.KEYWORD complete
.FLYINGHEAD SOFTWARE REVIEW
.TITLE WordComplete, a Graffiti helper
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY Contributing editor Bob Freud likes WordComplete. Using this Graffiti-helper, Bob was able to write this entire 1,000 word article in Graffiti, on his Palm device. Read this article to find out more.
.AUTHOR Bob Freud
When professional organizer Bonnie Kravis, owner of PaperChaser, decided to get organized, she naturally thought about using a Palm device. However, frustration with Graffiti turned her initial enthusiasm to irritation. Her new Palm device soon took up residence on a shelf. "I wanted to like the Palm III," Kravis told me, "But even when I learned the shapes of the letters, input was still too slow for me." The Jot program from CIC helped a little by letting her use letter shapes that were more like the English alphabet, but Jot seemed to slow recognition speed. For a recap, visit my review of Jot in the September 1998 issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199809/tjot001.html.
.CALLOUT This article was entirely written using WordComplete in the Palm MemoPad application.
.H1 WordComplete
An announcement about WordComplete, also from CIC, encouraged Kravis to give her Palm III one more try. WordComplete, shown in Figure A, is what is known as "word prediction software".
.FIG A WordComplete word prediction software helps you bypass Graffiti annoyance.
Originally developed to aid people with conditions like Cerebral Palsy or MS, word prediction software minimizes keystrokes and improves accuracy. It does this by trying to figure out which word you want to write while you are in the process of writing. When you write the first letter of a word, a box with up to five choices pops up. When you see the word you want, tap on it in the box and it will be completed automatically. When I took WordComplete out for a spin, I was pleased to see that most of the words I was trying to write usually appeared on the first or second letter.
A Macintosh program, Type It for Me, does something similar but WordComplete is much more powerful. A truly wonderful DOS program, Mindreader, from Brown Bag Software did virtually the same thing as WordComplete back in the 80’s. I wish someone would put out a version for Windows 98! In recent Palm history, an extremely crash-prone program with the same goals as WordComplete appeared at least a year ago on the various Palm-related web sites. The program was never updated and its creator did not answer email, so I do not know if there is any relationship between it and CIC’s new offering.
To understand why WordComplete may make a big difference to you, just start counting the number of Graffiti strokes you can save. A common three-letter word like "the" appears after the writing just the "t". The words "like" and "more" both appear when their first letters are written. A ten-letter word such as "understand" appears when two letters have been written. You do the math.
I generally try to avoid writing words as long as the words "understand" or "generally" when using Graffiti, but with WordComplete, I have little reason to avoid writing most words. Although I have not done a words-per-minute comparison, WordComplete definitely gives me a BIG speed increase. This article, by the way, was entirely written using WordComplete in the Palm MemoPad application. There is simply no way I could have written something this long in Graffiti if I had to write each letter individually.
WordComplete, in a few short days, has earned a permanent place on my Palm Connected Organizer. I do, however, have a couple of minor gripes. My first complaint is that two-letter words don’t appear at all in the pop-up window. Since there are so many common two-letter words, I think I could save a lot of time by saving one letter each time I used one of these. I also wish that WordComplete could learn as I write. If I have just used a word, it should bring it up at the top of the pop-up box after the first letter. The ease with which new words are added to a custom dictionary by double tapping on them partially makes up for this, though.
.H1 RecoEcho
A companion product released at that same time as WordComplete (and available with special bundle pricing) is RecoEcho, shown in Figure B.
.FIG B RecoEcho lets you use the Graffiti recognizer while writing letters anywhere on the screen.
RecoEcho lets you use the Graffiti recognizer while writing letters anywhere on the screen. As you write, digital ink feedback appears on the screen. RecoEcho will be useful for new users or those who want to improve their Graffiti accuracy; longtime users will probably not use it on a regular basis. If you are a fan of Tealpoint’s TealEcho, you will also like RecoEcho. If you do not care for TealEcho, RecoEcho will not do much for you. Demos of both products are available on CIC’s Web site.
.H1 Pricing and memory
Adding WordComplete to your Palm device will take about 118K. For some users, this may be a concern, but most anyone with 2MB or more of RAM will not find this a problem. Pricing is reasonable. At $24.99, WordComplete gives my Graffiti input a real speed increase.
.BEGIN_KEEP
.H1 Conclusion
Here are some parting thoughts: RecoEcho is nice for newbies. For making Graffiti input truly effective, WordComplete, gets my vote as a candidate for Palm software product of the year (and it’s only August as I write this). Bravo CIC!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Visit PaperChaser at http://hometown.aol.com/chasepapr.
Visit my review of Jot in the September 1998 issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199809/tjot001.html.
WordComplete and RechoEcho are available from CIC at http://www.cic.com/products/store.html.
TealEcho is available from TealPoint at http://www.tealpoint.com.
For MindReader Software and related reviews visit http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/1444/cwave/mind.html.
Although outdated, Word Prediction Software Bibliography has some interesting references, available at http://www2.edc.org/NCIP/library/wp/Pubs.htm.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Bob Freud is an active PalmPilot enthusiast and the Coordinator for the Center for Instructional Technology at Bergen Community College. He can be reached via email at rfreud@mailhost.bergen.cc.nj.us.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6d6c0
.END_KEEP
