Technical Notes

Handwriting Tips

Here are some tips on improving your handwriting recognition on the Zoomer.

[Note: these tips are for the built-in HWR, not for Graffiti. My tip for using the built-in HWR: buy and install Graffiti :-). -Brian]

• Vertical lines should be vertical, horizontal lines should be horizontal, straight lines should be straight, and curved lines shouldn't be squiggly! Words to live by.

• Try the writing grid option of the keyboard as a training tool. It will show you what it "thinks" the letter looks like, and helps you to form letters consistently.

• Don't write too slowly -- try to write at a normal speed. Hesitation will cause the handwriting recognizer to try to process what you've written before you're ready.

• Consciously write each individual character instead of words. Try spelling each word silently in your head while you write until your pace and letter formation deliver successful recognition.

• Serifs on 'l' and 'g' will help eliminate ambiguities with '1'/'I' and 's', respectively.

• If the dot over an 'i' or a 'j' is to the left of vertical, you will get weird results. The dot will either be taken as a period or will be grouped with the previous character. For example, if the previous character is an 'l', you may get a result of 'il', when 'li' was intended.

• PalmPrint is designed to accommodate post-dotting and crossing, but if you're having trouble try to dot the 'i' and cross the 't' when you write them, as opposed to going back and dotting and crossing at the end of the word.

• Make the downstroke of an 'r' without curves, to eliminate confusion with a 'v'. Better yet, make your 'r' with a single, curved upstroke, leaving out the vertical downstroke. This may seem odd at first.

• Put a slash through 'Z' and 'z' to distinguish it from a '2'. Slashed 'z' is currently slightly biased towards an upper case 'Z'.

• To guarantee zero, as opposed to 'O', slash it.

• When writing multiple lines, the highest stroke of a line must be lower than the lowest stroke of the line above. Overlaps can cause erroneous results.

• Asterisks work a lot better if you use the stroke order and direction documented in the manual.

• Use the keyboard to insert stubborn punctuation.

• Writing 't' and 'h' too close (experiment!) together will yield an 'A'. It is further aggravated by the vertical stroke of the 't' or the 'h' being slanted.

• Avoid gaps and overlaps between strokes of letters. Disjoint 'B' will be '13', and disjoint 'R' will be '12'.

• 'e' is often interpreted as '2'. Make the horizontal line, then the 'c', all as one stroke.

• '4' is often interpreted as 'k', 'y' or 'x'.

• 'k', 'y' and 'x' are often interpreted as '4'. Form these letters more carefully. See the manual and try the writing grid.

• Left-handers: Be careful to keep letters vertical. Draw horizontal strokes from right to left. Form letters, particularly 'b' and 'd', in single strokes if possible.

• International Recognition Considerations: Accented 'I' and 'E' are easily confused. There is no good way to guarantee and accented 'I'. But, to guarantee an accented 'E', write a curvy 'E', instead of a stick 'E'.

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