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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THINGS TO DO for GNU Typist
See our latest TODO file on
http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/~checkout~/gtypist/TODO !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested in helping for some of the below items,
we will be glad to have you in the development team!
You can contact us by writing to bug-gtypist@gnu.org.
Your suggestions are welcome too!
SHORT TERM
* Support UTF-8, as today
1) charsets of the file and terminal must be the same;
2) they have to have no wide characters
This already impacts users
(reported by Jeff Nelson <jtnelson@el-camino.net>
* Make sure that all source files come with a suitable copyright
statement (may be different with lessons?)
* Make FSF Europe the co-owner of the copy rights, to have
a much clearer and cleaner situation.
* Make contributors sign a paper accepting the terms of the GPL,
according to GNU standards.
* Implement a `word processor' option to make GNU Typist accept
[SPACE] instead of [RETURN] for new lines.
(Suggested by gherald@myway.com)
* Make sure that the numpad's [ENTER] key is accepted
in numpad lessons.
(Reported by gherald@myway.com)
* Fix ktouch2typ.pl script issues with the latest
files from KTouch.
* Update all the kt* lesson files from the latest
version of KTouch.
* Another idea is to generate our lessons files
directly in our format from spelling dictionaries,
as they do in KTouch.
* Reuse lessons from dvorak7min and possibly other
typing tutors.
* Put all the program sources in the src/ directory
* Replace 'getopt' by 'GNU gengetopt'
* Improve the French translation of "lesson file", which
includes both Drills (translated by "Exercice") and
Speed tests ("Tests de vitesse").
* Standardize lesson file names, using standards for languages and
keyboard types.
* Make a separate package for lessons, so that lessons
compatible with a given gtypist version can be released
without having to release the tool again.
This is already done by other packages: gimp plug-ins or
TeTeX fonts are released separately.
This is definitely need for this tool, for which tutorial
files are at least as valuable as the raw program itself.
* Provide a variant of the `n.typ' calculator keypad lesson,
in which the `.' character is replaced by `,'. Useful for some
european keyboards.
* Improve the interface by adding 2 interfaces:
* Graphical interface (Probably GTK)
The benefits we can expect from a GTK interface are:
- Much attractive than the `ncurses' interface.
- Not using `ncurses' should avoid problems supporting different
terminal types.
- We could have a graphical control panel, to change settings that
are so far only available in the command line (keyboard type,
silent mode...)
- Easy access to help and manual
- Could still be compiled on Win32 on which GTK has been ported.
* Audio interface
Could use a system like Speech Dispatcher to read the
lessons for visually impaired people or people living
in very dense fog.
We could also support audio typing exercises.
Users would type from a text read by a speaker.
Several audio files would be need, according to
the language and the targeted typing speeded.
That would be useful for people like secretaries and journalists.
All this could be implemented in a clean way by implementing
an event based mechanism. The core application could send
interface messages to a generic interface manager, which could
according to user settings, ask the graphical, text or audio
interface to send it to the user.
Specifications are on going.
MEDIUM TERM
* Add configuration file support. Should be every useful,
in particular for teachers!
* Improve the documentation of course files
* Broaden our lesson database:
- Create new lessons for other languages and keyboard types.
- Translate lessons in other languages (for languages
that share the same keyboard, you can reuse instructions
and drills)
- We can also look for teachers who are ready to contribute
lessons or let us reuse theirs...
- Reuse lessons from old typing teaching books which
copyrights have expired (how much time does it take?).
* Better typing statistics. Speed and accuracy for individual keys,
and individual fingers. This helps to indicate where extra practice
may be useful to the user (see Jtypist which displays this as
graphical bars, using color to indicate areas that need work).
A measure of typing rhythm would also be useful.
LONG TERM
* While typing, graphically show the finger that is supposed to be used.
* Read lessons in the file formats of other free typing tutors
(such as Jtypist).
* Emulate other keyboard types. For example, Jtypist can pretend that
you have a French, German, or Dvorak keyboard on the system even
if you don't. It will translate keypresses between keyboard types
before checking them for correctness, and registering timings.
This work requires that the program should have keyboard layout
maps available to it, and arises as a result of maintaining typing
statistics by key and by finger (the program needs to know what
key is operated by which finger).
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