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Configuring input methods.
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The PocketPC 2002 Operating System has four different methods of input:
Block Recognizer
Letter Recognizer
Transcriber
Keyboard
Selecting one of these methods from the drop down list will bring up an options dialog for configuring the specific
method. To actually select the method of input, click the small up arrow icon in the bottom right corner and
choose the desired method from the pop up list. Picking keyboard input, for example, will show a keyboard icon just to
the left of the arrow icon. Choosing block transcriber, will display the icon of a pen. Clicking the input icon
will show or hide the virtual area for actually entering or selecting the characters to be input.
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The block recognizer is a character input system similar to Palm OS's Graffiti, in which, the user makes shorthand strokes in a virtual
input area. The virtual input area is split with one side for entering letters and the second for entering numbers.
To the right of the virtual input area, there is a small menu of commonly used commands such as forward space, backspace, left arrow, right arrow,
enter and punctuation. This method of input is often the most comfortable for Palm PDA users who are migrating to their first Pocket PC.
There are no options for configuring the block recognizer, and strangely enough, clicking the options button will simply bring up
a screen stating exactly that.
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The letter recognizer is similar to the block recognizer, but the virtual input area is divided into three sections, with the sections for the input
of letters separated into upper case and lower case. Unlike the block recognizer, the letter recognizer can translate normal printed characters.
The options dialog for the letter recognizer has three selections. Selecting Quick stroke means that the user will be writing all letters
in one continuous stroke. This will speed up the character recognition, but requires the user to learn how to write each particular character.
The Right to left crossbar option specifies that the user crosses the "f", "t", "+", and other such characters from right to left.
(which is common in left handers.) The Allow accented characters is checked when the user will be writing accented characters.
Both of the last options cause the recognizer to pause momentarily when a prelimenary stroke could potentially be followed by a final decoration.
Clicking the question mark button in the menu to right of the virtual input area in both the block recognizer or letter recognizer will bring up a
help menu. The menu includes an explanation of both input methods, as well as a demo showing how to create characters for each.
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