good-dog_at_northshore.net wrote:
>Okay, maybe I misunderstand what you guys mean by this 160 X 160
>business. Is there any pictures of this anywhere that demonstrates
>this? What am I missing? Are we misunderstanding each other?
>
>What I meant in the original question was the idea of writing all over
>the Palm-sized screen, not just in the little, puny area at the bottom.
>Allegedly there is an app that lets you actually write Graffiti on any
>part of the screen when using a Palm OS unit.
>
>Thus, if you could write all over the screen (okay, a littler screen,
>not the big, honking, lovely one we mp2k/ump2k-ers use), NOT just in the
>little area (in case I'm being misunderstood), would this not be
>sufficient space given a newtons ability to naturally page down as you
>run out of space?
>
Not really. I think the biggest issue is how much horizontal space you
have available, because in writing out by hand, the more you have to
"CR" or move your hand back to the left side of the screen, the less
time you spend writing, and the more awkward it becomes. Also, the more
processor time is required determining whether you've filled the page
and therefore whether it's time to scroll automatically. Fill up the
screen and if the HWR engine hasn't caught up with you, you have to wait.
It's the difference between writing out this:
http://www.splicer.com/images/hwr/320x240.GIF
or this:
http://www.splicer.com/images/hwr/160x160.GIF
Now really it's the resolution of the digitizer at play, but since we
see what we write as we write it, it's hard to be comfortable writing
letters that are small and low-resolution enough that we can't read what
we've written. So really not only does the digitizer have to be up for
the task, the screen resolution as well as size does too.
You could probably get by with a screen somewhat smaller than Newt's if
the resolution was high enough. I've written suprising amounts of text
on sticky-notes about the size of the Palm screen, but A) I wouldn't
want to and B) actual stickynotes have the advantage of infinite
resolution. The only limitation that way is how fine the point on my pen is.
The ideal size for a portable writing area is probably about the size of
a "reporter's notebook" or steno pad. Which is 6" x 9" for a steno pad
or 4" x 8" for a reporter's notebook. The screen of my MP2000 is 3.5" x
5" and the screen of my Palm IIIxe is about 2.25" square. I haven't done
any real research about the "ideal" size for paper real estate versus
portability, but I'm guessing that thousands of journalists and
stenographers have done that research for me.
I dunno. Since both size and resolution are at issue, maybe a smaller
device with higher screen resolution would be suitable for real HWR. I'd
be interested to try it out. I do recall using Calligrapher on my old
Nino and finding that I often would have trouble squeezing in long words
on their own line. I wouldn't want to go much smaller than Newt's screen
without resorting to a hack like Graffitti.
Steve
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