If there was a Pleco desktop version, what would you ACTUALLY use it for?

If there was a Pleco desktop version, what features would you ACTUALLY use?

  • Dictionary lookups

    Votes: 55 88.7%
  • OCR

    Votes: 21 33.9%
  • Document reader

    Votes: 41 66.1%
  • Web reader

    Votes: 40 64.5%
  • Flashcards

    Votes: 30 48.4%
  • Handwriting

    Votes: 11 17.7%
  • Stroke order diagrams

    Votes: 11 17.7%
  • Native recordings of words

    Votes: 17 27.4%
  • TTS

    Votes: 13 21.0%
  • Extra fonts

    Votes: 9 14.5%

  • Total voters
    62

Arqui3D

举人
There has been some discussion lately about the possibility of a desktop version. Nowadays we use our mobile devices all the time and a lot of people don't even own desktop computers anymore. Therefore, I'm curious about what Pleco features YOU would ACTUALLY USE in an hypothetical desktop version. Since you already own one or more than one mobile device, what features of Pleco would you actually NEED in a desktop version? Or, said in another way, what Pleco features are currently painful to use in your mobile devices? What are your pain points?

-I'm just a curious user.
 

Shun

状元
I would mostly use it for reading texts and adding flashcards, but probably not for studying any. A plugin like Perapera-kun, but which links into Pleco, for Chrome or Firefox, would be quite wonderful. Otherwise, it‘s the built-in Safari inside Pleco Desktop.

I think one prerequisite for making Pleco on Desktop work would be an online sync service between the desktop and mobile devices. For such a cloud-based service, I would be willing to pay 5 USD a month as a subscription.
 
It would be nice to have a sort of integration (like the Mac/iPhone one in Pages, for instance) that would allow the user to use the OCR on the phone and then add/share (instantly) a specific 汉字 flashcard on the desktop version.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Interesting, but to be honest it would probably be easier initially if we let iOS/macOS handle the sync and just offered to OCR the synced photo on your desktop.
 

Weyland

探花
For me having a Pleco Plugin for the computer would be a wish come true. Luckily you can download an Android emulator onto your PC and just use Pleco on that. I've gone that route and have been using the app to write up my word lists I take along with me (while swimming).

Having the ability to put a non-cumbersome window somewhere in the corner of my computer screen while studying up on Chinese characters would also be a delight. Not to mention that the TTS of Pleco is many times better than anything Google or Microsoft provides.

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Poolman2000

Member
A lot of people seem to think PCs are part of the drastic period, but PC's are the absolute best way to integrate everything, and little limit to how powerful you can build them and this will not change anytime soon. With that said, I have surround sound, two 32inch Asus gaming monitors, big ass desk, professional mic, and do a shit ton with my desk top including watching TV. Also, I am an entrepreneur and currently live in China trying to start an AI/Robotics company here, and design my own websites and blogs, and even have a smart pen, (if you guys dont have a smart pen, OMG you dont know what you are missing, they are awesome) I dont like Pleco for one reason and one reason only, its not designed for the PC. I can study in bed with my Ipad. Maybe on the go I will use my phone, But the last thing I want to do it look at a God name tinny as phone all day. Also, I think that PC will make a huge comeback with the young. ALL of you youngsters will eventually get sick of looking at a tiny ass screen all day with your head down.

With all of that said. I will use nearly every single feature that Pleco has to offer. Fr business, I have been approved here 100%, and can will soon operate a .cn domain. I need access to this huge market and have the ability to read Chinese to atleast supervise any website I have here. Pleco is awesome, and to be honest, I do not understand why they dont have a PC version. I mean, i get it business wise, mucho kids and the young use their programs, but once they can afford what I have, they can slowly expand pleco into there PCs. The main reason I don't understand is the fact that it would not be that damn difficult to do, thus worth it. Then Pleco can be the full package. I can chill out while studying Chinesepod on my monitors, put up my pleco friend on the screen, would be wonderful. I would use it constantly.
 

pdwalker

状元
/offtopic - smart pen?

Whether there is enough demand for a PC port or not could easily be solved by running a kickstarter like campaign. However, it would likely be a major rewrite, and then there are the issues with the dictionary licensing.

And no, I don't see the young'uns switching from their mobile devices any time soon. While I like my desktop and multi-monitor setup, I am much happier using the mobile version for my day to day stuff.
 

Poolman2000

Member
/offtopic - smart pen?

Whether there is enough demand for a PC port or not could easily be solved by running a kickstarter like campaign. However, it would likely be a major rewrite, and then there are the issues with the dictionary licensing.

And no, I don't see the young'uns switching from their mobile devices any time soon. While I like my desktop and multi-monitor setup, I am much happier using the mobile version for my day to day stuff.

I suppose, I mean I understand your points, but it wold not be hard. I have a double BA in Computer Eng/ and electrical engineering and know some coding. Most of my friends are programmers, and I been around this field a while and have a few websites myself and such. Certain aspects of Pleco would be difficult but also not practical to integrate into the PC, but much of the app would be practical, and way easier then building the phone app. I do not understand licensing, but don't see this a problem whatsoever. I mean, PC is an open source format. lol. Phones on the other hand are a different story.

It would cost a fraction, and take less human resources to develop, and for me, because of the type of business I am in, Well I would go crazy looking at a tiny phone screen all day, and find laptops and ipads nearly impossible to to work with regarding Photoshop, blogging, web building, and strains the eyes watching programs.

Smart pens: Yes, they are awesome. I go to Shenzhen University to study Chinese and pack light. I take a 3.5 hour Chinese course there, 5 days a week and digitized all my books to my ipad, and take notes using my smart pen. The pen also has ink ability, and links to your cloud, so you can in theory, just bring your University book, a sheet of scrap paper, and take notes all day while everything you write gets uploaded to you i cloud/PC at home. Its wonderful for Chinese study, because pen-to-paper writing has shown to be the fasts way to remember. I do not know the science behind it, but all studies on it are conclusive. Even at school, our class requires it. If you only use flash cards, and maybe skritter, you are missing out. Skritter though, is wonderful, but its such a limited setting, and again, your looking at a small phone, one little thing and writing characters over and over again. It drives you crazy after a while. I revert to skritter only when i'm board. Am mentioning skritter because it sort of similar to writing and helps you remember with (for lack of a better word) muscle memory. The smart pen also has the ability to record the lecture, and because of its size, the battery last all day long, and can take pictures, some even have projectors on them, but its sort of goofy to me. Also, the smart pens save paper. The pens are about $300 to $400 bucks though.

Another reason Pleco would be awesome on the PC is because you can expand onto other ideas not possible with a smart phone. One idea it to have printable flashcards. Not hard for the company to do this. I for one love actual flash cards. My daughter is here with me, she is 18 and taking Chinese business here, so we mess with flashcards often. I created a few decks, and its wonderful because they are business card sized, and think like a business card, so you can grab a set of 50 cards, run though them as fast as you can and time yourself also. So a few sets that I know really well, I can flash though 50 cards in under a minute and read them off, it is a fantastic way to study, to change things up. Whats frustrating to me is the fact that you simply cannot find printable flash cards that are worth a damn, so I am forced to create my own. Pleco should have this ability 100% should, its what they do man!!! Also, like when I am learning new cards. I will take a deck of 50 new flash cards that I made, but print the meaning and pinyin on the other side, then print two decks out. Then you can spread out all 50 new cards out character side facing up, and then spread out the other 50 Pinyin side up with a short definition and play memory.

Another Idea: I like to play World of Warcraft sometimes, and play the Chinese version to help me learn. Its forces me to type in Chinese a lot, and to read, but it sure would be wonderful to have the ability to use the pleco's screen reader in this way. Also. Most websites are designed for larger screens, so when you surf, you see all the content in its fullest form. Even "ChinesePod" is designed this way. It's nearly impossible to watch there videos with a phone unless you change the phone settings to PC view, but then you can hardly see the buttons. Studying with ChinesePod is definitely better on the PC, and having pleco next to it would be fantastic since ChinesePod integrates with Pleco.

Also, as it is I must read Chinese documents often. I like Pleco for then, but never use it because I need to print, mail, and sign, you cant do that with a phone, so rather then go back and forth from PC to phone, would be awesome to have it right here. For now, I am forced to use google and Bing document translators.

and another idea a little out but not to far away: you could use the Pleco screen reader to translate closed captions for live Chinese broadcasts such as news, and TV. You cant really do that with smart phones, not enough power, and two small.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
I do not understand licensing, but don't see this a problem whatsoever. I mean, PC is an open source format. lol. Phones on the other hand are a different story.

This is actually about other stuff we license from third parties - dictionaries, graded readers, handwriting recognition algorithms, etc - and how those would move over to a desktop version. The fact that we wouldn't have to pay Apple or Google 30% is actually a good argument for offering a PC app :)

One idea it to have printable flashcards.

We can do that on mobile too, actually; we haven't had a ton of requests for it, so it's not super high on our priority list, but both iOS (AirPrint) and Android (Cloud Print) support printers now. Most of the work would be in formatting them nicely, once you've got the images of what you want to print it's pretty easy to output it to a printer.

Another Idea: I like to play World of Warcraft sometimes, and play the Chinese version to help me learn. Its forces me to type in Chinese a lot, and to read, but it sure would be wonderful to have the ability to use the pleco's screen reader in this way.

Haven't investigated how screen reader would work on Windows much - I believe they do support third party screen reader systems, but I don't know how well they integrate with games. Initially I think we would probably have an embedded web browser with click or mouseover Pleco lookups but not integration with the rest of the system.
 
There's a different way to use Pleco as Desktop version, connecting via USB your smatphone to a windows/mac PC:
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/releases/tag/v1.10
"scrcpy" copy the screen of your android device, after unblocking Developers options (Settings>About Phone>Build number> tab 6 times)
BUT
there are problems copying chinese text.
Vysor is a chrome app https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vysor/gidgenkbbabolejbgbpnhbimgjbffefm can copy chinese texte BUT there are in-app advertisements
 

lili36

Member
I would like a PC version because I don't own a smartphone. I know, this is rare... but people who don't have smartphones exists ! (and buying a smartphone on purpose for pleco seems a little expensive to me :) )
I can use Nox, but this is heavy, slow, while I just want to look for something quickly.
On my side, my main use of pleco is the handwriting recognition when I have Chinese characters on an image, so I can't copy-paste the text (else, other websites allow me to look easily for the traduction if I have the text in clipboard, but my problem is for images when I have no smartphone to scan it).
Also, I mostly use my browser or discord or game on my computer, so it would be easy to have pleco on the same computer.
The flash cards review is quite great too.
 

KtChina

Member
I would mostly use it for reading texts and adding flashcards, but probably not for studying any. A plugin like Perapera-kun, but which links into Pleco, for Chrome or Firefox, would be quite wonderful. Otherwise, it‘s the built-in Safari inside Pleco Desktop.

I think one prerequisite for making Pleco on Desktop work would be an online sync service between the desktop and mobile devices. For such a cloud-based service, I would be willing to pay 5 USD a month as a subscription.
Same. I would prefer to pay more like $1-2 a month, but happy to do that. Could the desk version be crowdfunded?
 

KtChina

Member
I'm at my computer and wanting to look up a Chinese word and it's a pain to have to pick up my iPhone!
I'd really rather have a Pleco App on my Apple Mac. Happy to pay in the crowd funding for it's development.
 

KtChina

Member
There's a different way to use Pleco as Desktop version, connecting via USB your smatphone to a windows/mac PC:
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/releases/tag/v1.10
"scrcpy" copy the screen of your android device, after unblocking Developers options (Settings>About Phone>Build number> tab 6 times)
BUT
there are problems copying chinese text.
Vysor is a chrome app https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vysor/gidgenkbbabolejbgbpnhbimgjbffefm can copy chinese texte BUT there are in-app advertisements
not viable for many of us. But Xiexie.
 

KtChina

Member
We are now in 2020. Any chance a Crowdfunding for a Desktop Pleco for Windows and Mac might be launched?
Please?
Pretty please?
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Mac we’re already working on - no need for crowdfunding, the slowness is not due to a lack of funds (or fixable with an infusion of them).

Windows will depend on the response to that. If I feel confident that we could make our money back on it, I probably wouldn’t do crowdfunding on that either, because frankly it’s a lot of work to set up / run / keep people updated on and you get a ton of grief for missing release dates, not to mention that Kickstarter takes a fairly substantial cut.

If, however, Mac sales are poor enough that I reach the conclusion that Windows is likely to be a money loser for us, crowdfunding would be a way for me to let people prove me wrong on that.
 
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