Horticultural Dictionary

Goals of the project: Dictionary containing terms from the „green-world“ Several languages (5 dictionaries, may be extended in the future) On-screen translations Printed dictionaries in selected languages (not finished yet)

Involved up to now: Computer teacher –Software development, user administration English and German language teachers –Content, spelling... College students –Content, filling in, transcription Special teachers –Advisory, e.g. categories, proper terms

In the future we would like to involve: Another group of College students –Content, filling in, transcription Special teachers –Larger extend of advisory and control (e.g. categories)

Practical realization Application runs on a web server (MySql database, Php scripts, Apache webserver) One database for all users (Everyone has actual data, no need for data synchronization) Everyone with an internet connection can use the dictionary for translations („guest“) Only registered users („participants“) can add, edit or delete terms in the dictionary(ies), for which they have appropriate access rights.

Dictionaries in the system System contains several bilingual „real“ dictionaries. These dictionaries are filled directly by participants (i.e. English-Czech, German-Czech). They have yellow/green mark on the screen and are listed first.

Dictionaries in the system „Virtual“ dictionaries are created „on-the-fly“ by the system from „real“ dictionaries (i.e. English-German dictionary uses English-Czech and Czech-German dictionaries). It heavily depends on correct and uniform writing of the words in „real“ dictionaries. They have cyan/red mark on the screen and are listed last.

Information kept in the dictionary Terms in both languages Owner of the term – the user who filled the term in Pronunciation (not all dictionaries) Categories (each term can belong to several categories) Lock (each term can be locked and protected against other manipulation) Date and time of creation and last modification

How to start Go to At the upper left corner, select the language of the user interface (language in which the system will communicate with you)

Translation Select the dictionary – „real“ dictionaries have yellow/green marks, „virtual“ dictionaries have cyan/red marks. „Real“ dictionaries may be more accurate. Type the term you want to translate – a few letters will usually be enough, system will list all terms that start with them. Start with „%“ to search inside of terms (i.e. „%shrub“ will find „shrub“ as well as „undershrub“) Press the „Translate“ button. System will list all matching terms in alphabetical order.

Translation Here you can see the difference with and without the percent-sign at the beginning of the searched term:

Translation - tips Do not fill terms in both languages – you usually do not really want such a restriction. Fill the searched term just in one language. When the term was not found, try fewer letters or start the term with a percent- sign, system will then list all items that contain the term (otherwise it lists only items that start with the term).

Modifications of dictionaries Go to Click on the link „log in“ on the bottom Type your user-name and password When succesfull, your username will appear at the bottom Select the dictionary – only „real“ dictionaries with yellow/green mark can be directly modified

Translations – participants You can check „List just my own terms“ – system will then include to the result just terms that were filled by you. This is often used by typing „%“ into searched term (or i.e. „m“ to list your terms starting with „m“). Translation otherwise works in the same way as for guests.

Modifications When you are logged in and have translated a term, you can use symbols near the translated term to edit or delete the term Yellow mark indicates terms of other users, blue one indicates your own terms You can lock or unlock the term (locked terms cannot be modified) There is a warning sign if categories are missing

How to add a new term Click on the „Add new word“ button Fill in the term in both languages Some dictionaries have a field for pronunciation – then it should be filled too Check all categories in which the term should appear Press „Store the changes“ to save data

How to add a new term faster You can use another dictionary as a source of words; this is done by setting „Mode“ to „Comparison with: xxx“; then translate something (%) and add to dictionary.

How to add a new term faster For example, if you are working on English-French dictionary, you can compare it with English-Czech dictionary. Use „%“ or „a“ etc. as searched English term. After that you click „Translate“, you can use the plus sign to add the term into your (English-French) dictionary. This saves a lot of typing and prevents mistakes in new words that already are in another dictionary.

Contact Please report any technical problems with the dictionary, as well as wishes and tips for improvements, to Karel Rys, Please consult any questions about the current work on the dictionaries with Hana Grátová,