• Thursday August 28th 2008
• Do you want fries with that project?

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latchwordbb

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Latchword Browser Bar

The Latchword Browser Bar is a vocabulary development and reinforcement tool for the Mozilla browser. It provides a convenient way to look up words in online dictionaries and other internet reference sources, enables you to create and maintain editable word lists, and generates quizzes/drills based on those word lists which may be run in either manual or automatic mode while you browse.

As with other search tools, users may enter a word to look up by selecting it in the current page or by typing it into the lookup box on the toolbar.

Unlike toolbars offered by a number of commercial dictionary sites, the Latchword Browser Bar can be configured to use your favorite online references in place of the five that are included by default. Multiple reference sources can be searched simultaneously, with the results returned in separate tabs for easy comparison. The user interface accepts a shortcut key, so a lookup can be performed without using the mouse, if desired. For logophiles, the toolbar includes a second button for accessing Word-of-the-Day sites.

The third button pictured above (the file cabinet icon) opens a dialog window for viewing and editing the word list file, automatically filling in the word input textbox with the current selection, if any:

In this window, you can delete or add entries to the current word list, select another word list file, or create a new one. LatchwordBB stores word lists in RDF format.

From these word lists, LatchwordBB can generate a randomized drill which will be displayed, either manually or automatically, in the compact quiz area of the bar:

Users can choose to prompt themselves by definition, shown above, by word, or have the complete entry presented all at once. In addition to vocabulary words, LatchwordBB could potentially be used as a study tool for other subjects that are suited to flashcard-style tutoring, such as foreign languages, legal terms, historical events, chemical formulas, etc.

Future Enhancements

The following new features and enhancements are planned for the final release:

• context menu items for searching and adding entries to the user's word list
• hope to include a local English-language dictionary for off-line lookup
• support for the "DICT" protocol

Additionally, work is under way on these items:

• allow Latchword to be easily localized
• automate the uninstall process
• produce a Firefox-compatible version

Acknowledgements

I've learned and borrowed from many other MozApp projects, but particularly from the following: Googlebar, which provided a method for determining selected text and answers to a few other miscellaneous coding questions; JsLib, which I've used as a source library and code example archive; Calendar, which supplied my first examples of iconic menu items, preference handling, and overlays; and earlier versions of the Mozilla Download Manager for tree-sorting and RDF manipulation examples. Creating Applications with Mozilla and the XUL Tutorial are required reading, and XUL Planet's reference documents, particularly the exposition of RDF which begins here, have been indispensable.

Feedback

Your comments or suggestions are welcome - please see the contact page for information about how to get in touch. Problems may be reported directly to me or by using the bugs page.