ESL Writing Wizard

Good question, and one I get a lot from the feedback form. In fact people ask me so often whether I have plans to make the cursive letters join up that I thought I'd write a whole page to answer it!

Without a doubt, having the letters join up would be fantastic, and I would really love to do it. However, it's not as simple as squishing the letters closer together.

The letters used in the Writing Wizard are not fonts but small pictures that sit side-by-side. Let's look at two of the Zaner-Bloser style letters:

Now, if you look closely you'll notice that if they were correctly joined up, the top of the 'f' would sit above the 'e'. This would mean that every letter would need to be redesigned so that it overlaps with the adjacent letter. I could cheat and not have them overlap, but that would mean each letter is seperated by a long 'joining line'. Possible, but an ugly solution.

The problems don't end there though. Look at the next example:

See how the letter 'o' should join the 'p' at the top? 'o', 'r,', 'v', 'w', 't', and 'f' all join the next letter at the top. Therefore, every letter would need two versions, one that links to the preceding letter from the bottom, and one that links from the top.

In fact, let me show you exactly how many letters would need to be made, not to mention the programming required to check for top or bottom links.

• D'Nealian uppercase, top-joined, print: 26 letters
• D'Nealian uppercase, bottom-joined, print: 26 letters
• D'Nealian lowercase, top-joined, print: 26 letters
• D'Nealian lowercase, bottom-joined, print: 26 letters
• D'Nealian uppercase, top-joined, dot: 26 letters
• D'Nealian uppercase, bottom-joined, dot: 26 letters
• D'Nealian lowercase, top-joined, dot: 26 letters
• D'Nealian lowercase, bottom-joined, dot: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style uppercase, top-joined, print: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style uppercase, bottom-joined, print: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style lowercase, top-joined, print: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style lowercase, bottom-joined, print: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style uppercase, top-joined, dot: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style uppercase, bottom-joined, dot: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style lowercase, top-joined, dot: 26 letters
• Zaner-Bloser style lowercase, bottom-joined, dot: 26 letters

That's 416 pictures, plus all the special characters!

So, as much as I would like to achieve joined up writing with the Writing Wizard, it would be an enormous job, and the results would still look pretty ugly. I wish I could devote all my time to the Writing Wizard, but it's just a hobby, not my job. Sorry everyone! I do appreciate how useful it would be, and if I do have time in the future I'll give it a go. I promise!

If you'd like to send feedback, you can do so here.

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