How to use the Positioning Guide command in Grid 3.
Grid allows you to add You Tube links onto your grid cells. Here we show you the two way in which you can do this to be able to watch video clips without having to search each time.
Making changes to any grid set requires you to be in Edit mode. Edit mode can be accessed at any time, in any grid set via the menu bar.
When editing, you may want to select multiple cells to add commands to in one go. You can select multiple cells by highlighting them or by using the CTRL key on a keyboard.
Word lists are a useful way of adding a large amount of vocabulary to a particular grid. You may want to remove some words from the list if they are not used, or are in the wrong place.
For touch users, or users with emerging literacy, it may be important to move the word above the symbol, so the word is not covered when the cell is accessed.
When editing, you may want to make changes on multiple different grids, instead of finishing editing, jumping to the grids and then going back into Edit mode; you can follow the jump in Edit mode.
When editing a word list, you may want to search for a particular word to change the picture, or remove it from the list entirely. You can also search to ensure you do not add a duplicate word into the same list.
Many of the commands in Grid 3 have additional functions or settings that can be adjusted to change what the command does. Commands can also be removed after they have been added, or the order of commands changed to modify what the cell does when pressed.
Once a cell has been made in Grid 3, you may want to copy it across to other grids, or duplicate it on the same grid.
Word lists can be sorted to a different order to make the list easier to navigate. This is especially useful for larger word lists or word lists containing words from multiple different categories.
For some grid sets, you may want to change the background colour (the colour between your cells) of the grid set. This may be to make the cells clearer, or you may wish to set a custom picture as the background instead.
A grid command is a command that triggers every time a grid is opened. This can be used to help with background tasks such as clearing the chat writing area so the grid is clear and ready to be used.
For longer sentences, you may want the Write cell label to be different to the actual sentence that is printed/spoken. You can change the cell label independently of the actual text, but this setting needs to be enabled first.
Writing areas in Grid 3 are where your text is displayed or entered. Different writing areas can be used for different features in Grid 3, and will interact with different commands.
Write cells are used to add text into the writing area. They will also speak the words out loud, depending on your speech settings.
Word lists are a convenient way of quickly adding a large number of words or phrases to a grid, using cells which automatically populate from a list.
Grid 3 has a wide range of commands to perform different tasks. Commands are added to the cells in your grid set, when you activate the cell, the commands will trigger and perform their action.
When you create a cell, Grid 3 will automatically assign a symbol that matches your cell label. You may want to change the picture Grid 3 gives you to something different, or to a picture of your own.
Write cells in Grid 3 can be edited at any time to change the write command itself, the label of the cell or the symbol the cell uses.
When editing, you may want to create a cell with two different symbols on it for words such as "pets". Grid 3 has a picture editor to customise your symbols.
Grid 3 grid sets use rows and columns to organise the cells on the page. You can add and remove both rows and columns, as well as modify the size of each row and column individually.
The ability to move and resize cells in Grid 3 is useful when thinking about ordering vocabulary, creating a focus on certain words within a grid and creating grids that suit a specific access method.
When making a grid set, you may create multiple different grids. The jump cell links the grids together, allowing you to jump from one to the next.
Styles dictate the appearance of your cells in Grid 3. It is possible to manually set the appearance of each cell individually, but for large grid sets this can be very time consuming. You can use Styles to set up the appearance for a type of cell, and then it apply it to all other cells of the same type.
If you are supporting a user, hiding cells is a good way to reveal content over time to help with progression, or to make the cell count lower at first to prepare for revealing the full grid set at a later date.
There are many circumstances where you may wish to be able to jump between different grid sets. For example: changing from an English grid set to a Spanish version, in order to have the correct prediction and spell-checking.
Grid 3 has a Change grid set command that allows you to do exactly that, without having to go via Grid Explorer.
With any grid set, you may want to change, add or move grids. This is helpful when adding content, changing the way content is linked or removing it altogether.
Grid 3 has a number of commands that allow you to control and change your settings – e.g. dwell times, voice speed and more.
In Grid 3, you can create cells which play a sound or add a command to play a sound to an existing vocabulary cell. You can select from a library of sound effects, use a premade sound file or record a new sound to use.
Grid allows you to add videos stored on your device in to your grid sets using two commands. There are two ways of linking the videos: either directly to the grid set, or using a link to a video folder. The first way is useful for adding a small amount of videos, the second way works better for larger videos, or for a larger amount.
In Grid 3, it is possible to save contacts from a received Email or SMS using the Edit Contact command and a contact editing grid. Some grid sets (e.g. Fast Talker) already have a contact editing grid included. For grid sets that do not have on as standard, you will need to create one for yourself.
The Sleep screen command allows you to turn off the device screen to save battery while the device is not in use. The command is often found in settings or options grids, or can be added to your grid set in Edit mode.
The keyboard key command will allow you to program keyboard shortcuts onto cells in Grid 3 when you are using computer control or accessing your web browser. These keyboard shortcuts are incredibly useful when trying to control third party programs using Grid 3, or for accessing Windows.
The Start program command allows you to start a program that is installed on your device, using Grid 3.
Both Windows 8 and Windows 10 include apps ( e.g. calculator, camera, maps, mail). Apps work differently to programs, so cannot be launched from Grid 3 using a Start program command on its own.
Grid 3 Edit mode has keyboard shortcuts to make things quicker and easier to use.
Edit mode allows you to edit and personalise your grid sets, or create a new grid set from scratch.