Dragon speech recognition software can be seen as quite a daunting prospect for new users. Having primarily used a keyboard to type, the idea of having to suddenly switch over to using your voice exclusively to do everything can be quite a scary thought. We develop the habit of typing and thinking in this mode, which makes it seem like a revolution to fall back on our conversational habit of thinking before speaking. While some of us are guilty of not doing enough of this, it’s a significant change when you apply it to text generation.
Authors plonked away on classic typewriters before converting to screens and keyboards. While a major shift in typing, now being able to see and edit words immediately before committing to hitting the print button, the nature of the act of typing hadn’t changed much. The next inevitable step, which is becoming more and more of a reality is removing the keyboard altogether.
We’ve seen light keyboards that illuminate tables for users to be able to type on surfaces. There are also Bluetooth keyboards that make it easy for users to connect to cellphones and tablets if a laptop is too clunky for portability and travel. There are even keyboards that you can roll up or fold up and pack away into bags for easy transport.
The next jump is voice. We’ve seen it in science fiction films and while apps are trying their best to speed up the typing process, like Gmail’s autofill suggestions on phrases and words, the average user will always be able to speak faster than they can type. It’s the main reason people turn to automatic transcription and speech recognition software like Dragon.
The good news is that you have total control. Getting into Dragon doesn’t mean you have to do everything by voice. It doesn’t turn off your keyboard or mouse or try to get you to navigate or complete mouse motion control unless you want to. These inputs aren’t made obsolete. You get to choose the percentage in terms of how much you use each of them.
The fastest way is usually the best way when it comes to computing, which is why our recommendation is to click your mouse if you think it’s quicker or hit ‘Enter’ if that seems more expedient. A classic case is the microphone on/off toggle button. It’s default setting is the plus key on the number pad and it makes so much sense to use this as your hot key.
Saying “go to sleep” or “microphone off” is handy but not quite as efficient as hitting the + key to switch the mic on or off. It can be done to cough, speak to someone who arrives at your office door and is much more efficient because it doesn’t rely on recognising a voice command.