Nice idea. I absolutely understand what you're getting at since I've had the exact same idea/need in the past.
I really like your design but one thing springs to mind when I look at your screencaps.
When I'm learning how to write a complicated kanji, I'd greatly appreciate having as much room on the screen as possible.
It affords greater precision and the details are better shown.
So maybe make the drawing area bigger?
Now having tried it for just a minute or two, I'm not sure I entirely like your recognition algorithm. It said I was wrong!
Seriously though, while my hand writing is pretty sloppy at times, I'd still like to think my hand writing is legible.
The algorithm seems a lot less sensitive about straight lines than some of the more curly bits. Take あ for instance. I while the second stroke was well off it accepted that while rejecting the third stroke for not bending back enough way at the end.
Since algorithmic solution is rather hard I might actually suggest going a whole different direction.
If you've ever tried applications like Anki, they ask the user herself to select the result, which to me seems to work fairly well.
The least I would want is probably some kind of intermediate level in between Good and Wrong.
Thanks for the great feedback. I tried to make the writing area as big as possible while still having some space for the buttons on the side. But as you say, it'd be better to have it even bigger. I'll try out some different layouts with the buttons above or below instead and see how it feels.
It's hard to get the recognition as good as I'd like, but I still have some ideas for how to improve it. As you say it's too sensitive in some cases (long curly strokes) and not strict enough in other cases. For the straight lines I guess I'd need to take into account the relative positions compared to earlier strokes and where they cross each other, which is the next thing I'll try.
I've also thought about letting the user rate themselves. But personally I'm not so fond of it, since I find myself "cheating" sometimes, and also have to put some thought into rating my performance instead of just focusing on learning. But I'll keep it in mind, maybe having some kind of mixed solution is best, where the user can override the results.
Yes, that may be best. Personally, when I use software where I have to rate myself, I find myself either "cheating" or at least having to think about how to rate it instead of just focusing on learning. But on the other hand, with just algorithmic evaluation you do get annoyed at times when the algorithm is wrong, so a manual override would be useful.
Comments
Nice idea. I absolutely understand what you're getting at since I've had the exact same idea/need in the past.
I really like your design but one thing springs to mind when I look at your screencaps. When I'm learning how to write a complicated kanji, I'd greatly appreciate having as much room on the screen as possible. It affords greater precision and the details are better shown. So maybe make the drawing area bigger?
Now having tried it for just a minute or two, I'm not sure I entirely like your recognition algorithm. It said I was wrong! Seriously though, while my hand writing is pretty sloppy at times, I'd still like to think my hand writing is legible. The algorithm seems a lot less sensitive about straight lines than some of the more curly bits. Take あ for instance. I while the second stroke was well off it accepted that while rejecting the third stroke for not bending back enough way at the end.
Since algorithmic solution is rather hard I might actually suggest going a whole different direction. If you've ever tried applications like Anki, they ask the user herself to select the result, which to me seems to work fairly well. The least I would want is probably some kind of intermediate level in between Good and Wrong.
Hope it helps and good luck!
Thanks for the great feedback. I tried to make the writing area as big as possible while still having some space for the buttons on the side. But as you say, it'd be better to have it even bigger. I'll try out some different layouts with the buttons above or below instead and see how it feels.
It's hard to get the recognition as good as I'd like, but I still have some ideas for how to improve it. As you say it's too sensitive in some cases (long curly strokes) and not strict enough in other cases. For the straight lines I guess I'd need to take into account the relative positions compared to earlier strokes and where they cross each other, which is the next thing I'll try.
I've also thought about letting the user rate themselves. But personally I'm not so fond of it, since I find myself "cheating" sometimes, and also have to put some thought into rating my performance instead of just focusing on learning. But I'll keep it in mind, maybe having some kind of mixed solution is best, where the user can override the results.
Doing a mix of user evaluation of appearance combined with algorithmic evaluation of stroke order would be helpful.
Yes, that may be best. Personally, when I use software where I have to rate myself, I find myself either "cheating" or at least having to think about how to rate it instead of just focusing on learning. But on the other hand, with just algorithmic evaluation you do get annoyed at times when the algorithm is wrong, so a manual override would be useful.