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Detailed Criteria

In addition to the general characterization of handwriting styles, each of the following criteria are important. The italic styles consistently provide the better choice. In cases where the basic type styles do not meet one of the criteria, it may be possible to modify the offending letter in that style.

1. Printed 't' should always include a curve and not be a stick-'t'. This makes 't' distinct from '+' in math equations.
2. Printed 'q' should include a hook or curve. This makes for a helpful distinction from 'p'. Additionally, the difference between 'b' and 'd' is said to be assisted in italic scripts because of the difference in overall movement.
3. Cursive capitals that resemble printed counterparts are preferred. 'Q' is a prime example: in looping styles it generally looks like a numeral '2'. Other capitals letters especially to watch are 'G', followed by 'I' and 'S', followed by 'E' and 'F', along with 'M' and 'N'.
4. Cursive 'p' should not include a lower loop or an extended riser.
5. Printing and cursive should both be comfortably sloped.
6. Loops should be limited. (Loops are a detriment to legibility, which is why so many forms say "Please Print".)
7. Style should optimize speed. This helps to reduce amount of reversion to printing.
8. Style should promote neatness and legibility - especially with respect to writing fast.
9. Some students want to teach themselves to write in a "fancy" style, and for these an ornate alternative available may be made available, providing them an additional writing style option in their personal arsenal.

The two groups of styles are described below, while the next page classifies and describes about 20 specific handwriting styles in detail (see table).

Italic Styles

The italic style is an elegant writing style developed in Italy during the 15^th c. during the Renaissance (see sample from 1423). With its steady, gently sloped lines, italic has a very neat appearance. It has even been said to have the appearance of calligraphy. Yet it is quick to write. Transition form a printed form to a cursive form of italic is very smooth. Here is a website with examples as well as a brief introduction to the concepts of this style.

The first two styles of italic listed (Getty-Dubay and Bob Jones University) are quite similar and both very attractive. Both are clean without excessive loops. Both of hooked 't' (though Bob Jones University 't' could be improved) and hooked 'q'. Both have a round 'Q' and clear 'G'.

The Getty-Dubay maintains the purer italic style without any loops, while the Bob Jones University style maintains greater continuity with the looped cursive styles. These two styles both maintain a high level of continuity between the shape of capitals in print and cursive writing, but by different means: Getty-Dubay conforms the shape of cursive capitals to their printed forms, while Bob Jones University conforms some of the printed capitals ('E', 'M', 'N', 'W', 'Y') to cursive forms.

Ball-and-Stick Styles

The basic block style of ball-and-stick printing accompanied by looped cursive has been the traditional style in America for several centuries. The specific style that we call "traditional" cursive is about a century old.

In the second half of the 19^th c., Spencerian penmanship was widely popular, containing great flourishes and complex loops. The Spencerian method texts have been reprinted and are currently available for anyone who wants to learn a really "fancy" style of writing (source). At about the turn of the 20^th c., the Spencerian method started to be replaced by the Zaner-Bloser and, later, the Palmer methods. These still contained loops, but were somewhat simplified. The second half of the 20^th c. brought further simplifications with the removal of loops from most methods.

Nevertheless, the "traditional" block print and looping cursive styles retain several problematic features. The difference in slope between printing and cursive is one problem. The lack of correspondence between capital letters is another major problem. And the insistence upon impractical circular letters by many of the print styles continues. In addition, the stick-'t' and serif forms of numerals cause problems in math.