I just realized today that the iPad has a Chinese-Chinese dictionary built into the system. Any way of getting these definitions (which you access by selecting a Chinese character and hitting Define... from the context menu) into Pleco? Right now I just copy a character from Pleco into the notepad app then look up the definition from there, but it'd be great to skip this extra step. The Define popup doesn't show up within the Pleco app.
built in iOS Chinese-Chinese dictionary
- Thread starter pravit
- Start date
OK - would it be possible in the future?
The reason I ask is that I use Pleco primarily as a Chinese reader (I load ebooks onto my iPad and open them in Pleco) and it would be great to have the Chinese-Chinese definitions as well as the Chinese-English ones.
How does the free Chinese-Chinese iOS dictionary compare to the Guifan dictionary which Pleco offers as an extra purchase?
What is the source of the iOS Chinese-Chinese dictionary?
The reason I ask is that I use Pleco primarily as a Chinese reader (I load ebooks onto my iPad and open them in Pleco) and it would be great to have the Chinese-Chinese definitions as well as the Chinese-English ones.
How does the free Chinese-Chinese iOS dictionary compare to the Guifan dictionary which Pleco offers as an extra purchase?
What is the source of the iOS Chinese-Chinese dictionary?
I think it is worth investing time in it. Pleco is great because it is very versatile and allows you to easily jump between definitions within definitions, whereas the built-in iOS dictionary is very limited. However, it is something that we have pre-installed, so it feels like it's only right that we get to use it wherever there is selectable text.
I never had this kind of thinking about Pleco since I got the complete bundle before the built-in dictionary was available, but what I hate about other English-English dictionaries is that they look like they purposely hide the define button. I can understand how Pleco is different because it doesn't use the default way of handling this. But It really irks me for the other dictionaries because I usually have to take the extra step to open a text editor, type out the word and everything before I can achieve what I want. I have sent emails to said app developers but they usually ignore my requests.
I never had this kind of thinking about Pleco since I got the complete bundle before the built-in dictionary was available, but what I hate about other English-English dictionaries is that they look like they purposely hide the define button. I can understand how Pleco is different because it doesn't use the default way of handling this. But It really irks me for the other dictionaries because I usually have to take the extra step to open a text editor, type out the word and everything before I can achieve what I want. I have sent emails to said app developers but they usually ignore my requests.
scykei said:
Well the basic problem is that we're not using Apple's text selection system, and in fact we're not even attempting to mimic it as closely in the new release - there's (probably) no longer going to be an Apple-style command bubble when you tap-hold-highlight text at all, we're instead basically just offering our current tap-selection UI plus draggable handles. (all that the tap-hold UI was offering before was a "Copy" command, which we also had with the popup bubble, so it was kind of pointless / confusing to have two different approaches to the same thing and not simply add draggable handles to the popup)
So we now have this weird UI that doesn't quite feel like a normal Pleco screen and doesn't support the same features (why is this only Chinese-Chinese? why doesn't it work with flashcards / audio / fantizi / Night Mode? why am I being prompted to download again? why can't I access this dictionary in other places?), but that's integrated into our interface in a way that makes it feel like it is something Pleco-supplied (less of a risk with the "Define" popup) - two buttons to do more-or-less the same thing, one in Apple's dictionary and one in ours, which is exactly the sort of UI problem we're working very hard to get rid of.
Also, another wrinkle after checking the documentation: Apple's rules say that their dictionary display popup "should not be used to display wordlists, create a standalone dictionary app, or republish the content in any form" - that seems vague enough that invoking it with anything other than a popup "Define" button might get us into trouble with App Review, and is something they could potentially be quite militant about since they've presumably got licenses with publishers that limit the terms of use in this way. (as those publishers don't want people releasing separate apps based on their dictionaries without paying them royalties)
So basically it's a massive business and technical headache that's tough to justify investing the time into when we have so many other things to work on.