AW: typing program

Sun May 5 20:02:24 UTC 2013

Hi Valerie, Charles and friends, 

is it true that you recommend to install the DOS Box in order to type
documents with the good old SignWriter Dos Programm  

I do not understand. There will still be problems with printing and compared
to our new software it is pretty diificult for newcomers... 

I would like to invite all of you to use the given database of the
SignPuddle that are already compatible with our Delegs-Software  

Within seconds you can do all the things you are dreaming of  write a
searchword look for the alternatives in your SignPuddle  dictionary,
write sentences, documents,  - write ASL or signed English, add a
translation  create a PDF,  offer to the learner PDF  prints  save these
PDF documents on your computer... 

In order to create bilingual documents there is no better tool at the
moment. Well some of you would prefer writing in columns. For the porpose to
bridge spoken language and Sign Language  to improve literacy in deaf
children - I prefer very much the horizontal way... smile. That should not
be a big problem for a person who really wants to express his concepts in
Sign Language and Spoken Language. 

Within my lessons it is a blessing and a big difference compared with the
time before Delegs. Hopfefully we will be able in the future to improve
our Editor so that the  writer should be able to change, rewrite a given
sign within delegs  or to create a new sign starting from the
beginning.... 

But so far you can add your entries to the SignPuddle dictionary and over
night you will be able to write your new document with these new signs. 

Feel free to play around and to get a feeling ... it is really a wonderful
program. Thank you so much to our software-team - ;-))) It is amazing to see
what they are able to do in order to support all the people who are
interested to bridge the two worlds...  

Any questions... do not hesitate to ask... 

All best and a good start for the coming week

Stefan  

  _____  

Von: SignWriting List: Read and Write Sign Languages
[mailto:SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU] Im Auftrag von Valerie Sutton
Gesendet: Sonntag, 5. Mai 2013 20:15
An: SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU
Betreff: Re: typing program

SignWriting List

May 5, 2013

To use SignWriter DOS on any computer, download this program:

Download DOSBox

http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1

Install it. Then, download SignWriter DOS:

Download SignWriter DOS:

http://www.signwriting.org/forums/software/sw44/download/index.html

Install SignWriter DOS inside DOSBox. If you need help, ask questions here
on the SignWriting List, and I will help you.

I use SignWriter DOS several times a week - did you all know that? Why? To
access old documents and dictionaries - why not?

So the world has not stopped - we can still use old software!!

The reason I do not use SignWriter DOS for new documents however, is because
I want to use the ISWA 2010, and I want to write in vertical columns, and I
want to use SVG etc etc etc - so that is why I use SignPuddle for my own new
documents -

But SignWriter DOS is very much alive and well today in 2013 thanks to
DOSBox!

Val ;-)

------

On May 5, 2013, at 10:59 AM, Valerie Sutton <signwriting at mac.com> wrote:

SignWriting List

May 5, 2013

Hello everyone -

All your points are well taken and no arguments with anything - And thank
you to Claudia and Italy for developing your own software - that is
terrific!

And I LOVE your work, Claudia, and wish we could see you this summer
.

Meanwhile I guess you may not realize that the PocketPuddle is available as
desktop software called the PersonalPuddle, that can be downloaded and you
can work WITHOUT the internet in your own private SignPuddle database

Then, after you have created your own private Puddle files without any
connection to the internet, later, you can connect to the internet and
upload your files into SignPuddle Online. We have had that software for
years now, and you can read about it here:

PersonalPuddle

http://www.suttonshop.com/ecommerce/pages/products_sw_detail.jsp?id=60.0

Now, I realize you probably do not have the money to purchase it
Because we
also have the free SignPuddle Online I was hoping to help pay Steve a
little, for all his hard work, and I am an unpaid volunteer to our
non-profit organization, however, recently I started getting Disability
payments, so I could donate your payment for the PersonalPuddle, Charles, to
our non-profit, which can then help Steve, and I will donate the copy to you
so you can work with the PersonalPuddle offline

And if other people want a donated copy of the PersonalPuddle I will do my
best to help you - Please write to tell me...

Meanwhile it helps the world if you can write online, because then we all
benefit from your online databases

Regarding keystrokes and software
you can still use SignWriter DOS if you
want to
on modern computers
both Windows and Macintosh can use SignWriter
DOS right now, using another program called DOSBox. If you prefer that, I
can help you do that.

Also, Jonathan Duncan's SignWriterStudio software has keystrokes of a
different kind - I like SignWriter Studio for Windows. It is Desktop
software and also online

And then there is the Italian software - so we really are blessed - and then
DELEGS in Germany
we are so lucky!

Regarding SignPuddle, Steve is coming out with a new version in time that
will have a new way of handling databases and will also have a typing
program specifically for fingerspelling which is sorely needed - and it has
a way to highlight SignWriting text, and copy and paste it elsewhere etc...

And why is Steve's encoding good? Because we will soon have a seamless way
of writing Wikipedia articles that will move us onto the official Wikipedia
site 
 it is all coming in around 6 months -

So much more to tell you - smile -

Meanwhile, bravo to all those who write by hand! That is the way SignWriting
started - for ten years we did not have any computerization - everything was
by hand - and proud of it!

I get frustrated when I hear people say that we can only do SignWriting by
computer - they think we cannot write by hand - obviously that is not the
case
 smile

Thanks to everyone for all you are doing -

Val ;-)

---------

On May 5, 2013, at 10:39 AM, Charles Butler <chazzer3332000 at YAHOO.COM>
wrote:

Thank both you and Kim for underlining how strongly we need to go back
before we go forward. When I was in Brazil in 2000 I was able to enter a
sign with a typing program, save it to the dictionary and retrieve it later
with a few keystrokes. There were pages on pages of keystrokes that the
project put together to aid in entry and retrieval. I'm sure that there are
plenty of people who preferred the system created for their own languages
and interactive with others. Although the ASCII breakthrough is great, what
does that mean practically. Will I be able to go back to "highlighting an
English alphabet word", "changing that to fingerspelling" and "finding and
replacing with a chosen sign" a given English phrase with ASL or LIBRAS or
any other sign language? Right now, I see the "save the code into an
interactive database". Well, what happens if that database is NOT on my
computer, is only available on a netserver which on that day happens to be
down and I'm teaching in a public school. 

That is a critical need, and it is very frustrating. We need a PocketPuddle
that is retrievable as a database.

Charles Butler
chazzer3332000 at yahoo.com
240-764-5748
Clear writing moves business forward.

  _____  

From: Claudia S. Bianchini <chiadu14 at GMAIL.COM>
To: SW-L at LISTSERV.VALENCIACOLLEGE.EDU 
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2013 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: typing program

In Italy, Fabrizio Borgia (univ. "Sapienza" of Rome 1), one of my "favorites
collaborators", is working on an OCR system for SW for his PhD Thesis. When
he will finish we can handwrite SW, scan it and obtain a digital version
unloadable in the puddle. With Fabrizio we also develop new software (called
SWift) for typing SW, in my opinion is really faster than SignMaker. I have
to ask him when our SWift will be available for everyone. But you can have
an overview in the last chapter of my PhD thesis and in some of our articles
(available here:
http://www.csbianchini.com/index.php/liste-commentee-des-publications)
Claudia

2013/5/5 Kimberley Shaw <skifoot at gmail.com>

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 <chazzer3332000 at yahoo.com> 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
> chazzer3332000 at yahoo.com
> 240-764-5748
> Clear writing moves business forward.

-- 

Claudia S. Bianchini, PhD
A.T.E.R. Licence SDL-LSF @ Univ. Poitiers (France)

chiadu14 at gmail.com <mailto:chiadu14 at gmail.comt> 

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