Dictionary

Introduction

A nice simple dictionary app. This may work in concert with a system-wide inline dictionary service.

Designers

Objectives

  • Look up word definitions
  • View/hear pronunciation
  • Stand-alone application
    A windowed application, with good typographic results; search capabilities; "bookmarks"/favourite words; last searches.
    Dictionary as a service
    A structured API for displaying bubbles with short definitions at a given location for a given word.
    Shell integration
    A content provider for the shell search capabilities.

Constraints

Relevant Art

Dictionary (GNOME 3.14)

https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dictionary?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=Dictionary-window.png

Fantasdic (GTK 2.x application)

http://projects.gnome.org/fantasdic/images/fantasdic1.png

StarDict (GTK 2.x application)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Stardict-screen.png

OS X Dictionary

Merriam-Webster Dictionary HD

http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple/v4/1e/e6/1c/1ee61cb0-c1eb-1dfc-e54e-8aeceb2e400a/screen480x480.jpeg

Wiktionary app

https://lh5.ggpht.com/m3LcP4inFD4X7ryvj4Pl33aDexD7K8HWgXLk3nDd5lAfwb5UJldWQ_2XpLWzy5oSIAU=h900

Oxford Dictionary Android app

https://lh5.ggpht.com/_GknkyaXIBhBCS4TSWnSwu7Ovd19mdstZCvmwp0H4zbY126Ou2x5GYfW_vzRD93ijw=h900

Urban Dictionary unofficial app

https://lh5.ggpht.com/kpqMo-qvnlveB3hXggaSPyEf8XfQtlQ5hbIPzfTWLSavzncmmk68I3D_eGRfJJ1kpQ=h900

Discussion

On objectives:

  • talking about words and dictionaries, there is more than definition and pronunciation. I propose to extend the objectives by considering:
  • look up for word translation (into language X)
  • look up for paragraph/text selection translation
  • look up for synonyms (see http://aiksaurus.sourceforge.net)

  • manage check spell dictionaries
  • extend information sources to well established online resources like wikipedia, google image, etc.
    • As usage scenario, I often use wikipedia to find the translation of word (). I also use google image to understand what a word means

Tentative Design

Comments

It would be interesting to use wiktionaries content, and even to encourage contribution when somthing is wrong/missing. Unlike with other disparate sources, it would provide definitions for "many to many" languages. -- psychoslave

See Also

Design/Apps/Dictionary (last edited 2015-10-02 08:42:39 by FelipeBorges)