[sw-l] IMWA size and transparency

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
October 26, 2004

Stephen Slevinski wrote:
> THIN BORDER
> The thin border around the symbols may be a nice addition.  Would the
> thin
> border only be used for hand shapes?  But once this is added, the
> z-order of
> the symbols becomes even more important.  It would require an
> additional
> compenent when typing, or it would change the order in which symbols
> were
> typed.
>

The thin border around symbols that are on top, is something that has
worked in the past for us. I have noticed through experience that it
gives better reading...without making a big deal out of it ...no
changes of color, and it is so subtle that people don't realize why it
is, they could read the sign better...but they do.

It is not just handshapes, but every symbol, except for
Punctuation...In other words, any symbol that might be placed on top of
another could use that On-Top Command Key. But it couldn't hurt to have
it for all symbols...including Punctuation anyway...so that there is a
consistency.

I believe what we need is an On-Top Special Command Key, like these
Command Keys:

1. Rotate
2. Mirror
3. Variations
4. Fill
5. On-Top

etc...

If the subtle white space around a symbol can be programmed, that would
be the best, but if not, then we could create two IMWA symbol
sets...one with the white space and one without...

And some of the other ideas mentioned by our List members are also
interesting...the opaque has never been tried with readers to see if
they can read it...partly because it would be pretty hard to write by
hand...but no matter what the choice, the new On-Top Command Key would
be programmed to create the look that we all feel works best...

I personally vote for the subtle white space around the top symbol,
since it doesn't look like the handwriting has to change at all...It is
just when publishing...and if it is too subtle, we could widen the
white space around the symbols a tiny bit to make it a little more
obvious...

Thanks for your attention!

I am hoping to start adding symbols to the IMWA in the first week of
November, so if you can think this all through, this will be helpful
for me too...

Val ;-)