Attention:
This website makes use of Macromedia Shockwave 7. You must install this software if you want to try the dictateur. You must also install Quicktime 3, available from Apple Both products are freely available for download.
Installation Instructions:
The smoothest way to install Shockwave is to uninstall shockwave (if a previous version exists), and then reinstall shockwave. You can test your install here (note that in the upper animation (Director/Shockwave), you must have version 7.0 or higher). Detailed installation instructions are here. You can also check out the tips and troubleshooting page.
You must also install Quicktime 3 or higher for the Dictateur to function. You can check the version by looking at the Quicktime Control Panel. On the PC, you install Quicktime 3 over top of any pre-existing versions of Quicktime.You can download the above software from here if the above sites are slow.
With Quicktime 3 and Director/Shockwave installed, you are ready to start the Dictateur. Return to this page, choose a Dictateur, and hit reload if necessary. You do not usually have to restart your browser or your machine, but this may be good advice if you are having any problems. If all is working correctly, you may initially be asked to install several components: Mix services, QT3 Xtra, and XML Parser. Simply click 'Download' for each of these dialogs. These components are required for the Dictateur, and do not need to be downloaded again.
Finally, the Dictateur will start, and you may be asked about a possible security hazard. The dictateur accesses data from several machines on the network. Click any of the boxes and then download to have this dialog go away for the rest of the Dictateur.
Higher ASCII characters (accented characters):
For Windows folks, you must install the Portugese (Brazilian) or US (International) keyboard and enable it within your browser for the Dictateur to work correctly. To do this, go to the Keyboard control panel, select the languages tab, and choose Portugese (Brazilian) from the popup menu. When you click apply, you may need to insert your Windows 95/98/NT CD-ROM to copy the appropriate files to the hard drive. You may also use ALT key combinations. To find out the correct ones, go to 'Character Map' in the Accessories of your Start Menu. For example, while holding down the ALT key, press '0223' to get é. Mac people need not worry about this (see below).
Requirements:
To use Shockwave, you need Netscape 3 or greater, or Internet Explorer 3 or later. The 4.0 versions or higher are recommended. Mac and PC versions are available. Quicktime 3 is available for PowerMac and Win95 or greater systems.
Dictateur:
Choose a dictée from the list by clicking on it's title. In the ensuing screen, listen to the dictée by pressing 'Tab' or clicking the 'A' or 'B' voice buttons. Listen to the entire dictée by clicking on the play button (a yellowish triangle in a purple button). Clicking on the small purple arrows will let you listen to any of the segments within a given dictée, though only the current one can be corrected. You can return to the current segment by pressing the return button (a purple arrow beside the segment arrows). Type in the segment that you hear in the field box. Click 'Valider' or press Enter (Return) to have the segment corrected. You will be given feedback on your mistakes. You can listen to a second voice, if available, by pressing the 'B' button or by pressing 'Page Down' or 'control-s'. If a second voice is not available, the 'B' button will be greyed out.
For Windows users, you need to pull up your taskbar and select 'Portuguese (Brazilian)' or US (International) from the popup menu in the process bar (the little green box which probably says 'EN'). Do this while you are in Netscape. This allows you to type higher ASCII characters. You may have to do this several times before it sticks. Alternatively you can press shift-alt to cycle through the installed keyboards. These keyboards works by pressing a reserved character which doesn't type, and then a second character which will be modified by the first character. If you actually want to type the reserved character (ie. the apostrophe), type the apostrophe twice (and delete the second one), or type a non-modifiable second character.
For Mac users, there is nothing to enable. You will just be using the option key in combination with other keys. See below for key sequences. You do have the option to enable a keyboard in the keyboard control panel.
| Character | Type this (Win): | Type this (Mac): | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| ^ (circumflex) | shift-6 followed by the character you want | option-i followed by the character you want | ô, Î |
| ` (accent grave) | grave accent key (the key beside the 1 and above the tab) followed by the character you want | option-grave accent key (the key beside the 1 and above the tab) followed by the character you want | à, è |
| ´ (accent aigu) | apostrophe followed by the character you want | option-e followed by the character you want | é |
| ç (cedille) | apostrophe followed by 'c' | option-c | ç |
| ¨ (dieresis or umlaut) | a double quote followed by the character you want | option-u followed by the character you want | ë, ü |
Known Issues:
On Windows NT, many of the segments seem to stop in the middle of a word. Use Windows 95 or 98.
Troubleshooting:
Installing shockwave - on a PC, if you have a previous version of Director/shockwave, upgrading seems to go around in loops. Try uninstalling shockwave, and then reinstalling shockwave.On Mac, you may need to increase the memory partition of your web browser. Do a 'Get Info' on your web browser application icon, and then set the memory partition higher.
If you can't see all of the Dictateur, you may want to increase your screen's resolution. Do this using your Monitor or Display control panel. You should be able to see all of the Dictateur on a 640x480 screen in your web browser if you collapse/hide all of the menu bars and maximize your window.
The colours look bad. The dictateur is designed to be viewed in 16 (thousands, high) or 24 bit (millions, true) colour depths. Change this in your Monitor or Display control panel.
The "Fin" button doesn't work. This button only works for the stand-alone version of the Dictateur. It's function is disabled in the web version.
Send any comments/suggestions/problems to woodj@ucalgary.ca
