Chapter 8
Adding Applications

Adding applications to Simon's vocabulary is easy. In fact, Simon takes care of just about everything. Just select the application you want to add,Simon automatically creates a new folder for the application, installs its menu commands, and adds the name of the application to Common Words. All you have to do is train the new commands 

Common Commands

When adding an applications Simon doesn't always grab all of the commands in an application's menus. That's because some of the commands might be common to many applications. As explained in Chapter 5, commands common to many applications belong in the Common Words folder.

Following is the list of common commands. These commands are not automatically installed when adding an application: 

Bold (Unbold)
Check Spelling
Close Window
Copy
Copy Ruler
Cut
Define in Webster
Enter Selection
Find Next
Find Panel
Find Previous
Font Panel
Help
Hide
Italic (Unitalic)
Jump to Selection
Miniaturize Window
New
Open
Paste
Paste Font
Paste Ruler
Print
Quit
Save
Save As
Select All
Undo

Adding an Application to Simon's Vocabulary

The quickest way to add an application is to have Simon do it automaticallySimon installs the application's menu commands, except for the common commands listed above. In our tutorial, we'll add the Mail application to Simon's vocabulary.

To add an application to Simon's Vocabulary:

1.	Launch SimonSays.app by double-clicking Simon's icon in the dock.

Simon automatically enters Listening mode and the word None is displayed on Simon's icon. 

2.	Double-click Simon's icon again.

The Vocabulary panel opens. 

3.	Click Training.

Simon is no longer listening for commands. 

4.	Click Add App¼

The Applications panel appears showing an alphabetically sorted list of applications. Simon searches for applications in /NextApps, /LocalApps, /NextDeveloper/Demos, and your ~/Apps folder. If you have an application in another folder, it does not appear in this list. 

5.	Select Mail, then click Add. 
Use shift-click or click-drag to select more than one application.

An Alert panel appears asking if you'd like Simon to automatically add the menu items for Mail to his vocabulary. 

6.	Click Get Items.

Simon auto-launches Mail (if it's not already running), and grabs Mail's menu itemsexcept for the common commands listed above. The Mail folder (containing its menu items) is added to the first level of the browser, and the Mail command is added to the Common Words folder. Notice that Mail appears in the browser in italic text, indicating it needs to be trained. 

If you selected more than one application, an Alert panel appears for each, asking if you'd like Simon to automatically get the menu items. Make your selection each time the panel appears. 

Note: If you do not want Simon to automatically install an application's menu items, click No. Simon adds the application's folder (empty) to the first level of the browser and the application's command to the Common Words folder.

7.	Train the commands in Mail.

Training Guidelines for New Applications

The information in the following guidelines is crucial for successfully using voice commands. 

Train Only What You'll Use. 

After adding a new application, you'll need to train it's commands. A common tendency for many of us when we first use Simon Says is to add all of our applications and immediately train all of their commands. The assumption being that we may need some of these commands sometime so why not train them now. 

This is not the most effective way to train Simon Says. 

Normally, when working within an application there are few regularly-used commands, and many seldom-used commands. In daily use, you'll normally use 20 percent of an application's commands 80 percent of the time. For example, when working in a word processing application, you may often use Font commands (Bold, Italic, Helvetica, Times etc.), and various Edit commands (Check Spelling, Copy, Paste, etc.), but rarely use special Format commands (Indent Right to Tab, Inset Soft Hyphen, etc.).

When training a new application, it's best to train the commands you'll be using most often, and delete the others. There are several advantages to this method:

·	First, you'll minimize training and retraining time.

·	Second, it's faster to have Simon automatically add all of an applications commands (then select and delete the ones you won't use) than to add commands individually to an application's folder. 

·	Third, by starting with fewer commands you minimize potential recognition problems while you adjust to training and using voice control. 

Speak Consistently

Issue voice commands within an application in a consistent manner with how you trained the commands. Remember that Simon Says understands sounds, not meanings. Your success depends on your ability to roughly reproduce the same sound when issuing voice commands as when you trained them.

Train in Similar Conditions

Ideally, you should train commands in the same environment in which you'll be issuing them.There is a great deal of variation in background noise in most work environments. If your training environment differs significantly from your actual work environment, you may experience recognition errors.