Handwriting and Text Handling
 

Has anyone here discussed handwriting/text handing for Omnigraffle for iPad?

I teach English as a Second Language, and use slides in my class showing grammar charts, word/sentence stress, etc.

The interface on OG is so much quicker and more flexible for making charts and diagrams when compared to using Keynote. Unfortunately, handwritten notations with the free hand tool are overly smoothed, making them not practical.

I think better handwriting would be killer in OG for iPad, along with numbered and bulletted lists... Anyone else experiencing this?

-Tim

I did experiment with OG for hand writing - which to be fair isn't what it's designed for. You're right about the smoothing, but if one writes slowly and deliberately it isn't too bad. But I have an iPad 1 and I wonder if a newer model might capture more points on a line while drawing freehand.

I liked the ability to grab a chunk of handwritten text and shrink or move it, something many handwriting apps lack.

The main problem though (common to most "drawing" apps) was the inability to easily create a dot over an I or a full stop. In order to make a mark you must drag, which kind of breaks the flow.

The "Notes Plus" (great features, but crashy last time I stressed it) and "Note Taker HD" (more basic but very stable) apps are the best hand writing maniputation apps I've found but don't have anything like the sophisticated diagramming capabilities of OG.

Thanks for your reply, psidnell.

I also use Notes Plus, and I love it. I just upgraded from the iPad 1 to the iPad 3, making it quite usable again.

My dream app would have:[LIST][*]the diagramming of omnigraffle for iPad[*]the handwriting of Notes Plus[*]The bulleting/listing/numbering of omnioutliner/keynote/pages[/LIST]
For right now, I'll use OmniGraffle for iPad as my base, and export my canvases in PDF format to Notes Plus so I can scribble on it as I make my presentations to my students. Sadly, that still leaves me without numbers/bullets.

-Tim

[QUOTE=psidnell;109354]I did experiment with OG for hand writing - which to be fair isn't what it's designed for. You're right about the smoothing, but if one writes slowly and deliberately it isn't too bad. But I have an iPad 1 and I wonder if a newer model might capture more points on a line while drawing freehand.

I liked the ability to grab a chunk of handwritten text and shrink or move it, something many handwriting apps lack.

The main problem though (common to most "drawing" apps) was the inability to easily create a dot over an I or a full stop. In order to make a mark you must drag, which kind of breaks the flow.

The "Notes Plus" (great features, but crashy last time I stressed it) and "Note Taker HD" (more basic but very stable) apps are the best hand writing maniputation apps I've found but don't have anything like the sophisticated diagramming capabilities of OG.[/QUOTE]