About the Top New Tablet PC PowerToys
Published: August 9, 2004
I admit it. I love getting things for free. Microsoft and PC Magazine recently announced the winners in the Microsoft Tablet PC Does Your Code Think in Ink? contest. The three winners of the contest created free PowerToys that are lots of fun to use with your Tablet PC. The PowerToys top prizes went to MyFont Tool, developed by Philip Lanier, Cheney, Washington, PowerPaint, developed by David Brebner, Palmerston North, New Zealand, and Web Search Power Tool for the Tablet PC, developed by Scott Hanselman, Portland, Oregon. The winning PowerToys are available for free download at the PC Magazine Does Your Code Think in Ink page.
In this column, I'll tell you how the new PowerToys work and also discuss two other pieces of freeware for the Tablet PC. The term "freeware" means different things to different people. Here I'm referring to freeware as any software that can be legally downloaded and installed without requiring an additional payment.
What Does Think in Ink Mean?
The Tablet PC is a kind of technology that challenges the way we think about using a computer. One of the coolest aspects of the Tablet PC is that it lets you work with Ink natively rather than converting it to text. I mark up documents with a pen in Word 2003 and take pages of interview notes and diagrams with Windows Journal. See my earlier column, Brainstorming with One Note, to read more about marking documents without having to convert ink to text.
In an effort to promote the development of applications that use ink creatively, Microsoft asked PC Magazine to judge their Does Your Code Think in Ink contest. The challenge was to create small PowerToys and the first place prize was $15,000. The two runners-up received $2,500 each. I don't know what the judges used as their criteria (although the applications had to pass Code Readability testing), but here is my thinking on what makes a good ink application:
| • | Works with pen and ink as natively as possible. The user should be able to control the application and edit their content with the pen. Wherever appropriate the original strokes should be saved and editable. |
| • | Provides real utility for the user by offering an alternate means to do something you regularly do or by providing an entirely new service. |
| • | Pushes the envelope of how we use our tablets and what we believe they can do. |
| • | Allows customization. The pen interface is a more personal, more varied interface than a keyboard and mouse. The application should be customizable to meet the style as well as the needs of the user. |
So how do the winners stack up on the Van West Ink scale? My reactions appear below but you should try the tools out. The software can be downloaded from links in the PC Magazine Does Your Code Think in Ink? article. You'll be asked to register on their site before you can download the files. After you download the PowerToy installers, double-click each one and accept the end-user license agreement. If you're using Windows XP Service Pack 2, you'll be warned these are unsigned—click OK anyway. Then the PowerToys are installed. You can start them from a shortcut on your desktop or by following this procedure:
| • | Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click PowerToys for Tablet PC. |
Grand Prize Winner: My Font Tool
Philip Lanier of Cheney, WA developed this tool. The My Font Tool lets you create TrueType fonts using your pen to draw the characters. You can make a font of your handwriting, for example, and then use that font in any Windows-based application that uses TrueType fonts. The program is simple and very pen friendly, by which I mean the tabs and buttons are a bit larger than they are in standard programs and easy to tap accurately with a pen. The My Font Tool basically has three screens accessed by tabs near the top of the window.
Note that My Font tool requires the .Net framework be installed on your Tablet. If the tool is not working, go to Microsoft Update and scan for updates. Install the .Net framework (and any other updates you need) from there.
The first tabbed page, labeled Write, lets you record the font onto character grids reminiscent of the handwriting paper you may have used in grade school. (This brings back bad memories for those of us with terrible handwriting, but I don't hold that against the program.) Using any of four pen sizes, you can create hand-drawn characters for all the letters of the alphabet in lower and upper case as well as punctuation marks. One slick feature is that there is a field for your signature. This signature is mapped to the pipe key ( | ). So typing "|" would result in your entire handwritten signature appearing in the document. You can also zoom in and out for more accurate character shapes and even cut and paste ink from Windows Journal as long as it fits in the character boxes. Figure 1 below gives you an idea of the My Font Tool interface.
Figure 1. Record your handwritten font in your best penmanship.
The next tabbed page, labeled Adjust Spacing, lets you change the spacing between characters, and separate words and each line of text. There is a preview of the completed font so you can see the results of your adjustments immediately. After you like its looks, click the third tab, Compile Font, give the font a name, and then click Compile My Font. The font is then created, but to use it, you must install it. The My Font Tool has a button on the Compile My Font page and clicking it automatically installs the font at the bottom right of that page. You can also save your font project and edit it later. Double-clicking the font project won't open the My Font Tool automatically, but you can select it as the program to use manually or open the project from My Font Tool.
Figure 2. Be sure to install the font with the button in the lower right.
After the font is installed, you can go to any Windows-based application that uses TrueType fonts, select your font, and type. The typed text appears in your handwriting. If your handwriting is as bad as mine, this may be of questionable value, but it is cool. Since it is a TrueType font, you can apply bold and italic formatting as well to tweak the look of the font.
Figure 3. Putting in your signature with a single keystroke is pretty cool.
This program is easy to use and very pen-friendly. My Font Tool incorporates pressure sensitivity and offers different pen tips. It lets you personalize the look of documents with your own hand-drawn creations. However, the computer viewing the font must have that font installed. If you were to send someone a document with the font, you would have to send them your font file too.
No one says you have to make alphabet characters. Try making your own dingbats font with hand-drawn dingbats. For a real challenge, make a cursive font and use the Adjust Spacing feature to get all the letters to link up.
If you edit a font and it won't recompile, delete the old font from your Fonts folder and compile and install again. Tap File, and then tap Manage system fonts to open your font folder and find the original hand-drawn font.
First Runner Up: PowerPaint
David Brebner of Palmerston, New Zealand developed this PowerToy. PowerPaint is a fun and free drawing program with some very novel effects. The two coolest are the drawing layers, each of which has an adjustable transparency, and a pressure-sensitive pen that changes both the width and the color of the ink as drawn based on how hard you press. PowerPaint also provides 10 customizable favorite brushes, a zoom feature for precision editing, and a pen-centric interface rather than lots of pull-down menus.
To use PowerPaint, start the program and in the upper left select the layer you want to drawn on. Then select a brush and go! Many of the controls are sliders, so you have variable control of almost infinite variety. The sliders themselves are a bit small so they require some precise pen motion to affect.
Custom editing of colors is a bit unusual, in that each brush has two colors that can be different for the blending effect or the same so they act like a one-color brush. To edit the colors independently, tap one of them with the pen and then tap a new color on the Color Picker. To make the colors the same, tap the lock icon between the two colors and then select a color from the Color Picker.
Figure 4. PowerPaint's blending of colors by pen pressure combined with layers makes for some neat effects.
PowerPaint has the ability to create some great visual effects. Zoom and layers are very easy to use and the color morphing is quite novel. Dave's drawing tutorial helps you work with layers of variable transparency that let you sketch on one layer and then paint above it on another layer. The result is a cool blending or the opportunity to trace your own sketches.
There were a few issues with the version of PowerPaint that I got from the PC Magazine site, but David has a new build on his own Web site that addresses many of these issues.
Second Runner Up: Web Search Power Tool for the Tablet PC
Scott Hanselman of Portland, Oregon developed this PowerToy for the Tablet PC. The Web Search Power Tool is a small writing pad that lets you enter search terms in your own handwriting and send them to your favorite Web search engine. The results open in a new browser window. It's a good, lightweight application that makes a daily activity more pen friendly. Pretty good for something Scott wrote in 17 minutes. To use it, simply start the application, write your search terms in your own handwriting, and click Search. The application has a nice "Always on top" option so you can keep refining your search after you see the results. The options let you choose from several popular search engines.
Figure 5. Just write your search terms and click Search.
The Web Search Power Tool is simple to use and faster than opening a browser and then entering search criteria with the Tablet PC Input Panel (TIP). This tool is more useful for the original version of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition than for Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 (the new version code-named "Lonestar") that is a free upgrade included with the upcoming Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2. "Lonestar" has an in-place TIP and custom Web features that give you much of the functionality of the Web Search Power Tool and then some. Web Search Power Tool would be even more useful for me if I could aim the search at Web pages, images, news, people, or maps from a single interface. Scott says he might be able to add that functionality later.
Use the preferences in Web Search Power Tool to choose a search engine other than MSN, which Internet Explorer uses by default. This gives you one-step access to two different search engines, the one in Internet Explorer and another, such as Google, through the Web Search Power Tool.
Other Great Tablet PC Freeware
Here are two additional excellent pieces of freeware for a Tablet PC. I don't have space in this column to do either of these programs full justice, so you'll have to download them and try them out yourselves. Two of my favorites are the following:
| • | ArtRage by Ambient Design, LTD. of New Zealand |
| • | StrokeIt By Jeff Doozan |
After you install and start ArtRage, be prepared to say "Wow!" ArtRage is one of my favorites for two reasons. First, it's a blast to use, offering painting and drawing tools with incredibly realistic results. Second, it's an excellent example of how you design an interface for use with the pen. ArtRage uses few menus. Instead, palettes appear with icons that gracefully become highlighted as the pen moves near them. Any of these palettes collapse and expand–or automatically fly in and out—as needed. Where menus are appropriate, the text is slightly larger to make a good pen target. Also the menu highlighting is very subtle since, unlike with a mouse cursor, you know where the tip of the pen is at all times. It's these simple things that make an application a joy to use and separate it from the competition. I'm amazed this program is free.
Figure 6. Paints, markers, crayons, chalk, pencils, and even a palette knife all designed to give realistic results.
ArtRage has an elegant and very functional interface, also a very pen-centric interface. It's easy to use but still can create professional-quality results. Admittedly, it isn't as sophisticated as Alias Sketchbook Pro but then I'm not an artist either. ArtRage also doesn't seem to work with non pressure-sensitive pens.
StrokeIt by Jeff Doozan actually isn't a Tablet PC application specifically, but rocks on a tablet computer. StrokeIt is a gesture recognizer, similar to Sensiva Symbol Commander, which lets you define actions that occur when you move the pen across the screen in certain patterns. Unlike the open TIP gesture where you can wave your pen over the screen, StrokeIt gestures are drawn on the screen while holding down the pen button. They can also be written with a mouse while holding down the right-button. Something I really miss in slate mode is the ability to use the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut to go back and forth between the two most recently-used applications. Using StrokeIt, I created an action where a quick right-left drag across the screen works the same as an Alt+Tab shortcut.
Figure 7. Now a right-left horizontal stroke works like an Alt+Tab shortcut.
StrokeIt gestures and actions can be pretty complex. My e-mail client uses IMAP and the messages stay on a server, but I can see the subject line. When I am culling my inbox of spam in slate mode (no keyboard), I must select the message, tap the small Delete button, tap the Purge Deleted Messages button, and then tap OK in the dialog box. With StrokeIt, I select the message to delete and then draw a D on the screen. The message is deleted, purged, and the dialog box is OK'd all in one move. Now that's an improvement in a tool! You can also create gesture sets for specific applications and teach StrokeIt new gestures.
Figure 8. Drawing a D deletes and purges this message in one step without moving my pen to a new area of the screen.
StrokeIt is stable and very effective, delivering exactly what it claims and no more. There are lots of options for what gestures can do. For example, I'm working on editing in Word using real proofreaders marks recorded as gestures. However, StrokeIt is not as intuitive and user-friendly as Symbol Commander, but the Help files are good and the application is simple enough that you can figure it out.
Microsoft Tablet PC Developer Contest
The next Microsoft Tablet PC contest is Does Your App Think in Ink? Whoever develops the best application for "the truly mobile Tablet PC" wins a prize of $100,000! This kind of a prize should bring some serious contenders to the table. Who knows what might be developed? I can hardly wait!
 | Jeff Van West is the author of over a dozen books, CDs, and training curricula about computers, technology, and aviation.
Titles include Microsoft Tablet PC Quick Reference (Microsoft Press, 2002) and
Illustrator CS Hands-On-Training (Peachpit Press, 2004).
His multimedia training programs are used in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. An advocate of what he terms "appropriate technology," Jeff focuses on applying the best solution to accomplish the task, rather than using cool features just because they're there. He can be reached at Van West Communications.
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