New Features: Wave 2

This update includes a collection of much-requested new features as well as a handful of optimizations. All of the new features can be accessed via the new "Advanced Fields" section of the word form.

Features

• Etymology / Root Words (Feature Request #36) and Related Words (Feature Request #37)
  • You can now specify a comma-separated list of root or related words, and Lexiconga will automatically link the words to their existing entries.
  • These words appear below the Details of the word's entry in the word list.
• Principal Parts(Feature Request #35)
  • Entering the principal parts of a word as a comma-separated list will display them in parentheses next to the main word.
  • Principal parts are included in searches and will highlight when matched.
• Templates for Details Fields (Feature Request #19)
  • Create as many different templates as you want to populate the Details field for words.
  • Templates are only saved to your local browser and are never uploaded even if you have an account.
  • This was requested a long time ago and is finally getting its debut!

Optimizations

• Edited words now update in-place unless it triggers a sort action.
  • This means that if you edit a word, Lexiconga will not re-render the entire word list unless it needs to, which should help large dictionaries a bit.
• Settings and Dictionary Settings modals now scroll to the top by default when re-opening.
• Import now accepts the 3 new Etymology, Related, and Principal Parts fields, and Export provides them.
  • Having Etymology available for import should allow full imports from ConWorkshop to be possible.

Thank you!

As usual, if you run into any problems with Lexiconga, please submit an issue so I can work on fixing it as soon as possible!

Minor Updates + 1 Important Fix

This version fixes an issue that I had observed but not realized was a problem since the 2.0 release in July 2019.

There was a line of code where two variables were switched around, which caused it to check whether a "last updated" field was set, and if it was, it was told to not use that data instead of using it! Because of this, changes to words were not synced between multiple devices and browsers as promised!

Rest assured that all updates were being saved to the server when the changes were made, but the flag that tells your other devices to update the word on its display wasn't being set. It's a really embarrassing mistake, but it's finally fixed now!

Other updates since the last written release include fixes to:

• Fix the positioning of modals so the save/close buttons were not obscured
• Add tone characters to the IPA chart
• Parse word references in all Details notes fields instead of just in the Description
• Update all dependencies to newest version

New Features: Wave 1

This update includes a number of new features as well as bug fixes!

Features

• Orthography Translation

  • You can now change any character or sequence of characters in a word's name or or reference to a word to another character or sequence of characters.
  • This enables replacement of characters into other unicode characters in order to use custom fonts that target specific characters.

• Custom CSS

  • Write custom CSS for your dictionaries to change the styling however you wish
  • You can set a custom font on the class .orthography-translation to make words and references display in the font of your choice.
    • Check this post on the Lexiconga Blog for a step-by-step tutorial of how to set it up!

• Custom Alphabetical Order

  • Specify the sequence you want your words to display in
  • Note: Requires entering every character used in your language, upper- and lower-case, in the correct order to work properly. If you exclude characters, they will sort in ASCII or Unicode order.

• More Detail Notes

  • In the Phonotactics section, "Exceptions" has been changed to "Notes" in order to allow a greater degree of freedom.
  • "Notes" has been added to the Phonology section to allow explaining features like allophones and other things you might want to talk about.

• Smarter Saving

  • Settings are not saved unless changes are made.
  • This potentially helps make fewer writes to your disk and fewer requests to the server if you're logged in!

Bug Fixes

• Fixed public views not opening Description panel on load.
• Fixed Ctrl+X hotkey overriding the Cut command.
  • Replaced Ctrl+X with Ctrl+Backspace/Delete.
• Fixed references showing homophone number when no homophones exist.
• Prevent saving empty Dictionary names and specifications.
• Fix stats not rendering correct numbers in public view of single words.
• Fix stats splitting html entities?
  • This appears to have fixed itself, which is potentially troubling and might mean it could return later.

2.1.1 Patch

• Adds missing maximize button to Phonology Notes and Phonotactics Notes fields
• Fix spacing around headers and fields in Details

Lexiconga 2.0!

Lexiconga has been completely re-written from the ground up for better offline support, better messaging, better data structure behind the scenes, and better code structure for easier development of new features! This rewrite comes with a new look and some new features that will be expanded upon in the coming year.

New Features

• Call your dictionary what you'd like with the "Specification" field

  • Want to call your collection of words a "Word List" instead of a "Dictionary"? Now you can!
    

• Additional linguistic flexibility with "Details" tab

  • Specify your language's phonology, phonotactics, and specify other linguistic information in this dictionary settings tab.
    

• Handy word and letter stats

  • See how many words of each part of speech are in your dictionary and the distribution of every letter used.
    

• Easier IPA pronunciation entry

  • Pronunciation fields now use an input system that makes it easier to type IPA characters by default (use the Field Help button to learn how it works or turn it off in the Settings).
    
  • There's also a built-in IPA character picker now, so you can point and click your way to IPA pronunciations if you don't want to use the typing method.
    

• Quick word linking and automatic homophone labeling

  • Link to other words in your dictionary like {{this}} from within the Details field of any word.
  • If you allow duplicate words, subsequent words will be labeled with a number, which you can link to like {{this|2}}
    

• Improved search bar

  • The search bar sticks to the top of the screen so you can see your search as you scroll.
    
  • Press Ctrl/Cmd + S to pull up the search bar from anywhere on the page.

• Per-dictionary color themes

  • Set each dictionary to a different color theme to easily note which one you're using.
  • Choose a color theme that fits your language's culture/theme for sharing
    
    
    
    

• New offline mode

  • After you visit Lexiconga, an offline version of Lexiconga will be saved to your browser so that if Lexiconga is ever down or if you ever don't have internet access, you can still use it!
  • After making offline changes, it'll get synced to your account when you get internet connection again!

• Better ads

  • We've dropped Google ads and tracking in favor of a manually-curated collection of advertisements that you might actually care about.
  • Ads are displayed as simple text with a link every 10 words, and they're all vetted to ensure they're not malicious.
    
  • If you want to advertise, you can! See https://lexicon.ga/advertising.html for details.

Changes

• The New Word Form is now "unlocked" by default and will always follow you up and down the screen.
• The "Definition/Equivalent Word(s)" field is now simply labeled "Definition" and "Explanation/Long Definition" is now "Details"
• The Settings button offers the option to turn off hotkey use, default theme for new dictionaries, and whether you want to use the new IPA auto-fill feature.
• Change Dictionary field moved to Account Actions when logged in.
• The search bar and parts of speech filter is now at the top of the screen instead of below the dictionary description.
• The dictionary's underlying structure is changed to allow for linguistic details.
• More default JavaScript confirmation usage.
  • If this becomes a problem with users, we will have to switch to different solutions similar to SweetAlert, but for now, this was the lightest option.
• Dropped "Dictionary Builder" from the logo and branding.

Enjoy!

If you experience any trouble while using the new Lexiconga, please report the issue to the Issues page, and we'll work to address it! Or if you have any feature requests or other ideas for making Lexiconga better, we'd love to hear those, too! (Use the Issues page for those as well, please.)

We hope you enjoy the new Lexiconga and the features we are going to be releasing in the coming months!

Mobile/Small Window Styling Update

This update include a much-needed overhaul to the look and feel of Lexiconga on mobile devices and small screens.

• Small screens now utilize the full width available to allow for better viewing convenience.
• Add words from anywhere in your dictionary! Now you don't need to scroll all the way to the top of your dictionary to add words—just click the + button when the word entry form is off the screen!

It's hard to get the feel of an app like this just right for mobile, so I hope this update helps you a use Lexiconga more easily!

Database and Import/Export Update

This update has significant front-end and back-end changes. The only thing regular users will care about is the front-end stuff.

On the front-end:

• The site got a facelift! Instead of the older-looking "3d" borders, we have shadows and nice, clean edges.
• Clicking Edit on a word no longer thrusts you to the New Word Form. Instead, you can edit the word right its own spot in the dictionary so you don't lose your scroll!
• You can now import and export word lists in CSV format! Export out your whole dictionary as a nice, flexible CSV file to use elsewhere, or import an old list you've been creating in Excel!
• You can now share individual words form your dictionary if your dictionary is set to be public!
• If you're viewing the public dictionary page for your own dictionary and you're logged in, you can click an "Edit Dictionary" button and start editing, no matter what dictionary you were editing before!

On the back-end:

• The database has been updated to change the way words are saved. This doesn't mean much now, but it opens up the potential for collaborating on dictionaries in the future!

We hope you enjoy using Lexiconga. If you come across any problems, please let us know either by leaving an Issue report at http://lexicon.ga/issues or by sending an email to help@lexicon.ga.

Filter Update

You can now filter dictionaries on as many parts of speech as you want on Lexiconga:
Just check the parts of speech that you want to filter on. You can also search within the filters.

Also, the word form doesn't auto-focus if word form isn't unlocked anymore because it's annoying on mobile.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can now use keyboard shortcuts to do things in Lexiconga:

Esc : Exits a window (i.e. Dictionary Settings, Account Settings, this about page, etc.) without saving.

Ctrl/Control +

• Enter/Return : Submit Word (when typing in Word Form)
• D : Toggle Dictionary Description visibility.
• E : Export current dictionary. (Also Ctrl+Shift+S does this.)
• H : Open this help window.
• M : Maximize/Minimize Full Screen textbox when typing in the boxes that have the Maximize button.
• S : Jump to Search box.
• U : Toggle Word Form lock.

Alt/Option +

• A : Toggle Account Settings window (if logged in).
• S : Toggle Dicitonary Settings window. Saves & Closes if it's already open.

These keyboard shortcuts have been added to the About Lexiconga button so you can see them whenever you forget anything.

Other Changes

I've also fixed an error that pops up when you try to export a dictionary without words. Now it simply won't let you try to export unless it has at least one word.

Under the Hood

Less exciting and completely invisible to you, I've separated out some general-use functions in the code into their own "helper" files to help me find and add to them more easily if I ever need to.

Thanks!

I hope you enjoy using Lexiconga, and I welcome you to report any problems you find and tell me about any additions/changes you want to see in the Dictionary Builder (Lexiconga) Issue Tracker!

Public Links

I managed to get public links to your dictionary a lot smaller! Now it’s just lexicon.ga/<your dictionary>! For example, my Gobahai dictionary is at http://lexicon.ga/74 instead of http://lexicon.ga/view/?dict=74!

Don’t worry if you’ve shared the old format, though, because that will still get you where you need to go. The new format is just much nicer to look at and a lot easier to remember!

Thanks for using Lexiconga! If you have any questions or ideas for new features, please let me know!

Previous Updates

Feb 27th, 2016 1:58:18pm

I’ve added a maximize button to the “Explanation/Long Definition” and “Dictionary Details” text boxes that gives you a huge area to write in. It even preserves your cursor position or highlighted text as it expands so you don’t lose your place in the size change (if the scroll is wrong, hitting a left or right arrow key will pop your view to where your cursor is). When you’re done editing, just hit “Minimize” or click the gray area outside of the box, and you’ll be free to continue on as if you had been using the smaller box the whole time.

It’s super handy when you have Details as long and complicated as mine! :)

I hope this addition is as useful for you as it is for me!

Feb 24th, 2016 3:38:17pm

The word entry form is no longer trapped at the top of the page—now you can bring it with you wherever you go in your dictionary!

Click the Lock/Unlock button in the top right corner of the word form, and it’ll scroll down the page with you. You can also edit a word without having the page pop back to the top. Super handy if you need to reference other words when adding/editing!

Jan 18th, 2016 2:34:49pm

I've added a very small but very useful feature for searching: a results counter!

Now whenever you filter or search a dictionary, it will display how many results are showing! This is also useful because it can be a good indicator of why you can't find a certain word if you accidentally have a filter set.

If you need to see the total number of words in your dictionary, you can still always see the number in the dictionary's settings.

Dec 25th, 2015 4:44:29pm

Lexiconga Accounts are here!

With an account, you can have as many dictionaries as you need and switch between them at will, access your dictionaries from any device, make public and share your dictionaries, and have the peace of mind of having your dictionaries stored in the cloud instead of just on your browser where clearing the cache might accidentally remove it! It’s free to get and use an account, and it always will be.

Create your account using the Log In/Create Account button in the top left corner and then use the same button to log in (just read the notificaitons that appear and you’ll figure it out). The first time you log in to your account, the dictionary you have loaded in your browser will automatically upload to your account. (If you don’t have a dictionary saved, it’ll just upload the blank “New” dictionary anyway.) After that, you can use Lexiconga as normal! Check the About Lexiconga button for more information about what you can do with an account.

The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are pretty standard, but just make sure you’re ok with them before using accounts. I definitely recommend that you DON’T share accounts because one save will overwrite another if the previous save is not loaded to the other person’s computer. Also, if you use your account on multiple computer, always be sure to reload the page on the computer you’re working on if you’ve made changes from another computer.

I hope you enjoy and that you share some awesome lexicons with the world!

Nov 11th, 2015 9:16:27am

Hello my friends! I’ve made some important changes to Lexiconga that I think you’ll like!

First, direct your attention to the new Pronunciation field in the word form! This accepts Markdown formatting for bold and italic text if you like to add emphasis that way. There’s also a link to an IPA character picker tool that lets you easily pick out whatever International Phonetic Alphabet Unicode characters you might need for your pronunciation.

You’ll also notice that there are little link icons in the top-right corner of each dictionary entry. That’s right! Each word now has its own link for cross-reference within the dictionary! Note that these only work reliably when no search or filter is on, and they’ll only work if the dictionary is already loaded (i.e. not loaded from an external page).

Another small change is the new option in the Dictionary’s Settings to sort the words alphabetically by Equivalent Word(s) instead of just by word! If you want to sort your dictionary this way, just be sure to format your Equivalent Word(s) for every entry in a way that will cooperate with it.

I hope you enjoy these updates and find them useful! If you run into any problems with Lexiconga, please let me know and I’ll work on fixing them as soon as I can.

Nov 1st, 2015 10:46:51pm

I built Lexiconga from scratch to help anyone build their own dictionary/lexicon. It’s fast, fun, and easy to use. Every time you make a change, the dictionary is saved to your browser so you can easily pick up where you left off. All the data you enter is completely local and saved on your computer, making it as secure as your own computer. You can format your dictionary’s description and entry explanations using Markdown to make it look nice in case you want to share it, and it’s is Unicode-compatible, which means the entire Unicode library of characters is available to use in your words.

At the time, you can only have one dictionary in the builder at a time, but you can export your dictionary and import any other compatible dictionary anytime you want. (Be careful, though. Importing a dictionary will overwrite your current one!!) That means once you’re done with a dictionary, you can share it with friends or fans! Also be aware that your dictionary is saved per-browser, so technically, each browser can have its own dictionary saved if you want… Also, Lexiconga is only guaranteed on the most up-to-date of modern browsers like Chrome and Firefox, so if something’s not working, try out a newer browser.

Check out everything else you need to know about it by clicking the “About Lexiconga” button, and get started on your nicely-formatted lexicon today!

Website: http://lexicon.ga