Neatness is for anal-retentive assholes. This is Pigdog!
But how can I recreate my crazed scrawls with a word
processing program? This web page has the answer...
If you're like me, most of your writing is done on scraps of paper from your
pocket -- except ransom notes, which are pasted together with letters clipped
from magazines. Your messy, barely visible letters may deface soggy receipts or
the back of old telephone bills -- but never the pristine sheets of 8 1/2 x 11
inch printer paper that are favored by corporate lackeys.
Some U.K.
designers have recognized the vitality of these real-life writing media, and
they've re-created it in an experimental web-based word processing interface.
First you select the surface to use. (Graph paper with foot prints? A
bit of a cardboard box?) Then move on to the type of handwriting. (Tidy?
Barely legible?)
They've also reproduced most of the active icons from standard Office
software. There's "Cut". ("First print the document out. Then get your
knife/scissors...") And "delete". (The interface scribbles a black line
across what you've typed.) But keeping audiences of Pigdog readers in mind,
this software even includes a "Drink" icon. And I was also impressed by the
Pigdog-like way the web interface sends documents to your printer. "Print-out
will be messy," it warns. Do you mind?"
"Tough," says the next pop-up
window.
Those wacky Brits have
even reproduced the annoying pop-up tips that come with most Office software
suites. Except that these are hand-written -- and even more worthless than
usual.. ("Did you know....your finger nails are growing all the time?") Have
countless minutes of fun exploring a software that's just as arbitrary and
cantankerous as the real thing -- but much more entertaining! (A helpful hint:
Z's are replaced by G's...)
