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Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

orthic.shorthand.fun

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Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#31

Post by Semaphor »

Roark66 wrote: post #24

The best shorthand for onscreen writing is the way SwiftKey keyboard supports. Basically you swipe your finger in one continuous path between letters stopping between words. It let's one write in comparable speed to typing on a smartphone onscreen keyboard.

While it’s nice (nowadays, many keyboards actually support "swiping), it still gets so much wrong, and accuracy plummets for bilingual writing (For myself, I decided that the annoyance of getting nothing right because I’m in the wrong language is better than introducing more subtle errors). For those reasons, I still wish there were phones with full physical keyboards.

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#32

Post by flandish »

sieste wrote: post #30

Trading off writing speed for legibility seems wrong to me. Writing fast is a skill that can be learned by regular practice. If you spend half the time to learn an illegible code like orthic on simply practicing your usual handwriting you'll end up writing quite a bit faster while increasing legibility. I would try that first.

It’s legible to those who know it.

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#33

Post by flandish »

kstrauser wrote: post #5
riffraff wrote: post #4

My mom went to a professional school for "company secretary" or something like that in the 70s and learned shorthand notation (and typing). I recall trying to learn from her books as a kid, it's not that hard. But she never seemed to actually use it later in her life (she still touch typed tho!). I wonder how useful shorthand is in these days when cheap recording devices are available in everyone's pocket. Maybe peop…

I keep a handwritten journal. I definitely do not use it.

Funny but I do use it. My license signature is even in Gregg

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#34

Post by zimpenfish »

Roark66 wrote: post #24

The best shorthand for onscreen writing is the way SwiftKey keyboard supports. Basically you swipe your finger in one continuous path between letters stopping between words. It let's one write in comparable speed to typing on a smartphone onscreen keyboard.

I'm still salty that there's no FITALY[1] equivalent for iOS. MessageEase[2] has the same kind of idea but is nowhere near as easy to learn and use. I could whip through text at great(ish) speed on my Palms and PocketPCs using FITALY...

[1] https://textware.com/fitaly/ofkey.htm

[2] https://www.exideas.com/ME/index.php

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#35

Post by donogh »

Semaphor wrote: post #31
Roark66 wrote: post #24

The best shorthand for onscreen writing is the way SwiftKey keyboard supports. Basically you swipe your finger in one continuous path between letters stopping between words. It let's one write in comparable speed to typing on a smartphone onscreen keyboard.

While it’s nice (nowadays, many keyboards actually support "swiping), it still gets so much wrong, and accuracy plummets for bilingual writing (For myself, I decided that the annoyance of getting nothing right because I’m in the wrong language is better than introducing more subtle errors). For those reasons, I still wish there were phones with full physical keyboards.

You might like Clicks in that case: https://www.clicks.tech/

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#36

Post by tnel »

heads wrote: post #2

Looking at images of shorthand makes me remember how much I just enjoyed playing the 2023 game Chants of Sennaar : https://www.rundisc.io/chants-of-sennaar/ The game’s dialogue and story are all written in a series of ever more complex writing systems, unseen and novel to the game. There’s a mechanic where you get to prove to the game you understand what is being written or said (characters have subtitles also in the…

I prefer Gregg shorthand to Pittman because Gregg doesn't require variable stroke width and thus it's easier to write with a ballpoint pen.

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#37

Post by donogh »

Omin wrote: post #14
csa wrote: post #8

I can’t even read my own cursive, so I can’t imagine how illegible my shorthand cursive would be. Does anyone have any experience with this that suggests that maybe it can be clearer than cursive? One can always hope…

I have some experience with a German shorthand style (DEK) and it is more important to write clearly. Shorthand removes most of the redundant information that is present in regular alphabets and words. With regular writing, a small error somewhere can be error corrected using the surrounding context. When I wasn't being careful, I could often read the text shortly after I wrote it, but after a few hours or days it be…

I suppose it's a little like UIs. Old school, green screen UIs have a learning curve and can result in very efficient usage. Modern, friendly UIs sacrifice speed for presentation and accessibility.

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#38

Post by killerstorm »

csa wrote: post #8

I can’t even read my own cursive, so I can’t imagine how illegible my shorthand cursive would be. Does anyone have any experience with this that suggests that maybe it can be clearer than cursive? One can always hope…

If you want to optimize for legibility rather than speed, a fountain pen with a stub nib might help. Stub nibs are designed to make handwriting look a bit like classic cursive with no effort from the person. But they can also improve handwriting legibility by providing a particular feedback, basically, it stops some bad movements you hand might be doing.

I have most success with nibs which are very smooth but stubby. TWSBI Diamond 580 with 1.1 mm stub nib worked best for me, but it takes bottled ink.

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#39

Post by josephg »

flandish wrote: post #32
sieste wrote: post #30

Trading off writing speed for legibility seems wrong to me. Writing fast is a skill that can be learned by regular practice. If you spend half the time to learn an illegible code like orthic on simply practicing your usual handwriting you'll end up writing quite a bit faster while increasing legibility. I would try that first.

It’s legible to those who know it.

Right. And 90% of the writing I do today is writing out notes to myself while I plan or work through problems in my notebook. That kind of writing doesn’t need to be legible to anyone else.

Re: Orthic Shorthand – Write as fast as you type

#40

Post by smeej »

sieste wrote: post #30

Trading off writing speed for legibility seems wrong to me. Writing fast is a skill that can be learned by regular practice. If you spend half the time to learn an illegible code like orthic on simply practicing your usual handwriting you'll end up writing quite a bit faster while increasing legibility. I would try that first.

It's meant to be decoded into regular text later. Main usage is taking notes or dictation.

Trying to write as fast as an average person speaks makes it very hard to do anything else, like be an attentive conversation partner, but scribbling some notes down in shorthand so you can return to them later is really useful.

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