Difference between revisions of "Dictionary Robot"
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[[Image:Dictionary Robot Logo.png|thumb]] | [[Image:Dictionary Robot Logo.png|thumb]] | ||
| − | '''Dictionary Robot''' [http://dictionaryrobot.com] is a site I made to help users look up a bunch of words at once. | + | '''Dictionary Robot''' [http://dictionaryrobot.com] is a site I made to help users look up a bunch of words at once. Its purpose is to help students complete their vocabulary homework in less time. The target users are students in grades 3-9. |
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| + | While visiting the site, the user enters their vocab list. They can enter in the list either comma separated, space separated, or linebreak separated. Then user is then presented with a list of possible definitions for each word. After they select definitions for all of the words, they are presented with a list which they can either copy or print out using the PDF print view. | ||
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| + | The definitions are retrieved from a public kDict server. These definitions are in the public-domain and such are not the clearest. Most of the definitions are from the 1913 Websters Dictionary which makes them dated. However due to copyright concerns, I am stuck with what I can afford. In an attempt to remedy this, I track how many times a definition piece is used. Hopefully as the site is used the best definitions will float to the top. | ||
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| + | In addition, I take the definitions I receive and use complex regular expressions to chop up the definition into multiple pieces. Often a word has multiple definitions and students should choose which definition to use. | ||
==Initial Development== | ==Initial Development== | ||
Revision as of 03:08, 1 March 2009
Dictionary Robot [1] is a site I made to help users look up a bunch of words at once. Its purpose is to help students complete their vocabulary homework in less time. The target users are students in grades 3-9.
While visiting the site, the user enters their vocab list. They can enter in the list either comma separated, space separated, or linebreak separated. Then user is then presented with a list of possible definitions for each word. After they select definitions for all of the words, they are presented with a list which they can either copy or print out using the PDF print view.
The definitions are retrieved from a public kDict server. These definitions are in the public-domain and such are not the clearest. Most of the definitions are from the 1913 Websters Dictionary which makes them dated. However due to copyright concerns, I am stuck with what I can afford. In an attempt to remedy this, I track how many times a definition piece is used. Hopefully as the site is used the best definitions will float to the top.
In addition, I take the definitions I receive and use complex regular expressions to chop up the definition into multiple pieces. Often a word has multiple definitions and students should choose which definition to use.
Initial Development
I spent about a month off and on doing initial development in the summer of 2007. I had created the site because I had an AP Psychology vocab project. Steps:
- design and branding (I did all of the design myself)
- rounded corners box
- open/close javascript
- dictionary querying (using a library)
- flow along pages and multiple steps.
I tend to create the branding and visual design before I code any of the actual working parts. I know this is backwards, but it reflects how I think.
Restart in 2009
The site sat barely-working from August 2007 until February 2009. I had considered it a failure and deemphasized it from my accomplishments list. I restarted work on the project for the [FreshBrain http://freshbrain.org] scholarship contest. It only took a few hours to get the site working again.
I decided to remove all of the js and iframe visual elements. I decided it was more important for the site to be fast and work reliability than to have nice page loading transitions. In the future I should use Javascript to build more functionality - not add visual effects.
Email Me
