TO INSTALL RAPIDREADER

 

Insert disk 1 into the 3 1/2 floppy drive.

 

Click on "START", located at the bottom left of your desktop.

 

Click "RUN" and type in "A:setup".

 

The install wizard will guide you through the rest of the set up process.

If you've never experienced RapidReader™ before, it's quite possible you've never even seen what a display of several hundred words per minute on a computer screen looks like. Chances are you never thought you could read and comprehend every word at that speed. Yet, that's exactly what you will soon experience.

 Within a few minutes after installing RapidReader you will be able to...

RapidReader™ also streamlines the whole information gathering process. Being able to read at several times your present rate is a major advantage but the process of information gathering involves more than reading. It includes searching for information, capturing what's relevant and then organizing it. RapidReader includes features that create great time savings in each of these areas. Not only can you read it faster, you can find it and use it with greater efficiency.

In this USER GUIDE you will find valuable tips to give you the advantage, empower you to do the reading you have to do in a fraction of the time. The First Section is about how RapidReader works; the Second Section guides you through an efficient tutorial to get you going and the Third Section, called "How Do I..? is composed of step by step instruction on how to use RapidReader™ features an dfunctions such as the speed control, reading and saving web pages, finding key words in documents and reading your E-mail at RapidReader™ speed. There are tips and tricks and a special section for those of us who may have difficulty learning particularly devoted to Dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and the physically impaired for whom turning a page is another mountain to climb.

(I)

WHAT SLOWS US DOWN?

PROBLEM: MOVING OUR EYES

The research indicates that the limiting factor to our reading speed is NOT our ability to comprehend words; it has to do with the way we obtain and process them. There are two main restrictions holding back our reading rate.

The first is the method we currently must use to read, that is moving our eyes across a screen or page. When we read this way we have to seek out each word and to do so our eyes have to MOVE across the page. Every time our eyes move, the optic nerve briefly shuts down until the eye rests (presumably at the next word). Then the pathway of visual information to the brain reopens and when it does we have to refocus on the new word. This is a little like flicking a light switch off and on every time we move our eyes. In this regard we see text as a series of "snapshots", each shot requiring that we readjust the camera.

RapidReader displays words in such a manner as to make it unnecessary to move your eyes. The words appear in the same place on the screen with one word replacing another much the same way frames of film replace old images with new. This in and of itself isn't really sufficient to create reading comfort. It took the team at SoftOlogy years of research to address the specifics of human comprehension by optimizing the timing of the appearance of each new word. RapidReader does this with a patent pending set of timers that resemble the rhythms we use to comprehend speech.

TALKING TO OURSELVES

The other limiting factor is the habit most of us have of talking to ourselves when we read. We have a long ingrained tendency to "sound out" the words we are reading in our heads. This is the product of the way we learned to read. When we first saw print, we were taught to pronounce the words aloud to learn the relationship between the text symbol and the sound we make to speak it. This process relates the written symbol which as children we're unfamiliar with, to the sound of a word we already know. We see the word "cat" on the page and we are told what it sounds like, we pronounce it and then we know that the written symbol and the sound both mean the same thing, a furry animal that meows. However, once we know what the text symbol looks like and what it means we can simply recognize it, we don't need to sound it out. But most of us still do and that slows us down. It also limits our reading speed to our "talking" speed.

TOO FAST TO TALK

When you use RapidReader this profound limitation is lifted simply by the fact that the words are displayed so quickly. When reading at RapidReader speeds, sounding out is virtually impossible. According to Guinness, the worlds record for talking is about 360 words per minute. RapidReader users comfortably cruise at reading speeds of over 500 words per minute. At those speeds they COULDN'T be "sounding out" words! It's just too fast to talk to yourself. With RapidReader you'll quickly learn to read without the extra step of sounding out the print.

THE BOOK AND THE COMPUTER

THEY BOTH REMEMBER AND TELL..

As we've seen, the method of gaining information that we all learned as children from a page offers some built in limitations to our reading speed. Those same limitations (only more so) apply to reading from a computer screen. Because the book and computer have some similarities, it seemed natural to display text in a similar fashion; after all..

A BOOK... is a kind of storage medium, a memory. It's a place where information is stored for later retrieval.

A COMPUTER ... also has a memory, serving essentially the same function.

A BOOK... carries messages between the author and the reader.

A COMPUTER...ditto

A BOOK... displays its messages with symbols on a flat plane called a page.

A COMPUTER... does the same thing only on a flat plane called a screen.

If we only think of reading, the functions of a computer and a book are somewhat similar; they both store information and display it. The problem is as we all know, doing much reading on a computer is more difficult than reading on paper.

The fact is, a computer makes a very poor book, just like a Ferrari makes a very poor horse carriage. Both vehicles are very useful, one for a leisurely ride through the scenery, the other to get you where you want to go as fast as possible. But It doesn't make sense to restrict the power of a computer by making it act like a book.

A computer is capable of being much more than just one big electrical page. It can display text dynamically, remove words and replace them with others right before your eyes. That's something a book can't do, it can't bring the text to you. You have to use eye movement and page turning to gather the words. We are capable of reading a large number of words per minute but it took the advent of the computer to give us a practical way to DISPLAY a large number of words per minute.

READING ON A COMPUTER SCREEN USED TO BE DIFFICULT

Up until RapidReader, reading on a computer demanded scrolling, a real pain in the wrist and a possible cause of physical damage. Then there's the glare of the screen and the lack of contrast that makes reading in the conventional fashion a constant battle with eye fatique. The "hunched over a computer" seating position further makes reading a chore, tiring and uncomfortable. This hardly contributes to the pleasure of reading a book. That may be why the vast literary and information resources of the Internet haven't been fully utilized. Reading a book on a computer is unnatural and a pain. And that's because a computer screen is not a book. It's a different medium that offers tremendous advantages for reading, but to gain those advantages the very method of displaying text had to be adapted to use the power of the computer.

That's why we call the RapidReader method "watching a book". It's a different experience than either reading words in a book or on a conventional computer display. When you use RapidReader you can sit back comfortably because there is no scrolling, the words are automatically displayed at the speed you've chosen. The font is nice and large because only one word at a time appears on the screen, you can watch from several feet away if you wish. The problems of contrast and glare are addressed by a display in which every element was designed from research to dramatically reduce eye fatigue. In fact you will probably find reading with RapidReader to be the most comfortable reading you do.

But the display is really only the beginning of the story. Even though the RapidReader method of information acceleration is a new technology, it's actually a much more natural way of getting meaning from visual images than the current method of reading. And that's the real advantage.

WHAT CAN I READ WITH RapidReader?

Virtually anything you can or do read on a computer can be read in RapidReader. Any text document, e-mail, any word processor documents from Microsoft word or Word Perfect can be read automatically (most others such as older UNIX or other word processor documents will have to be saved as an RTF file before they can be read).

But beyond what's on your hard drive there is a wealth of knowledge available for free or at nominal cost on the internet. These include most major newspapers and magazines, financial news, journals, sports and leisure publications as well as literally hundreds of entire libraries currently on line with tens of thousands of books and articles.

WebRocket is our "RapidReader for the Internet". Any text on any web site on the Internet can be read at RapidReader speeds and even saved as entire web pages for later viewing .WHAT IS WebRocket?

WebRocket is RapidReader for the Internet. It's included with your software and is designed to allow you to seamlessly "rapid read" the text on any web page you are viewing any time you want. This capability gives new meaning to the term "browsing". It means that you can visit more Web sites, gain more information in a fraction of the time. The

combination of WebRocket's internet capability and RapidReader's features (such as being able to save whole web pages for later review, Highliting and copying passages for notes and research) create a powerful productivity tool. What's more, with the RapidReader FIND function you can search the contents of a Web page for keywords to decide if you even want to read it at all.

HOW DOES WebRocket Function?

In reality WebRocket is in fact it's own browser. It was however, created to serve a very specific purpose; to display text from the pages you choose on the Internet. WebRocket invisibly travels the Internet with your customary browser, following it's lead as you browse. But, although it stays in the background it's always there whenever you want it to go to work for you. Once RapidReader is launched, WebRocket is available with a simple press of ALT TAB. When you activate WebRocket it moves to the foreground and displays the web page text you have chosen in RapidReader form.

Here's a point worth clarifying...WebRocket is a part of RapidReader not a separate program. When you are on the Internet you simply launch RapidReader the same way you would to read from your hard drive. At this point the software will detect the internet connection and automatically go to the WebRocket function, you don't need to configure anything.

WEBROCKET LEADS AS WELL AS FOLLOWS

In the above case it was your browser that was doing the navigating. This is probably true for most situations, you'll want to be able to see the graphical links on any given site and WebRocket is a text browser. However WebRocket has another feature..since it was created as a browser it can like any other browser follow from link to link. So for example, if you see a different color word while "rapid reading" text on a web page , that's to let you know that there's a link to more information on another page. If you want to go to that new page while in WebRocket all you have to do is press the SPACEBAR, and when the text window drops down click on the highlighted text link and be transported to the linked text document. When you're done reading the text and following text links, you only have to Press ALT TAB to return to your browser.

(II)

USING RapidReader THE FIRST TIME

After you've installed RapidReader, the next step is to become accustomed to reading with it. Reading with RapidReader takes a minute or two to get used to. The next few paragraphs are devoted to step by step instructions for using RapidReader the first time. We've developed an efficient method for you to get started and rapidly increase your reading speed. If you follow this simple process, before long you'll be able to sit back comfortably and "watch a good book".

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT WITH RapidReader?

When you first open a document in RapidReader... you will see the screen in "pause" mode. The Turbo Window is empty, the menu bar, cursor and icons are all visible and the large text window is visable displaying the first lines of the document. It is in this mode that you will perform most of the helper functions such as HIGHLITING copy, word search and scrolling. When you press the SPACE BAR the window will expand to hide the menu bar, cursor and other possible distractions. Only the turbo-text window on the color dissolve background will be visible. At any time while you're reading, you can press the SPACE BAR and RapidReader will return to the pause mode.

When you first see a RapidReader Word Flow it may take you a few seconds to become accustomed to the display. This is nearly universal in a population that has read across a page their whole lives and now discovers a new way to see words. So for most people, reading at more than 400 words per minute will probably have to wait for the second session. But if you follow the instructions in the tutorial section to acclimate yourself then we guarantee you will double your reading speed the first session.

The Tutorial:

Getting Started The

Right Way with RapidReader

300

Tutorial

HOW DO I SET THE TEXT SPEED CONTROL?

· CLICK on the SPEED command under the CRUISE menu

OR

·PRESS CTRL+S together to see the Cruise Control dialog box.

·MOVE the SCROLL BAR to increase or decrease the speed by 50 WPM.

• If the Turbo Window is active, the speed of the words will change as you move the scroll bar control. The minimum speed is 100 WPM and the maximum is 1200 WPM. The last speed you set is retained and used the next time you run the program.

HOW DO I START AND STOP (PAUSE) TEXT IN

THE TURBO WINDOW?

·PRESS the SPACEBAR to pause the Turbo Window.

·PRESS the SPACEBAR again to resume the Turbo Window display.

Or

· USE the "PAUSE" or "RESUME" command under the Cruise menu

• NOTE: if you have scrolled ahead or back and wish to begin reading from this new point...
• press the ENTER key instead of the SPACE BAR and the Turbo window will begin at the desired spotw

TUTORIAL: USING RAPID READER THE FIRST TIME

CHOOSE A PIECE OF MATERIAL YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH:

Opening a File

•GO TO "FILE OPEN" ON THE MENU BAR
•FROM THE "LOOK IN" BOX SELECT THE DOCUMENT TYPE (.txt, .doc etc)
•SELECT THE DOCUMENT YOU WANT TO READ

FIRST:

• SIT at least 2-3 feet from the monitor. Remember, you don't have to scroll so you can just sit back and relax.
  
  
• CHOOSE material that you're familiar with for your first session. The purpose is to get comfortable with the display quickly and difficult or highly technical material is not the best for this.

THEN...

• 1) SET THE CRUISE CONTROL AT 150 wpm
  
• Press "SPACEBAR" to Begin

For most people the first few seconds are a little disorienting but that will pass very quickly. As you view the words at the 150 wpm rate, You'll begin to become accustomed to the display within a few seconds. If you were reading on a page this would be about the average reading speed for most people. Read at this speed for about a 45 sec.- 1 minute.

• Press "SPACEBAR" to PAUSE THE TURBO DISPLAY

To pause the text in the Turbo Window at any time, simply Press "SPACEBAR" or go to the Cruise menu and use the "PAUSE" command . A larger window will open below the Turbo Window, this is the "Text Window" where you may view all the text in the file. The top line of text in the large window represents the current pause in text. The word last displayed in the Turbo Window will be highlighted in yellow in the text window. Use the scroll bar at the right side of the large window to move up or down through the file.
200 wpm

• 2) RESET THE CRUISECONTROL TO 200 WPM
  
• Press "SPACEBAR" to Resume

The words will be moving a little more rapidly. At this point, grasp as many words as you can and begin to try to get some sense of the material. Try to "pick up" the words noticing the tendency to "sound out" and how some words are not given "voice" in your head.

Do this for about 45 sec -1 minute.

• Press "SPACEBAR" to Pause

250 wpm

• 3) RESET THE CRUISE CONTROL TO 250 WPM
  
• Press "SPACEBAR"

At 250 words per minute you will begin to sound fewer and fewer words deriving your sense of the meaning of sentences from the "image" that forms in your head. Sentences and whole thoughts begin to read effortlessly. Stay at this speed for about 30 seconds then...

500 wpm

• Press "SPACEBAR" to PAUSE
  
• 4) RESET THE CRUISE CONTROL TO 500 WPM

• Press "SPACEBAR"

At this speed most people will initially perceive the text as a blur. Soon though, you will get used to the display and will see INDIVIDUAL words. Give yourself enough time to get used to seeing text moving this fast without trying to "read" it. Simply try to grasp a word here and there. You might be amazed at how many words you get. Stay with this speed for about 45 seconds to a minute.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER!

even though we're capable of reading more than 1200 words per minute, realize that seeing 500 words per minute is something most of us have never experienced, so you shouldn't expect to read immediately at this rate.

300 wpm

• Press "SPACEBAR" to PAUSE

• 5) RESET THE CRUISE CONTROL TO 300 WPM

• Press "SPACEBAR"

At 300 words per minute You will probably discover that the text seems to be very manageable, even comfortable. Not only can you can get the sense of what you're reading but to many people this now seems slow. By overloading your "speedometer" and then returning to 300 wpm you may discover that you're actually "waiting" for the next word.

you have just doubled your reading speed in a very few minutes. Remember that 250 words per minute is the reading rate of a very good reader. You've just exceeded that in a few minutes.

Most people have a sort of "AHA!" experience when after a little practice, they realize that the images are forming effortlessly, they're no longer reading aloud but viewing information fluidly. Once you do that, then it's only a matter of a little practice before you're reading at four or five times the speed you were used to before you picked up this booklet.

WHAT'S NEXT ?

Now you're ready to experiment. Vary the speed of the Cruise Control from high to low and back again. Every time you do you'll probably find that you'll be able to read more comfortably at higher and higher speeds. Eventually you will settle on a speed somewhere between the extremes that seems right for you. Once you've had the 'AHA!' experience of viewing images instead of sounding out words you will continue to increase your speed. As you use RapidReader you will find appropriate speeds for reading and absorbing different kinds of material. Ironically, the faster the material is read the better the flow of images and the more coherent the understanding.

A Note About RapidReader™ and Special Populations

There is some substantial evidence that the RapidReader method of reading can be of considerable benefit to populations with Dyslexia or Attention Deficit Disorder. The SoftOlogy Development Group is currently engaged in a controlled study to quantify this effect and until the study is complete we would make no claims, however there is a considerable number of users who are Dyslexic and/or ADD who have reported substantial gains in reading speed, comprehension and concentration. While RapidReader was originally designed to benefit any reader, it seems to have particular applications for those with reading "disabilities" this presents a very promising area of research well underway at SoftOlogy.

Dyslexia

With regard to Dyslexia; The methods employed in RapidReader acceleration have been found to address an area of the brain that is different than that employed when reading in the "eye movement/sounding out" method. The most recent research indicates that for a large percentage of the Dyslexic population the source of difficulty appears to be in the process of "sounding out" not in the actual seeing of the text symbol. This would seem to bear out what we have found in our trials. It may be that because the words are moving too fast to be "sounded out" the symbols are being interpreted directly by the visual centers of the brain. We have had numerous reports of individuals clinically tested at reading on a page in the 40-50 words per minute range, yet reading 400 words per minute in a very short time with RapidReader. They report that it feels "different" as if it was a whole other experience. At the time of this printing, and until the formal study is completed we can only suggest that reading with RapidReader may be of benefit to those with Dyslexia. However, we feel that our clinical results will bear out the information we have received so far from those who have used RapidReader.

ADD/ADHD Children and Adults

With regard to ADD/ADHD readers, the positive effect of RapidReader may simply be a matter of retained attention due to the accelerated presentation of words and concepts. As was stated earlier, this area is currently under investigation and the reports we have are subjective but appear to support the effectiveness of RapidReader for this population of children and adults.

The Physically Challenged

Another population that benefits from RapidReader is the physically challenged. A population for whom the simple act of turning a page may be beyond their range of abilities. RapidReader requires no page turning to display books or school materials and can easily be adapted to a "puff ball" computer controller.

For further information about special applications for children or adults, or if you would like to contribute your experiences to this ongoing study please contact..

Stephen M. Saltzman, PhD
Executive Vice President for Educational Development

VPEDU@SoftOlogy.com

The File Menu

• (Open File)
• Open the file you want to Rapid Read.
  
• (Open Clipboard)
• Open the Clipboard to see the Highlites you saved.
  
• (Open Recent)
• Open the last document you viewed beginning at the spot where you left off
  
• (Save As)
• Save entire web pages
  
• (WebRocket)
• Launch WebRocket to Rapidread the Internet
  
• (Exit)
• Exit the program

How Do I...

...Run RapidReader™?

1. CLICK on the "START" button

2. FIND "PROGRAMS" and CLICK

3. CLICK on "RAPIDREADER" and the program will load

...Open a File To Read?

Drag and Drop

To create a "DRAG AND DROP" shortcut on your desktop to begin RapidReader

1.DOUBLE CLICK on the "MY COMPUTER" icon on your desktop.

2.DOUBLE CLICK on the "C DRIVE" ICON.

3.DOUBLE CLICK on the "PROGRAM FILES" folder.

4.DOUBLE CLICK on the "RAPIDREADER" folder.

5.RIGHT CLICK on the "RAPIDREADER.exe".

6.CLICK on "CREATE SHORTCUT".

You will notice a new icon named "SHORTCUT TO RAPIDREADER".

7.DRAG it out of the folder and onto the desktop.

8."DRAG AND DROP" your documents from any folder onto the RapidReader icon and start reading..

NOTE: Once you start using RapidReader you will probably always want it available on your desktop through a "shortcut".

or...

Open File

1. Use the "OPEN FILE" command under the file menu OR PRESS "CTRL+O"

2.SELECT the file type and the desired directory in the "LOOK IN BOX" in the "OPEN" dialog box.

3. PRESS "OK" and RapidReader will display the selected document.

...Start and Stop the Turbo Text?

Spacebar

1. PRESS SPACEBAR OR

2.OPEN the "CRUISE" menu and PRESS "PAUSE" or "RESUME"

The SPACEBAR starts and stops the flow of text in the Turbo Window. When you first open a file in RapidReader it will be paused. There is a message on the screen reading "Press SPACEBAR To Begin". Doing so starts the reader. When you wish to stop, press the SPACEBAR and the Turbo Text will pause. When it does a "Text Window" appears which displays a section of the text in a "SCROLLBAR WINDOW". If you wish to resume reading from the spot where you paused simply press "SPACEBAR".

...Start Reading From a New Point in the Document?

Enter

If you wish to resume reading from a different spot in the text (eg. the result of a keyword search, scrolling forward or back)

1. PAUSE THE TEXT

2.CLICK on the new WORD in the drop down text window from which you want to read.

3. PRESS "ENTER".

 

 

Press ENTER instead of the SPACEBAR

The Turbo Window will display text from the new location beginning with the first line that was visable in the Text Window.

...Go Back to Re-Read A Portion of the Text ?

Back Space

As mentioned above you can always PRESS the SPACEBAR to pause and scroll the text in the text window back to the part you want to review then...

PRESS ENTER...

OR...

if you don't want to pause..

PRESS the BACKSPACE key to "replay" the text.

Press Backspace once and the text replays one line, hit the key twice in a row and it replays the previous two lines etc.

...Open a document to the place where I stopped reading the last time ?

File/Open Recent

You can begin reading a document where you last stopped by going to the...

1. "FILE MENU"

2.CLICK on "OPEN RECENT"

Cruise Control..... Up/Down Cursor Keys

How Do I...

...Set the Display Speed ?

Cruise Menu

Using the Cruise Control Dialog Box

You don't need to pause the text to change speeds.

USING THE CRUISE CONTROL DIALOG BOX

1.Click on the CRUISE menu

2.Click on the SPEED command

OR

PRESS CTL+S

This brings up the Cruise Control dialog box.

3.Move the SCROLL BAR to change the speed in increments of 50 words per minute

If the Turbo Window is active, the speed of the words will change as you move the scroll bar control. The minimum speed is 100 WPM and the maximum is 1200 WPM. The last speed you set is retained and used the next time you run the program.

...Change the Speed "on The Fly"?

Using The Up/Down Cursor Keys

While the Turbo window is active you can also change speed with a keystroke.

Press the (up or down cursor) keys and the speed will increase or decrease 50 wpm with each stroke.

Edit/Find ..... Highliter ..... Copy to Clipboard ..... Append

How do I...

..Search For Keywords or References in a Document.

Edit/Find Command

USING FIND

To use the FIND function in RapidReader...

1.PRESS the SPACEBAR to pause the turbo window

2.PRESS CTL+F OR

SELECT the EDIT MENU+CLICK "FIND".

The FIND dialog box will open in this window you...

4.TYPE on the TEXT LINE, the word or words you wish to locate.

5.CLICK on the appropriate "RADIO BUTTON" to search "DOWN" (forward) or "UP" ( previous material).

When you locate the target reference you can begin reading from that point by pressing "ENTER".

..Find Additional Locations of My "Keyword"?

FIND AGAIN

Once you've found your first instance of a keyword you can..

PRESS "CTRL+G"

This command will take you to the next location where your target word(s) occurs.

...Copy Sections of What I've Read for Later Review?

Highliter + Edit/Copy

The process of creating a "review file" for presentations, a "references document" for further research or a "Crib Sheet" for test preparation is made literally ten times easier by RapidReader's architecture. It's unique Highlite-Copy/Append method of excerpting and storing text allows unprecedented efficiency for document to document transfer of information. The function that makes RapidReader so efficient is it's ability to "APPEND" up to 10 entries at a time to the clipboard. In most other applications only ONE entry can be copied to the clipboard, copying a second destroys the first. This means you must paste the first entry into another document before you go on or lose the entry when you find another you want to store. With RapidReader you only do 1/10th of the "back and forth" of copying and pasting between documents, a tenfold advantage when time is of the essence.

When you've found an entry you wish to copy....

Press SPACEBAR to PAUSE the text in the Turbo Window, the text window will drop down.

SELECT the text to be "clipped"..

1.CLICK at the beginning of the text you wish to copy

2.DRAG (by holding down the mouse button) the mouse across the desired text

As you drag, this will select the text which will then be HIGHLITED in GREEN.

This will be the text affected by the COPY command.

COPYING The First Entry To The Clipboard

Edit/Copy

Once the entry has been HILIGHTED..

.PRESS "CTRL+C" OR

Go to the EDIT MENU and CLICK on the "COPY" command

The entry will be copied to the clipboard ready for pasting into another document.

ADDING the second through the tenth entry

Edit/Append

Once the first entry has been made..

If you wish to add up to nine more entries to the clipboard.

1)PRESS "CTRL+A" OR

GO to EDIT MENU and CLICK on the "APPEND" command.

NOTE: DO NOT USE THE "COPY" COMMAND AFTER THE FIRST ENTRY OR ALL ENTRIES WILL BE ERASED AND REPLACED BY THE ONE YOU HAVE COPIED.

NOTE: TO CLEAR THE CLIPBOARD OF ALL BUT THE ENTRY YOU WANT TO COPY THEN PRESS "COPY".

WebRocket™....

...Read Web pages in RapidReader?

WebRocket™ is included in RapidReader™ to seamlessly add RapidReader™ capability to your web browsing. As you go from site to site, WebRocket™ will automatically follow along in the background ready at any time you want to read text on the web.

To Use WebRocket™

1. Go to the Internet as you normally would.

2. If you haven't done so already, launch RapidReader.

3. Use your favorite browser to go to a web address (or you can select a URL or bookmark in RapidReader; see below)

When you find a web page or frame you wish to RapidRead simply

4. CLICK on the page (or inside the frame)

5. CLICK on the RapidReader ICON on the task bar

OR

PRESS ALT+TAB

OR

MINIMIZE THE BROWSER WINDOW to reveal the RapidReader™ Window and CLICK on it.

The WebRocket™ window will move to the front and in the pause mode.

6. PRESS SPACEBAR to begin reading in the Turbo Window.

...Follow Links in WebRocket?

WebRocket is itself a browser and can be used to follow text links to other web locations. When a link word appears in the Turbo Window it will be displayed in GREEN. Should you choose to follow the link you can...

1.PRESS the SPACEBAR to PAUSE the text.

2.In the Drop Down TEXT WINDOW you will see the GREEN link displayed in the body of the text.

3.CLICK on the link

This will take you to the next Web destination where WebRocket will be paused, ready for you to continue reading. In this case your regular browser remains in the background and "follows" WebRocket to the new site; ready for you to switch to graphical browsing when you wish.

...Switch Back to my Regular Browser?

PRESS ALT+TAB

...Open A Web Address in WebRocket?

Opening A URL

(NOTE: If you wish to go to a bookmark or URL from RapidReader/WebRocket you must be connected to your Internet Service Provider.)

Entering a bookmark OR URL will open the Connect dialog box on the task bar then...

CLICK once to display the CONNECT command.

CLICK ON CONNECT then follow your normal log on proceedure.

To open a URL

1.SELECT the "OPEN URL" command under the " FILE" menu

OR

press Ctrl+U

An Open dialog box will appear.

The most recently opened URL will be displayed.

If no URL's were opened, the characters "http//:" will be displayed.

2. ENTER the remainder of the URL and PRESS OK to open it. The Page will then be displayed in WebRocket

OPENING A BOOKMARKS FILE

1.SELECT the "OPEN URL" command under the " FILE" menu

OR

PRESS CTRL+U

A Open Bookmarks Files dialog box will appear.

2.SELECT the desired Browser directory (eg. Netscape Navigator, MS Explorer) in the Directories box.

3.CHOOSE the desired file (e.g. BOOKMARK.HTM)

4.PRESS OK to open the file.

The bookmark file will be displayed in the large text window.

5.Select the BOOKMARK by dragging the mouse across it to HIGHLITE it

6.Press ENTER

...Save sections of the Web Page text?

Use the HIGHLITER function exactly as described above.

The selection will be saved as text and can be pasted into any appropriate application.

...Save an entire Web Page?

Using Edit/Save As

When you find a entire web page you want to save for later reading in RapidReader..

1.Click on the page

2.CLICK "SAVE AS" in the EDIT menu

3.SAVE it to the directory you designate.

...Read an HTML file after it's been saved?

1.Go to "File/Open" as described above

2.The LOOK IN dialog box has a window at the bottom that allows you to choose which type of file you want to open.

3.Select HTML...you will see the selection of web files.

4.DRAG AND DROP the file on the RapidReader shortcut ICON. (or use file open as described above)

5.RapidReader will detect the file type and the file will open automatically in WebRocket.

...Read My E-Mail In RapidReader™?

Since there are so many different e-mail programs RapidReader™ has a generalized method to accommodate all of them. Simply download the e-mail you wish to read and save it to a file on your hard drive. Then open the file in RapidReader™ and proceed as with any other document.

...Exit RapidReader™?

To exit RapidReader at any time,

1. Use the Exit command from the File menu

or

PRESS ALT+X .

TIPS
Here are some ways to make the most of your RapidReader Sessions.

TIP...A Little Warm Up

SoftOlogy's research indicates that beginning each session with a brief "warm up" can be very beneficial for reading faster ...faster. Start each session at about 200 WPM for a minute or so and then move up to your normal speed.

TIP.. Create "INDEX CARDS" for Reports

Problem..organizing research references by topic.

HIGHLITE + COPY + APPEND

To organize a report or term paper use the HIGHLITE + COPY + APPEND features to "categorize" types of information and save each category to a different word processor page. As an example, let's say the report is on the industrial forecast for Indonesia. To save steps in creating the final report you can use RapidReader to efficiently organize your information.

1.USING your word processor, create a series of documents each with a TOPIC TITLE. These will be your "index cards".

2.Then as you do your research you can highlite, copy and append all like references.

3.PASTE them into the appropriate "index card".

For instance, all references to the economics of the region from your research documents could be pasted to one "index card" called "economic information". Another might be "education" etc.

TIP..To read or not to read part 1?

Problem, too many documents that might have what you need...

Find

If you want to know if a stored document is of interest, you can use the find command to search it for the reference words you define. If the word(s) isn't in the document then you know that your target information probably isn't in the document, thereby saving you the time of reading it. This is particularly useful for old correspondence or documents.

TIP..To Read Or Not To Read Part 2?

Problem,too many interesting hits from a web search....

WebRocket + Save As + Find

If you want to know if a web page is worth reading, you can use the

1.SAVE AS command to save web pages to a file.

2.Then OPEN the saved page

and before you even read it you can

3.Use the find command to search it for reference words you define.

If the FIND doesn't locate any of your references you can probably move onto the next page and save yourself some wasted time.

TIP...CREATE A DESKTOP RAPIDREADER FOLDER...

Drag and Drop

To streamline the process of reading multiple documents in one sitting, create a RapidReader "NEED TO READ IT" folder on your desktop. That way in one place, you can store the documents you haven't quite gotten to yet; such as your e-mail, project research, company information or all those periodicals you've been meaning to read.

tip...for test review try "rapid skimming"

Problem, too much to read for the exam.

Find + Enter + Find Again

Enter an important keyword in the "find" function (eg.Lincoln) at each place the word occurs press enter to read a section, then move on by pressing "SPACEBAR" to pause...then find the next instance of the keyword. Press "ENTER" to read from this new point. In this fashion you can leapfrog through a document and review the major points in no time.

TIP...For Quick Review of a lengthy Document..

Problem, you've read it before but ...

Up/Down Cursor Keys

Varying the speed to skim through a document is easy with the cursor keys. On the "fly", you can increase the speed in increments of 50 WPM to SKIM or decrease the speed in the same increments to STUDY more difficult passages.

TIP..Study Notes part 1, Quick Test Review

Problem, in need of last minute reminders.

Highliter + Copy + Append

As you RapidRead a document use the Highliter to select then copy + append individual "Keywords" and key references to the clipboard. Paste these keyword references into a "STUDY SHEET" you've created in a word processor document and you have an instant Test Review sheet direct from the source.

TIP..Study Notes Part 2

Problem, remembering what goes with what?

Find + Highliter + Copy

Use the FIND feature to locate related topics in your study (eg. Trains and Coal) then highlite + copy + append then paste the results to a study sheet created in your word processor for an quick "reminder" sheet.

Other Questions? Please Contact:

TECH@SoftOlogy.com