iPhone Feature Requests

[yoose]

hi mike,

not sure if this has been mentioned already, but would it be difficult to add a 'read whole text' to the pasteboard and/or document reader? i realize that it wont be smooth all the time. i am starting to try to read longer texts, but along with that i want to be able to hear the correct pronunciations for the words and read along with it. i also realize that some tones change and some words will have multiple tones so it will not be perfect, but it will be better than nothing.

 

[mikelove]

not sure if this has been mentioned already, but would it be difficult to add a 'read whole text' to the pasteboard and/or document reader? i realize that it wont be smooth all the time. i am starting to try to read longer texts, but along with that i want to be able to hear the correct pronunciations for the words and read along with it. i also realize that some tones change and some words will have multiple tones so it will not be perfect, but it will be better than nothing.

That's coming via the text-to-speech system that we recently licensed - most likely there'll be a second "audio playback toolbar" that appears underneath the normal top-of-the screen one which will let you play a single word / entire sentence / entire paragraph / play continuously until you tell it to stop.

 

[yoose]

That's coming via the text-to-speech system that we recently licensed - most likely there'll be a second "audio playback toolbar" that appears underneath the normal top-of-the screen one which will let you play a single word / entire sentence / entire paragraph / play continuously until you tell it to stop.

awesome, thanks Mike.

 

[numble]

Flashcards like Stickystudy's interface.

 

[mikelove]

Flashcards like Stickystudy's interface.

Which aspect of it? I don't really care for their grid layout - Pinyin and definition excerpts are as important as the characters themselves - and the Leitner Box algorithm has fallen thoroughly out of favor these days with everyone using SRS. It's pretty, but I don't see much functionality there that isn't already in Pleco.

 

[radioman]

Few random comments/ideas/requests. Some of these I have mentioned in the past.

1) Anyway to make it so that when you use the fan, and you change to dictionary mode, or reader, or even don't change at all, that you can auto close the fan reveal? Maybe have it as an optional switch so that after a few seconds of non-selection, it just closes.

2) Personal Dictionaries do not support full string search.

3) In the reader, if there are characters highlighted, keep them highlighted somehow (as an option).

4) When your TTS arrives, have the ability for the user to set the speed of the read-back.

 

[mikelove]

1) Anyway to make it so that when you use the fan, and you change to dictionary mode, or reader, or even don't change at all, that you can auto close the fan reveal? Maybe have it as an optional switch so that after a few seconds of non-selection, it just closes.

When would this be useful? It seems like it could be kind of annoying in some cases - we're actually planning to replace the sliding bar with a pop-up bubble but I still think we'd want it to persist.

2) Personal Dictionaries do not support full string search.

No, that's been on our to-do list for a long time but too many other priorities keep coming up. (such is the fate of user dictionaries in general, really - they'd be a brilliant feature if we just took a few months to give them a really nice UI / speed bump / some better search features / a desktop converter, but we can't find the time)

3) In the reader, if there are characters highlighted, keep them highlighted somehow (as an option).

Some sort of highlight / bookmark / annotation feature is on our radar, yes.

4) When your TTS arrives, have the ability for the user to set the speed of the read-back.

Not sure if the library supports that, but it would be logical enough to support it if it does.

 

[radioman]

When would this be useful? It seems like it could be kind of annoying in some cases - we're actually planning to replace the sliding bar with a pop-up bubble but I still think we'd want it to persist.

I'll pay more attention to this for when it happens. But I'm jumping back and forth and often the fan menu is in the open position when I am accessing other Pleco modules. Maybe it has more to do with the way I multitask with other programs (leaving Pleco completely and then coming back). But for whatever reason, having the fan menu not automatically close is a personal annoyance to me. Having fan "auto-closure" as an option would be useful in my view.

 

[mikelove]

I'll pay more attention to this for when it happens. But I'm jumping back and forth and often the fan menu is in the open position when I am accessing other Pleco modules. Maybe it has more to do with the way I multitask with other programs (leaving Pleco completely and then coming back). But for whatever reason, having the fan menu not automatically close is a personal annoyance to me. Having fan "auto-closure" as an option would be useful in my view.

Well we could certainly auto-close it when the app is put in the background - is that the main time you're finding it problematic? (thinking you want to switch modes, deciding instead to switch apps but then wishing the bar wasn't open when you return to Pleco)

 

[radioman]

Well we could certainly auto-close it when the app is put in the background - is that the main time you're finding it problematic? (thinking you want to switch modes, deciding instead to switch apps but then wishing the bar wasn't open when you return to Pleco)

I will play with this some more, but yeah, that might address my issue.

 

[Vzzzbx]

How easy would it be to incorporate tone guessing into fill-in-the-blanks flashcard tests? By that, I mean writing the character and guessing its tone before moving on to the next character.

I don't remember seeing this requested, and I couldn't find it mentioned in a search. Ta.

 

[mikelove]

How easy would it be to incorporate tone guessing into fill-in-the-blanks flashcard tests? By that, I mean writing the character and guessing its tone before moving on to the next character.

Possible, but it requires some UI tweaking to allow for switching between test modes within the same card - made complicated on account of the hacks we had to make to support custom input methods on iOS 3, hacks that we're slowly untangling over the next few releases as we start requiring 4.2.

 

[Vzzzbx]

Thanks, Mike.

 

[web74]

I've been using Pleco for the past 5 years on my Palm Treo Pro and previously on my Palm pilot. I now also have it installed on my Ipod Touch.

I'd first like to say that I think Pleco is the best software for people learning Chinese as a second language. I recommend it to anyone I know who is learning Mandarin, whether they are in the market for a dictionary or not!

That said, I'm still hanging onto my Treo Pro because I find that the speed that I'm able to look up words and subsequently do character searches for each character of that word etc. cannot be match by the Ipod interface.

I know you have an extensive thread on the forum, but I cannot go through all 700 or so posts to see if the same comments have been brought up. I'm sure they have so I'd just like to throw my general comments into the mix whilst you're still working on the apple update.

I did see a good comment on the font size of the search results being much larger than the treo version. I agree with that completely. Although you say it is customizable, it is not customizable to a degree that puts it on a par with the treo version.

What about making the middle divider liner, between the word definition shown on the left and the list results on the right, drag adjustable like on the windows version?

I suppose I'd like to make a general comment to try and make the Ipod look and feel as closely as possible to the Windows version in terms of the ease of use.

I seem to have spend so much more time dealing with various pop up screens and other distractions before I can actually get the information that I want. I guess that has something to do with the lack of the physical keyboard as well, because I hate that when you enter a word, the keyboard fills up the practically the whole visible space so you can't see what the dictionary is currently displaying.

I don't know if anything can be done to make getting the information you need faster as well as some of the visual aspects already mentioned. The one about the search results being to large is spot on because when you are looking up a word you're not familiar that you might have heard, you have to be able to see a large selection of those of possible words.

But if not, please make the Android version function more closely to the windows version so that I can one day upgrade my phone to faster model!

Thanks

 

[mikelove]

Thanks for the feedback.

I did see a good comment on the font size of the search results being much larger than the treo version. I agree with that completely. Although you say it is customizable, it is not customizable to a degree that puts it on a par with the treo version.

Could you expand on this? What sort of customization would you like that you don't currently have? It can certainly be made as small as it was on the Treo, and can be made to put everything on one line.

What about making the middle divider liner, between the word definition shown on the left and the list results on the right, drag adjustable like on the windows version?

That would take up far too much touch-detection space, unfortunately - iOS devices, being finger-driven, simply don't have the sort of pointing resolution that the old stylus-driven Palm/WM ones did, and making that bar tappable would interfere with tap detection on the adjacent buttons and even on items in the list.

I suppose I'd like to make a general comment to try and make the Ipod look and feel as closely as possible to the Windows version in terms of the ease of use.

I seem to have spend so much more time dealing with various pop up screens and other distractions before I can actually get the information that I want. I guess that has something to do with the lack of the physical keyboard as well, because I hate that when you enter a word, the keyboard fills up the practically the whole visible space so you can't see what the dictionary is currently displaying.

That's related to the same problem, unfortunately - the lack of pointing resolution means that we have to do more in popups because we can't offer as many choices on one screen. And even if we could, it would make the app feel totally un-iPhone-like - we're selling this to an awful lot of people who've never had a smartphone/PDA before, or who at the very least have gotten accustomed to the way that other iOS apps work, so if we were to attempt to cram in more functionality and make things behave like they did on Palm we'd end up with lots of critical reviews saying that our app felt too much like a Palm port. (we actually had quite a few of those comments our first few months even with the current interface)

The keyboard space problem can be worked around on Android devices with hardware keyboards, at least in theory, but those are a dying breed (consumers seem to prefer a thinner device with an onscreen keyboard). You might actually find that the best compromise for you is either the new 7" iPad that Apple seems likely to release this fall, or a current Android device with that form factor (a Kindle Fire or a Galaxy Tab 7, or possibly a Galaxy Note though that's borderline). That gets you closer to the pointing resolution of an old Palm/WM phone, and confines the keyboard to a much smaller portion of the screen. You'd also get this on an iPad, of course, but that might be too big for the things you want to use this for.

 

[web74]

Hi Mike,

To expand on the below:

web74 wrote:
I did see a good comment on the font size of the search results being much larger than the treo version. I agree with that completely. Although you say it is customizable, it is not customizable to a degree that puts it on a par with the treo version.


Could you expand on this? What sort of customization would you like that you don't currently have? It can certainly be made as small as it was on the Treo, and can be made to put everything on one line.

I just went back to do a side-by-side comparison of a few word with my treo pro and ipod touch next to each other.

The problem is that, in Portrait mode, the only way to get the 3 or 4 character words visible with the beginning of their pinyin words also showing is to select the character fonts to be ridiculously small to the extent that they can't really be read. This problem is mitigated on the treo by being able to drag the divider to the left.

I find it quite important to be able to scan quickly down a list of search results and sometimes be able to see a few following pinyin words in case I'm not familiar with some of the characters. It's not possible to show all the pinyin words with the 3-4 character phrases but as long as a few are showing I've found it more than adequate for all the rest of the 1-2 character words.

You said it would not be possible to have an drag adjustable divider on the iOS. How about just having a few preset options for setting the divider line further to the left? Also, a function to display the chosen word full screen without the search list on the right would then make it perfect, because you could set the search function far to the left and then go full screen when you've found the word that you want. Is there any reason this function is not included? Apologies if it is and I haven't been able to locate it!

The Landscape mode on the Ipod Touch is actually fine. For your reference, if you want to know what I can generally see displayed on my search list on the Treo, I put my settings on the Touch at Layout Head Pron Defn - Headword 20 / Pron 14 / Def 14 / Def line 1. What I can see with these settings on my Touch is comparable to what I can see on my Treo.

I noticed the Portrait Keyboard and Landscape Keyboard options below the "rearrange list when keyboard open". I changed some of the font sizes but haven't noticed any changes in appearance on the list menu. What do they change?

I have to say that the customization process is also not that easy, as the manual is quite long and it's not always clear to me what each selection will change in the dictionary. Especially so for the search results section.

 

[mikelove]

The problem is that, in Portrait mode, the only way to get the 3 or 4 character words visible with the beginning of their pinyin words also showing is to select the character fonts to be ridiculously small to the extent that they can't really be read. This problem is mitigated on the treo by being able to drag the divider to the left.

Turn on "(smaller)" under "Show definition" in Settings / Dictionary / Overall Interface - that makes the list larger by shrinking the definition. You could also set the Location to "bottom" or "top" (this configures where the definition is, so the list is on the opposite side) in order to get even more width for list items.

I noticed the Portrait Keyboard and Landscape Keyboard options below the "rearrange list when keyboard open". I changed some of the font sizes but haven't noticed any changes in appearance on the list menu. What do they change?

If you enable that option then the layout of entry list items will be changed when the keyboard is open (reflecting the fact that there's now less space for them and that you might want smaller text / less information in order to see more items).

I have to say that the customization process is also not that easy, as the manual is quite long and it's not always clear to me what each selection will change in the dictionary. Especially so for the search results section.

Well the problem there is that you can't make something easy to customize while also offering a lot of options - many of your own requests demonstrate why we have to have so many of them. We could do a better job of documenting what each option does on the screen (and indeed we're working on that), but if we started simplifying and eliminating options I daresay that you'd find that some particular configuration you wanted was no longer achievable.

 

[web74]

Hi Mike,

Yes, you're right about the customization process, the more options you have the more complex the manual will be. Perhaps it's just a matter of the layout of the manual.

Thanks for the info on setting the search list fonts to "smaller", it's now showing exactly what I want. I still think it would be great to have a button that would let the selected word go full screen like on Windows. What are your thoughts on this?

Also, less important now but perhaps still useful, what bout the idea of preset options for the middle divider line.

You said it would not be possible to have an drag adjustable divider on the iOS. How about just having a few preset options for setting the divider line further to the left? Also, a function to display the chosen word full screen without the search list on the right would then make it perfect, because you could set the search function far to the left and then go full screen when you've found the word that you want. Is there any reason this function is not included? Apologies if it is and I haven't been able to locate it!

 

[mikelove]

Thanks for the info on setting the search list fonts to "smaller", it's now showing exactly what I want. I still think it would be great to have a button that would let the selected word go full screen like on Windows. What are your thoughts on this?

Well, we're considering adding a button to let you pull up the separate full-screen definition from two-panel mode, but that's mostly because we're adding a bunch of new options to that screen that won't really fit into the two-panel interface on iPhones. Still, it seems like it would come pretty close to the effect that you're looking for - it would just be on a separate screen instead of integrated into the main screen.

Also, less important now but perhaps still useful, what bout the idea of preset options for the middle divider line.

In addition to the current two? Are you looking for something in between the normal and "smaller" options?

 

[web74]

In addition to the current two? Are you looking for something in between the normal and "smaller" options?

I just made the definition font size smaller and it seem's okay now as I can see everything on one screen. When the fonts are too large the writing is all squeezed into the left hand side. A go full screen button would be good in this case. I notice you have something like this already if you just select the "don't show definition" option - that way every time you select a word it pivots to it's own stand alone screen. Still, a simple button option would also be good.

I also just realized that every time I make a change to the font size in the settings and then flip back to the dictionary I have to actually select a new word to see how the settings are affected - it doesn't automatically update. I was changing the settings before and flipping back and not noticing any changes, so at times I was confused as to whether I was actually modifying the correct setting.