PlecoDict 1.0 Feedback

[Jamie]

Mike,

I downloaded the NWP and ABC dictionaries and I'm really happy with them. The software interface looks great and works well on my Sony TH-55. My only problem is with the handwriting feature. I used to see the characters appear as I drew the character but now that function is not available. Has this function been removed? Keep up the good work. Thanks!

 

[mikelove]

Thanks!

And yes, we removed that function ("Dynamic Mode") - it was causing confusion and the occasional crash for some people, and it didn't work well with our new Hanwang handwriting recognizer anyway, so we thought it prudent to get rid of it.

 

[herve]

Hello,

The handwriting recognition is ........ very good !

I particularly like the way it can be set e.g. at the bottom of the screen and stay there. The possibility to reduce the area and write anywhere on the screen is actually very practical.

Thanks for the "surprise".

 

[gandq]

Bugs

Hi Mike.

Here are my experiences with 1.0: No crashes, no problems, everything's perfect! I just installed the new 48font, the new plecodict.prc and the key file. The new HWR is cool. How did the update work? I didn't install any new HWR files...


Only bugs i noticed:

- after using the resident (the hardware button option is there and works now!), the HWR will be disabled the next time i start plecodict.

- if the HWR is switched to lefthanded layout, the backspace button doesn't work.


Some issues:

- flag list in card info screen is still too small

- the new HWR will show much less possible matches than the old one, so there is a lot of empty space that could be used for stuff (more toolbar buttons etc.). There would even be enough room in the palete HWR to add the backspace button beside the on/off button...

- as someone who creates a lot of custom entries from text files, i would love to have copy/paste buttons in the edit custom entry screen. Of course, those commands are available in the command bar, but having buttons would be really cool.

That's it for now. Gonna go back using plecodict now.

Cheers,



jo.

 

[mikelove]

Great! Glad to know it's (largely) working in your case - at least these cache eviction errors aren't affecting everyone. The handwriting recognizer upgrade was actually part of the keyfile - we're not allowed to distribute the handwriting recognizer data files with the demo-version software, so we bundle them into the keyfile instead.

I've verified the backspace problem (very odd, the button doesn't even seem to be registering taps), and the handwriting recognizer one is just a stupid little oversight - we added some code to check whether the handwriting recognizer is initialized when PlecoDict starts up, and to disable it if it's not, and that code seems to be running even if PlecoDict is starting up in Instant Access mode. Both of these should be very easy to fix.

Good point on the flag list (and the rank one too), we neglected those when we were working on the other ones but it should be trivial to fix them. (you could probably do it yourself with RsrcEdit, even) Redesigning the HWR interface would be nice but it probably won't happen before 1.1, though I'll see what can be done about the copy/paste buttons.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I've been averaging about 100 flashcard entries a day since last week. Soon my old paper flash cards will be no more.

Here is a minor irritant as my number of cards increases-

The entries I most often edit are those I've just put into the system. Presently, that means there at the bottom of the list. It takes 40 taps to get there, and the number is going up.

How about inverting the order of the entries in the edit lists making the most recent the top one?

Thanks for a great program!

 

[mikelove]

In theory it wouldn't be that complicated, but it's the sort of thing that has the potential to create a lot of bugs, so I don't think this is something we could do in a 1.0.x release. We're planning a major revamp of the Edit Lists screen for PlecoDict 1.1, though, one which will give you an actual scrollbar and a wider / easier-to-read edit list, so that should improve things significantly.

One little workaround you could try is copying another card to the list you want to edit and then immediately deleting it - copying the card will jump you down to the bottom of the list.

 

[goulniky]

This will mainly be of interest to the Sony Clie owners, but I am glad to report that PlecoDict works quite well with Portrait 1.1b, the new tool that rotates applications to portrait on the Clie UX.

There is a another tool from the same developer to rotate Clie NX/NZ/TH (and Garmin iQue 3600 soon) to landscape, I haven't tested it but I would gather it works equally well.

I am not affiliated with mobile-stream but I have to admit they did a really good job.

 

[Anonymous]

Minor suggestion

Wonderful product! As a minor enhancement suggestion, It would be very convenient if when a magnified character was displayed, the "copy to input field" button (at least) were functional on that character. It is often tedious to select a single character, but tapping and displaying is quite easy.

 

[mikelove]

Great idea! In fact, it's something we almost included in 1.0 but didn't because (as usual) we ran out of time - we might include it in 1.0.1 as a little "bonus feature" but it'll probably have to wait for 1.1.

 

[chaiusa]

Mike,

When i switch dictionaries, i see the "USR" dictionary.

what dict is it? and where is it installed?

 

[mikelove]

It's the dictionary containing entries created on your Palm (either directly using the "Add/Edit Entry" command or through a flashcard import). It's installed in main memory as "PlecoDict User DB".

 

[chaiusa]

Mike,

For "USR" dictionary, How useful is it? Do I need it?

 

[mikelove]

It's not really a question of needing or not needing it - it's built into PlecoDict, and it will only show up at all if you've added entries to it. If you'd rather not have to keep seeing it when you cycle through dictionaries, simply delete the PlecoDict User DB file from your Palm and that will clear out any entries you may have created. (you can also go through and delete the user dictionary entries manually)