eStoryMaker - Assemble accessible e stories that run without installation on any windows PC
About eStoryMaker
eStoryMaker allows you to easily make an auditory e-story that supports multiple access methods including point and click, single, and two-switch methods. All you need to do is create a folder, put pictures, text files or sound files in the folder along with eStoryMaker.exe and you are done. The first time you open eStoryMaker it will open the setup editor allowing you to adjust settings. eStoryMaker will run on a Win95 PC, and does not require installation. Stories will run from a CD-ROM or flash drive.
File formats: eStoryMaker looks for files that begin with the word 'page' followed by a number (the first page is 'page1'), followed by '.', followed by one of these filetypes:
picture filetypes: jpg, png, gif
text filetypes: txt, tts (an optional, alternative text file for improved text to speech pronunciation)
sound filetypes: wav, mp3
Examples of allowable page files:
page1.txt
page3.wav
page2.gif
If eStoryMaker does not find a text file, pageX.txt, that naturally follows the sequence it assumes that there are no more pages.
Settings
Set Scan Rate: Set the scan rate for single switch scanners in seconds.
Use Clipboard Text-to-Speech: eStoryMaker will take advantage of a clipboard test-to-speech utility like Deskbot, or Sayzme to read the story aloud. Otherwise, eStoryMaker will look for sound files to play. You can supply an alternate text file for text-to-speech reading to improve the pronounciation provided by your TTS utility, for example: 'page3.tts'
If you select Use Clipboard Text-to-Speech you will be asked to locate the TTS utility so that you can launch it from the editor screen by clicking the "Launch it now" button, or by typing 't' in the story screen. This is an optional convenience.
Use Mouse Scan: Activates the left mouse click as the means for starting and stopping a single switch scan. Selecting mouse scan overrides advance on mouse click.
Set Advance on Click: This is a cause and effect mode that will show the next page based on almost any input the user is likely to provide, be it a mouse click, or keyboard keys including 0, 1, 2, p, or n. Selecting advance on mouse click overrides mouse scan.
In the event that mouse scan and advance on click are both set (by editing the setup file with a text editor) then advance on click will prevail.
Set Auto Close: Check this to automatically terminate eStoryMaker at the end of the story. This is usefull if you are using a program like Launcher6 to provide a user interface.
Set Page Text Font and Size: Set the font by clicking on one of the font names from the list of available fonts. Also, use the Up/Down buttons to adjust the font size.
Set Background Color: Choose a background color you like.
eStoryMaker responds to the following keyboard commands:
0 - Start/stop a single switch scan
1 - Highlight the next button (two switch scan)
2 - Select the highlighted button (two switch scan)
p - Go to the previous page.
r - Read the current page again
n - Go to the next page
@ - toggle the following keyboard commands on and off (the default is on)
e - Open the setup screen
h - Open the help and info screen
z - Reduce the screen size of eStoryMaker
f - Make eStoryMaker cover the screen
q - Quit eStoryMaker
Typical eStoryMaker Page
The Setup Screen