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Hi,
I think I was not clear with the "color problem".

I do not want to say that the text itself is poorly readable.
It is well readable.

However, the dictionary entries use (at least) four colors: "black", "dark blue", "dark green", "dark red". And for me it is really difficult to distinguish between these colors (except for the "dark red", which is easier to notice).
So, I would like to propose that "dark" colors are changed into "light" ones: "light blue", "light green", "light red".

There exists an option "Coloured display" on/off - maybe one could change it into a choice: "black-white" / "dark colors" / "light colors"?

Of course, the whole screen background could also be "set" / "enforced" to a default predefined value, according to the chosen "color scheme".

Note, the "DictionaryForMIDs.properties" background color setting that you mention is not really a good idea. I believe, almost nobody is able to recreate DfM from scratch, I just use the "default midlet executables" that you provide. I've only learned how to "upgrade" the DfM version in a downloaded "ready to use" dictionary - e.g. I "upgraded" from 3.4.0 to 3.5.7 without generating everything from scratch, but everything comes from your downloads.

Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
Ortho Normal.

Great !

Gert

Excellent, I'll add NormationEng to the dictionary and upload a new version this weekend.

Jeff

Thanks Gert

Thanks for that report - this really helps to improve DfM !!

We need to see whether we can 'reactivate' Sean (he implemented the bitmap fonts for DfM) to have a look at that.

Best regards,
Gert

Dear Mohiraia,

How hard is it to make up a dictionary for a person with limited knowledge of the software or programme?

Jeff made a very nice preparation for setting up a dictionary including a description at http://dictionarymid.sourceforge.net/newdict.html
You should not be afraid of using a command line prompt (that is from where you can type commands such as "dir"). Then it should not be fairly easy to set up a dictionary. You need to read the documentation though

How long would did it take to make up the other dictionaries on this site?

Will be interesting to know from others how long it did take.
For those dictionaries that I myself did set up, the time it did take varies enormously. From maybe 2 hours for a simple dictionary to several days for dictionaries that required a lot of 'cleanup'; if the source dictionary is in good shape then setting up the dictionary is straightforward.

I was thinking about having something like the applications I see on here, but in Māori to English (Māori being an official language of New Zealand).

DfM will do perfectly.

What type of phones can utilise this application?

(a) Java ME capable devices [Nokias, most Samsungs, most Motorolas, most LGs, most ...]
(b) Android devices
(c) additional platforms that may be supported by DfM in the future (iPhone developers wanted  )

Would it be possible to make up a sample dictionary?

Sure.

Best regards,
Gert

Jeff,

Will NormationEng only change Carbon -> carbon?  Will it also change carbon -> Carbon?

Both will work; actually NormationEng will not change the dictionary entry itself (i.e. the dictionary content remains untouched). NormationEng (as the other Normation classes) is only used for determining if a dictionary entry is a hit.  [yes ... you knew this already ]

In NormationEng there is a call to NormationLib.defaultNormation which in turn calls Util.convertToLowerCase.

That means that when DfM determines whether a dictionary entry is a hit, then
1. DfM converts both the dictionary entry and the user input to lower case characters
2. if lower case dictionary and lower case user input match, then the dictionary entry is a hit


Thanks !!
Gert

Dear Ortho Normal,

I am running DfM 3.5.7 (3.4.0) dictionaries on a Symbian S40 6th Edition phone (Nokia 2710 Navigation Edition - MIDP 2.1, CLDC 1.1).

That is really useful technical information

Unfortunately, DfM assumes that the "background" is white (it uses quite dark fonts) and there is no option to change it, so it is hardly readable.

Yes, it is a known issue that depending on the background theme the translations can be hard to read.


In the properties file DictionaryForMIDs.properties it is possible to set the background colour for the translation texts (I would have to look up the name of the property). However this property is raraly used - and the output does not really look nicely on some devices with those background boxes (as you mention, the space between the text remains in its colour).

Again, could you, please, "enforce" appropriate "bright" background for the whole screen?

Is there any Java ME guru out there who can tell me how to do that ??

Another problem with the "bitmap fonts" is that the colors are not really "vivid" - they are a bit hard to distinguish - could you, please, make them more "lively"?

Hmmm, maybe you could provide a screenshot or something for illustration ?

Best regards,
Gert

Thanks for the Changelog-Link 

Gert

The Chemical Elements dictionary uses this for the UpdateClasses:

language1DictionaryUpdateClassName: de.kugihan.dictionaryformids.dictgen.dictionaryupdate.DictionaryUpdateEngDef
language2DictionaryUpdateClassName: de.kugihan.dictionaryformids.dictgen.dictionaryupdate.DictionaryUpdatePartialIndex

The carbon search will come from language1.  I can add this:
language1NormationClassName: de.kugihan.dictionaryformids.translation.normation.NormationEng

Will NormationEng only change Carbon -> carbon?  Will it also change carbon -> Carbon?

I can now remove DictionaryUpdatePartialIndex since it is used as the default now.

Jeff