 |
 |
You said it, Charles! That's why so many of my SW texts exist in handwritten -- but not yet "typeset" -- drafts. Best, Kim from Boston On 5/5/13, Charles Butler <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Having been a part of the SignWriting community for more than 30 years, i am > somewhat concerned that the usefulness of a typing program has been lost. > > When computers were first introduced to signwriting, I went to New York City > for a demonstration of program on the AppleIIe which worked almost > magically. > > > I could start with an English sentence, with a highlight of a mouse change > that sentence to ASL fingerspelling, and then go through and word by word > replace English words with ASL signs and then begin moving them around to > show the changes into ASL grammar. > > > I can't do that now. Entry into the SW puddle is slow, painstaking, and is > not given to the speed of typing which is going to be needed if SW is ever > going to be an everyday writing system on a computer. > > > What ever happened to the approach of typing, not moving a mouse, to > retrieve a handshape, rotate it, add facial expressions, and think like a > signer not digging through a mouse-retrieval system to a shape buried under > 5 layers of clicking? > > > With the change to your new coding system, that becomes even less > transparent. It may be great for programmers but for the layperson it has > become frustrating and trying to demo a program in a public school system is > not one I would want to do now. > > > SignWriting as handwriting is still very useful, but even with my dictionary > program, I can't just "retrieve" an entry. A relational database would have > to be tied to every piece of writing, and that gets very cumbersome. What > happens if the net goes down, there goes the writing. > > > Charles Butler > [log in to unmask] > 240-764-5748 > Clear writing moves business forward.