I'm a brand new Skritter user, and after using it for a few days I've decided that Skritter is definitely worth buying a tablet for. I've held off using Skritter until it comes because, although I see how much potential the website has with a tablet, I feel like I'm not making much progress just using a mouse. I always found that memorizing how to write characters depends a lot on muscle memory, and using a mouse obviously doesn't contribute as much to muscle memory as a tablet.


Anyone want to prove me wrong? I'm guessing there are lots of people out there who have found success using a mouse, but I'm interested in hearing peoples experiences/opinions.

I can't prove you wrong, but I'll go the other way and say that a tablet is almost essential!

I'm one of the lucky testers on the iPhone app and I even got a stylus for that as I think muscle memory is that important.

I'd say it's worth waiting for the tablet if it's already on it's way :)

I haven't tried using a tablet yet, and I have no doubt it is better than using a mouse. However, the thing that has helped me the most using skritter is deconstructing the characters to the strokes and the stroke order. For me, being more familiar with the strokes and stroke orders of the characters makes them easier to remember for me.

I used a mouse for the longest time, like a year or so, before I decided to buy a tablet. I wouldn't be able to give a quantitative estimate of the improvement it represented, but I can say it is much more pleasing/fun to write with a tablet.

It goes faster as well, so you can get your reviews done in less time.

I can't really see any reason to prefer a mouse to a tablet. Especially considering that relatively cheap tablets can be found (I think I paid my new Wacom around 50 or 40 pounds).

As a footnote, I personally agree with skullcrusher2000 that deconstructing the characters is the most efficient way to improve memorization (but I'm sure this has been treated in other threads).

I only used a mouse for about a month before deciding to buy a tablet. The difference is huge. It's actually like writing characters, not to mention quicker and less tiring.

The Wacom Bamboo Pen is good, and pretty cheap.

While a tablet is a lot better for speeding up the writing process, I don't think it really has much of an affect on muscle memory.

If you don't believe me, try and write a character you know with your foot or elbow (in the air, on the sand w/e)... although you've never practiced writing a character with those parts of your body you should still be able to do it.

What kind of stylus would work best for Skritter with iPad? Does Apple sell one? I saw one in an office supply store, but don't know what the differences among styluses would be. I like the stylus on my Wacom Bamboo. It's got a fairly fat barrel, and the level of writing resistance is similar to a pencil.

SkritterJake,
I'm sure you will get a lot of pushback on the muscle memory question, but for starters I'm sure writing with my foot is not going to improve my "penmanship." :)

Maybe the term muscle memory is being misused. Do people mean that they are training their memory to make use of muscles in a precise way, or do the mean that they are using their muscles to train their brains? Or both? I use Skritter because I believe that I will never learn to read Chinese without learning to write it. A related question is how precisely you need to be able to write a character to be able to claim to know it. I think most Skritterers would say "not that well" but I do recall some discussion about whether it was better to try to blast through each character as quickly as possible to to be a bit meticulous in writing.

I actually think that using a mouse is good too. Tablet is better, of course, but a mouse is good too

Skritter Jake:
"If you don't believe me, try and write a character you know with your foot or elbow (in the air, on the sand w/e)... although you've never practiced writing a character with those parts of your body you should still be able to do it."

There's definitely some muscle memory in it. Yes, I can do it, but I really have to think about the individual strokes. Try doing it 'handwriting style' and it's more immediately obvious.

Another example - try writing with your left hand if you're right handed. You haven't been trained to do that, and writing English, let alone Chinese is slow and untidy. This is probably complicated a bit more with a particular side of the brain being good for particular things, but since a left hander can learn to write with their right, there must be some element of muscle memory here.

There might not be so much muscle memory in the sense of 'I remember the character by the writing of the shape', although I can see how there would be some, but there certainly is muscle memory involved in writing it down.

I use touchpad... it is also nice... do not need to touch any button just double "click" then I can write ;)

In most cases when you are writing text like some sort of document, you can always use a keyboard or perhaps voice dictation, if your handwriting is not that good. So quality of handwriting may not be an issue.

If you are interested in the quality of your handwriting or wish to practice calligraphy that is another story.

@Podster
I didn't look for a particular stylus, just picked up the first one I found which was about $20 although I have found ones that are cheaper now.
There is nothing too special about it, it just feels like a pen and so it is more like actual writing than dragging your finger over the screen :)

A mouse would be awkward, but possible. Years ago, I knew a guy who could draw pretty well using a mouse, but even he was glad to use a graphics tablet once they hit the market.

I'm happy with the trackpad on my HP laptop. But only because it's slightly larger than most laptop trackpads. Any smaller and I'd invest in a graphics tablet.

I tried with the mouse to start with but found it extremely difficult. The touchpad on my laptop just feels a lot easier and more like actual writing.

can't imagine using anything but my Bamboo tablet and stylus for writing. Doing some sort of double-click every time you want to write a line is like using a broken ballpoint pen, not fun. I do like writing with my finger to enter characters on Android phones or the iPad, so that couldment using be ok. Have not had much enjoyment using Skritter on Android, but look forward to trying the iOS app. Even then I'll probably want some kind of stylus for more natural writing.

I prefer using a stylus because of RSI issues with using a mouse. Like many I work all day on a computer and sometimes I get mousehand - so anything to reduce the mouse use is good news for me.