Huge wishlist post

[jennie]

I know this is scarily huge, but I thought I should post my complete wishlist for goldendict. Sorted in order of priority and/or estimated difficulty.


Hard-code a default folder for dictionary content in non-portable installations. Program Files/Goldendict/content is already used as a sort of default in Windows. As for Linux, I think my personal preference would be /opt/goldendict/content, but /usr/share/apps/goldendict/content would be fine as well. In both cases, it is much easier to tell people to copy files to a particular folder, than it is to tell them to copy the files and then add the folder via the Edit->Dictionaries menu.

Create a page for downloading *strictly free* dictionary files. Or/And create an ubuntu PPA with dictionary files and latest goldendict version. I would be glad to help with the PPA.

Add dictionary icon support for stardict/dictd. Just like with .dsl dics, a .bmp icon will be used if found, otherwise a default icon is shown. This does not sound very difficult. Also, the dictionaries would not stop working with the stardict application.

Enable switching between dictionary groups using buttons (just like in the dictionary bar). This would help users of multiple dictionaries to easily switch between groups for, e.g. French->English and English->French.

Create an offline/online button. When offline is pressed, wikipedia and websites are disabled, even if there is an internet connection. I would use this to do offline searches most of the time (quicker), and do online searches only when I can't find what I want offline. Also useful for when you have fast broadband at work but a slow and expensive connection at home.

Use monochrome elementary-style panel icons (at least in Linux). I'm attaching a first proposal for this (icon adapted from gnome-symbolic by jimmac).

Really far-fetched suggestion 1:
Improve the stardict sametypesequence=h format.
Enable embedding of pictures (use the <img src=""> tag, store the pictures in the same way as with .dsl dictionaries, or in a folder called img which is what stardict currently supports.
Enable support of synonyms in stardict source tabfiles (Currently, | for synonyms is supported only in babylon format source files, not tabfiles).
Suport reading the tabfile itself, without needing to compile in stardict format, so that the dictionaries can be edited easily any time.
The main reason for wanting these changes is that stardict tabfiles are easier to sort (one line per article), and support almost all html tags, including tables and bulleted lists (at least in the goldendict webkit implementation). This makes stardict the ideal format for converting html material. However, right now, the lack of support for synonyms and real-time-editing can be quite restrictive.

Really far-fetched suggestion 2:
Add a multilingual glossary format. It could look a bit like this:
[en]word
[fr*]{le }mot
[de]{das }Wort|{Pl. die }Wörter
[dom]general
[com]your comments here

[en]...

This would result in a .dsl entry like this:
word
Wort
Wörter
EN: word
FR: le mot
DE: das Wort | Pl. die Wörter
Domain: general
Comments: your comments here


Two letter ISO codes would be used for naming languages. The asterisk inside [fr*] would mean that this translation should not be included as a headword (E.g. because it is not an official translation). Entries would be valid if they covered at least two languages, or one language plus a [com] tag. Lingvo .dsl tags would also be supported.
Ideally, the users of such glossaries would be able to choose their working languages and view results only in those specified languages.
(I will probably write a simple script to convert this kind of glossary to .dsl format myself, but I am including it in my wishlist just in case somebody else finds it interesting. Any comments on the proposed format would be more than welcome.)

[Gloggy]

Hi jennie. WHOA, what a list

Enable switching between dictionary groups using buttons (just like in the dictionary bar). This would help users of multiple dictionaries to easily switch between groups for, e.g. French->English and English->French.

In the recent (git) version there is a new functionality to have shortcuts to switch to appropriate language group, very useful. And faster than clicking on the buttons too

Create an offline/online button. When offline is pressed, wikipedia and websites are disabled, even if there is an internet connection.

Very good idea! I too tend to turn on and off online dictionaries, or even keep them in separate dictionary groups, which is not as convenient as it colud be. A quick button to turn online mode off and on would be great indeed.

Add a multilingual glossary format. It could look a bit like this:
[en]word
[fr*]{le }mot
[de]{das }Wort|{Pl. die }Wörter
[dom]general
[com]your comments here

[en]...

This would result in a .dsl entry like this:
word
Wort
Wörter
EN: word
FR: le mot
DE: das Wort | Pl. die Wörter
Domain: general
Comments: your comments here

This could be done with standalone script, outside of GoldenDict, yeah. This seems to be the cleanest solution. GoldenDict would continue supporting the DSL format (which is a very easy language to convert to), and users could write all kinds of scripts to generate their content.

[jennie]

In the recent (git) version there is a new functionality to have shortcuts to switch to appropriate language group, very useful. And faster than clicking on the buttons too

True, but I've been trying to convert colleagues who can't tell a left-click from a right-click. Buttons are usually better for the average user/n00b.

[ikm]

Great list. Here's my initial take:

1) Yes, planned.
2) I could assist with hosting and everything else, but I believe this is a job well suited to be done by other people, not myself.
3) Planned. Simple, but not yet done.
4) I had such an idea. Problem is, the icons for the toolbar should be larger than the one used for groups right now (this can be mitigated by used custom icons in latest git, but the country icons should be available in large sizes as well, and we don't have those yet).
5) Very good idea. I'll consider implementing this.
6) I'll take a look. Though this project would be happy to have a designer person
7) Yes, support for pictures is asked a lot. Problem is, there aren't docs on how this is implemented in stardict, and the dictionaries I saw are mostly low-quality Babylon converts. Still, this is planned to be resolved one day.
8) There is no agreement yet on whether we should fragment the DSL language or not. The first thing to be added to the format would probably be tables and fonts, though.

[FlexS]

8).

Two letter ISO codes would be used for naming languages.

Oh, three-letter codes (ISO 639-3) would be much better. Plenty of languages doesn't have ISO 639-1 (two-letter) codes.

[dredd]

i would also suggest to make it possible that every tab has an independent "look up in".
So that if i want to switch from lets say english to japanese or spanish i don't have to change anytime "look up in" but just click the specific tab i desire.

[jennie]

Thanx for the prompt replies! It is nice to see that a lot of this stuff is already in the pipeline!
4-6) My artistic talents don't go as far as creating icons from scratch, but I could help with simple modifications/conversions. Creating simple flag icons is definitely something I could do. What sizes would you need for the group buttons?
7) This has worked for me with the stardict application: <IMG src="60CF1801.bmp">
The images need to be saved inside a folder called "res".
8) This is indeed far-fetched and mostly inspired from the fact that we use 20-language glossaries at work, and I don't know any other applications that can handle multi-language glossaries (apart from database/LAMP implementations, which are rather slow and inflexible).
I do understand why you don't want to fragment the specs. However, I just wish I could have a format that would combine the best points from all current formats. By the way, if I could add something to the DSL format, I would also add support for [url=www.aaa.com]aaa[/url] and [ref=word]words[/ref]. Also, bulleted lists.

And some bonus thoughts on adding dictionary directories:
1a) Maybe Goldendict should check for existing stardict and dictd folders every time the application starts. So, if you install a new stardict dictionary after installing goldendict, it will still be automatically scanned.
1b) I think that the "recursive" checkbox is confusing for most non-expert users. Maybe you could make recursive scanning compulsory, and use an "enabled" checkbox to activate/deactivate directories, the same as with wikipedia and website sources?
1c) Again, it might be easier for non-experts if, whenever you add a new source, the "enabled" checkbox was selected by default.
Suggestions 1b-1c are based on my recent experience with a friend who installed goldendict. Even though I had expressly told her to check "recursive", she forgot, and had to call me to ask why goldendict wasn't showing any dictionaries. It is just the kind of careless mistake that people always make.

[ikm]

Icon sizes should be 24x24 or larger (qt scales them down if necessary).

[viarm]

ikm

Add dictionary icon support for stardict/dictd. Just like with .dsl dics, a .bmp icon will be used if found, otherwise a default icon is shown. This does not sound very difficult. Also, the dictionaries would not stop working with the stardict application.

this feature is OK now? or any other way to work around?

thank you.

[wilo108]

I am also very keen to see support for custom icons for stardict dictionaries.