Plover theory - Revision history

BTackt: moving from theory page

2026-03-26T03:15:09Z

moving from theory page

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:15, 26 March 2026
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	{{Incomplete}}		{{Incomplete}}

	'''Plover''' is a free, open-source stenographic theory based on the personal dictionary of [[Mirabai Knight]]. ~~It is the default~~ dictionary ~~that~~ ships with Plover software, and contains more than 147,000 entries.		'''Plover theory''' is a free, open-source stenographic theory based on the personal dictionary of [[Mirabai Knight]]. The Plover theory dictionary ships with Plover software by default, and contains more than 147,000 entries.

	==History==		==History==
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	Knight continued to add more entries over the course of her career as an academic and event captioner, specializing in tech and medical terminology.		Knight continued to add more entries over the course of her career as an academic and event captioner, specializing in tech and medical terminology.

			Two textbooks explaining the theory have been developed, and the [[dictionary]] was openly shared (most professional stenographers do not openly share their dictionary). Most notably, the dictionary is distributed by default with every installation of the [[Plover software\|Plover app]].

			The first textbook, [https://www.openstenoproject.org/learn-plover/ Learn Plover!], was developed as an analysis of the dictionary, reverse engineering theory rules from synthesizing dictionary entries.

			The second textbook, [https://www.artofchording.com/ The Art of Chording], was written in exchange for lessons from Knight.

			Compared to the implementation of theory by a court reporter focused on the legal setting, Plover's dictionary is presupposed to be a more broad implementation of theory covering terms for a range of subject matter seen in captioning.

			Both textbooks are generally considered incomplete explanations of Plover theory and the lack of resources has led to frustration in the learning process for some. Others enjoy filling in the gaps or designing their own solutions for undocumented rules.

	==Primary Characteristics==		==Primary Characteristics==

BTackt at 18:15, 20 March 2026

2026-03-20T18:15:34Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:15, 20 March 2026
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	* <code>main.json</code>. This contains the default dictionary. It is based on Mirabai Knight's own personal dictionary, which follows a StenEd-style theory. It contains over 140,000 entries and is adequate for anyone learning stenography. Mirabai uses this dictionary professionally for her realtime work.		* <code>main.json</code>. This contains the default dictionary. It is based on Mirabai Knight's own personal dictionary, which follows a StenEd-style theory. It contains over 140,000 entries and is adequate for anyone learning stenography. Mirabai uses this dictionary professionally for her realtime work.
	* <code>commands.json</code>. This contains [[Dictionary Format#Plover Control Commands\|Plover Control Commands]].		* <code>commands.json</code>. This contains [[Dictionary Format#Plover Control Commands\|Plover Control Commands]].
	* <code>user.json</code>. This is available for your personal customization~~. <code>user.json</code> is a blank dictionary~~. By default, the <code>user.json</code> dictionary is at the top of the dictionary list and has the highest priority - it is the first dictionary Plover will use. When you define new strokes, they will get added to this dictionary. This means you can see which strokes you've defined yourself, instead of trying to locate them inside the default dictionaries.		* <code>user.json</code>. This is a blank dictionary available for your personal customization. By default, the <code>user.json</code> dictionary is at the top of the dictionary list and has the highest priority - it is the first dictionary Plover will use. When you define new strokes, they will get added to this dictionary. This means you can see which strokes you've defined yourself, instead of trying to locate them inside the default dictionaries.

	{{NavboxTheory}}		{{NavboxTheory}}

	[[Category:Theory]]		[[Category:Theory]]

BTackt at 05:04, 21 January 2026

2026-01-21T05:04:36Z

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	* <code>commands.json</code>. This contains [[Dictionary Format#Plover Control Commands\|Plover Control Commands]].		* <code>commands.json</code>. This contains [[Dictionary Format#Plover Control Commands\|Plover Control Commands]].
	* <code>user.json</code>. This is available for your personal customization. <code>user.json</code> is a blank dictionary. By default, the <code>user.json</code> dictionary is at the top of the dictionary list and has the highest priority - it is the first dictionary Plover will use. When you define new strokes, they will get added to this dictionary. This means you can see which strokes you've defined yourself, instead of trying to locate them inside the default dictionaries.		* <code>user.json</code>. This is available for your personal customization. <code>user.json</code> is a blank dictionary. By default, the <code>user.json</code> dictionary is at the top of the dictionary list and has the highest priority - it is the first dictionary Plover will use. When you define new strokes, they will get added to this dictionary. This means you can see which strokes you've defined yourself, instead of trying to locate them inside the default dictionaries.

			{{NavboxTheory}}

	[[Category:Theory]]		[[Category:Theory]]

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2025-07-04T04:21:17Z

taking away from another page

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:21, 4 July 2025
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	There are also resources designed to help practice Plover theory:		There are also resources designed to help practice Plover theory:
	*[https://practiceplover.com/ Practice Plover] by [[plants]]		*[https://practiceplover.com/ Practice Plover] by [[plants]]

			== Plover's Default Dictionaries ==
			{{Cleanup\|section}}
			Plover software ships with Plover theory by default, and comes supplied with three dictionaries:

			* <code>main.json</code>. This contains the default dictionary. It is based on Mirabai Knight's own personal dictionary, which follows a StenEd-style theory. It contains over 140,000 entries and is adequate for anyone learning stenography. Mirabai uses this dictionary professionally for her realtime work.
			* <code>commands.json</code>. This contains [[Dictionary Format#Plover Control Commands\|Plover Control Commands]].
			* <code>user.json</code>. This is available for your personal customization. <code>user.json</code> is a blank dictionary. By default, the <code>user.json</code> dictionary is at the top of the dictionary list and has the highest priority - it is the first dictionary Plover will use. When you define new strokes, they will get added to this dictionary. This means you can see which strokes you've defined yourself, instead of trying to locate them inside the default dictionaries.

	[[Category:Theory]]		[[Category:Theory]]

BTackt at 15:50, 23 May 2025

2025-05-23T15:50:06Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:50, 23 May 2025
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	{{See also\|Stenography Textbooks}}		{{See also\|Stenography Textbooks}}
	There are two primary textbooks available for free online to learn Plover theory from:		There are two primary textbooks available for free online to learn Plover theory from:
	*[[The Art of Chording]] by [[Thea Morin]]		*[https://www.artofchording.com/ The Art of Chording] by [[Thea Morin]]
	*[[Learn Plover!]] by [[Zack Brown]]		*[https://www.openstenoproject.org/learn-plover/ Learn Plover!] by [[Zack Brown]]

	There are also resources designed to help practice Plover theory:		There are also resources designed to help practice Plover theory:
	*[[Practice Plover]] by [[plants]]		*[https://practiceplover.com/ Practice Plover] by [[plants]]

	[[Category:Theory]]		[[Category:Theory]]

BTackt: I really want to add references with links but reflist is not here yet

2025-05-23T15:19:47Z

I really want to add references with links but reflist is not here yet

New page

''This page is about the stenographic theory. For the software, see [[Plover software]].''

{{Incomplete}}

'''Plover''' is a free, open-source stenographic theory based on the personal dictionary of [[Mirabai Knight]]. It is the default dictionary that ships with Plover software, and contains more than 147,000 entries.

==History==
Knight attended New York Career Institute, a presently defunct stenography school, where students started with a 30,000 entry dictionary. The theory taught was similar to StenEd.

Over the course of school for 18 months, Knight added around 16,000 entries while doing offline captioning.

After graduation, Knight "folded in the 100,000-word StenEd dictionary, giving preference to my own dictionary where strokes disagreed." <sup>[https://www.reddit.com/r/Plover/comments/fkmvyp/how_does_plover_theory_differ_from_stened_theory]</sup>

Knight continued to add more entries over the course of her career as an academic and event captioner, specializing in tech and medical terminology.

==Primary Characteristics==
Plover is considered to be a derivative of [[StenEd theory]], and leans slightly towards being memory intensive.<sup>[https://www.artofchording.com/introduction/theories-and-dictionaries.html]</sup>

Through Knight's experience and expertise, Plover contains a lot of technical, medical, and scientific terminology.

Compared to other base theories, Plover is based on a professional stenographer's dictionary, so it contains many [[Defining misstrokes|definitions for misstrokes]], as well as entries based on rules that make sense to Knight personally. This can be an advantage, but could obstruct learning for those who rely on dictionary lookup over theory rules.

==Acquisition==
Plover theory is available for free. The easiest way to get the Plover dictionary is to download Plover software, where Plover theory is loaded by default in <code>main.json</code>.

==Learning Resources==
{{See also|Stenography Textbooks}}
There are two primary textbooks available for free online to learn Plover theory from:
*[[The Art of Chording]] by [[Thea Morin]]
*[[Learn Plover!]] by [[Zack Brown]]

There are also resources designed to help practice Plover theory:
*[[Practice Plover]] by [[plants]]

[[Category:Theory]]