Hex characters 0-F don't visually provide any information about the underlying binary. I can't tell from reading 0-F representations of hex if a specific bit is set or not. It's necessary to convert to binary to notice things like parity set to odd/even/none. But raw binary isn't compact enough to easily look at.
Kaktovik Hex is a compact binary and hex representation based on some of the ideas behind Kaktovik Inupiaq. It supports the same visual arithmetic as Inupiaq, but also supports things like visual XOR. The bits of each nibble are represented as either | (for ones), V (for 2), or empty (for 0). The lower two bits are on the bottom, the upper two are rotated on the top. Every symbol can be written without lifting a pen.
Thanks! This is awesome!
I like the change of 8 because it does make things a lot more consistent. Each mutation I've played with has some trade off. One element of the original is that it's actually constructed of only two glyphs, where the top is rotated. This means that the same rules apply to the top and the bottom.
The trade off of that is that 15 is hard to write (so, exactly right, I flipped it) and 9 becomes indistinguishable from 13 without some kind of marker. I used a curve and a dot to signify something like a zero in the 4's place. I've also played with integrating a zero glyph in the 4's place since that would serve the same purpose, could be written without lifting the pen, and would be consistent with the glyph pattern.
This mutation fixes both of those problems, but loses the consistency between the top and bottom. I do, however, like the cool side effect that 6 and 12 are mirrored. The writing guide is also nice.
I'll play around with these and see how they feel. I've been doing some math and writing dates with them to see how it goes. I'll try this mutation out and see how it compares in use.
Thanks again for the feedback!
Edit: oh, definitely want to call out that the coolest element (visual arithmetic) is not my own. That came from some kids in Alaska (thus the name) https://youtu.be/EyS6FfczH0Q
Glad I could help! I'd like to follow the project, so please give some updates in the future. Also, when the font is finished, please make sure to share it!
I found about the writing system when searching for the Kaktovik on the web, but didn't see the video, so thanks for sharing!
Absolutely! Someone else told me about /c/neography on lemmy.world. I will probably post there as well. I'll definitely keep you updated.