Absolute Beginners Guide to Tablet PCs

Having a pen and a digitizer is a great boon for computing. But if you can't get the computer to read your handwriting, it will be frustrating. Here are a few tips on improving handwriting recognition, and strategies for using the Input Panel.

Word and Letter Spacing

As you write in the Input Panel, make sure you have consistent spacing between letters and words. If you have varying spaces and character widths, your Tablet PC will have a more difficult time recognizing your writing. The main problem to avoid is running words together. Make sure you have space between words.

Tip

Make sure you have adequate spacing between your words so that Input Panel can properly recognize your handwriting.

Style of Writing

Using a combination of upper- and lowercase letters works best. If you use all caps, your Tablet PC may have more trouble recognizing what you've written. Slanting is okay, but not if it's to the extreme. Cursive, believe it or not, is the most accurately recognized writing style.

Table 8.2 displays the results of several handwriting samples. Take a look at the styles of writing and notice which work best.

Table 8.2. Writing Samples and Their Resulting Text

Writing Pad Sample

Text Output

Comments

STYLE of writing

Block capitals can work well if spacing and letter size are consistent.

Styli, of visiting

Very close to the first sample, but the recognition is quite different.

Style of writing

Recognition is good even on jumbled writing when the pen is barely lifted.

Style of writing

Upper- and lowercase almost always works well.

Style of woofing

Just a bit too crammed together on the last word.

she obv sting

Lack of spacing caused this misrecognition.

Style of writing

Even mixed case gets converted to proper case.

Style of writing

The recognizer works well enough to handle this scratch. Shows that cursive recognition is quite good.

style Oban Gong

Again, inconsistent spacing causes problems.

style of writing

Even small writing can be recognized accurately, but this is not recommended as less stroke information is available to the recognizer.

Style of cursing

I can't even read this one. Good guess, Input Panel.

Strobe of uniting

I had to try hard to make it NOT read my handwriting well.

Sits off 15

Accuracy of acronym recognition is low. Use the keyboard for things like this.

Overall, handwriting recognition on the Tablet PC is really good. The intelligence that goes into recognition uses several factors, including putting the writing sample into context to determine the best fit for the text next to it. You will have some bumps to get over, but spending some time with the Tablet PC Input Panel will help you achieve higher handwriting recognition accuracy.

To maximize recognition, keep word and letter spacing consistent, use cursive, avoid stray marks, and write legibly. If others can't read it, your computer will probably not be able to either.

Dealing With Characters and Symbols

Often, when writing text, you will need to enter individual characters and symbols. One of the easiest ways to enter characters and symbols is to use the Input Panel keyboard or the Symbols pad.

Tip

To enter individual letters, symbols, and acronyms, use the Input Panel keyboard or Symbols pad. You will probably get frustrated trying to use the writing pad, because it is made to recognize words.

To open the Symbols Pad, click on the ampersand (&) button in the upper-right corner of the Input Panel. Using the Symbols pad to enter symbols is usually faster than trying to get the Input Panel to recognize your symbols. In fact, you may not be able to get it to recognize them anyway. For example, writing a plus sign (+) usually yields a 't'.

You can also enable the character recognizer in the Options dialog box to help you enter symbols and single words faster.

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