I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
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I am sooo glad that our entire ecosystem is being destroyed for something absolutely impossible to avoid such as... check notes... bad handwriting fonts.
@Rockerz @ChrisPirillo Just FYI
I have a signature font I created with Fontographer. It contains three signatures: my initials, first name and full name.
More than once I have had to return "signed" copies of documents by reply and in circumstances where I could create PDFs but wasn't able to print.
Chopping down trees to print, then scan, then email, or worse, expend energy transporting documents, isn't the alternative you think it is.
Any font that avoids that necessity is useful.
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!@ChrisPirillo
How is it handling variations on a letter?It appears that you have three samples per letter? Does it just rotate through?
Does it differentiate between uppercase and lowercase lettersets?
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@Rockerz @ChrisPirillo Just FYI
I have a signature font I created with Fontographer. It contains three signatures: my initials, first name and full name.
More than once I have had to return "signed" copies of documents by reply and in circumstances where I could create PDFs but wasn't able to print.
Chopping down trees to print, then scan, then email, or worse, expend energy transporting documents, isn't the alternative you think it is.
Any font that avoids that necessity is useful.
You completely miss the point. Whatever use cases you can find for these fonts it doesn't address the problem of creating a software using AI. **THIS** is the point.
As you pointed out, this kind of tool exists since almost forever, I remember using some probably even before the Y2K bug stuff. There were no LLM back then. Developing software means doing your bloody job (yes, even if this job happens on your spare time and then given for free). Is it tedious? Yes. So what?
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!Thank you for this app!
I was able to get my handwritten font in a few attempts. I am missing a finer felt tip pen, but I will get one.
I had some issue in getting the lowercase g, p, q with correct baseline, and in the end I had to use #fontforge to adjust them.
I also noticed that accentded "i" automatically gets an accent over the dot and not in place of. Also the € sign is missing, while it's quite common for europeans.
Ligatures seems to be not working correctly. If I activate them I get mixed uppercase and lowercase, even if I correctly selected the first line uppercase and the second and third lowercase. It looks like pre-defined ligatures are not optimal. Probably they are fine for typography, but for handwriting you really need another set. Then one should adapt to their writing.
Overall it was a nice experience, I recommend it and I hope you will continue working on it!
I was concerned that small size would render the font illegible, but I was wrong. It is more legible that certain actual fonts.
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You completely miss the point. Whatever use cases you can find for these fonts it doesn't address the problem of creating a software using AI. **THIS** is the point.
As you pointed out, this kind of tool exists since almost forever, I remember using some probably even before the Y2K bug stuff. There were no LLM back then. Developing software means doing your bloody job (yes, even if this job happens on your spare time and then given for free). Is it tedious? Yes. So what?
@Rockerz I see. You're against algorithms you can run locally that can create a handwriting font but presumably would have no issue with similar algorithms that run locally that do handwriting recognition. Got it.
I'm tempted to wonder what would have made your point more clearly.
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!@ChrisPirillo incredible. As a healthcare professional I'm going to have fun with some epic trolling now.
'supports ligatures' means I'm going to make it match my writing for certain words like communication that come out like Cuuuuutuuuum -
@ChrisPirillo @exil_inselette I'll second the request for diacritics and A4 paper size.
@dl2jml @ChrisPirillo @exil_inselette The Code to generate these is there. And as the code is also looking for calibration marks - have you tried printing on A4 paper?
I haven’t, as I didn’t find time yet, but please: You’re sounding extremely entitled to something you’ve been given for free. How about helping to debug?
E.g., „I tried printing in A4, I expected this to happen, but I got this result - could you pleas take a look?“
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@Rockerz I see. You're against algorithms you can run locally that can create a handwriting font but presumably would have no issue with similar algorithms that run locally that do handwriting recognition. Got it.
I'm tempted to wonder what would have made your point more clearly.
@samueljohnson A lot could be discussed about the process to create a actual font (I have no clue regarding how this software works, how much ressources it uses and whether or not it could be done differently) but that is not the point.
I am, though, firmly against building anything with so-called "vibecoding" (and being proud of it), thus contributing to destroy our hability to survive as a species. The waste of ressources for that is very real. This is developer lazyness destroying the world.
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@samueljohnson A lot could be discussed about the process to create a actual font (I have no clue regarding how this software works, how much ressources it uses and whether or not it could be done differently) but that is not the point.
I am, though, firmly against building anything with so-called "vibecoding" (and being proud of it), thus contributing to destroy our hability to survive as a species. The waste of ressources for that is very real. This is developer lazyness destroying the world.
@samueljohnson By the way: I made myself clear twice, regarding what my primary concern is. I re-read myself to be sure of that. So I can't help but start to wonder if you are deliberately missing the point here. I hope not.
See this?
Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo@mastodon.social)
Attached: 3 images I created my *FIRST* Android app in less than an hour! Shockingly simple... considering I'm nowhere near being a "dev." Every NFC management app on Android looks like it was designed by a toddler. I thought: so, why not build my own?! Couldn't look worse. After a few iterations, I have not just a viable Android app - but a web app with a lot of feature parity as well: https://arcade.pirillo.com/nfc-maestro.html https://github.com/ChrisPirillo/NFC-Maestro #ai #android #vibecoding #app #software
Mastodon (mastodon.social)
I have concerns about almost everything there. Serious ones.
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!@ChrisPirillo this makes me so happy! I’m going to make my dad his own font for his birthday.
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@samueljohnson By the way: I made myself clear twice, regarding what my primary concern is. I re-read myself to be sure of that. So I can't help but start to wonder if you are deliberately missing the point here. I hope not.
See this?
Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo@mastodon.social)
Attached: 3 images I created my *FIRST* Android app in less than an hour! Shockingly simple... considering I'm nowhere near being a "dev." Every NFC management app on Android looks like it was designed by a toddler. I thought: so, why not build my own?! Couldn't look worse. After a few iterations, I have not just a viable Android app - but a web app with a lot of feature parity as well: https://arcade.pirillo.com/nfc-maestro.html https://github.com/ChrisPirillo/NFC-Maestro #ai #android #vibecoding #app #software
Mastodon (mastodon.social)
I have concerns about almost everything there. Serious ones.
@Rockerz You made yourself clear twice?
Kindly forgive my not understanding you even once. I completely missed any reference to vibecoding or AI in your response.
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!@ChrisPirillo Have you seen https://youtu.be/xsquXQHKtHE ?
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@dl2jml @ChrisPirillo @exil_inselette The Code to generate these is there. And as the code is also looking for calibration marks - have you tried printing on A4 paper?
I haven’t, as I didn’t find time yet, but please: You’re sounding extremely entitled to something you’ve been given for free. How about helping to debug?
E.g., „I tried printing in A4, I expected this to happen, but I got this result - could you pleas take a look?“
@exil_inselette @der_mit_ph @ChrisPirillo
Let me rephrase this.
1) I am thankful for the effort and I think it is a great idea.
2) I am only adding my voice that these features are important. That may help to prioritize what features are developed, should the developper want to further improve the software.
3) There is no obligation to the developper to do anything beyond what we already have.1/2
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@exil_inselette @der_mit_ph @ChrisPirillo
Let me rephrase this.
1) I am thankful for the effort and I think it is a great idea.
2) I am only adding my voice that these features are important. That may help to prioritize what features are developed, should the developper want to further improve the software.
3) There is no obligation to the developper to do anything beyond what we already have.1/2
@der_mit_ph @ChrisPirillo @exil_inselette
Now to your question about A4 paper. There is no print function for that paper in the web page. It is downloaded as a pdf and then I am supposed to print it using standard OS commands. I can print it on any paper size, obviously.
However, the page explicitly states that I should not resize the pdf to print. But if I don't resize the paper, parts of the pdf are outside the sheet.2/2
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!Can't wait to check it out when I get home!
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I just spent the last 24 hours building... a free tool to create your very own handwriting font quickly within the browser (no logins, all local processing):
FontCrafter: Create Your Handwriting Font for Free
Turn your handwriting into an installable font — free, no account, no uploads. Works on every platform and the web. Print, write, scan, download.
Chris Pirillo's Arcade (arcade.pirillo.com)
Having tested it extensively on my own manuscript, I can definitely say that it works.
Download the OTF and/or TTF when done!@ChrisPirillo You actually turn your patrons into energy for your software service?
"I'll take your donation. And I'll take you too."
We all gotta eat I guess.
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@ChrisPirillo does the template have to be that size or will A4 paper work ok?
@dan the template is pretty locked in right now. There's only so much I can do but this is at least a start.
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@ChrisPirillo now, if only people could read my handwriting i could use this
@mensrea that's for the next version. LoL
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@s0 let me see what I can do.
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@fasnix it's what I do.
