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- Welcome to the Typing Tutor IV keyboard instruction program! This
- program will tailor a course that matches your goals, experience, and
- available practice time, to help you gain mastery of the keyboard. @
- This introduction will explain the usage of the Typing Tutor IV
- program. If you are new to computers, you should read the
- Typing Tutor IV user's manual before proceeding. @
- Experienced computer users may want to get right into the program and read
- the introduction later. As
- the bottom line of this screen tells you, pressing the
- Esc (Escape) key will get you past the introduction. @
- The Esc key is used
- throughout the program to get out of what you are doing and do something else.
- You can always look to the bottom line to find out where Esc will take you. @
- The top line of each screen lets you know where you are in the program. In the
- upper left corner is the name of the current screen, and your name is in
- the upper right corner. @
- Selections of Typing Tutor IV features are made from menus. Each menu
- gives a list of program features to select from. One feature of every menu
- is called Help. Selecting Help will get you information about the other
- features of that menu. @
- The Main Menu is the starting point for the selection of all the features
- of the program. The selections available on the Main Menu are: Lessons,
- Tests, Reports, Options, Game, Help, and Quit. Selecting any of these except
- Help or Quit will lead you to a secondary menu with more choices. Selecting
- Help will give you a fuller description of all the choices on the current
- menu. @
- Help is available as an option on every menu. Selecting each of the menus
- and reading Help is a good way to familiarize yourself with all of the
- features of the program. @
- After reading this introduction you will be asked some questions about your
- goals in using this program, and your current skill level at the
- keyboard. This information will be used to help create customized lessons
- and tests for you, and to give you meaningful feedback on your progress.
- If you wish to revise your goals later, you can do so by selecting Options
- from the Main Menu. @
- The area where you will probably want to spend most of your time is in
- Practice Lessons. To get to Practice Lessons, you should select Lessons from
- the Main Menu, and then Practice from the Lessons Menu. @
- A lesson consists
- of a series of one-line drills. Each drill appears in a box at the top of
- the screen with an arrow pointing up at the first character to be
- typed. As you type the line, the arrow will move along the line pointing
- to the next character to be typed. If you make a mistake, an arrow will
- appear above the line pointing down to the error. At the end of a line
- type either space bar or Enter to complete the drill. @
- To monitor your progress with lessons, you will want to take Practice
- Tests. The results of a Practice Test are recorded in your history file,
- and will appear on your personal Progress Report. To get to Practice Test,
- select Tests from the Main Menu, and then Practice from the Tests Menu. @
- Tests are taken in the same way as lessons, except that there are multiple
- lines instead of just one. Type the character above the pointer, and space
- bar or Enter at the end of each line. @
- You will see your Progress Report when you exit from the program, but you can
- also select it by choosing Reports from the Main Menu, and then Progress. Also
- from the Reports Menu, you can view your Speed and Accuracy Graphs. These
- graphs show how you are doing on each key, and compare the current session's
- data with your history. @
- You can take a break from lessons and tests and play the Letter Invaders
- game. It is fast-paced, fun, and when you get back to lessons you will find
- that it sharpens your typing skills too! Letter Invaders allows you to
- play with just the keys you have learned in your lessons (it does assume
- you have learned the home row keys '*' and '#'), so you get a game
- matched to your current skill level. You get to Letter Invaders by selecting
- Game from the Main Menu, and Play from the Game Menu. @
- If your aim is to gain proficiency on the numeric keypad, then instead of
- Practice Lessons and Practice Tests, you will want to select Keypad Lessons
- and Keypad Tests. You do this by choosing Keypad from either the Lessons
- Menu or the Tests Menu. The results of Keypad Tests will be saved to your
- history and appear on the Progress Report. @
- This introduction covers the main features of Typing Tutor IV. There
- are other features that you will want to learn by touring the menus or by
- reading the manual. Good luck! Enjoy! ^
- The features of the Lessons Menu are: @
- Practice - is a sequence of one line drills on the keyboard. For all but the
- most experienced users, practice lessons will start with simple drills using
- the home keys of the left hand, '*'. As you progress, new keys will be
- introduced starting with the home keys of the right hand,
- '#'. When keys beyond the home row are introduced there are home
- key drills to reinforce the use of the correct finger for each new key. A
- fingering chart is shown whenever a new key is introduced. The use of the
- shift key is taught after the home keys are learned. @
- Except for home key lessons, there are three boxes on each practice screen.
- The top box contains the current lesson with an arrow pointing up to the
- next key to be typed. Arrows above the keys indicate mistakes.
- If you make a mistake, you can use the backspace key to correct it. At
- the end of a line press Enter or the space bar to continue. The middle
- box displays the focus keys for each new drill. These are keys that need the
- most improvement. The bottom box shows the speed and accuracy for the drill
- just taken. At the end of each sequence of drills (normally 10 drills,
- but you can change this from the Options Menu) there is a summary for that
- lesson. @
- Fingering - allows you to take a home key lesson on any key. A fingering
- chart is displayed highlighting the selected key and its home key, and drills
- are given for all keys other then the home row. @
- Keypad - gives drills and home key lessons for the numeric keypad similar
- to practice lessons on
- the regular keyboard. Each drill is three lines instead of one, and the '+'
- key on the keypad is used to end a line. This is similar to the way you would
- tally a column of numbers. Keypad lessons start with the keys
- '456' as the home keys, and new keys are introduced as you progress. @
- Help - displays this screen. ^
- Tests give you the chance to type a screen of text at a time. Each test is
- followed by scoring information which is also recorded in your personal
- Progress Report. Taking tests at regular intervals, or at the end of each
- session allows you to measure your progress. Tests work the same way as
- lessons: an arrow points up to the next key to be typed, and errors are
- marked with a down arrow. The space bar or the Enter key terminates
- a line (or the '+' key on keypad tests), and backspace can be used to
- correct errors. @
- The features of the Tests Menu are: @
- Practice - is a test that includes only the keys that have been introduced
- in your lessons. If you have not taken any lessons, a practice test will
- include just the '*' keys. If you are a very experienced typist, a
- test will include at least all of the alphabet. @
- All-keys - tests your skill on the entire keyboard, even on keys that
- have not yet been introduced. @
- Disk - is a test using a file stored on the disk.
- These are standard
- speed tests similar to the ones you might receive if you were being tested
- on your typing skills at a place of employment. In addition to the sample
- disk tests provided with Typing Tutor IV, you can create your own tests
- and store them on the disk (refer to the users manual for further
- instructions). @
- Keypad - gives you a test tallying several columns of numbers with the
- numeric keypad. @
- Help - displays this screen. ^
- The features of the Reports Menu are: @
- Progress - is a tabular summary of your tests and lessons. For tests
- the type of test (Practice, All-keys, Disk, or Keypad) is recorded with the
- date taken. The name of the file used on disk tests is also shown. There
- are separate sections for practice lessons on the keyboard and for numeric
- keypad lessons. Each of the lesson sections gives session and history
- information. 'Session' includes everything you have done since starting
- Typing Tutor IV this time, and 'history' summarizes all the work that
- you have saved in previous sessions. @
- For each lesson and test there is information about the number of keys that
- are faster than your goal. This shows your progress in learning
- new keys. The average speed and accuracy is also shown. For non-keypad
- items there is a speed breakdown by key type. The three breakdowns are:
- Letter (alphabet and punctuation keys), Number, and Symbol. @
- Speed - shows a WPM graph for each key, so you can analyze your strengths
- and weaknesses in detail. At the bottom of the screen, beginning with
- '*', are all the keys in the order of presentation. Each vertical
- bar displays
- your performance on that key in this session and historically. One pattern
- (or color) is used for this session, another for history, and a third when
- they overlap. @
- Accuracy - is a graph with the same layout as the speed graph, but it
- portrays your accuracy percentage for each key instead of its speed. @
- Help - displays this screen. ^
- The features of the Options Menu are: @
- WPM - lets you adjust your goal for the typing speed you wish to achieve.
- If you have reached your original goal, you can set a higher goal to go
- for. If you find that your original goal was too high, try setting a
- lower intermediate goal. @
- Time - allows you to change your planned practice schedule to a different
- number of hours per week. @
- Drills - changes the number of drills in a lesson. This number is originally
- set to ten drills in a lesson, but you can make it higher or lower to fit
- the way you like to practice. @
- Sound - turns the sound on or off. @
- Name - allows you to edit your name if it was entered incorrectly. @
- Intro - lets you reread the Typing Tutor IV introduction. @
- Help - displays this screen. ^
- The features of the Main Menu are: @
- Encrypt - allows encryption of a disk test. Once a test is encrypted,
- it can no longer be understood except when taking a disk test. There is
- no way to return an encrypted file to its previous state, so if you need
- the original file, make a copy of it first. @
- Reports - is a menu that allows you to view student results on disk tests, or
- see the progress of individual students. @
- Password - lets you change the code required to get into instructor mode. @
- Delete - allows you to delete a student record from the history file. @
- Help - displays this screen. @
- Quit - exits this program. ^
- The features of the Main Menu are: @
- Lessons - is a menu that lets you select drills on the keyboard or the
- numeric keypad. It also includes a fingering review option with drills for
- correct finger positioning on the keyboard. @
- Tests - allows you to measure your progress by selecting one of four
- different types of tests. @
- Reports - gives you a choice of a tabular report that summarizes your
- progress, or two graphs that give detailed information on each key. @
- Options - contains choices for customizing the Typing Tutor IV program.
- Under options you can change your goals, adjust the number of drills in a
- lesson, turn sound on or off, and read the Typing Tutor IV introduction. @
- Game - allows you to play the Letter Invaders game or review the
- all-time high scores. @
- Help - displays this screen. @
- Quit - allows you to exit the Typing Tutor IV program and save
- the results of this session to your history file. ^
- The features of the Game Menu are: @
- Play - starts the Letter Invaders typing instruction game. @
- Scores - displays the all-time highest scores at Letter Invaders. @
- Help - displays this screen. ^
- The features of the Reports Menu are: @
- Composite - gives a summary report of all students on the disk for a
- disk test. @
- Progress - displays a Progress Report on an individual student. @
- Speed - displays a Speed Graph for an individual student. @
- Accuracy - displays an Accuracy Graph for an individual student. @
- Help - displays this screen. ^
-