
                         CHAPTER VII
                    ADDITIONAL REFINEMENTS




    VII-A. Reading level.


    Keystroke:
    SH-F10

    Message:
    The speech synthesizer speaks "Reading level".

    Description:
    This facility allows you to select a reading level, that
is the degree of information or the range of characters which
will be spoken or not. Four reading levels are available:
    - Text only: graphic and special characters are filtered.
It is a text reading where screen layout and presentation are
ignored.
    - Standard: graphic characters are filtered but special
characters of the same kind are spoken once eventhough there
is more than one of them. Punctuations are also pronounced if
they are duplicated or more. This reading level discretely
informs you about the presence or not of special characters in
the text.
    - Descriptive: all characters are listed and pronounced
except for alphanumeric characters which are grouped together
in words or numbers. This reading level allows you to obtain
the exact layout of words and special or graphic characters in
relation to each other. Thus you can easily check that a title
is centred or a paragraph justified.

    - Punctuation: it is a "text only-type" reading with the
additional and systematic pronounciation of all punctuations.
This reading level allows you to check and make sure that the
different punctuations are present in the text.
    Simply use the arrow keys to select the reading level and
press the CR key to confirm your choice. The PGUP key enables
you to directly select the previously used reading level.

    Note:
    The reading level applies to every text-reading command
when within reading mode. The reading level of live mode
interactive services are set to standard. The ESC key allows
you to exit the function without changing the reading level.



    VII-B. Repeating a command.


    Keystroke:
    SPACE BAR

    Message:    None.

    Description:
    Pressing this key allows you to repeat the previously used
command or function. The repetition of commands performed by
means of key combinations is thus made easier.

    Note:
    The functions are always executed in the same way.



    VII-C. Reading the time.


    Keystroke:
    TAB

    Message
    None.

    Description:
    This command allows you to obtain the system time in the
form "time minutes".

    Note:
    Occasionally if you cannot access the information you will
be warned by the message "Not available". In such cases you
must wait for a more favourable moment.



    VII-D. Synthesizer parameters.


    Keystroke:
    ALT-F1 ... ALT-F10

    Message:
    The speech synthesizer speaks the name of the parameter to
change then its new status in the range of admitted values.

    Description:
    All those functions decrease (with the ALT-F1, ALT-F3,
ALT-F5, ALT-F7 and ALT-F9 keys) or increase (with the ALT-F2,
ALT-F4, ALT-F6, ALT-F8 and ALT-F10 keys) the value of the
selected parameter. The minimum value is announced by the
message "Minimum" and the maximum value by the message
"Maximum".

    Note:
    The number and type of parameters depend upon the speech
synthesizer used and here we can only make a general
description of the process of value modifications. The exact
parameters available on the different speech synthesizers are
described in the appropriate documentation.


    VII-E. Quitting reading mode.


    Keystroke:
    ESC or ALT-ESC

    Message:
    None;

    Description:
    There are two ways to exit reading mode, depending on your
needs.
    - We have already seen the first way which can be achieved
by pressing the ESC key. A beep is then given out and you can
go on working.
    - The second way allows you to make the application cursor
(which has not changed position until now) coincide with the
reading cursor which is at a position of coordinates xy on the
screen. To do so simply use the ALT-ESC key combination.

    Note:
    This second way to exit reading mode can be useful in some
cases. Unfortunately the efficiency of this operation mostly
depends on the current application program and is not always
satisfactory. It is therefore recommended that you only use
this possibility if this is really necessary.



    VII-F. Numeric keypad.


    Some functions wait for you either to type numbers from
the numeric keypad only or select values via the arrow keys.
Some keyboards such as those of laptop computers may not have
numeric keypads. That is why a numeric keypad is simulated on
the qwerty keypad when within reading mode only.

    This key pad is as follows (the left hand keys are those
of the qwerty keypad and the right hand keys represent the
simulated keypad):

    7 8 9 0      7 8 9 *
    u i o p      4 5 6 -
    j k l ;      1 2 3 +
    q                  0

    This keypad can also be used as an arrow keypad for the
different movements of the reading cursor.



    VII-G. Changing speech synthesizer.


    Keystroke:
    CTRL-TAB
    Message:
    The speech synthesizer speaks the driver name of the new
activated synthesizer.

    Description:
    This facility allows you to dynamically change synthesizer
if several drivers have been loaded before running VOXPARLE.
This is a rotary function, that is after activating the last
loaded driver pressing CTRL-TAB once again reactivates the
first one etc.

    Note:
    If only one driver has been loaded an error beep indicates
that no other speech synthesizer is available.
