yourself out - and start a little earlier NEXT week :-) Note: WinFlash Basic does not support the 'Run Only Misses From Previous Pass' feature. --------------------------------------------------- 6) What's New in v9.0/v9.1? The following new features are available in all three WinFlash versions: * Skins! Now the most powerful learning system available is also the most beautiful :-) * New editing mode - QuickDeck - allows the fastest possible creation of text-only decks. Simply tab between Q and A and then on to the next pair * Graphics can be pasted directly from the clipboard into a Q or A - making it much easier to include graphics. No need to first convert the desired graphic to a file and then select that file for use in a Q or A * Decks can now be opened directly into the editor from the File|Open menu * Visible down-counter in timed mode * Desktop shortcuts to WinFlash files can now be invoked while the program is open with another file - the open file will be closed and the file targeted by the shortcut will be opened * Clear List function added to Used Files list - remove all the files from the list and start afresh *Hint and Comment buttons now 'flash' to more easily alert the user to the presence of a related hint or comment The following new features are available in WinFlash Scholar and Educator: * Decks can now be opened directly into the editor from the File|Open menu and from the Subject Outline view * Copy Pair now has a shortcut key - Ctrl-d The following new features are available in WinFlash Educator: * Text-to-speech capability - Educator can now read your decks to you - albeit in a somewhat robot-like fashion. One caveat - the text is read in English - thus the feature is NOT useful for language study - i.e. it doesn't know how to pronounce non-English words Note: Text-to-speech relies on Microsoft's SAPI4 system being installed on the computer. If you do not yet have this capability installed you can download an installer for it from the Open Window Software website's downloads page at: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/download-flashcards.htm Export to .wav or .mp3 and use your iPod or other personal audio device to study in on-the-go situations where a PDA or laptop isn't practical. Use that commute time to work on your studies * Direct Import/Export From/To Flashcard Exchange – This great on-line flashcard library is now directly supported in Educator’s import/export menus * Pairs can now be imported into the deck by copying two-column text from common table formats (e.g. Microsoft's Word, Excel and Access programs) to the Windows clipboard and then importing the data directly from the clipboard. The import feature has also been enhanced by adding direct import of .csv files * Improved Advanced Statistics, with more meaningful data displayed depending on the deck's current study mode *Background color of the Introduction can now be set to your choice of color Note: Old .FLS files will work just fine with v9.1 - see above for the exception relating to embedded OLE objects. Simply open them with the new program and the new entries for the .FLD file will be automatically created the first time you open the file in v9.1 --------------------------------------------------- Need Help? Have A problem? Check out our online listings of the latest releases and the problems that they've solved. For WinFlash programs see: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/wfprobs.htm For ProUpdater see: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/puprobs.htm If your issue isn't covered there, please send e-mail to support@openwindow.com and we'll do our best to resolve your problem. --------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE: Send e-mail to service@openwindow.com with SUBSCRIBE as the Subject. UNSUBSCRIBE: Simply send an email to service@openwindow.com with REMOVE as the Subject. This newsletter is a free service of Open Window Software and is Copyright © 2006 Open Window Software. All worldwide rights reserved.