Talk instead of type - dictate your changes
Some changes are easier to say than to type - especially on a phone, or when you’re describing something visual. The chat where you talk to Bernard has a microphone button next to Send: tap it, speak, and your words stream into the message box as you talk, exactly as if you’d typed them.
The prompt
“Make the [headline on my home page] warmer and more welcoming - keep it to one line.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
How it works
- Tap the microphone. The first time, your browser asks permission to use it - allow it (if you said no by accident, turn it back on in your browser’s site settings and tap the mic again).
- Say the change. Words appear as you speak, and may reshuffle slightly as the recognition settles - that’s normal. Pause, think, carry on; you can also type mid-sentence to fix a word it misheard.
- Press Send when it reads right. Dictating never sends anything by itself - you always get to look first. And as ever, the change lands on your draft for you to approve before it goes live.
The listening state is honest: while the mic is on, the button glows and the box says “Listening…”. Browsers end a session after a stretch of silence - the button simply goes back to normal, and a tap starts it again.
Say it like you’d say it to a person
Dictation suits the way Bernard likes to be asked: plain, spoken instructions. “Make the opening line friendlier”, “swap the photo on the about page for the one of the studio”, “the prices on the workshops page are out of date - they’re all thirty-five pounds now”. If it’s easier to show than say, Something looks wrong - can I just show it a picture? works alongside - attach the picture, then dictate what’s wrong with it. Speaking a couple of sentences of context costs you nothing and gets a much better first result than a three-word command - the same habit that makes Make changes safely work.
Questions people ask
- How do I dictate a change to my site?
- In the chat where you’d normally type, tap the microphone next to Send. Your browser will ask permission to use the microphone the first time; allow it, speak your change, and the words appear in the box as you talk. Press Send when you’re happy - nothing is sent, and nothing changes on your site, until you do, and every change still waits for your approval.
- Why don’t I see a microphone button?
- Your browser doesn’t offer speech recognition, so bernard doesn’t show a button that can’t work. Chrome, Edge and Safari all have it; Firefox doesn’t. On a phone you can also just use your keyboard’s own dictation key.
- It stopped listening on its own - is that broken?
- No - browsers end a listening session after a stretch of silence or when you switch tabs. The button goes back to normal so you can see it’s off; tap it again to carry on. Whatever you’d said stays in the box.
- Can I fix the words it misheard?
- Yes - the box is still an ordinary text box. Click in and correct anything while the microphone is on or after it’s off; new speech carries on from what’s there. Tidy first, send second.