teeline.online is a website for studying the Teeline shorthand system. It is currently built with SvelteKit. To run locally download the repository then run npm install npm
followed by run dev -- --open
.
Most of the site revolves around an array of outline objects, which contain all the information necessary to render 240+ specific outlines as well as generate infinite combinations. Below is an example of what one looks like.
{
"letterGroupings": ["mm"],
"specialOutlineMeanings": ["member"],
"lines": [
{
"path": "M192.3868 456.9313c-6.7784 -7.1246 77.4725 -38.2629 101.2242 -34.7955c17.479 2.5517 37.501 10.4433 51.78 21.1152c2.376 1.7759 12.71 12.3451 14.854 12.0446c35.051 -4.9121 45.992 -39.9392 100.164 -35.9851c17.04 1.2438 40.409 8.9492 55.387 17.6952c6.964 4.0666 12.628 7.0169 18.886 12.342c1.623 1.3803 8.044 7.3629 7.852 6.6914",
"length": 387,
"start": {
"x": 192.3868,
"y": 456.9313
},
"end": {
"x": 542.5339999999999,
"y": 456.0391
}
}
]
}
The letterGroupings
and specialOutlineMeanings
values are arrays of strings rather than just strings because sometimes outlines can have multiple meanings. Each entry in the lines
array corresponds to one line in that outline. The start
and end
coordindates are for a 750 by 750 canvas. This allows words to be placed relative to a central line, which is essential for certain symbols.
These outline objects can be fed into OutlineSVG.svelte
, which contains an SVG with the given path (or paths) and a label. These in turn can be used to render cards...
Or even entire sentences...
If you hover over these things you can watch the outline(s) being drawn as if by an invisible hand, which I'm super fucking happy about.
The outlines were 'hand drawn' on a tablet in Krita and saved as SVGs. These were then converted into the outline objects described above. To start with this was done manually then was eventually handled by the catchily named turnSvgsIntoOutlineObjects.mjs
.
The font is a digitised version of my own non-cursive handwriting. This project was partly inspired by old revision cards from studying for my NCTJ diploma and it felt like a nice nod to that.
- How to Get Handwriting Animation With Irregular SVG Strokes by Trapti Rahangdale
- SVG paths in MDN Web Docs
- Teeline Mate by @adxsoft
- A Searchable Teeline Dictionary by Addie Kingsland
- Teeline for the curious: a story of learning things because I can by Addie Kingsland
- Confused man: Wikimedia Commons, originally published in The Evening Ledger, Philadelphia, May 4 1916
- Old book: Rawpixel
- Quill and bottle: PublicDomainPictures.net, originally drawn by Karen Arnold