Hello! This is my first post here, it’s something I’ve had on my mind for a while but have only now decided to post since it sounds like a difficult feature to add, I don’t know everyone else (and the developers) feel about it.
The feature I have in mind would show up in two places, one would be when you learn or check a character, there would be a gif showing the stroke order for the character. This is useful mostly at the beginning but there are still some characters where I have to check the stroke order, and I think it can also help with memorization.
I’m not so sure about the other’s implementation, but the idea is that it would test your writing by making you write the character with the correct stroke order. This would probably be too much for the reviews process (I do like 90ish reviews a day and it already feels draining), so it might be cool as its own separate minigame of sorts.
Let me know how this sounds, the second idea might be too ambitious, but the first one I think could be very helpful.
Just to add my input, this is something that I’ve been thinking about more and more, especially as the new HSK standard has very specific handwriting requirements. Handwriting is not a priority for me at the moment and I don’t have any plans to go for an HSK certification currently, though I have thought about it come late 2027 or early 2028.
I definitely agree that if it were to be implemented into HH it shouldn’t be a part of the review process and it would be it’s own separate thing, coming from someone who’s getting above 150 reviews a day on average. Or maybe it could be a toggle, someone could choose if handwriting prompts show up in their reviews or not, or maybe only specific characters show up. I believe also the new HSK standards have a specific handwriting list, so maybe only those characters could pop up for handwriting practice if someone chose that as an option.
I understand handwriting and stroke order being a useful tool to help people memorize characters with it having a much more physical aspect. In that way I could understand adding that to HH. On the other hand, I could see it straying a bit too far from what HH is, which is a SRS flashcard website. Having just a stroke order GIF on each character I don’t think strays too far from this though. Correct me if I’m wrong as well, but I believe people have made TamperMonkey scripts in the past that add a little stroke order GIF to each character.
I think a handwriting/stroke order practice mode is maybe straying a bit too far for HH, and there are tools out there that already practice these specific skills (and in my opinion, I think writing pen to paper is better for this when that is accessible) but there certainly could be a conversation with the community and the developers about this. I think adding a stroke order GIF though to each character could be beneficial to the platform though if there is enough need for it!
(On a side note, I wanted to appreciate how involved in the community the developers are and how hands on they are with HH, thank you!)
Thanks for the feedback. I think adding a stroke order animation would be useful if we can find space for it. Some time ago we had an idea of showing alternate fonts for a character too. Fitting it into the review UI may be a bit harder, but I can see us adding a “Stroke order” and/or “Alternate fonts” section to the character page, though.