EasyType  -  Speed up story writing

by Ian MacDougall

EasyType is a typing aid for small children. It allows the child to insert commonly used words or phrases into a document with the click of a button. The child or the parent/teacher can enter up to six words or phrases in the EasyType window. The child can then insert them into any wordprocessor or text editor window by simply clicking on the Type button to the right of the word or phrase.

From the iconbar menu you can choose to save the current words and phrases, load a new set or delete a named set. A teacher could use this facility to setup EasyType for use in the classroom. The settings are written into the directory Defs within the application and the EasyType menus dynamically reflect the contents of the directory.

Clicking on the resize icon will enlarge or reduce the EasyType window to show six or three words or phrases.

I wrote this program as an aid for my daughter, Tara, in creating a book of stories. Having setup Ovation for her to use I noticed that she wanted to enter long words, especially for the names of the characters of her stories. Unfortunately she cannot type very well and this led to her taking a long time to type in the story. This had two effects: she was less productive than she could have been and she became easily bored with the task. It struck me that it would be easy to write a program that would take some of the chore out of typing for youngsters with little or no typing skills. EasyType is the result.

 Copyright RISC User Magazine 1996
