Click-N-Type

Overview Click-N-Type is a virtual keyboard designed for anyone with a disability that prevents him or her from typing on a physical computer keyboard. As long as the person can control a mouse, trackball or other pointing device, he or she can send keystrokes to virtually any Windows application or DOS application that can run within a DOS window. Click-N-Type is a 32 bit application that requires Windows 95 or later. There are other virtual keyboards around but you’ll find Click-N-Type the easiest to use for getting text into those uncooperative places like browser “Address:” fields, Email “To:” addresses, Email “Subject:” fields, dialog boxes like “Open” and “Save As...”, and many other problematic applications. Try them all. You’ll see they all work fine while typing into Notepad or WordPad, but when you attempt to do some real work, you’ll get really annoyed really fast. Click-N-Type was designed with ease of use foremost in mind. Oh yes, it’s FREE. If you need it, you can have it. I’ve seen too many people trying to make money off the disabled.

Installing after Download If you have downloaded CNTzip.exe, run it to start the installation: Click the Next button on the Welcome screen to begin the actual installation. After accepting the defaults, you will find Click-N-Type on you “Start | Programs” menu. Proceed to the Getting Started section. Note: You no longer need CNTzip.exe. It may be safely be deleted.

Note to those well versed in program installations Since CNTzip.exe now installs Click-N-Type using the Windows Installer, you may keep this file around someplace if you like, but it is not needed. Should you suspect Click-N-Type has become somehow corrupted, you may run CNTzip.exe again to “Repair” your installation.

Tips and Tricks

The following are a set of assorted tips, speed improvement tricks and general shortcuts. Each item is fully explained it the section to which it pertains.

Right-Click-Shift In many cases you will want to capitalize a single character, such as the first letter of the first word in a sentence. Rather than making several clicks, to depress and release the key, you can simply Right-Click the key to capitalize that letter. For more information on Shifting and Unshifting.

AltGr International key Manny international keyboards make use or the key. This is the key, and is the same as depressing the and key simultaneously while striking another key. For example, in order to type the “#” on the French (Belgian) keyboard, you would have to click then then <3> and then release both and in order to continue typing. Rather than making all these clicks, you can just do a Right-Click on the key. This will depress or release both the and keys simultaneously, simulating the key. For more information about the and keys.

Middle-Click Macro Expansion If you have a three button or a Wheel Mouse, you may Middle-Click on a key to send its Macro to the target, rather than depressing and releasing the key. Note that tapping the wheel of a Wheel Mouse is the same as Middle-Clicking a three button mouse. For more information about Macros, see the Macros section of this document.

The The Macro key may also be placed on User Defined layouts. When visible on a User Designed Keyboard, it replaces the Alt to generate Macros. This frees up + to perform normal functions. If the Macro key exists on your , you should use it to generate the text of your Macros rather than the .

Clicking in Scan Mode Releasing the mouse button, or switch, is what is actually sensed as a “click” while in Scan Mode, so it may be easier for some people to depress the button early, and release it at the correct moment. For more information about Scan Mode, see the Scan Mode section of this document.

Repeated Keys in Scan Mode To type the same key two or more times in a row. After typing the first key, simply click again before the scanning process restarts. You may multiple click like this for as many keys as you want to repeat. The time you are given before the scanning process restarts is adjustable as a Scan Mode Setting above. For more information about Scan Mode, see the Scan Mode section of this document. Double-Right-Click in Scan Mode If you make a mistake and type an unintended character, you don’t have to scan the  key to erase the last character. Simply Double-Right-Click to send the key. For more information about Scan Mode, see the Scan Mode section of this document.

Single Click Word Completion The default for completing a word in the Word Prediction list is to double click it. This makes it easy to add and remove words. However, it may be significantly easier for some users to simply Single-Click the word they want. To set this mode, set the Prediction | Single Click Word Prediction option. Go to the Word Prediction and Completion section to learn more about word completion.

Aborting Word Prediction While clicking keys that are not intended to be part of any word, the word prediction process will still be active. To reset Word Prediction, without typing a or other non-word character, you may Right-Click on the Word Prediction list. Go to the Word Prediction and Completion section to learn more about word completion.

Learning New Words shortcut You may avoid the menu system when adding new words to the Word Prediction list. When there is a word in the buffer, simply Right-Click on the Buffer button and select Learn Word from Buffer. Go to the Word Prediction and Completion section to learn more about word completion.

AutoHide During normal typing, you may move the mouse pointer off the keyboard for a second to make the Click-N-Type keyboard drop to the bottom of your screen, out of your way. When you want the keyboard back, simply move the mouse to the bottom of your screen and retrieve it. This AutoHide action is not the default. Enable this feature by checking the Drop and Hide when not in use option in the Program Preferences... section.

System Hooks conflicts We are unable to test Click-N-Type with every program ever written. In order to provide an easier interface, Click-N-Type uses low level hooks into operating systems such as Window NT4(Sp3), 2000, XP and newer. There is nothing to stop other software, especially assistive software, from using these hooks also. If these hooks are used incorrectly, problems and/or conflicts could arise. If you suspect such a conflict you should try the following steps first, to see if it solves the problem. • Try starting Click-N-Type before the other software. • Try starting the other software before Click-N-Type . • See if the other software can run in a simpler mode. • If all else fails, disable the Use System Hooks option in the Set Program Preferences applet. Click-N-Type will operate exactly the way it runs on Win-95, Win-98 and Win-ME systems and will not attempt to compete for resources that other software may have claimed for its own.