Open Window Software News Winter 2009 A Free E-mail Newsletter from Open Window Software Featuring Tips on Using the WinFlash Suite, HandyCards and Flashcard Exchange Contents: 1) WinFlash v11 Suggestion Contest Winners 2) WinFlash v11 Preview 3) Free Upgrades for Referring Your Friends 4) Study Tip - Cramming 5) How To - Use Scheduled Tasks to Run Study Files 6) Latest In-line Program Updates --------------------------------------------------- 1) WinFlash v11 Suggestion Contest Winners Thanks to all of you who sent in suggestions for additional features to add to v11. Here's the list of winners who will receive a free upgrade to v11 when it comes out around the end of Q1. These suggestions lean heavily towards 'bang for the buck' - i.e. a significant increase in usability for a moderate expenditure of programming effort. Manuj Chandra - Enable the Subject Outline to access files located on a network drive. Tim Mahon - Add SAPI5 capability to Text-to-Speech and allow each question and answer pair to be exported as an individual file. Ingo Thomas - Combine the Start and Stop buttons in the editor's Recorder into a single button and assign a keyboard shortcut to the key. Also several other suggestions relating to TTS export that are incorporated in v11. James Ryan - Show Categories in the editor's Table View. Fred Johnston - A mode where WinFlash automatically pops up and asks a pair periodically, remaining minimized otherwise. There were MANY interesting and useful suggestions submitted. Pieces of some may appear in later upgrades. --------------------------------------------------- 2) WinFlash v11 Preview We're currently beta-testing v11 and editing/expanding the Help file to accompany the new release. We hope to launch v11 around the end of Q1. Here's a look at what to expect derived from the What's New in V11 topic in the new Help file: The following new features are available in all three WinFlash versions: * Categories - Maximum number of Categories increased to 200 * Leitner Box 0 Pool - The pool allows adjustable feeding of new pairs into active use * Leitner Missed Pairs - Choose to have Leitner missed pairs repeated until promoted or not repeated until the next day * Skip It... - A Skip button has been added to all Question dialogs allowing you to postpone answering the current pair without penalty. Can be disabled if desired * Editor Panel Splitters - Splitters have been added to the editor's Question Text, Answer Text, Hints/Comments and QuickDeck panels. Arrange each panel to apportion the space where you most need it * Subscript/Superscript - Access Subscript/Superscript functionality directly from two new speed buttons in the editor * Paste Special - Paste Special (unformatted) added to editor right-click menu * Additional Editor Browse Buttons - First and Last buttons have been added to the editor's Previous and Next buttons grouped in the same area and ordered as First,Previous,Next,Last * Enhanced Character-inserter - The inserter can access all fonts and characters available on your computer - now it's automatically set to the font where the cursor is positioned * Paste-from-clipboard Graphics - Quality vs file size of paste-from-clipboard graphics can be adjusted on the Associated Files tab * Used File Paths - Option for full/short/filename only paths in Used Files list - toggle entry on File menu * Multiple Monitor Displays - WinFlash is now compatible with use on multiple-monitor display systems __________________________________ The following new features are available in WinFlash Scholar and Educator: * Unicode Glossary Buttons - Glossary Buttons have been enhanced to accept Unicode characters * Leitner Box Status - Pairs' Leitner box status is now displayed in the editor's Table View - you can edit the box value by double-clicking on it * Table View Sorting - The editor's Table View can now be sorted by any desired column - including Category and Leitner Box __________________________________ The following new features are available in WinFlash Educator: * SAPI5 - The improved quality of SAPI5 is now supported in Educator's text-to-speech (TTS) functionality * Independent TTS Engines for Q & A - Independent engines can be assigned to the Questions and Answers. This allows, for example, an English-optimized engine to be used for the Questions and a German-optimized engine to be used for the Answers. TTS for Question and Answer can be enabled independently and the engine for reading the Intro TTS can be selected to be either of the two engines * TTS Export - TTS can now be exported to a single file or file per pair. The output can be programmed for any combination of QText, AText, QAudioFile and AAudioFile giving total flexibility in exporting your content for audio study * Pop Up Mode - When enabled, Winflash minimizes itself after each completed pair, popping up with a new pair after a programmable interval. Generate a continuing stream of Q&A's while working on other projects * Study Session Timer - Session elapsed time optionally shown on main window. More comprehensive data on study time is displayed in the Advanced Statistics for the file * Advanced Statistics Sorting - Advanced Statistics can now be sorted by any desired column - including Category and Leitner Box * Direct-record Mp3 - Store your audio recordings as either .wav or .mp3 format with three-level quality selection * Audio for Introduction - A recorded file may now be stored for the Introduction Note: Old .FLS and .FLU files will work just fine with v11. 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 v11. However, files created with v11 may NOT be compatible when used with older versions. See Backward Compatibility for detailed information on this topic. --------------------------------------------------- 3) Free Upgrades for Referring Your Friends Quite a few of you have earned free upgrades to v10 by referring your friends to us! Have a friend that could use WinFlash? You can earn a free upgrade to the next release of your version of the program (v10 if you haven't upgraded yet or v11 when it's released if you're already at v10). Just have your friend mention your name in the Comments section when placing the order. A great way to help out a friend and get the next major release gratis! --------------------------------------------------- 4) Study Tip - Cramming (This tip is a repeat from a previous newsletter - for our newer users who didn't catch it the first time around) 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 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. --------------------------------------------------- 5) How To - Use Scheduled Tasks to Run Study Files The Scheduled Tasks capability in Windows can be a handy way to set aside some time each day to study. The specifics below are for Windows XP, but the facility exists in all versions of Windows. 1. From the Start button, select Settings|Control Panel 2. In Control Panel, double-click on Scheduled Tasks 3. In the Scheduled Tasks window select File|New|Scheduled Task (I'd recommend NOT using the Add Scheduled Task entry in the task list. This invokes the Add Task Wizard which really isn't very helpful.) 4. Enter a name for the task - perhaps the name of your study file 5. Right click on the new entry in the task list and select Properties 6. On the Task tab, browse to your study file and select it (you'll need to select "All Files" in the Files of type: drop-down to see other than .exe files) 7. Select the user in the Run As box - enter the password associated with this user by pressing the Set Password... button 8. On the Schedule tab, set the Start time and whether the task runs daily, etc. 9. The Settings tab has more advanced settings if you wish, but these aren't usually necessary. 10. OK the dialog and enjoy having your study file start up whenever you've scheduled it. You can test that everything's OK with your settings by right-clicking on the task and selecting Run. If the file opens up in WinFlash you're all set. If not, review the settings again. --------------------------------------------------- 6) In-line Program Updates Since the Last Newsletter 10.10.07 remains the latest update to v10.1. If you're running something older than v10.10.05, you're missing out on some nice improvements in the 'look' of the program - "Complete icon facelift throughout the program" The 10.10.07 update to all WinFlash versions addresses the following issues: 1. Reset TextToSpeechOn to 0 if SpeechInstalled = False 2. Fixed Cheers & Jeers crash that appeared in 10.10.06 --------------------------------------------------- Need Help? Have A problem? Check out our online listings of the latest releases and the problems that they've solved: http://www.openwindow.com/pages/wfprobs.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 (c) 2009 Open Window Software. All worldwide rights reserved.