TypeThenTalk

V 20251005

TypeThenTalk.com is a panel that lets you type then hear it spoken back using a voice synthesizer making it a great tool for kids learning to read.  The words are highlighted and the mouth on our little robot head moves as the words are spoken.  The color, font and size of the text and the background color can be adjusted as well as the speed, pitch and “voice” of the speech synthesizer.

This is a Stec Records StecTools app.

How to use

1. Click in the main area of the panel
2. Type on your keyboard
3. Click the “Speak” button or the character.*

*Note that the words are highlighted as they are spoken.

Click the “Clear” button to remove all text.

Typing area

Once you click in the main typing area, anything you type will appear in the

Buttons

Speak button

Causes the text to be spoken by the browser’s built-in voice synthesizer. Each word is highlighted as it is being spoken.

Clear button

Clears the contents of the typing area.

Voice button

The Voice button opens a small panel that lets you pick a "speaker" for the voice synthesis; most browsers provide several to choose from.

Speed button

Allows you to adjust how fast the words are spoken.

Pitch button

Allow you to adjust the pitch of the voice up and down.

Size button

Sets the size of the text (font size in percents)

Text (color) button

Opens the color-picker tool for setting the text colors.

Background (color) button

Opens the color-picker tool for setting the background color.

Character

Speaks the text when clicked. Mouth moves along with the text as it is spoken. The eyes randomly blink.

Menu

The menu button provides access to more options and information.

• Pick a voice. Opens a voice picker.
• Clear letters. Clears all the text.
• Set background color. Opens the color-picker for the background.
• Set text color. Opens the color-picker for the text.
• Set font. Opens the font-picker.
• Set font size. Opens a tool to adjust the size of the text.
• Set speech rate. Opens a tool to adjust the speed at which the text is spoken.
• Set speech pitch. Opens a tool to adjust the pitch of the voices.
• Send comment. Opens a page where you can leave a comment.
• Show change log. Opens a panel showing changes to the app.
• About. Opens a panel showing information about the app.
• Edit character. Opens the character editor.

When debugging is enabled, the following items also appear:

• Copy log to clipboard. Copies the contents of the log to the clipboard (if possible)
• Show log. Opens a panel showing the contents of the log.
• Save info to file. Saves the current “info” to a JSON text file on your computer.
• View Stored Data. Opens a panel that displays the data that is stored for the panel.
• View Shared Data. Opens a panel that displays the shared data.

Debugging is enabled by launching the page with “?bl=1” (without the quotes) to the page address.