foodworms.net for designers and web developers

by Ben Boychuk, Macworld.com

Every modern English dictionary stands in the adumbrate of the Holy Trinity of Lexicons: The Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, and American Heritage. With millions of words, definitions, literary references, origins and illustrations, these dictionaries are monuments to centuries of language and learning. All three present a depth of scholarship and attention to editorial detail that the upstarts simply cannot trial.

Product:American Heritage Dictionary—Fourth Edition 1.0 Rating CompanyEnfour Price as rated$30 Product:Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11th Edition 1.3 Rating CompanyMobile Systems Price as rated$25 Product:The Concise Oxford English Dictionary 1.0 Rating CompanyParagon Technologie Price as rated$25 Product:Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged 1.0.5 Rating CompanyParagon Technologie Price as rated$60

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All three also are as big as cinderblocks and nearly as cumbersome. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, which is a one-volume abridgment of the 20-volume OED, is 1,728-pages and weighs righteous under 4 pounds. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is thicker than a major metropolitan phone book, weighs a little more than 12 pounds, and includes 10 the multitude definitions, etymologies and practice examples for some 472,000 entries. The American Heritage Dictionary weighs just over 7 pounds with 300,000 entries.

And everything three are applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. How great is it to carry 20 pounds of dictionaries on a handheld device weighing less than 5 ounces?

American Beauty: Enfour’s American Heritage Dictionary—4th Edition stands out among the big dictionary apps on the iPhone, thanks to its functionality and graphic appeal.

Word mavens argue over the merits of both work; I take an ecumenical view and have editions of all three close by. But as apps go, only Enfour’s American Heritage Dictionary stands deficient in for its graphic appeal and functionality. Although I was pleased to have so much lexical firepower in of that kind a compact form, I was annoyed at how poorly the other dictionaries present on the platform.

Put another way: If WordBook can offer a slick, functional, attractive, high-quality app for $8, it beggars persuasion that a well-branded, well-pedigreed Oxford or Webster’s dictionary wouldn’t offer a better experience with superior content costing upwards of $60.

The American Heritage app apparently lacks the pigment illustrations of its print counterpart, but it is still a good-looking program. (I say “apparently” because the developer’s App Store page boasts “zoomable graphics,” and the app’s size would suggest they exist somewhere, but I only set up a scarcely any maps.) You can adjust the make manifest type size. The app has an A-Z browser. The Oxford and Webster’s apps inexplicably and inexcusably do not. Thousands of entries in the American Heritage app helpfully include hyperlinked cross-references. And the app’s straightforward search form of performance yields partial results and supports wildcard searches.

The developers of American Heritage Dictionary had the wisdom to include all the printed dictionary’s front matter: the introduction, notes on method and changes in the language, and altogether the halt of it. Neither of the Concise Oxford English Dictionaries nor the Webster’s app includes the supplemental material.

Downsides: The app sometimes fails to display a definition, instead giving you a blank white screen. In those instances, you need to tap the search button at the top left of the protection and tap then the word a forward time. The entry generally then appears. It’s an annoying bug, but I would diplomatic communication that the app has at no time once crashed onward me.

Also the American Heritage Dictionary – 4th edition app is a monster at 309MB. As far as I can tell, it’s the addition of sound files with proper utterance. This is a vast feature that only Paragon Technologie’s version of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary replicates. But it isn’t indispensable. And it’s worth noting that even with the sound files, the Concise Oxford app consumes roughly 10 percent the remembrance of the American Heritage app. The developers should consider making the sound files optional.

Sound It Out: Paragon Technologie’s take on the Concise Oxford English Dictionary includes 20,000 sound entries.

From the American Heritage Dictionary, I turned to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Or, rather, dictionaries. Once again, the App Store creates some confusion with the uncommon of pair apps called the Concise Oxford English Dictionary from two different developers. At first, the difference appears to be superficial. Paragon Technologie’s version is called The Concise Oxford English Dictionary and Mobile Systems’ version is Concise Oxford English Dictionary 11th Edition. Although it isn’t clear from Paragon’s App Store’s page, its interpretation is also the Concise’s 11th edition. So you’re getting the same dictionary.

The dissimilarity comes into disrepute to interface—bland and blander—and a couple of features. Mobile’s version has a “word of the day” and “random word” function; Paragon’s does not. There is also a difference in the apps’ sizes: Paragon’s app is 34.4MB against Mobile’s 9.7MB version. Both apps are the same price, $25.

Neither interface is very good, compared with the lively and appealing American Heritage app. The screens are boring and colorless. You cannot adjust the display representative size, or browse easily. Paragon’s version includes 20,000 sound entries; Mobile’s does not. That explains the size difference. Hearing the pronunciations can be benevolent, although British and American pronunciations do at intervals differ. Given the choice, I’d go with the version by audio pronunciations on the theory that you get value added for the same price.

What’s The Word: Mobile Systems attempts to distinguish its Concise Oxford English Dictionary app with word-of-the-day and random word features.

But what a disappointment, one and the other fashion. I wanted to like both versions of the Concise OED. I have the two-volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in my office. I refer to it all the time. I’m saving up my pennies and looking for space for the 20-volume number printed at once that in the greatest degree each professional composer covets. Oxford University Press offers an online version of the unabridged OED for $30 a month or an individual annual subscription worth of $295. I might pay $200 for an iPhone version of the OED, unruffled if I had to sell a few additional pints of blood to liquidate for it. But not if it comes with the same drab, second-rate interface of these two apps.

Finally, I looked at Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, which, at $60, is some incredibly expensive application. But understand that which $60 gets you: 12 pounds of content distilled into a 4.7 ounce package—263,000 entries, 700,000 definitions, 143,000 etymologies, 100,000 quotations, and an tending to expand thesaurus. The press version retails for $120, or right and left $80 on Amazon. So $60 is a decent deal, if you dress in’t care about presentation.

Big Content, Tiny Package: Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged crams 700,000 definitions onto your iPhone, but it doesn’t devote much attention to presentation.

The developer—Paragon Technologie, again—boasts impregnable access and low memory tabes, which is certainly true: This app is over as bare-bones as they come. The app handles partial search terms, but not wildcards. You can use the dictionary outside of a Wi-Fi connection, which should swallow without saying given the price. Many of the entries include hyperlinked cross-references, as well. And, as with all of the other dictionary apps upon the market, Webster’s lets you bookmark entries and keeps track of the last 15 tongues you searched.

Exploring these four applications, following my investigation of five upstart dictionary apps, was quite the letdown. It’s impossible to flip free Webster’s unabridged or the Concise Oxford and not discover some interesting or obscure word. With the exception of the American Heritage Dictionary app, these developers managed to underscore the cliché that dictionaries are boring. Could it be that the printed page is not as dispensable as some would like to believe?

The applications are compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.x software update.

[Ben Boychuk is a freelance clerk, editor and columnist in Rialto, Calif.]