Slowdown Specification
Hand written hypertext
Version 0.1 · Draft · CC BY 4.0
Slowdown is a small syntax you add while writing by hand, so that Slownotes, or any tool, can turn your notes into something more.
Overview
Handwriting is slower and more thoughtful than typing. It is also harder to search, structure, and carry with you. The act of writing by hand has value that a keyboard cannot replace, but what we write on paper tends to stay on paper.
Existing syntaxes like Markdown and wiki syntax were built for a keyboard and a screen. Their symbols assume autocomplete, monospace fonts, and a cursor. None of that is available to a pen.
Slowdown is designed for the pen. A small set of symbols, chosen to survive messy handwriting and reliable OCR, and shaped for the natural movement of a hand across a page.
Example
A handwritten page with Slowdown symbols becomes a structured document. People, tags, tasks, and discoveries are pulled out as metadata, and marked terms are expanded in place.
2026-04-24
# Bauhaus exhibition
Visited the Bauhaus* today.
Met @Anni in the weaving
workshop. #design #travel
□ Buy the catalogue
+ Colour as material
2026-04-24 · Journal
Bauhaus exhibition
Visited the Bauhaus (German art school, 1919 to 1933, unified craft and fine art) today.
Met @Anni in the weaving workshop.
#design #travel
Buy the catalogue
+ Colour as material
One pass reads the page, another structures the text, and a final pass fills in the marked terms with short definitions.
Syntax
Slowdown v0.1 defines five small groups of symbols. Each one is borrowed from a writing convention you already know, so there is nothing new to memorise.
Metadata and context
Who, what, when
2026-04-24
Date
A date at the top of the page sets the temporal context for everything on it.
# ## ###
Heading
One, two or three hashes followed by a space, for three levels of heading.
@Name
Person
An at sign followed by a name. Multi-word names are supported, up to the next symbol or line break.
#tag
Tag
A hash with no space, directly followed by a word. Letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, and slashes are allowed.
Structure and segmentation
Breaks and blocks
───
Section break
A horizontal line across the page marks a new section.
Actions and states
Things to do, and things done
□
To-do
An empty square at the start of a line is a task to complete.
■ ☑
Done
A filled square or a checked box is a task completed. Either one works.
Semantic enrichment
Notes for the reader, and the machine
(term)*
Enrichment
Parentheses around a term, followed by an asterisk, ask the tool to add a short definition when the page is processed. Multi-word terms are supported.
+ text
Discovery
A plus at the start of a line marks something worth surfacing later. Quotes, places, people, ideas, anything you want to find again.
Hierarchy and emphasis
Signal what matters
| text
Callout
A vertical line down the left margin of a block sets it apart as important context or an aside.
-> text
Key point
An arrow at the start of a line marks a decision or key insight.
- text
Bullet
A dash followed by a space starts a bullet list item.
Design principles
Five rules Slowdown must keep as it grows.
Conventional
Every symbol is borrowed from writing or note-taking conventions you already know.
Low cognitive load
No new glyphs. Only simple, easily written shapes that do not slow the hand.
Spatial and symbolic
Meaning is carried by symbols and by layout. The space on the page is part of the grammar.
Deterministic semantics
Each symbol has one primary meaning. No overloaded glyphs, no guessing games.
Human in the loop
You signal intent with the pen. The machine carries it out. No autonomous interpretation.
Licence
The Slowdown specification text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. You are free to share and adapt it, including for commercial use, as long as you credit Slownotes.
Reference parsers and tooling published by Superintendent BV are released under the MIT licence. The Slownotes app itself is a separate, proprietary product.
"Slownotes" is a trademark of Superintendent BV, filed as an EU figurative mark on 8 May 2026. The Slowdown name is unrestricted, in keeping with this specification's open licence.
Slowdown specification © 2026 Superintendent BV. Released under CC BY 4.0.
Versioning
- Current
- 0.1
- Released
- 8 May 2026
- Stability
- Working specification. Syntax may evolve before 1.0.
- Changelog
- Coming soon