Brook is a keyboard trainer.
Brook is a program written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Therefore you have all the power of Microsoft Office Word on your hands when using Brook (Fonts, Zooming, Colors, etc).
Note, Brook will not teach you how to type. There are other programs and manuals for that.
Here is one of the many resources. http://typingsoft.com/all_typing_tutors.htm
Brook will only just help you to get your hand in typing.
All you need to do is to copy and paste your favorite text in Brook document, press START button and begin typing.
Brook will also be good for learners studying foreign languages.
1) Run Microsoft Office Word 2007.
2) Make sure that Macros are allowed by Microsoft Office (Enable all macros in the Trust Center of Microsoft Office).
3) Open Brook.docm.
Don't close Brook window.
4) Set the caret at the position from which you want to start typing.
5) Press "START" button to start typing.
Type the selected word.
To quit the mode of typing press Ctrl+q key combination.
Use arrow keys (up, down, right, left) to scroll the document manually when the typing mode is on. The automatic scroll up increment is 1 on default.
If a document has a table Brook might proceed too slowly through cells of the table. In this case turn off auto fit in the table. Also you may split the largest cells into smaller ones.
Brook formats a document. If you want to restore the document as it was earlier select the whole document then press "Clear Formatting" button from Toolbar of Microsoft Office Word.
Press "Preferences" button to set your preferences, make changes then press "Apply" button.
Press "Default" button to set default preferences (factory settings).
The preferences are being stored in two files.
These are CharactersNotToBeSkipped.ini and Preferences.ini.
These files must be in the same folder with Brook.docm.
If you wish to type the space key symbol, select the number 20(hex code) in the "Characters not to be skipped" list box (Don’t forget to press "Apply" button after making your changes). See the tables below to set other command characters and punctuation symbols which you may set as those not to be skipped. To find Unicode of other symbols open the Symbol dialog box in Microsoft Office Word.
|
|
Hex |
Char |
Description |
Brook waits until you type |
|---|---|---|---|
2013 |
– |
en dash |
|
2014 |
— |
em dash |
|
2018 |
‘ |
left single quotation mark |
|
2019 |
’ |
right single quotation mark |
|
201C |
“ |
left double quotation mark |
|
201D |
” |
right double quotation mark |
|
1) Many keyboard trainer programs don’t allow you to change font size and zooming scale in a wide range of values. But Microsoft Office Word is quite another story. A wide choice of opportunities of Microsoft Office as well as the attention of Microsoft to disabled persons is a well-known fact. And using Brook as your keyboard trainer you have all the power of Microsoft Office Word because Brook is written in VBA. That is Visual Basic for Applications. VBA is a programming language embedded in Microsoft Office. So, Brook is just a routine of Microsoft Office Word.
2) Let assume you are a good typist. But to read is a great deal of efforts for you because you have poor eyesight. Dr. Bates recommends his readers to watch moving objects without fixing look at them (Perfect Sight Without Glasses by William H. Bates, M. D.). Using Brook you have not to seek the next word in a text. You are just typing words while a text is moving up … . The author of Brook is not a doctor. So, there are but assumptions in this paragraph.
1) On skipping at the next word, Brook stores it in Clipboard. Thus you may use any other programs with Brook at the same time. The programs might be electronic dictionaries (ABBYY Lingvo, Oxford English Explanatory Dictionary, etc) or text-to-speech engines (2nd Speech Center, Text Aloud, etc). So, if you want to translate or hear the word that you are typing, press the key combinations you have set in those programs. Above mentioned programs just wait until the key combination is pressed and respond to the event.
2) As is known, typists remember a word in whole. Brook also compels you to remember words in the same manner.
Author: Ferat Talat oglu
Other worked examples are available on
http://arithmetic.eu.pn/html/downloads.html