Open Window Software News Summer 2011 A Free E-mail Newsletter from Open Window Software Featuring Tips on Using the WinFlash Suite, HandyCards and Flashcard Exchange Contents: 1) WinFlash v12 Released 2) WinFlash Suggestion Contest Winners 3) WinFlash Feature Highlight - Mercy for Leitner Mode 4) Free Upgrades for Referring Your Friends 5) Study Tip - Use Your Smartphone 6) How To - Install Educator on a Thumb Drive 7) Latest In-line Program Updates --------------------------------------------------- 1) WinFlash v12 Released After a long development cycle we've released the latest versions of WinFlash! We're really pleased with v12 and hope that you will be too. Download the latest from our website and see if you don't agree that v12 has added real value to the program. Here's a quick rundown of the new features: The following new features are available in all three WinFlash versions: * Jumpstart option for Leitner prevents the promotion of Box 1 pairs, thus keeping them 'always due'. This allows frequent review of newly-added material if desired * "Mercy" feature allows all Leitner due dates to be moved back - or forward for the masochistically-inclined * Height of fill-in-the-blank edit boxes now optionally scales with the height of the Question dialog, allowing for multi-line FIB answers and/or larger fonts * Popup menu selection added for Go To Previous Pair in study mode * Fast timed mode now allows pairs to be shown in random order The following new features are available in WinFlash Scholar and Educator: * Study files in multi-user mode now store ALL options on a per-user basis - each user can set favorite colors, fonts, etc. * The full range of filtering options is now directly accessible from the Print Cards, Print Tables and Print Tests dialogs * Pair order can be randomized when printing tables and tests * Batch font operations can be performed selectively on Q, A, MC, FIB, Hint or Comment text * Pair statistics of current pair available by right-clicking on the Q or A dialog * Pair numbers in table views are highlighted with red for disabled pairs and green for priority pairs The following new features are available in WinFlash Educator: * Browse, select, download and store any of FlashcardExchange's 40+ million flashcards for use with Educator from within the program * Export study files as a series of jpg's for direct use on any device that can show jpg graphic files * Export study files as rtf tables, retaining all font effects - useful for extracting data from study files * A copy of Educator can now be installed on any USB-interfaced drive (e.g. a "thumb" drive) so you can use your study files on any USB-equipped Windows computer without installing WinFlash on that computer * Default foreign language keyboards can be assigned to both the Question and Answer, automatically switching to the correct keyboard mapping when entering data in the Editor and when entering answers in fill-in-the-blank mode * Auto Spell mode allows a single entry of spelling words in the Editor's Question input box - word is read by text-to-speech and answer entered using the fill-in-the-blank entry mode * Pop Up Mode expanded and improved * A rich-text-format notes file associated with each study file allows free-form notes to be made using either WordPad or Word (if installed) - accessible at any time via a new main menu speed button * 'Say Again' button on Main Window button bar rereads the Q or A that's displayed when text-to-speech is enabled * Hints and Comments can now optionally be read with Text To Speech * Associated statistics (e.g. Leitner Box) can now be retained when creating new decks using the Create Composite Source File tool * Current file only mode now available in Create Composite Source File tool so a second file does not need to be selected if you aren't going to use it * Check for Duplicates displays duplicates in a table - making it easy to delete unwanted pair(s) * A new security option has been added which requests a password to access any function which can alter the contents of an open study file - prevents accidental data modification Note: Old .FLS and .FLU files will work just fine with v12. 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 v12. However, files created with v12 may NOT be compatible when used with older versions. See Backward Compatibility for detailed information on this topic. --------------------------------------------------- 2) WinFlash Suggestion Contest Winners These five people won upgrades to v12 for their suggestions. Timber Borcherding - Improve readability of file type icons William Joy - "Mercy" function for Leitner mode Bob Jones - Randomize capability in printed tables and tests Yaniv Keren - Add TTS option for Hints/Comments Lauren Sauve - "Say Again" feature for TTS In our judgement these suggestions offered the most value across all users for the most reasonable amount of development effort - always our criteria when considering suggestions. Thanks to ALL of you who submitted suggestions during this cycle. Please send us suggestions anytime - we keep a list of all of them and review the new ones during each development cycle. --------------------------------------------------- 3) WinFlash Feature Highlight - Mercy for Leitner Mode Ever come back from vacation and find your carefully-maintained Leitner Mode study file now has a bazillion due pairs? Well, maybe not a bazillion - but WAY more than you want to tackle right away. The mercy feature allows you to move the study file's 'clock' back so that your vacation is just that - a vacation. Let's say you've been gone for 14 days. Just open the deck (the one with a bazillion due pairs) and select Options|Q&A Modes. Click the Mode-specific settings button and on the Leitner Settings tab of the dialog that appears, click the Shift all Due Dates Earlier or Later... and enter a positive integer to move the dates out - in this case 14. Close the deck (to reset the due status of the currently-displayed pair) and reopen the deck. You'll now see a much more containable number of due pairs. --------------------------------------------------- 4) Free Upgrades for Referring Your Friends Quite a few of you have earned free upgrades to v12 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 (v12 if you haven't upgraded yet or v13 when it's released if you're already at v12). 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! --------------------------------------------------- 5) Study Tip - Use Your Smartphone Your smartphone can be a great study aid for use when you have a few minutes to spare. Instead of firing up yet another session of Angry Birds, use this time productively by either listening to .mp3's of your study file or reviewing .jpg's of your pairs. Educator can export study files either as a series of .mp3's (or .wav's) or a series of .jpg's. Many smartphones can handle both types of files, so you can listen to the .mp3's when you can't devote visual attention to the task and use the .jpg's for a different sensory review of the same information. Studies have shown that the more ways you present information to yourself, the better your retention of the material will be. See the Exporting topic in the Help Index for detailed information on exporting audio and graphic content. --------------------------------------------------- 6) How To - Install Educator on a Thumb Drive Note: This feature is only available when the program is registered. This feature lets you create a portable version of WinFlash Educator on a USB-connected drive (generally this would be a 'thumb' drive, but any drive that connects to the computer via USB will work). This capability can be really useful for tutors - just take your USB stick containing lessons and program to your student's machine and let them practice without needing to install a copy of WinFlash on their machine. Of course it's also useful for those who are into the 'USB stick as computer' paradigm - just carry this around in your pocket and plug it into any of the public access machines that are available. Here's how to create your portable version. 1. Insert your USB-connected drive into one of your computer's USB ports - make sure the drive has at least 35 MB of free space before proceeding. 2. Start Educator and select Create Portable Version on USB Drive... from the Educator menu. 3. Enter the drive letter of your USB drive in the Create Portable Version dialog that appears. 4. Some Windows status boxes showing copying proceeding will appear, followed by a message dialog stating "Your portable version of WinFlash Educator has been created. To Start Educator from this drive, run the file winfle120.exe located in the WinFlashEducatorPortable directory." In developing this feature I ran across a VERY useful, free tool that organizes applications installed on a USB drive and provides a nice interface for them: http://portableapps.com/ If you decide to try this out, you can integrate the WinFlash portable version into the Portable Apps structure on your thumb drive by moving the directory WinFlashEducatorPortable from the top level of the drive into the PortableApps directory. WinFlash will then display as one of the applications in the Portable Apps launcher. --------------------------------------------------- 6) In-line Program Updates Since the Last Newsletter Version 12 has been released. 12.00.00 is the current version for WinFlash Basic, Scholar and Educator. --------------------------------------------------- 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) 2011 Open Window Software. All worldwide rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------