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The Ideas and Suggestions Page + Response to Your Feedback

NEW SOUND ENGINE!!!!!

We've finally found a way to stop the silly ActiveX Control Popus in Internet Explorer.
We've added our own sound engine that does not require a Plugin!! So much simpler!
This also means that the program will work on more machines and more browsers.

Its so much better!

Testing has shown that it works on older machines with Internet Explorer and with Mozilla, Opera and Safari (Mac) but not with IE5 (Mac).

If any users can not get the program to run using the new sound engine - let me know
and I will set up a new site with the old engine.

I'd love to hear how it goes!


=> We've done it. You asked for a US spelling version and its now ONLINE!

      www.USspeller.com
  Oz speller with US Spelling

Also there is now a British Version

      www.UKspeller.com
  Oz speller with British Words

=> All the Advanced Lists ( 35 lists-700 words ) are now available!

=> All the Frequently Used Word Lists ( 43 lists-860 words ) are now available!

=> I know the sounds could be improved. However there are limits to what can
be delivered over the internet, especially for a free package. If I can attract
enough sponsors I will look at individually recording each word. With 4,000 words
already on the system, this would be a major job.

=> The package will not work on older systems and older browsers. The software
that runs the package simply requires the latest versions. It runs on older PC's
with Internet Explorer > 5.5. Sorry it only works with newer Macs running the very
lastest OS X version using Safari. It works well with Mozilla.

=> Some people do not like the 'Wizard' grades and some object to them on religious
grounds. I could change the grades to colours, gem stones, animals etc. It would be a major
revision, but it could be done. I would like some more feed-back on this.

=> Some people have suggested that there is a need to cater for students that are
poor spellers and may be 1 or 2 grades behind in terms of the lists. It has been suggested
that the lists be presented as 'Levels' or 'Colours' so that students could tackle lists
that suited their ability without having to work on lists for lower grades.

This is a genuine concern and while the lists have a range of difficulty there is a
need to address it. Changing the name of the Lists Groups would only confuse everyone.

What I've decided to do is to add an 'Easy' Series of lists to each grade.
Easy1 .... Easy5 will be lists from 2 grades below e.g. For Grade 5 they will be Grade 3 lists
Easy6 .... Easy10 will be lists from 1 grade below e.g. For Grade 5 they will be Grade 4 lists

The 'Most Frequently Used Words' lists have been finalised.
They are labeled as Frequent1, Frequent2 ... etc. They are presented
in a separate group of lists in order of frequency of use ( see Frequent ).
Generally these words will be a cinch to Spell and they will offer additional easy list options. There will be 35 of these, each with 20 words => 700 most frequently used words which
represent more than 75% of words in written material!
This has been done to help English as a Second Language Students.

Another option for remedial students is to use Keytutor - Words or Sentence options.
The words and sentences at higher levels focus on frequently misspelt words!

Have you found how to Print the Lists in 5 column format?

Sorry it is hard to do, but I wanted to stop students cheating by printing out the list
before they tackle the exercises. To print the lists for manual exercises:
=> Click on the 'Teachers' link at the top of each Grade Page.
This displays the words in all the lists. You can print this page but there are formatting
issues.
=> Click on the "Print Manual Exercises List" at the top of the page.
This opens a page that mirrors the 'Lists for Grades' pages.
=> Click on the list you want printed.
This will open a page that displays the list in a table with 5 columns for manual exercises.
To print simply print the page - remember to set the page orientation to landscape.
For remedial students, one option is to use the manual list and then use the online exercise
for the same list as follow-up.

Anyway back to the list building!

Keep those suggestions, ideas and feedback rolling in. They are most welcome.

Cheers,

John

email:    John

 OzSpeller.com
 OzSpeller.com