[HN Gopher] Show HN: QWANJI
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Show HN: QWANJI
Hey HN! I've built this bit of cuteware (software not solving a
problem but just for fun) inspired from the patterns made by swipe
typing on mobile devices. To me it seemed like the closest thing to
an English version of Kanji and it would be cool to consistently
recreate those patterns. The implementation is vanilla js to keep
things simple (and from a bit of framework fatigue) I'm keen to
see how people use qwanji. Any and all feedback welcome!
Author : byronical
Score : 168 points
Date : 2024-04-08 00:23 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (byronicalpatrick.github.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (byronicalpatrick.github.io)
| relyks wrote:
| This is really cool :) A cool next project for you or someone:
| use ML to see which words produce the most interesting images.
| "diverge" produces something that looks like a heart for example
| lol
| tamimio wrote:
| You don't need an ML, each letter and based on its location on
| the keyboard draw a predictable path, so you can draw whatever
| you want somehow
| relyks wrote:
| Yeah, but I was imagining iterating over all English words
| from a dictionary. Using actual words could be more
| interesting than random characters potentially
| byronical wrote:
| Thanks! A twist on this would be a program which finds the
| English word closest to a given shape, but could probably just
| draw it on a mobile keyboard.
| bpshaver wrote:
| foobarf
| relyks wrote:
| This is a good one lol
| Waterluvian wrote:
| I foobarf you too.
| DanielVZ wrote:
| This is cute indeed. I had fun doing these
|
| Cyndlc zymalz alztma xymslx zrbajz
| xyproto wrote:
| abezoa
| Zebfross wrote:
| fghijklmnf
| goosejuice wrote:
| Did not think kanji. Brain went to ouija and jumanji. Pretty
| neat!
| goosejuice wrote:
| Try 'eight'
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| Great, another form of steganography has been born.
|
| Have fun hiding information in colemak qwanjis.
| achristmascarl wrote:
| feels kind of like writing in cursive
|
| edcdsdfgtgb hgfrytrvbn tgbnm tgbnm ytrfvvbnhyyt
| tamimio wrote:
| Cqtov
|
| Cdgjc
|
| Vlgav
|
| Vtybn
|
| Xtyvb
|
| Last two kinda NSFW.
| bckr wrote:
| Thanks, another good url for this would be Sigil drawer dot io
| wheresmyshadow wrote:
| ywshbz tqagazb zqbt qzgq zqby qzbt qzjq bzagaqy zvfaqr
| t1c wrote:
| Xcbvxtvznz
| sperr11 wrote:
| I guess someone had to do it
| t1c wrote:
| Any tool that can make arbitrary illustrations, no matter how
| complex, convoluted, or limited, can and will always be used
| to draw dicks.
| de_nied wrote:
| LG also has this as a keyboard input feature named "Swype".
|
| See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swype (Not LG but seems like
| it's the same thing and same name)
| hndamien wrote:
| You can do this now on your iPhone
| krackers wrote:
| The original swype algorithm was far better than whatever ML-
| stuff gboard and iOS have these days.
| wheresmyshadow wrote:
| I know! Every day when GBoard breaks down on its "glide"
| feature I miss my Swype. It was such an amazing keyboard,
| it's just plain sad.
| 20after4 wrote:
| This is why core technology shouldn't be proprietary IP. It
| should all be open source.
| Asraelite wrote:
| I was really sad when Swype shut down a few years ago. Is
| there any app with that level of quality available today?
|
| I don't understand how things still haven't gotten better
| after over a decade, especially with the boom in AI and phone
| processing power.
| tiagod wrote:
| I have been using SwiftKey for many years and their swipe and
| typing prediction are top notch.
| gravescale wrote:
| Yes it's oddly not great in places. It seems to suffer from
| "YouTube syndrome" where it gets hooked onto something you
| searched for/saved once. Just because I once entered "Aldi"
| manually, now that always seems to have an extremely heavy
| positive weighting, even though I've only actually wanted it
| a very small number of times and "also" is far more likely as
| it is used at a 20:1 ratio, and I'm endlessly deleting
| "Aldi". Trivial Bayesian type things aside, even basic
| linguistic analysis, let alone an AI superpower, could
| estimate when "Aldi" and "also" are each appropriate in
| context from earlier words.
|
| Another example: what was more likely after "20:1": "ratio"
| or "radio"? Get it tighter^Wtogether!
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > Just because I once entered "Aldi" manually, now that
| always seems to have an extremely heavy positive weighting,
| even though I've only actually wanted it a very small
| number of times and "also" is far more likely as it is used
| at a 20:1 ratio, and I'm endlessly deleting "Aldi".
|
| I'm using Google Pinyin Input, which is discontinued. (I
| use it anyway because the replacement input methods are
| worse. Don't ask me why they stripped useful functionality
| in order to replace it with nothing.)
|
| It has swipe input, but as far as I can tell it isn't
| possible to add words to the swipe input dictionary.
| However, if that _were_ possible, your problem wouldn 't
| exist - the way the system works is that you swipe
| something, the system's first guess appears in the text
| input, and a bar of suggestions appears over the top of the
| keyboard. If the first guess was wrong, you can select from
| the suggestion bar, and the word in the text input will be
| changed to whatever you selected.
|
| So I'm kind of bemused at the idea that you need to be
| deleting wrong guesses.
| gravescale wrote:
| Ok, changing it then, bit^Wnot felting^Wdeleting (though
| since much of the time the wing^Wwrong guess isn't even
| there, but rather it's plurals and verb forms and si^Wso
| on, I do often need to refocus away from the
| import^Winput fitting^Wfield, pause, scan, conclude the
| right word isn't there, then delete anyway, so my muscle
| memory is to go for the delete key). It's still a
| suboptimal experience because the keys for the next
| weird^Wword like punctuation are at the bottom and the
| wing^Wwrong guesses mean you have to scan the list at the
| top.
|
| These ^W marks are all organic mistakes that it really
| shouldn't be making so many of considering the word
| prevent^W placement[1] and statistics and thousand upon
| thousands of units^Wunless^Wit's^Winputs.
|
| Maybe it's the never^Wnerve damage in my diggers^Wfingers
| making me sort^Wsuper clumsy, or being a lefty makes it
| wise^Wworse sommelier^Wsomehow, but I do remember it
| being better, far better, in the past. And it never,
| ever, send^Wseems to learn (I don't have Google services
| so maybe it needs to phone home to learn?)
|
| It seems possible to add words: you type then^Wthem n^Win
| and choose then^Wthem from the bar m^W.
|
| But thank you for so kindly telling me I'll^WI'm once-
| unimaginable^Wimagining[2] it.
|
| [1] take this one for example: "considering the word
| prevent" isn't grammatical, but "considering the word
| prevent^Wprevent^Wplacement (argh again! Twice! And
| prevent^Wplacement want^Wwasn't in the list, it was
| prevention, preventing and prevents) is.
|
| [2] "once-unimaginable" is one I put in by typing it once
| as it has little concept of compound Shane^Wadjectives.
| It seems to completely hallucinate the "once-un" to
| prioritise a previous manual unit^Winput. But I can't
| actually swipe to get it again, no matter how carefully I
| go. I get "once-imagined".
| rpnx wrote:
| I made something a bit similar to this when trying to make a new
| shorthand. It was made by translating to stenotype and then
| following rules to convert the stenotype runes to a kanji like
| form. Eventually I decided it wasn't faster than existing
| shorthand, mainly because of the mental overhead of converting to
| and from stenotype.
|
| I never coded it (I only used it a few times for handwriting
| before I decided it was bad) but it might be a cool project.
| awlandyau wrote:
| This has problems with repeated characters, like 3 "e"s in
| "eleven".
| byronical wrote:
| Yeah and adjacent double letters. Could randomize the arc of
| each path, add more weight, or do a little loop to describe
| double/repeated letters perhaps?
| defaultcompany wrote:
| "Welcome" is a nice one.
| DigitalHackOp wrote:
| So I wanted to view my 'palette' of options
|
| If you paste this into the box, you'll get to see all possible
| shapes generated. You can then combine them to make shapes
|
| And if you remove the spaces, you get an almost solid block. I
| bet there's a clever way to use them to take a photo and generate
| some version of it in words
|
| AA AB AC AD AE AF AG AH AI AJ AK AL AM AN AO AP AQ AR AS AT AU AV
| AW AX AY AZ BA BB BC BD BE BF BG BH BI BJ BK BL BM BN BO BP BQ BR
| BS BT BU BV BW BX BY BZ CA CB CC CD CE CF CG CH CI CJ CK CL CM CN
| CO CP CQ CR CS CT CU CV CW CX CY CZ DA DB DC DD DE DF DG DH DI DJ
| DK DL DM DN DO DP DQ DR DS DT DU DV DW DX DY DZ EA EB EC ED EE EF
| EG EH EI EJ EK EL EM EN EO EP EQ ER ES ET EU EV EW EX EY EZ FA FB
| FC FD FE FF FG FH FI FJ FK FL FM FN FO FP FQ FR FS FT FU FV FW FX
| FY FZ GA GB GC GD GE GF GG GH GI GJ GK GL GM GN GO GP GQ GR GS GT
| GU GV GW GX GY GZ HA HB HC HD HE HF HG HH HI HJ HK HL HM HN HO HP
| HQ HR HS HT HU HV HW HX HY HZ IA IB IC ID IE IF IG IH II IJ IK IL
| IM IN IO IP IQ IR IS IT IU IV IW IX IY IZ JA JB JC JD JE JF JG JH
| JI JJ JK JL JM JN JO JP JQ JR JS JT JU JV JW JX JY JZ KA KB KC KD
| KE KF KG KH KI KJ KK KL KM KN KO KP KQ KR KS KT KU KV KW KX KY KZ
| LA LB LC LD LE LF LG LH LI LJ LK LL LM LN LO LP LQ LR LS LT LU LV
| LW LX LY LZ MA MB MC MD ME MF MG MH MI MJ MK ML MM MN MO MP MQ MR
| MS MT MU MV MW MX MY MZ NA NB NC ND NE NF NG NH NI NJ NK NL NM NN
| NO NP NQ NR NS NT NU NV NW NX NY NZ OA OB OC OD OE OF OG OH OI OJ
| OK OL OM ON OO OP OQ OR OS OT OU OV OW OX OY OZ PA PB PC PD PE PF
| PG PH PI PJ PK PL PM PN PO PP PQ PR PS PT PU PV PW PX PY PZ QA QB
| QC QD QE QF QG QH QI QJ QK QL QM QN QO QP QQ QR QS QT QU QV QW QX
| QY QZ RA RB RC RD RE RF RG RH RI RJ RK RL RM RN RO RP RQ RR RS RT
| RU RV RW RX RY RZ SA SB SC SD SE SF SG SH SI SJ SK SL SM SN SO SP
| SQ SR SS ST SU SV SW SX SY SZ TA TB TC TD TE TF TG TH TI TJ TK TL
| TM TN TO TP TQ TR TS TT TU TV TW TX TY TZ UA UB UC UD UE UF UG UH
| UI UJ UK UL UM UN UO UP UQ UR US UT UU UV UW UX UY UZ VA VB VC VD
| VE VF VG VH VI VJ VK VL VM VN VO VP VQ VR VS VT VU VV VW VX VY VZ
| WA WB WC WD WE WF WG WH WI WJ WK WL WM WN WO WP WQ WR WS WT WU WV
| WW WX WY WZ XA XB XC XD XE XF XG XH XI XJ XK XL XM XN XO XP XQ XR
| XS XT XU XV XW XX XY XZ YA YB YC YD YE YF YG YH YI YJ YK YL YM YN
| YO YP YQ YR YS YT YU YV YW YX YY YZ ZA ZB ZC ZD ZE ZF ZG ZH ZI ZJ
| ZK ZL ZM ZN ZO ZP ZQ ZR ZS ZT ZU ZV ZW ZX ZY ZZ
| geekrax wrote:
| >if you remove the spaces, you get an almost solid block.
|
| Removed spaces for easy copy pasta
|
| AAABACADAEAFAGAHAIAJAKALAMANAOAPAQARASATAUAVAWAXAYAZBABBBCBDBEB
| FBGBHBIBJBKBLBMBNBOBPBQBRBSBTBUBVBWBXBYBZCACBCCCDCECFCGCHCICJCK
| CLCMCNCOCPCQCRCSCTCUCVCWCXCYCZDADBDCDDDEDFDGDHDIDJDKDLDMDNDODPD
| QDRDSDTDUDVDWDXDYDZEAEBECEDEEEFEGEHEIEJEKELEMENEOEPEQERESETEUEV
| EWEXEYEZFAFBFCFDFEFFFGFHFIFJFKFLFMFNFOFPFQFRFSFTFUFVFWFXFYFZGAG
| BGCGDGEGFGGGHGIGJGKGLGMGNGOGPGQGRGSGTGUGVGWGXGYGZHAHBHCHDHEHFHG
| HHHIHJHKHLHMHNHOHPHQHRHSHTHUHVHWHXHYHZIAIBICIDIEIFIGIHIIIJIKILI
| MINIOIPIQIRISITIUIVIWIXIYIZJAJBJCJDJEJFJGJHJIJJJKJLJMJNJOJPJQJR
| JSJTJUJVJWJXJYJZKAKBKCKDKEKFKGKHKIKJKKKLKMKNKOKPKQKRKSKTKUKVKWK
| XKYKZLALBLCLDLELFLGLHLILJLKLLLMLNLOLPLQLRLSLTLULVLWLXLYLZMAMBMC
| MDMEMFMGMHMIMJMKMLMMMNMOMPMQMRMSMTMUMVMWMXMYMZNANBNCNDNENFNGNHN
| INJNKNLNMNNNONPNQNRNSNTNUNVNWNXNYNZOAOBOCODOEOFOGOHOIOJOKOLOMON
| OOOPOQOROSOTOUOVOWOXOYOZPAPBPCPDPEPFPGPHPIPJPKPLPMPNPOPPPQPRPSP
| TPUPVPWPXPYPZQAQBQCQDQEQFQGQHQIQJQKQLQMQNQOQPQQQRQSQTQUQVQWQXQY
| QZRARBRCRDRERFRGRHRIRJRKRLRMRNRORPRQRRRSRTRURVRWRXRYRZSASBSCSDS
| ESFSGSHSISJSKSLSMSNSOSPSQSRSSSTSUSVSWSXSYSZTATBTCTDTETFTGTHTITJ
| TKTLTMTNTOTPTQTRTSTTTUTVTWTXTYTZUAUBUCUDUEUFUGUHUIUJUKULUMUNUOU
| PUQURUSUTUUUVUWUXUYUZVAVBVCVDVEVFVGVHVIVJVKVLVMVNVOVPVQVRVSVTVU
| VVVWVXVYVZWAWBWCWDWEWFWGWHWIWJWKWLWMWNWOWPWQWRWSWTWUWVWWWXWYWZX
| AXBXCXDXEXFXGXHXIXJXKXLXMXNXOXPXQXRXSXTXUXVXWXXXYXZYAYBYCYDYEYF
| YGYHYIYJYKYLYMYNYOYPYQYRYSYTYUYVYWYXYYYZZAZBZCZDZEZFZGZHZIZJZKZ
| LZMZNZOZPZQZRZSZTZUZVZWZXZYZZ
| totetsu wrote:
| Now I want to be able to do Fourier transformations on these
| splines or be able to see the words between words in QWERTY
| space.
| your_friend wrote:
| sounds like there might be some conspiracy... pls do
| willwade wrote:
| Interesting. I recently built a non stop drag system for someone
| who uses it to communicate. The system uses either a dwell or
| angular detection system to figure out the letters. I wonder
| though if some path analysis would be better. I wonder if you can
| reverse this - so from an image of the path (and with time stamp
| along the path) you can go path -> text.
|
| https://github.com/AceCentre/DragToSpeak see video of it in
| action https://willwa.de/2024/03/26/iterative-rapid-
| development.htm...
| Bimos wrote:
| I tried to draw some hanzi (Kanji).
|
| rsdcygjnbm ebycdomhl Ni Hao
|
| It is like written by someone really drunk though...
|
| But the stroke order is correct and I would say native speakers
| (like me) can recognize them.
| byronical wrote:
| Yeah the "drunk script" look is to avoid straight lines hiding
| multiple paths. Cool that it's recognisable though!
| evertedsphere wrote:
| It always amazes me how good Gboard is at figuring out long
| single-"stroke" hanzi/kanji scrawls if you have the right
| stroke order
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > It is like written by someone really drunk though...
|
| Try approximating a Cao Shu form.
|
| One problem with using this to draw Zi is the lack of vertical
| strata. Just look at the character Zi : it has five distinct
| vertical positions. (Initial topbar, bottom of the hook down
| from the topbar, bottom of the vertical stroke, top of the hook
| up from the vertical stroke, and the crossbar.) But QWANJI has
| only three distinct vertical levels.
|
| I've seen a font where Nu (actually, the Nu Zi Pang ) is
| represented as a symmetrical form, kind of like if the Dian in
| the top center of Yi were replaced by a Heng going through
| the other two strokes. That reduces the count of vertical
| coordinates from 5 to 4. I imagine adapting characters to
| QWANJI would take quite a lot of that kind of thing.
| 4hg4ufxhy wrote:
| xfhyujklm
| drones wrote:
| I tried making a face; I think I was pretty successful:
| aetopjgghghghdfdfdfacnk
|
| This method of drawing reminds me of portraits I've seen of
| "string art" [1], where strings are tied to pins across a board.
| The detail is not within the strings themselves but in how they
| intersect. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage this, but I'm sure
| someone could. Fun project!
|
| [1] https://www.etsy.com/au/market/string_art_portrait
| layer8 wrote:
| Let me give it a body:
|
| awtopjgghghghdfdfdfaxvk bgnbgfxcgyjkyrfrsartytyytt
| layer8 wrote:
| (works best on a narrow smartphone screen)
| Someone wrote:
| > The detail is not within the strings themselves but in how
| they intersect. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage this, but I'm
| sure someone could.
|
| The algorithm for that is kind of inverse tomographic
| reconstruction.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomographic_reconstructionm:
| _"Tomographic reconstruction is a type of multidimensional
| inverse problem where the challenge is to yield an estimate of
| a specific system from a finite number of projections"_.
|
| Here, you want to find projections for an image.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_plane_tomography: _"In
| radiography, focal plane tomography is tomography (imaging a
| single plane, or slice, of an object) by simultaneously moving
| the X-ray generator and X-ray detector so as to keep a
| consistent exposure of only the plane of interest during image
| acquisition. This was the main method of obtaining tomographs
| in medical imaging until the late-1970s"_
|
| A simple algorithm would be to give each string a gray scale
| that's the average of the gray scales of the area it passes
| through. Then, at one particular area, the average gray scale
| of all strings passing through it more or less equals a
| weighted average of the average gray scale of the entire
| picture and that of the area in question.
|
| If you know what areas of the picture are more important, you
| probably can improve on that method a bit by weighing those
| areas heavier when computing the darkness of each string.
|
| As an alternative to using many differently colored wires, use
| the computed gray scale as a probability of whether to use a
| black or a white wire, or as a probability of whether to
| include that wire.
| drones wrote:
| Wow, never heard about this before. You've inspired me to
| have a crack at making a tomographic reconstruction filter
| myself :)
| david90 wrote:
| rv ergive tbmpo
| steve_taylor wrote:
| zwrgs dxvg yrfhbc utgjnv ujojn ex vyni wzcfsfrw tv ybmiy
| carlos-menezes wrote:
| "QWANJI" in QWANJI: ravkrkvn rbhni ztmhah zenunez zzzzvuuvz
| yinbmnip
| robinduckett wrote:
| Two people high fiving: xserfxp qxserfcx
| andrewfromx wrote:
| i really thought this was
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand
|
| at first
| ijxjdffnkkpp wrote:
| Please see this previous post for relevant further thoughts on
| the idea: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37510829 .
| Additionally I thought it would be cool to have the inputs go in
| reverse too, like putting in swipes and getting text.
| velid0 wrote:
| You should add queries to share link
| geekrax wrote:
| Feedback: Make this shareable by setting a hash in the URL path.
| Even better if you could include the generated picture in the OG
| tags.
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(page generated 2024-04-10 23:02 UTC)