Penfriend is delighted to announce that Version 4.1 is ready to download. Penfriend 4.1 offers new innovative features including:

• A Homophone option in the prediction window to support literacy
• Type on hover to help mobility for the on-screen keyboard
• Speak on hover to support typing with the on-screen keyboard
• A transparency option so you can see all your desktop Windows and icons when Penfriend is running and discretely use Penfriend without anyone knowing!

Confusable word hints
With over 400 homophones in the English language, similar sounding words add depth to a language but they can also be the cause of great frustration. Spell checkers can’t be relied upon where these troublesome homophones are concerned. Confusables are often highlighted by people who experience dyslexia as a source of annoyance and confusion as you could accidentally end up with a properly spelled word, but the wrong word!

With Penfriend’s new option ‘Confusable word hints’ (go to View and Preferences) you can now see and even hear the difference between confusable words, so there’s no excuse to get ‘pair’ and ‘pear’ or ‘bear’ and ‘bare’ mixed up anymore.

On-Screen Keyboard
Penfriend’s on-screen keyboard has always been a favourite feature with our customers, particularly those who use an alternative mouse such as a trackerball. With features such as ‘hover to click’ the on-screen keyboard has been greatly improved, offering increased accessibility and usability to our customers.

In Version 4.1 the improved on-screen keyboard now has an option to allows individual letters and function keys to be echoed or read back.

This is a particularly useful feature for individuals who are leaning to type such as early years or even those who are new to a computer and are learning to type. Speech feedback on the on-screen keyboard is also very beneficial to those who are struggling with literacy and require audio feedback to help scaffold their learning.

Transparency feature
And for those of you who’d rather be discrete about using Penfriend we’ve included a new transparent feature which means you can still see all your desktop windows and icons when Penfriend is running and you can use your favourite assistive technology without anyone else knowing….but you!

To find out more and download a trial version of Penfriend select this link