There are still many people in the 21st century who use typewriters, and who are much valued for their typing skills!  All the same, I’m surprised by how often I hear people refer to the use of a computer keyboard as “typing”.

No matter what you call it, and despite the proliferation of hand-held devices, the ability to use a computer keyboard for word processing remains an essential skill. It is also true that for a variety of reasons there are many people who find this difficult.

Word prediction, or auto-completion, can be helpful.  By reducing the number of required of keystrokes, auto-completion can reduce fatigue and/or increase the speed of inputting text when there are physical challenges.  For others, it can also help with spelling and with finding appropriate words to use.  Relatively expensive commercial word-prediction programs such as Co:writer and WordQ offer text-to-speech, and this is valuable for those with severe spelling challenges.

eType is a new free program for the PC that can be installed and used with virtually every computer application, including web browsers.  It does not include text-to-speech, but I’ve tried it and found eType to be efficient, effective, and easy to use.  There are dictionary and thesaurus functions.  As a bonus, eType even offers a translation feature for multiple languages.  The promotional video from eType does a good job of demonstrating what the program does.

Photos by Sumit and by Extra Ketchup