The Story Behind Handwriting Repeater
Where the idea came from
I spend a lot of time analysing search trends — looking at what people are genuinely searching for online but not finding a good answer to. One pattern kept appearing: students and parents searching for a tool to help with repetitive handwriting tasks, particularly imposition writing set by UK schools. The search volumes were meaningful, the intent was completely clear, and the existing tools were almost universally poor — clunky interfaces, subscription prompts, broken mobile experiences, or tools that had not been updated in years.
Finding the foundation
During my research I came across an open-source handwriting project on GitHub. It was a solid foundation — the core canvas animation worked — but it was basic. Limited features, a rough interface, and not really built with students or teachers in mind. Rather than building everything from scratch, I saw an opportunity: take that starting point, modify the core, rebuild large parts of it, and add the features that real users actually needed.
What I built on top of it
I spent time modifying the core animation engine — getting stroke naturalness right, realistic ink behaviour, proper letter spacing — then built every major feature the original lacked:
- 🔁Loop ModeRepeats writing automatically to fill the page — essential for imposition tasks.
- ✏️Trace ModeFaded guide text for tracing — for KS1/KS2 letter formation practice.
- 🖊️Multiple pen stylesPen, pencil, quill — three sizes, eleven ink colours.
- 📄Page line optionsTen styles: tram lines, dotted guides, four-line Montessori grids and more.
- 🌙Dark modeFull dark theme for evening study or reduced screen glare.
- 💾PDF exportExport a clean A4-ready PDF — free, no watermark, no sign-in.
- ⌨️Type Text panelType any sentence with seven font options including cursive and calligraphy.
- 🔗Share LinkPre-loads your exact settings via URL — perfect for teachers setting class tasks.
I also redesigned the entire interface from scratch. The original was functional but unintuitive. The new design uses a clean sidebar layout that works equally well on a phone screen and on a classroom projector — because both are real, everyday use cases for this tool.
The goal from day one
Take something that barely existed in usable form, and make it the best handwriting practice tool available online — free, with no sign-up, and built around the genuine needs of UK students and teachers. After a week of dedicated planning, coding, testing and refining, Handwriting Repeater went live.