My New Mac, Lion Edition

Writing Chinese Characters by Hand

At first glance, Chinese words may look like a random jumble of lines, but once you get familiar with the language, you may want to write characters by hand. To do this on a Macintosh, you need a trackpad such as the built-in trackpad on a laptop or the Magic Trackpad for a desktop. By sliding your finger on the surface of a trackpad, you can draw Chinese characters with your fingertip.

To draw a Chinese character, do this:

1. Start a text program, such as TextEdit, and move the cursor where you want to type a Chinese character.

2. Click the Language & Text menulet and choose Show Trackpad Handwriting. The Trackpad Handwriting window appears.

3. Slide your finger on the trackpad to draw a character, as shown in Figure 26-6 ...