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Last post Author Topic: DONE: abbreviations importer  (Read 80073 times)

rjbull

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Re: DONE: abbreviations importer
« Reply #75 on: May 18, 2006, 05:24 AM »
Harrie,

As you're an Instant Text user, can I ask why the interest in AHK?  I can see one obvious one - the difference in cost!

Following your links, I found Jon Knowles Web site on typing productivity, with an onward link to Li'l Red Notebook  I haven't tried it, but on the face of it, it looks like a combination of AHK hotstrings with a GUI you can toggle to search (both "walk down the list" "instant search" and standard Ctrl-F) for shorthand you've forgotten.  That looks a very good idea to me; shorthands I use frequently I remember, but rarer ones are easy to forget.  If I implement some of the "ABCZ" ideas for constructing shorthands in an organised manner, that may reduce somewhat, but, how useful is it in practice to have a searchable interface?

@jgpaiva: please, do you have a Web site / permanent DC link for your software that you can put in your profile, so we can know where to download the latest and greatest?



Harrie

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Re: DONE: abbreviations importer
« Reply #76 on: May 18, 2006, 06:41 AM »
Hi, rjbull.

Several reasons.  As you must have seen I run a board heavily leaning toward MTs (but not totally, anyone, including you all, are so welcome there).  http://www.productivitytalk.com/forums/    In fact, I'm trying to get more non-MTs there, but it's difficult.  I made the huge mistake of getting put on the LangaList for this purpose, but if I'd had half a brain, I'd have realized putting forums on that list isn't a good idea.  All it has brought me is spammers, who had never found the place before.  Well, I digress.  Anyway, there are just a few main expanders that most MTs use, but not completely.  Some do use others.  Then, there are MTs still in the student phase, who generally have not used one of the major expanders yet.  I'm interested in offering as much as I can there and discovering as many tools for our trade as possible, to share with everyone else, and vice versa.  I think we are way too tunnel-visioned in general.  Since starting the board, I have found through others AHK and ActiveWords, and I now consider these two programs indispensable.  Another good reason for this script is that a lot of MTs work on company computers where they can't download anything, and you can run AHK on a USB stick.  And some people won't spend the money or don't have it for certain expanders.  I'd seen where there were good scripts already made in AHK, but none that were exactly geared towards what we need, that including the tooltips.  I think jgpaiva has proven what a powerful tool this can be!  I sure drooled to see this done, too, but could never even begin to understand how to make it.  It wouldn't be possible.  That's one of the main reasons this forum appealed to be so much and why I joined - that you could ask for snacks!  There are so many exciting tools available out there, and I'm interested in all of them. 

If you found ABCZ you found a jewel.  It so cuts down on remembering, it's not even funny.  Must be at least five years ago now that I first started using it.  I used Shorthand then and ordered the ABCZ files.  Wow!  I'd never realized how much I was cheating myself.  Now, I use that method almost all the time for my abbreviations that I add.  The two-word rule of first two letters of each word is truly superb.  You could have me talking forever about it.  LOL.  Other rules of ABCZ are awesome, too.  I still don't think I could get along very well without a visual expander, though.  Not when you have thousands of entries.  But many MTs do!

I've used Lil Red Notebook before.  Mostly for medical terms to reference when I needed to.  I do think there are better programs, though.  I suggest trying mouser's PopUp Wisdom for remembering your rarer shorts.  Tell me what you think! 

Yes, I personally could never leave Instant Text.  It's too powerful and good.  But it's like other very good programs, there are competing apps that others find better for them.  I guess I like being a small (very small) part of finding them.

PS:  By the way, on my home page I've had a link to DC for awhile now.  I love this place!  I'm only sorry I haven't been able to spend much time here lately, (or at my own place, for that matter), because of a new job.  It exhausts me, LOL!
« Last Edit: May 18, 2006, 06:45 AM by Harrie »

jgpaiva

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Re: DONE: abbreviations importer
« Reply #77 on: May 18, 2006, 07:15 AM »
That feature would be completely awesome!
Very sorry, i'd forgotten about this, i've been burried in work.
I've updated it now! :D

@jgpaiva: please, do you have a Web site / permanent DC link for your software that you can put in your profile, so we can know where to download the latest and greatest?
I'm sorry, right now, i'm out of time to make a "real" page. So, mouser made a section for me, with a post that has all my scripts and updates: https://www.donation...index.php?topic=3461

rjbull

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Re: DONE: abbreviations importer
« Reply #78 on: May 19, 2006, 04:39 AM »
I run a board heavily leaning toward MTs (but not totally, anyone, including you all, are so welcome there). 

In fact, I'm trying to get more non-MTs there, but it's difficult.  I made

I've briefly looked at your board, and may look further.  I expect most people could benefit to some extent from a text expander, but such things only come into their own when you have to type from a more or less large lexicon of technical jargon.  MTs are an extreme case of this; your jargon is both voluminous and polysyllabic.

Then, there are MTs still in the student phase, who generally have not used one of the major expanders yet.  I'm interested in offering as much as I can there and discovering as many tools for our trade as possible,

Good (and public spirited) idea; not everyone can afford top software, especially when just starting out.

I think we are way too tunnel-visioned in general.

It always seem so much easier to narrow one's mind than broaden it   :(

  Since starting the board, I have found through others AHK and ActiveWords, and I now consider these two programs indispensable. 

Yet you use Instant Text, the leading program.  So are you using AHK for its more general features?

Another good reason for this script is that a lot of MTs work on company computers where they can't download anything, and you can run AHK on a USB stick.

This is becoming a serious problem.  Companies are big on paranoid security policies but don't want to know about their destructive effects on productivity.  I wish more Windows programs could be run without having to be installed.

  And some people won't spend the money or don't have it for certain expanders.

I can relate to that  ;)

  I'd seen where there were good scripts already made in AHK, but none that were exactly geared towards what we need, that including the tooltips.

It's easy to make basic hotstrings, but I wouldn't have thought to extend them to various forms of capitalisation, etc.  Good for jgpaiva :)

If you found ABCZ you found a jewel.  It so cuts down on remembering, it's not even funny.

I wish I'd discovered it before.  I've just rejigged the shorthand expansion file I use with (DOS) PC-Write using more ABCCZ ideas, with some input from the TextStat program you mentioned before to see which words were most "worth" abbreviating.  The PC-Write manual points out that the letter "q" is uncommon, so many of my old shorthands ended in "q".  I've now realised that this is in many cases redundant, but some of the shorthands are now so deeply embedded I don't think I can change them  :-[  Of course, the basic ABCZ teaching doesn't always work.  E.g. "quality" would become "quay" which is a legitimate word in itself.  Although it's one I'd be highly unlikely to actually use at work, I didn't want to confuse shortcuts with normal words.  But in many cases the system works excellently, especially as you can have a family of related abbreviations;

incd:included
ince:include
incg:including
incs:includes

I used to struggle with a less organised system.

still don't think I could get along very well without a visual expander, though.  Not when you have thousands of entries.  But many MTs do!

I've used Lil Red Notebook before.  Mostly for medical terms to reference when I needed to.

I would prefer a visual expander, though my problem is nothing like as acute as yours. And I thought asking for that would be a bit more than a coding snack  :)  But with LRN, I don't think they make it clear whether it types both shorthand and expansion, or whether it's more like a glorified "grep" that just helps you look things up, a bit like my acronym file.  What really made me perk up and take notice was LRN's ability to type things into DOS programs.  AHK can do that under Windows 2000   :Thmbsup:  but SuperKeys, for example, can't.

  I do think there are better programs, though.  I suggest trying mouser's PopUp Wisdom for remembering your rarer shorts.  Tell me what you think! 

I hadn't thought of that, as it's been "advertised" as more of a fun program.  Thanks for the idea  :)

PS:  By the way, on my home page I've had a link to DC for awhile now.  I love this place!

And how incomparably better than usenet  :)

Golly, what a lot of smileys.  I'll have to be more abstemious...