I've just tried to add 萹 to a list of mine; I was prompted to add definition, and that's easy .... but it looks like is impossible to edit the pronunciation
"chuà" of the "placeholder"... is there any way to do it?

Another minor issue... editing some definition (only two or three of them over a list of twenty or so) I've just realized, while cramming the list, they've come out in a little, very little font size... I've already edited plenty of definition in my language, and never happened before... anyone else found similar problems?

I would love a way to edit pronunciations. I recently came across a word with a dual pronunciation and the one my textbook used isn't the one Skritter has by default. The ability to swap those around would be great.

For me, however, my current dream feature is a way to just pull up my vocabulary list and edit all of their definitions as opposed to having to do it as I review them. I always try to make notes such as 书面语/正式/口语 or perhaps a small note about how to use the word. Having to remember to make those notes while reviewing them is a bit of a headache. Adding the ability to edit a custom definition from my practice or vocabulary page, textbooks would have to be included, would be a great feature. Of all of the changes I have seen in Skritter since I started, the custom definitions are by far the most useful to me.

I added "bian1" to the pronunciation there, but I'm not sure what that character is really supposed to be. You should be able to edit the definition now. Adding pronunciations for characters has been a separate system.

I don't think we will allow custom pinyin. Too much complexity to be worth it.

You can edit the custom definition of any word from its word popup, which is available from all the places you mentioned.

@Nick

It took me a minute to find it. This is great. Thanks. I never knew that if I click the character from my vocabulary lists I could edit the custom definition.

thanks a lot Nick!

萹 it should be just a type of plant belonging to the genus of Polygonum; you can find something if you'll search for 扁竹... and, yes, I agree, it seems not to be a very common character!

As to the font size issue, I've noticed it happens on many items, not only on the three I've just mentioned in my post above.

Actually, it seems definitions may appear in three dimensions: the usual size, plus two smaller ones; on the other hand you can find different sizes even in the lower part of the box (the single character part).

Really I did'nt noticed that up to now... never seen this variable font size... both running IE and Mozilla Firefox... is just me to see that? some strange virus on my laptop?

We added some new code to shorten long definitions, so that they would fit inside the prompt better. It shouldn't fire unless the definitions are rather long. It may be miscalibrated, though. Can you send me some examples of definitions that you think are made too small?

Hi Nick! really thanks for you attention..

could you try these in my language (it-zh)

凌
匾
编
壬
淘
简陋

I think some of them are really too much little, nearly impossible to read for me..

I've been adding new definitions (for Italian-Chinese) since some time on, and, yes, some of them was pretty long, but I've always controlled that they could fit in the box; and I've never noticed anyone have been shortened or anything else strange happened..

I think there is something odd in the new code; you can easily see it... in the above list you'll find some item very, very little, even if the box is almost empty or at least, not that overloaded... particularly see 匾 编

Besides, in my opinion, it's pretty distracting, while practising, to find (at least) three different sizes, one of them being really too much little to be read; someone of the Skritter user may well not have a perfect sight...

Not only, in a way, I think that the former way, a clear, standard, big font for the upper part of the box (the word definition), and a little smaller for the lower one (the single character part) reflected a very meaningful hierarchy. It was a big thing, believe me...

OK, anyway, let me take the chance to really thank Skritter for the introduction of so many new languages... and mine too (!!) (it was an old dream of mine, and we talked about some not too months ago, do you remember?). I think this is a great site, and could have a great future!



M.

I see. We are trying to free up more room in the prompt for long combinations, especially with the example sentences in there. So the definitions entered in there for many of those words are definitely on the long side. For languages where we can better edit submissions ourselves, we are trying to get the definitions down much shorter.

That said, I can see how it would be too short at the minimum we picked, so I'll try raising it such that it doesn't make them that much smaller, and so that the word definition is never smaller than the character definition. Will upload that today or tomorrow.

Thanks for the great feedback! I'm happy to lay the groundwork for Skritter in Italian, but really it is you and Marco Sottile who are making it actually happen. Much appreciated!

Nick, in my opinion you really shouldn't be changing the font sizes. If I've got a sample sentence there, as most of the time, I don't want the text to be any smaller (plus, does it take into account image links?).

I don't really think there was a problem here to begin with that needed fixed. Most of the Skritter definitions are short enough -- it'll be our own custom ones that would be mainly hit by it. I'm sure we're capable of deciding if our definition/other text is taking up too much space.

Cheers

Have you seen it in action, Byzanti? It's not a big effect, but it does cut down on the space requirements for definitions helpfully, at least on the words I tested (included ones with longer custom definitions and overly long definitions we had to make from the German and Russian dictionaries). Needing to not break the layout with really long definitions is something that makes designing things for the prompt more complicated.

well, Nick,

I think perhaps I'd prefer knowing in advance exactly how long a definition should be to fit in the available space, than dealing with a variable font size.

Just today, even knowing that some better calibration is coming soon, I've found myself "forced" to edit some of the longer definition, shortening as possible, in order to get the standard font size, just to prevent that size "jumps".

I mean, if I have to choose, I'd prefer to cut some information in advance, because, in my experience, even to find three or four of these little-font entries every twenty or thirty it is something really distracting...

Just a simple idea; perhaps it could be possible, even in future: if a definition really does not fit into the space, create in those circumstances a link to another page, just in case someone wants to see the complete definition, examples, etc... letting the fixed space in the practicing page to the most relevant information....

The other thing that I cannot completely understand is that, before the introduction of the new system, I've never noticed something strange or any shortage of space, even in the longer definition.
I don't know if other languages than Italian have already displayed some problem for longer definition, so I cannot speak in general terms; I'm just making some consideration based on my personal experience.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the old system was nearly "perfect" as it was, because practicing is, anyway, a pretty heavy job for the mind, and seeing something that changes without a standard pattern in the formatting system of all the information part, really finish to waste a lot of mental energy and some precious attention, or even potentially gives, in a subliminal way, wrong informations about the relevancy of the informations.


Sorry for the lenght of my post!! 太罗嗦!! at any rate, thanks to everybody for the attention, and to Nick and Skritter, of course!


M.

Nick - yeah, I had seen it in action. Just hadn't Skrittered for a few days so wrote it like that (just arrived in Shanghai, but noticed the small thing before I left and wasn't keen). Did a bit last night, and I still think what I said stands. At the moment img:blah links does make the rest of the text shorter too, even if it's only a two or three word definition. At any rate, I don't want the definition smaller when I have a sample sentence there.

I think lauren's right. I know people are naturally against change, but this one just seems to have little in the way of benefits, and is just irksome enough.

Anyway, off to sign a house for rent now...

Okay, you guys have persuaded me. I'll try to find some other ways to save space there and will turn this off.

Thanks Nick. For me the custom definition and its flexibility has become by far one of the most important and brilliant parts of Skritter (along with hidden pinyin and actually writing stuff), so be gentle :p.