How are you using the Finger Speller Flashcards?

The Fingerspell Flashcards have been online for just over 3 months now. Over 1'200 people have visited the site. 20% are repeat visitors and it looks like a hundred or so come back regularly to practice the finger alphabet and master fingerspelling.

So I am curious: Why are you using the FSFS? How did you find out about it? Do you like the program? (Or if you decided not to use it, why not?) How can I make the program better? Please post a comment or use the English contact form or the German contact form to drop me a line.

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you!

Performance, Performance

I've been working on the initial load times and the Fingerspell Flashcard program should now start executing after about 4 seconds on a 128 Kpbs ISDN line (compared to 15 seconds or more before).

If you are having problems with some letters not displaying correctly, especially animated letters like J or Z, try:

1. Reload the page,
2. Set the speed to 'Beginner'
3. Display 'A-Z'.
   

This will load all the images. You made need to repeat this once or twice until all the images are properly loaded. I'm working on this.

The Flashcards should now work with a 128kpbs (with a bit of patience) line and work well on a 256K or better broadband line.

I am working on this problem and should have a better fix soon.

Updated Version with better usability

I have just published a new version of the Fingerspell Flashcards. This version should be easier to use than the previous version.

Improvements include:

• Controls to display a random word or a word of your choosing have been moved to the top
• New Button to Hide and Show the text as it is spelled out
• Preferences moved to the bottom
• Scaling is now properly supported - if you have an 800x600 screen, just use the Page->Zoom (on ie7) or View->Text Size->Decrease (on Firefox) until the window fits in your screen.

As before, there are direct links to:

• ASL — American Sign Language
  
• DGS — Deutsche Gebärdensprache/German Sign Language
  
• DSGS — Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache/Swiss German Sign Language

I have tested the new version with Firefox 2.0 on Windows and Mac, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari and it seems to work everywhere. (I don't have access to Internet Explorer 6, so if you have problems, please let me know!

Special Thanks to usability specialist Angie Born of Zeix for her helpful suggestions!

FingerSpell Flashcards Now Online

The hard part of learning to fingerspell is not learning the forms, but learning to read and sign them at the speed that a native speaker would actually use.

Fingerspell Flashcards is a new online flash card system to learn and build proficiency in Fingerspelling, both spelling out words and reading words that other people sign to you.

With Fingerspell Flashcards, you can

• Learn fingerspelling.
• Practice in your language.
• Practice with or without displaying the corresponding text
• Learn the signs. You can display the entire alphabet. Position the mouse over a letter and see the corresponding sign. Complex signs, like j and z are displayed with an animation
• Build proficiency - you can see a random word finger spelled. If you understand it, show a new word. If you are not sure, repeat it. If you need confirmation, display the word as text.
• Build speed - chose from Beginner (Each character is displayed 1.5 seconds) to "Deaf" (each letter is displayed about 1/2 second)

Presently the FingerSpell Flashcards support:

• ASL — American Sign Language
• DGS — Deutsche Gebärdensprche/German Sign Language
• DSGS — Deutsch Schweizer Gebärdensprache/Swiss German Sign Language
• LSF — Langue des Signees Française/French Sign Language is in preparation.

Others languages can be supported on request.

You can find out more about it on the website or just try it out.

In any case, have fun!