Method and apparatus for implementing an electronic white board

Abstract

An electronic whiteboard may be used alone or in a virtual environment. The electronic whiteboard has a palate of tools that enable users to quickly draw shapes on the whiteboard. Rather than using perfectly drawn shapes, however, the palate renders shapes that are not quite perfect—rectangles that are not quite square, lines that are not quite straight—to prevent users from focusing on getting the drawings perfect. This lends an informal feeling to the resulting drawings to allow the drawings to more closely simulate how drawings would appear on a traditional whiteboard. Similarly, text is rendered using a scripted font rather than type font to make words on the whiteboard appear to be hand-written. The electronic whiteboard enables users to add notes and to vote on objects. Automatic vote counting and note management is provided. Use of the whiteboard may be recorded to enable sessions to be replayed and snapshots to be obtained.