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Text expander and clipboard enhancer tools
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Posted by PhraseExpress
Dec 3, 2013 at 01:51 PM
Franz Grieser wrote:
>I failed to find a way to turn that off. And I am not a newby, I’ve been
>in the IT business for almost 30 years. If I cannot find it…
Franz, you probably mix up PhraseExpress with another program.
Please check how PhraseExpress works:
http://youtu.be/JhgYRCv4-Qc
Please really watch this video. It tells it all.
You find clear notifications including calls to action during each step. When clicking a call to action you will be guided directly to the program setting. It even points to the corresponding option in the user interface.
Please tell us how this could be done any clearer and easier to use?
>Wait. Did I get it right?
>I type an abbreviation. PE replaces it. I undo the replacement once. The
>next time, I type the abbreviation, PE does not replace it (but it will
>replace it the time after that).
>Correct?
Correct.
>I don’t get why you do that?
Franz, I tried to explain it in the very posting above. here it is again:
>>The feature detects if you undo a text replacement. PhraseExpress then
>>assumes that you didn’t want this text replacement in this particular
>>situation and suppresses the text replacement the very next time you
>>enter the associated abbreviation for one single time. Afterwards, it
>>would execute the text replacement again.
In other words: If you undo a text replacement it is not too far out of any imagination that you did that undo for a purpose: Because you probably didn’t wanted the text replacement. We had no other idea why you would want undo the text replacement this way. That is why PhraseExpress ignore the abbreviation the very next time you retype the abbreviation.
> And why you don’t tell the user.
I am happy to tell you that PhraseExpress actually is telling user in greatest detail. Please watch the video above.
>That’s inconsistent behaviour on part of the software that makes the
>user think he is stupid.
How could this happen?
>>and actually very helpful if you want to actually type the abbreviation
>>without having it expanded. If you have a better idea how we can make
>>life easier for you here, we are eager to learn more.
>
>If I want to type the abbreviation without having it expanded, I type it
>and undo the expansion using CTRL+Z. That’s it. That’s fine with
Excellent idea in theory. However, the way Text Expanders integrate in Windows, the classic undo feature doesn’t always work the way it would be required. Please keep in mind, that Text Expander are working on system level and are not hooked deeply into the target application. However, undo is no Windows function but a application specific function.
>Yes, I know it is customizable. But not the quirky behaviour you
>described above. Or what do I have to do to turn it off?
I have actually included the screenshot in my earlier reply.
Posted by PhraseExpress
Dec 3, 2013 at 04:02 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
> And as for the others, none of them seem to
>have the SmartComplete-type functionality, which is the only thing that
>really interests me.
The “Smart” Complete feature seems to borrow from InstantText (http://www.fitaly.com).
InstantText seems to be the best fit for you. It even works for partial phrases - It is an admirable master piece.
PhraseExpress also has a “Smart”Complete like-feature for a long time but we haven’t officially released it yet for a simple reason:
Popups distract you whenever you enter the 2nd letter of a word. You additionally get distracted by flashing popup updates with every additional character you type.
It gets ugly once your library grows larger. Video demo with a 22,000 words library:
http://youtu.be/PpH23B_qqso
(Don’t get confused by the strange highlighting. It is for internal purposes only. PhraseExpress does much more than just pattern matching here).
Instead of a “Smart”Complete feature we developed the “text prediction feature”: http://www.phraseexpress.com/autocomplete.htm
PhraseExpress listens how you use it: What you type, how often you type it, which suggestions you dismiss, which you accept and it prioritizes the suggestions accordingly. Additionally, it also takes into account how many characters each suggestion may save you to type. It also can be trained with stuff already written to get instant results.
If you want to check out our take on “Smart”Complete with some much more advanced extras, please drop us a mail: http://contact.phraseexpress.com
Posted by Dr Andus
Dec 3, 2013 at 05:32 PM
PhraseExpress wrote:
>Popups distract you whenever you enter the 2nd letter of a word. You
>additionally get distracted by flashing popup updates with every
>additional character you type.
>It gets ugly once your library grows larger. Video demo with a 22,000
>words library:
>http://youtu.be/PpH23B_qqso
Thanks for the demonstration.
1) I didn’t have any problems with importing with PhraseExpander so far, so I’m not sure what’s happening in your example.
2) But, I’m using PhraseExpander’s SmartComplete feature very differently from your example. I create my own phrases incrementally and strategically. I only need very specific frequently used terms. Currently I have about 800 phrases.
3) I don’t find the popup distracting or ugly. The whole reason I’m using it because I find it useful.
4) Your video played too quickly, so I wasn’t able to figure out your algorithm, but it seems to work quite differently from PhraseExpander’s, as there seem to be a lot of not-so-relevant matches. The more highly relevant the matches are towards the top of the popup, the more useful it becomes.
>Instead of a “Smart”Complete feature we developed the
>“text prediction feature”:
>http://www.phraseexpress.com/autocomplete.htm
>
>PhraseExpress listens how you use it: What you type, how often you type
>it, which suggestions you dismiss, which you accept and it prioritizes
>the suggestions accordingly. Additionally, it also takes into account
>how many characters each suggestion may save you to type. It also can be
>trained with stuff already written to get instant results.
Thanks, sounds like an interesting feature. But the big difference that comes across between your approach and PhraseExpander’s approach is that you seem to want to predict what I want to write, while PhraseExpander allows me to instruct the software what I want it to offer to me, how I want it and when I want it.
>If you want to check out our take on “Smart”Complete with
>some much more advanced extras, please drop us a mail:
>http://contact.phraseexpress.com
Thanks, I might take up your offer when I have a bit more time.
Posted by Franz Grieser
Dec 3, 2013 at 05:35 PM
Hi.
>Franz, you probably mix up PhraseExpress with another program.
No, I don’t. I even wrote a review about PhraseExpress in my magazine recommending it to my readers (that was before it showed the strange behaviour).
I exchanged emails with Gunnar Bartels several times (but not regarding the problem we’re talking about here, because I could not reproduce it - because of PE’s strange behaviour). I found him helpful - I even mentioned that in this forum .
>You find clear notifications including calls to action during each step.
>When clicking a call to action you will be guided directly to the
>program setting. It even points to the corresponding option in the user
>interface.
>
>Please tell us how this could be done any clearer and easier to use?
I did not say the instructions in your videos were not clear. I even mentioned the videos in my review.
BUT the videos - at least at the time, I used PE - did NOT say anything about the strange behaviour.
>>Wait. Did I get it right?
>>I type an abbreviation. PE replaces it. I undo the replacement once.
>The
>>next time, I type the abbreviation, PE does not replace it (but it will
>>replace it the time after that).
>>Correct?
>
>Correct.
>
>
>>I don’t get why you do that?
>
>Franz, I tried to explain it in the very posting above. here it is
>again:
>
>>>The feature detects if you undo a text replacement. PhraseExpress then
>>>assumes that you didn’t want this text replacement in this particular
>>>situation and suppresses the text replacement the very next time you
>>>enter the associated abbreviation for one single time. Afterwards, it
>>>would execute the text replacement again.
>
>In other words: If you undo a text replacement it is not too far out of
>any imagination that you did that undo for a purpose: Because you
>probably didn’t wanted the text replacement. We had no other idea why
>you would want undo the text replacement this way. That is why
>PhraseExpress ignore the abbreviation the very next time you retype the
>abbreviation.
I type the abbreviation, PE expands it. THIS time I do not want that, so I undo the expansion.
Next time, I type the abbreviation - chances are high that I want it expanded. After all, that’s the reason why I defined the abbreviation-expansion combination.
If PE suddenly does stop doing what it was purchased for - that’s annoying.
Even more annoying is: That the third time PE changes behaviour again.
Don’t you understand that a user wants software to work this way: When the user does A, he wants the software to reliably do B. He doesn’t want it to do C and then the next time again B. How do you expect your users to rely on the software, if it does strange things (“by design”)?
Posted by Dr Andus
Dec 3, 2013 at 05:42 PM
Franz Grieser wrote:
>Don’t you understand that a user wants software to work this way: When
>the user does A, he wants the software to reliably do B. He doesn’t want
>it to do C and then the next time again B. How do you expect your users
>to rely on the software, if it does strange things (“by design”)?
Actually that was exactly my point about PhraseExpander. What I like about it so far is the amount of control it gives me to manually set up the order of the predicted text letter-by-letter, so that when I type the first 2 letters of my intended word, it is very likely to be on the top of the list of offered phrases because that’s how I set it up.
There is a box called Test Pad within the PhraseExpander app, and you can basically fine-tune the order of words in which they show up in the SmartComplete popup, simply by adding or removing letters from the shortcuts.