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From:
"Wayne H. Smith" Date: Tue May 25, 1999 9:13 pm Subject: Re: New SignWriter Features? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Valerie wrote: >Any other features you would like? I bet there are a lot, and I think >this >is the time to tell me! Well, I guess if I'm going to have any input, I'd better do it now. I've been working with the 4.3 program for the past few weeks and generally find it flexible enough to write Taiwan Sign Language. I've built up a dictionary of about 200 signs already, with another 2000 or so waiting to be input. Some of the following may be features that already exist within SW 4.3 but that I haven't found yet. Let me know if so. In no particular order: 1. It would be nice if we're typing largely from the dictionary that we could remain in dictionary mode until we no longer want it. As it is, I'm constantly typing Alt-D before every sign, and I wish it would just stay there. 2. I've found about 7-8 handshapes in TSL which I don't see among the preset handshapes. I've been able to create about 4-5 of them by playing around with preexisting handshapes and adding fingers using the little marks on the - key. I'll send those later, with photographs of each one. 3. TSL has a frequently used movement which SW lacks a symbol for: a sequential closing of the fingers over the thumb from the knuckle, beginning with the index finger. 4. TSL also has lots of "character signs" which are either wholly or partially based on the shape of a particular Chinese character. Is there a way to show which of several movement segments goes first, which comes next, etc.? 5. I mentioned earlier about having the option of printing the signs in color according to Valerie's delineation by part of the sign, by whole signs, or in black and white, each used for different purposes: teaching children, emphasis, etc. 6. Is there an option for creating new handshapes as they are discovered in a particular sign language, and then storing them in the program somewhere for immediate recall and automatic shading and "breaking" (I forgot the official term for the the space between fingers and palm when parallel to the floor)? Or would you, Valerie, prefer that all new handshapes be run past you so as to retain a standard notation for handshapes worldwide? 7. Might it be possible for columns to print from right to left instead of left to right? This might seem strange to many, but it's the natural way of writing Chinese characters when "in column mode" (as it were). When Chinese people look at things written in columns, their eyes naturally start reading at the top right side, and SW starts on the on the other ("the wrong") side. 8. Obviously a major need for SW here in Taiwan would be the necessity of giving signs name in Chinese characters. If the people who designed Swing have already dealt with Japanese characters, then they'll understand what I mean when I say that Taiwan would require "traditional characters in Big-5." Also, it would be great if, in addition to being able to sort by handshapes, head positions, etc. that we also be able to sort by the traditional sorting for Chinese characters, i.e. first by the number of strokes in the character, then by the traditional dictionary order of "radicals" or components of Chinese characters. It might prove easier in the long run if SW were published in two editions: a western language edition, and an Asian language edition. 9. Oh, yes, I almost forgot. I'm hoping that in the 5.0 version it will be easier to transfer text files (.sgn files) into other applications, and not have to go through a paint program to change white-on-black to black-on-white, etc. (For that matter, could we have black-on-white in the first place? WYSIWYG) I'm planning, as long as the program permits, on putting the SW symbols for each TSL sign into a database program, such as Access and having the symbols print out alongside the Chinese characters, for example a list of all the verbs signs that are included in Lesson 7 of our teaching materials. I may yet think of some more things, and will pass them on as they occur to me. Let me know if any of these features might already exist within 4.3. Love to all, - Wayne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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