Back in July the following message was posted to dis-forum:
>Date: Tue, 8 Jul 97 01:43:40 GMT
>From: Steve Brown <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: (Fwd) Software Advice
>Reply-to: Steve Brown <[log in to unmask]>
>A while ago i saw a program called Vortex. At the time i thought it
>quite a good idea. enstead of show a page at a time it showed a word
>at a time and very quikly. The only problem is that I can't find it
>again.
>
>steve/zaax
>http://www.zaxxon.demon.co.uk
It didn't generate any response at the time but I have recently been passed
a demo version of Vortext and thought others might be interested (or have
useful comments).
The following description was extracted from the on-line manual (okay it's a
little over the top but you'll get the idea):
"What is Vortex?
Any way you look at it, text on a computer screen is not the same as text on
a piece of paper. The letters themselves are not even on the screen
they're somewhere beneath a reflective glass. The eye is forced to focus
and scan a line of small symbols that can never be in perfect focus. This
is why reading off a screen is so tiring. The eye is confused from the
start. A monitor, no matter how big, no matter how many lines of
resolution, is still a poor substitute for black type on a white piece of
paper. Yet millions of people every day, at work and at home, are forced to
read text off their computers, for hours at a time.
All that's about to change with Vortex. Vortex is the revolutionary new
software program that formats and displays the text from your word
processor, news, e-mail, or web browser on the screen one word at a time.
Vortex is the first program ever designed that turns the computer screen
into a truly viable and efficient medium for reading text. It actually
makes your computer participate in, rather than hinder, the reading
process. Vortex pre-reads and then displays text in a rhythm that's acutely
sensitive to punctuation, word length and paragraph breaks.
Vortex is the only program of its kind, that actually uses the intelligence
of the computer to assist in the reading process.
Vortex's display results in a specific brain response that actually improves
comprehension. Vortex not only makes it easier to read off a computer
screen, it can help you read even from across the room, if you like, at
two, three or four times your current speed.
Many products call themselves revolutionary. But to be truly revolutionary
they must change the way people look at things. That's exactly what Vortex
does.
The true revolution is that for the first time in history, the reader of
text can control the legibility factors. Previously the reader had no
control as the legibility factors (typeface, type size, color - foreground &
background) were fixed by the publisher at the time of publication. Prior to
the digital age, this was a direct result of the nature of the storage
medium for the text. The characteristics imprinted on the paper or other
reading surface permanently affixed the legibility of the document as it was
printed.
Unfortunately, we carried this idiom over to the new paradigm of the
computer. We need not have. The benefits of altering the idiom to suit the
evolving environment will become obvious with the use of this product.
Vortex is a new way acquiring knowledge for a new age of knowledge creation.
Who Can Benefit From Vortex?
Actually, everyone. Whether you are in need of improving your reading
skills or have an above average reading speed, Vortex can help by allowing
you to increase your reading speed, at your own pace. If English is not
your native language, Vortex transcends text directional problems and lets
you to concentrate on the language itself. If you have vision problems, the
presentation of text by Vortex helps you see the text in a way to help
improve your speed as well as your comprehension.
Vortex is the first in a new class of software called variously "orthotics"
or "human augmentation software" (HAS). Vortex augments every users' ability
to read.
For the time pressed, Vortex delivers speed and comprehension which
increases productivity.
For the perceptually or cognitively challenged, Vortex provides assistance
for senses or brain activity which may allow reading where it is not
otherwise possible.
For the accuracy demanded of the information age, Vortex provides a net gain
in reading comprehension and retention over any other form of display on a
computer screen.
For those drowning in the information tsunami, Vortex provides reading speed
not possible in any other media.
Vortex is streaming text with real time control."
It's not clear to me that there would be an enormous number of people
interested in this product but I can imagine that people with certain types
of visual difficulties might benefit (people with scanning difficulties,
with very restricted fields of vision perhaps). Definitely one to AVOID if
you're susceptible to photoepilepsy though!
The software itself doesn't appear to be brilliantly implemented. The
various control dialogues have a rather amateur feel to them and don't give
the impression of being particularly well laid out - maybe I'm just being
picky though! Vortex is supposed to read Word files as well as plain text
but it didn't filter my Word2 files properly.
Vortex is distributed in the UK by: Optimum Assistive Systems Ltd.
Tel. 0181-741-4707, e-mail [log in to unmask]
Price UKP 75 + VAT
Phil Satchell
Technical Project Officer, Office for Students with Disabilities
Open University
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
