NJStar Chinese Pen

With all the cultural and writing differences, computers needed to adapt and provide accessibility options for everyone. You can now install fonts and use any existing characters, but with a keyboard only fitted with so many buttons, it's difficult to properly write. However, specialized applications like NJStar Chinese Pen provide a different approach on writing, in this case for Chinese characters in particular.

There's no main window to work with, but you still need to keep an eye on a small toolbar that is brought on your desktop as soon as the executable is launched. Only a few buttons are at your disposal, but for what can be accomplished these are more than enough.

The main idea behind the concept is to help you write using Chinese characters without the need to switch to a different font, or even use the keyboard for that matter. The way this is accomplished is pretty intuitive and at the press of a button, your desktop becomes a canvas on which you draw a character using your mouse.

If you happen to work with touch supported devices, the experience is twice as fun and practical. When you're finished drawing, multiple choices are displayed so you can pick the right one. Detection is neat, and you can even enable audio feedback.

A few options can be managed for greater comfort. The application can be set to read as you write, make it show multiple choices, read punctuation or disable alphanumeric characters. What's more, reading and writing speeds can be set, which comes in handy because default settings are rather fast for first time users.

All things considered, we come to the conclusion that NJStar Chinese Pen lives up to expectations and is not only a means to easily write Chinese characters, but also to learn. Input is both fun and practical, with multiple speed configurations for better accommodation. Although there isn't a hotkey to quickly switch between input modes, it's still worth at least a try.