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Q. How do I get started with Alexicom Tech? Return to top
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A. You must first create a free account. Once you have an account, you may access public pages
and any sample pages that have been created for you. You will have access to your free account
for 45 days. You are under no obligation to purchase anything and your information will be kept private.
If you wish to create your own pages, simply subscribe to the service. Your subscription will
include either a single- or multi-user account and will last for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. Upon
subscribing, you will immediately become the page author for your accounts. You will gain access
to editing and managing tools, including a page editor, a picture manager, a copying tool, the
publishing feature, and a user account administration tool.
As a page author, you may create pages for yourself, your user accounts, and the user accounts of
others who have made you their user's page author. You may copy pages and images from the
"Public Library" and transfer pages and pictures between your accounts. You may upload an unlimited
number of pictures from the internet or your hard drive. You may publish an unlimited number
of pages for offline use. You may transfer authorship of your user accounts to other
page authors, like parents and therapists. These features are available the moment you subscribe.
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A. In addition to the instructional videos in the "How Alexicom Works" section,
there are several pdf tutorials included in the authoring tools. These tutorials are designed to
take you step by step through the process of making pages, uploading images, copying pages,
transferring pages and pictures between your page author and user accounts, and publishing pages for offline use.
If you find that the online tutorials are not enough, you may contact our customer support group
at support@alexicomtech.com and we will gladly
provide more detailed instructions. We also offer one-on-one and small group Skype video training on request.
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Q. Can I use the site without attending a training session? Return to top
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A. Yes. Upon subscribing, you will immediately gain access to editing, managing, and publishing
tools, as well as the online tutorials and a Public Library of sample pictures and pages. The online
tutorials describe in great detail how to make your own pages, upload images, copy within and
between accounts, and publish pages for offline use. You may also copy pictures and pages from the
Public Library into your page author account and user accounts where you may personalize them,
adjust them to your needs and use them as templates.
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Q. If I sign up today, when does my subscription begin? When does it expire? Return to top
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A. Your membership will begin immediately upon receipt of payment and will expire based on
your selected subscription length of 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. Your subscription will last from
the day (calendar date) that you subscribe through midnight, Arizona time, of the same day
(number) of the expiration month or the last day of the expiration month, if that day
(number) is not available in the expiration month.
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Q. What happens to my pages if my membership expires? Return to top
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A. If your membership expires, you will not be able to access your pages until you have renewed your subscription. Your pages may be deleted after a two-week grace period. Once deleted, your pages cannot be retrieved. You may not be notified of your subscription expiration.
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Q. How do I know you're not going to raise my rates over time? Return to top
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A. We guarantee that the rate you pay when you start your subscription will not increase as long as your account is active. Your rate may go down, but it will never go up.
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Q. How do I know you're going to be around next month, next year, and beyond? Return to top
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A. Since 2008, we have invested our profits into the infrastructure of the company. We own our own equipment and our building, minimizing the overhead expenses required to
keep our servers running. As parents of an autistic child and speech language pathologists, the co-founders of Alexicom Tech are passionately committed to providing affordable, accessible augmentative communication to everyone.
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Q. What is my money being used for? Return to top
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A. The majority of your subscription cost goes directly into research and development. We are constantly creating and refining our pre-made pages, writing apps for new devices, and exploring alternate interfaces.
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Q. If a school or school district purchases the subscription for my child, will my
child have access to the system at home after school hours? Return to top
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A. That depends on your school or school district's policies and licensing agreement. Some institutions only allow access during the time that school is session. Others allow access beyond the hours when the student is at school. You will need to coordinate with the school district to gain page authoring abilities to modify and create pages.
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Q. What internet browser should I use? Return to top
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A. This website is cross-browser compatible. It has been W3C verified and successfully tested using Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome
browsers on Windows and Mac operating systems. It also works on the default browser on iOS and Android devices, provided the browser supports either Flash or HTML5.
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Q. What if I'm not getting any sound on my pages? Return to top
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A. The audio files on this site require Javascript and either Flash or HTML5 support.
You can determine if you have Adobe's Flash player by clicking here. To check your browser for HTML5 support, click
here and scroll down to MP3 support in the Audio section.
If you are using Internet Explorer, the site should work using the default browser settings. To restore these settings,
go to Tools / Internet Options / Advanced. Click Restore Advanced Settings then hit OK.
If you are using FireFox, go to Tools / Options / Content and make sure that Enable Javascript is checked, then
check the file associations in about:config. Click here to see how.
If you are using Google Chrome, your published pages may not work with Chrome's default security policy. If this is the case, right-click on the Chrome launch icon, select Properties,
click the Shortcut tab, and add --allow-file-access-from-files to the end of the Target path (i.e. "C:\Documents and Settings\User\...\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --allow-file-access-from-files).
You must launch Chrome from this icon then right-click Alexicom.html and select "Open With Google Chrome".
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Q. Why aren't the left flyout menu and Publish page download links working? Return to top
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A. If you are using AVG 2011, early versions of the LinkScanner Surf-Shield prevented some features on our website from
working properly. Affected items included the left flyout menu and the "Click here to download" published
page links created when publishing pages. AVG has fixed these issues, but if your AVG software is out-of-date, you may find this
workaround helpful.
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Q. What internet connection speed do I need? Return to top
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A. For smooth live-mode operation, you will need a data transfer rate of 800 kbps or faster. Most DSL and cable systems should be more than fast enough.
If you wish to use pages off-line (i.e. "published" pages), a connection speed of 56 kbps is adequate.
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Q. How do I find out what my connection speed is? Return to top
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A. Speedtest.net is one of many internet sites which allow you to test the speed of your internet connection.
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Q. Do I have to have an internet connection to use Alexicom Tech? Return to top
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A. Not to use it as an AAC device. You only need an internet connection to create, edit, and download pages and manage user accounts. Once you have created a set of pages, you may use them in "live" mode (online) or "publish" them for offline use on your local hard drive. Pages that have been downloaded to your local hard drive will speak and link without being connected to the internet.
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Q. Will Alexicom Tech work on my cell phone or other portable internet-capable device? Return to top
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A. If your device has a fully-functioning browser with either Flash or HTML5,
you should be able to utilize the live pages on your device. Screen size, resolution, internet
speed, and available add-ons may be the limiting factors in your practical use of Alexicom Tech on these portable devices.
We also offer free iOS and Android apps that allow you to publish pages directly to iOS and Android devices and copy them to and from your computer.
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Q. Can I use any picture I get from the internet or any other image source? Return to top
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A. This site accepts images in jpg, bmp, gif, and png formats. All images must be less than 640 by 640 square pixels and no larger
than 512kb.
Your images are private and accessible only by you. Alexicom Tech LLC assumes no responsibility for the content of your images. Copyright Basics, published by the United States Copyright Office, is a good place to go if you have questions about copyright law.
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