Comments on: Your Mac: Literacy Tool?

By: Art K.

Art K. — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:32:54 +0000

The dictionary is a great tool to be used beyond spell-checking. It enables the user to look up words on the fly - going beyond most people’s reliance on context to define a word whose meaning they are unsure of.

Now, if it only worked in Firefox, among many other programs it still doesn’t work with. If I am wrong about this, let me know what to do to make it work.

By: MARK

MARK — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 00:16:17 +0000

I love it… Thanks for the tip… Keep them coming…

By: BUMBIERIS » Blog Archive » Dictionary shortcut

BUMBIERIS » Blog Archive » Dictionary shortcut — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:18:39 +0000

[...] 9;tājs Dictionary shortcut the apple blog pēdējais ieraksts man atgādināja, ka jāpastāsta par vienu noderīgu [...]

By: The Apple Blog » Your Mac: Literacy Tool?

The Apple Blog » Your Mac: Literacy Tool? — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 17:53:39 +0000

[...] enshot of it. It keeps disappearing! Update: 11/25: Screenshot courtesy of Andy Smith This feature is simply another view into Tiger’s [...]

By: Andy Smith

Andy Smith — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 11:52:54 +0000

Hi Chris - no site, but feel free to use it.

By: Chris Holland

Chris Holland — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:37:05 +0000

Mike: cool tip thanks.

By: Chris Holland

Chris Holland — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 18:36:05 +0000

Ted B: check out Gareth’s past article on languages support. It seems to echo this shortcoming on the spoken-end of things. Have you also looked at Jisho?

By: mike

mike — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:31:55 +0000

check this out for even more functionality with the dictionary:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051105191409181

it lets you toggle the dictionary service on and off with a keystroke

By: Ted B

Ted B — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 13:02:33 +0000

It would be great to have this available in foreign languages too.

I tried it under both the Japanese and French versions of the Finder, but it seems that the dictionary is only available in English.

Pity because it would make a great educational tool.

By: Chris Holland

Chris Holland — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 06:24:34 +0000

The key is that this dictionary service is only a “Tool”. With proper guidance and motivation, it ought to help us out. If we let the spelling suggestion do the work for us and not make any attempt to memorize the correct spelling, or further crystalize it in our minds by looking up its definition in the dictionary via a quick cmd-ctrl-d, then we’re indeed being lazy and not making the best use of it.

So mileage will indeed vary, and I agree with both Josh’s and DMann’s arguments.

But all in all, I find it a very nice tool to have on my computing platform of choice.

Andy Smith: Cool, would you mind if I used your screenshot in the main story? Do you have a site I can credit you at?

By: Inside Stretch

Inside Stretch — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 03:03:38 +0000

[...] Through The Eyes Tiger has lots of new features. Many I haven’t discovered yet, but The Apple Blog has recently discovered one. It intergrates the dic [...]

By: Andy Smith

Andy Smith — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 01:28:56 +0000

Here’s a screenshot:
http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/4457/screenshot2111200511snuz6xt.jpg

By: DMann

DMann — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 00:55:27 +0000

The mere effort of acting upon a desire to learn
would seem to rule out laziness. Before Tiger, I read
articles with a dictionary on my lap. On an average,
I looked up 3 words per article. With Tiger, I look up 8 or more. My curiosity of etymology has been greatly
stimulated by the ease of access. If anything, people will
likely become more curious and less lazy with this vast resource available.

By: Josh S

Josh S — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:44:01 +0000

Yes, but does it actually help a person to be educated? Or to be lazy?