Like I mentioned in the previous post, I’m now posting beta builds of the ZDT. This is not a release version and should only be downloaded by people who like living on the bleeding edge. =) It’s your chance to try out new features and give me your suggestions.
You can download 0.6.0b1 from here. This build adds stroke order animations which are accessible from the Dictionary view and Category Editors. Right click on an entry and select ‘Show Stroke Order’ from the menu. Note, that not all characters have stroke order data. There is also a Stroke Animation preference which allows you to change various parameters like radical color, stroke speed, etc.
August 25th, 2006
I’ve decided that I want to start releasing new builds every week or two so people can play around with new features earlier and give more feedback. Since they are not official releases, the builds will probably be Windows only.
Currently I’m working on integrating the stroke animations that are available in Dimsum and Chinese Homework Trainer. I’m hoping to have a build be available in the next few days.
August 23rd, 2006
There are a few new features in this release that I hope you’ll enjoy along with several bug fixes. You can download the new release here.
Highlights
Automatic backups. There is now a setting in the preferences to enable the automatic creation of a ZDT backup file whenever the application is closed. The preference is under Window > Preferences… > General and is disabled by default.
Key Assist. This is accessible using Help > Key Assist… (Ctrl-Shift-L). If you have trouble remembering what keyboard shortcuts the ZDT supports, use this feature to see what shortcuts are available in the current view that you’re in.
Definitions pasted as is. When using copy and paste from an external source that’s in the proper tab delimited format (simplified, pinyin, definition), the definition will be added in unchanged. When pasting in individual chinese words/characters, then the current dictionary’s definition will be used.
Remove user dictionary option. I removed the user dictionary from the list of available dictionaries. It seemed to be more confusing than helpful so I just removed it. I’m investigating other ways to incorporate it back in.
Please see the changelog for all of the details.
August 11th, 2006