.KEYWORD tealscript
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Improve your Graffiti recognition with TealScript 2.21
.OTHER
.SUMMARY If you’re a doctor or just have handwriting like one, you might be having trouble getting Graffiti to recognize your character strokes. If so, you’re not alone. Craig Bobchin faced a similar crisis until he discovered TealPoint’s TealScript 2.21. In this article, he reviews the application that enhances and refines Graffiti’s ability to read your chicken-scratch.
.AUTHOR Craig M. Bobchin
I’m not a fast typist, and even after almost 20 years of typing on PCs, I still can’t touch type very well. My handwriting is also pretty close to illegible. When I first picked up my original Pilot 1000, I was struck by the simplicity of its Graffiti recognition application. I loved the idea of a simple, single stroke lettering system.
I learned it in about an hour and mastered it over the course of a week. Of course, it helps if you have a good stylus, as the plastic ones that came with the original Pilots were too thin, light, and short to do any writing over an extended period of time. Even with a Palmgear HQ Stylus, however, I still had problems with Graffiti recognition some of my letters.
And so it was with welcoming arms-or should I say, fingers–that I embraced TealPoint’s TealScript 2.21. TealScript 2.21 is a program that claims to enhance and improve your Palm device’s built-in Graffiti recognition. It does its work behind the scenes, so you won’t even know it’s there.
.H1 Graffiti aid
TealScript works by recognizing strokes in the Graffiti area and comparing each entered stylus stroke to entries in the current stroke profile. A stroke profile is simply a collection of recorded strokes and the characters they represent. TealScript uses the stroke profile as a sort of dictionary, converting a stroke to a character once it’s found the closest match. You can fine-tune the profile by modifying the stroke profile’s individual entries, changing its adjustment values, retraining its recorded stroke data, or adding new stroke entries altogether. More on that later.
.H1 Installation
Once I downloaded TealScript, installation was easy. There were several files that TealScript needed to see on the Palm device side, one of which was Hackmaster, something many users already have installed. The others are TEALSCRP.PRC, the TealScript program file; PROFILE.PDB, a default stroke profile file; and RESCRIPT.PRC, a Hackmaster system extension to automatically re-install TealScript after a system reset.
.H1 Configuration
After installing, you begin using TealScript by starting it from the Palm application launcher. You’ll first see the main control screen, which is the starting point for configuring and fine-tuning TealScript.
If everything has been installed properly, the default profile should appear at the top of the screen under the title Profile. This is a pop-up list that displays all installed profiles and provides choices for deleting, creating, or duplicating them.
You have several options available in working with profiles. You can use the default profile’s settings, you can create a brand new profile from scratch, or you can copy the default profile and modify that. I recommend the last option. It’s less work and it keeps the default in case you need to start over.
At a minimum, you’ll want to turn on the Enable Globally option and perhaps some of the other options as well. I suggest the following options be turned on at this point:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Allow Alternate Strokes: this option will let TealScript recognize a set of alternate Graffiti strokes, many of which are easier than the standard strokes;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET Maintain Statistics: this is perhaps the most useful of all the options, as it allows you to keep track of what letters you have the most trouble with and allows you to enter those strokes automatically;
.END_LIST
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET EZ Capitals on alpha/num border: this will enable you to write uppercase letters by writing them across the alphanumeric border. The Disable System auto-shift should be activated if you use this option. There is nothing I hated more than having Graffiti try and determine when I wanted a capital letter.
.END_LIST
Your finished profile should look very much like the one pictured in Figure A.
.FIG A This is how the profile should look if you use my recommended options.
Since TealScript replaces Graffiti, it also intercepts the upstroke you have set in the system preferences. You will want to reset it using the On Upstroke drop-down menu.
Once you have finished the configuration, you can simply leave the program and use your Palm device normally. I would recommend going through the above steps and then do fine-tuning as problems come up.
.H1 Fine-tuning
Once you determine that there are strokes you need to fine-tune, there are several steps to take. The first is to train TealScript to recognize your particular strokes. The Train Profile button will take you to a screen where you’ll have to write the old typing test sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Because this contains every letter in the alphabet, it gives TealScript a good indication of how you write.
You can see how your strokes compare to what TealScript expects by using the dual window at the bottom of the screen. One window shows your stroke, and the other window shows what TealScript expects to see. Furthermore, if there are any letters that it doesn’t recognize, the program will beep and refuse to move to the next letter until you enter the correct one.
You can also fine-tune particular letters and characters by choosing the Edit Profile button on the main screen. Here you can add new strokes and modify existing ones to fit the way you write. In fact, you can create your own Graffiti strokes for commonly used words and phrases. This beats the built-in Graffiti shortcuts by a long shot. Figure B shows the Edit Profile screen.
.FIG B The letter R is having its stroke fine-tuned on the Edit Profile screen.
.H1 Conclusion
I have to say I was quite impressed with TealScript. When I started using it, 15 to 20% of my strokes were unrecognized. Since I’ve been using it for a couple of months, my unrecognized strokes have gone down to the 1 to 10% range depending on what I’m writing and how fast I’m going. For me, this is a phenomenal improvement.
If you use Graffiti for anything more than a quick phone number or name, then you should seriously think about getting this program. There are very few programs for the Palm device that I feel are must-have items, but TealScript is one of those few. TealScript costs $16.95 and can be downloaded from TealPoint’s Web site at http://www.tealpoint.com/softscrp.htm. Believe me, it may be the best $16.95 you’ve ever spent on your Palm OS-based system.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For information on TealScript, visit http://www.tealpoint.com/softscrp.htm.
We last looked at TealScript (version 1.24) in the September 1998 issue. To read that review, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199809/tealscript001.html.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Craig Bobchin is a consultant who has been using Palm devices since 1996. He is the author of over 150 articles on all facets of computing. Craig can be reached at Cbobchin@csi.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6e342
