These are my own explanations in laymen's terms of some of the different handwriting styles of cursive and manuscript fonts used to teach handwriting. These descriptions cover only the main style. There may be variations within each style from some vendors. These are not the only handwriting styles, but the ones I was able to get sufficient information on to describe.
D'Nealian Handwriting Font Style: Slanted manuscript with some curved legs, connectors, such as tail of Q and leg on R and K. Tall extenders. Lowercase k has loop for top diagonal stroke (like a cursive k).
J -no horizontal stroke, medium hook
M -diagonals don't touch baseline
R -diagonal extends from vertical stroke
Q -short, curved intersecting tail
Y -looks like y sitting above baseline
q -curved hook tail
Cursive is slanted, few loops.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -full horizontal top stroke
W -rounded
J -no horizontal stroke, medium hook
M -diagonals don't touch baseline
R -diagonal extends from vertical stroke
Q -short, curved intersecting tail
Y -looks like y sitting above baseline
q -curved hook tail
Cursive is slanted, few loops.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -full horizontal top stroke
W -rounded
Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting Font Style: Slightly slanted manuscript. Medium ascenders, short descenders. Loop on k.
J -no top stroke; small hook
M -diagonals don't touch baseline
R -diagonal extends from curve, near vertical stroke
Q -short, diagonal non-interecting tail
q -short, straight hook tail
Slightly slanted, print-like cursive with curved connectors.
J -top stroke; extends below baseline
Q -print-style with diagonal, non-intersecting tail
F, T -manuscript style with downward curves on left side of top cross-stroke
W -pointed
J -no top stroke; small hook
M -diagonals don't touch baseline
R -diagonal extends from curve, near vertical stroke
Q -short, diagonal non-interecting tail
q -short, straight hook tail
Slightly slanted, print-like cursive with curved connectors.
J -top stroke; extends below baseline
Q -print-style with diagonal, non-intersecting tail
F, T -manuscript style with downward curves on left side of top cross-stroke
W -pointed
Harcourt Brace Handwriting Font Style: Upright manuscript. Tall extenders.
J -no top horizontal stroke, medium hook
M -old - diagonals don't touch baseline; new - diagonals do touch baseline
R -old - diagonal leg connects at vertical; new - diagonal leg connects at bottom of curve
Q -short, diagonal, intersecting tail
q -old - short, straight hook; new - small curved hook
Cursive is slanted and curvey but few loops.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -have the left of vertical only top strokes
W -rounded
J -no top horizontal stroke, medium hook
M -old - diagonals don't touch baseline; new - diagonals do touch baseline
R -old - diagonal leg connects at vertical; new - diagonal leg connects at bottom of curve
Q -short, diagonal, intersecting tail
q -old - short, straight hook; new - small curved hook
Cursive is slanted and curvey but few loops.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -have the left of vertical only top strokes
W -rounded
McDougal, Littel Handwriting Font Style: Slanted manuscript style. A few characters have a curved leg such as K, R, X. Tall ascenders and medium descenders.
J -no top horizontal stroke, medium hook
M -diagonals touch baseline
R -diagonal leg connects at vertical stroke
Q -short, curved, intersecting tail
Y -looks like a y sitting above baseline
q -small curved hook tail
Cursive is slanted, with few loops.
Q -manuscript style with curved, intersecting tail
F, T -full top horizontal strokes
W -rounded
J -no top horizontal stroke, medium hook
M -diagonals touch baseline
R -diagonal leg connects at vertical stroke
Q -short, curved, intersecting tail
Y -looks like a y sitting above baseline
q -small curved hook tail
Cursive is slanted, with few loops.
Q -manuscript style with curved, intersecting tail
F, T -full top horizontal strokes
W -rounded
Palmer Handwriting Font Style: Upright manuscript with wide characters. G has small vertical stroke connecting the C curve with horizontal stroke.
J -no top stroke
M -diagonals don't touch baseline
R -diagonal leg connects at curve
Q -straight intersecting tail
q -straight hook tail
Classic is slanted cursive with large and small loops. New Palmer has slight variations, large loop around vertical stroke on B and other variations.
Q -old-style 2
F -old: one looping stroke; new: F matches T
T -full top stroke (new & old)
W -pointed
J -no top stroke
M -diagonals don't touch baseline
R -diagonal leg connects at curve
Q -straight intersecting tail
q -straight hook tail
Classic is slanted cursive with large and small loops. New Palmer has slight variations, large loop around vertical stroke on B and other variations.
Q -old-style 2
F -old: one looping stroke; new: F matches T
T -full top stroke (new & old)
W -pointed
Peterson Directed Handwriting Font Style: There are upright and slanted manuscript versions. The cross-stroke on t is very high on the vertical stroke.
J -no top horizontal stroke
M -diagonals do not reach baseline
R -diagontal leg extends from curve
Q -short, straight intersecting tail
q -curved hook tail
Slanted cursive style has little loops (little looped 'ears') on many characters including C, H, K, M, N.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -full top horizontal stroke
W -pointed
p -no loop in descender
J -no top horizontal stroke
M -diagonals do not reach baseline
R -diagontal leg extends from curve
Q -short, straight intersecting tail
q -curved hook tail
Slanted cursive style has little loops (little looped 'ears') on many characters including C, H, K, M, N.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -full top horizontal stroke
W -pointed
p -no loop in descender
SSD Handwriting Font Style: Upright manuscript with large, open characters. Tall ascenders, short descenders on g, j, y, and q. The t is shorter than b, d, k, etc.
J -no top horizontal stroke
M -diagonals do not reach baseline
R -diagonal leg extends from curve
W -diagonals do not go full height
Q -somewhat horizontal curved tail
q -short, curved hook tail
Large slanted cursive with few extra loops.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -left of vertical only top strokes
W -pointed
J -no top horizontal stroke
M -diagonals do not reach baseline
R -diagonal leg extends from curve
W -diagonals do not go full height
Q -somewhat horizontal curved tail
q -short, curved hook tail
Large slanted cursive with few extra loops.
Q -old-style 2
F, T -left of vertical only top strokes
W -pointed
Zaner-Bloser (old style / new style) Handwriting Font Style: Upright manuscript with tall extenders.
J -old: no top stroke; new: with top stroke
M -diagonals extend to baseline
Q -short, straight, intersecting tail
R -old: diagonal leg extends from curve; new: from vertical
q -curved, open hook tail
Old style is slanted cursive with little loops on many uppercase characters such as C, E, H, K, etc. New style has few loops.
Q -old: old-style 2; new: manuscript style with long, curved, almost horizontal tail
F, T -full top strokes
W -old: pointed; new: rounded
J -old: no top stroke; new: with top stroke
M -diagonals extend to baseline
Q -short, straight, intersecting tail
R -old: diagonal leg extends from curve; new: from vertical
q -curved, open hook tail
Old style is slanted cursive with little loops on many uppercase characters such as C, E, H, K, etc. New style has few loops.
Q -old: old-style 2; new: manuscript style with long, curved, almost horizontal tail
F, T -full top strokes
W -old: pointed; new: rounded
Other Handwriting Styles:
UK handwriting I don't know a lot about some of the other handwriting schemes in use outside the US but here are some that I've found (although I know few details): Infant script, Nelson handwriting,(sources for both found under commercial school fonts) and Christopher Jarman (found in the free school fonts section).
Australian handwriting The handwriting fonts I've found for Australia are generally classified by region (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, etc.) and are similar in style with some differences in connectors for cursive fonts and the formation of a few characters such as b and f (however, I've not seen a complete character set for these fonts).
UK handwriting I don't know a lot about some of the other handwriting schemes in use outside the US but here are some that I've found (although I know few details): Infant script, Nelson handwriting,(sources for both found under commercial school fonts) and Christopher Jarman (found in the free school fonts section).
Australian handwriting The handwriting fonts I've found for Australia are generally classified by region (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, etc.) and are similar in style with some differences in connectors for cursive fonts and the formation of a few characters such as b and f (however, I've not seen a complete character set for these fonts).
