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General: French lexicon = bad

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      CommentAuthorserge
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2011
     
    The French lexicon used in Ulysses really needs to be changed. Every day it misses one or more terms.

    I will give you one example, but there are tons of them : "paramétrage". See here : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Param%C3%A9trage

    This is very time consuming and annoying, I hope you can find a solution.
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      CommentAuthorfehnman
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2011
     
    The lexicon is actually provided by the operating system. We don't add anything, so you'd need to direct your reports at Apple. Sorry.
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      CommentAuthorserge
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2011
     
    Hello

    I do appreciate your answer, however it is awkward to say the least.

    Customer : your product is failing at one essential function which is recognizing words
    You : we don't care because we use the OS's lexicon, so blame Apple. Sorry, bye.
    Customer : Ok, sorry for letting you know that :( Maybe I should look for an alternative to Ulysses ?

    Basically, if I may, the correct dialog should have been :

    Customer : your product is failing at one essential function which is recognizing words
    You : Damn, without you, our fans, we would never have guessed that OS X is doing such a poor job at providing a correct lexicon ! Thanks ! And since other OS vendor do it (Word, or even OpenOffice recognizes all words), we will include another lexicon, so that you'll have a product that works !
    Customer : Thank you, what a great attitude ! I'll promote your product everywhere around me and even tatoo your logo on my forehead.

    Sorry for being excessively demonstrating. However, and sadly, I think I could not be more right.

    Also, if OpenOffice can do it and Firefox as well (but most software do), you can too provide a functional lexicon, I guess.
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      CommentAuthormadox
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2011
     
    Wow..Reading such bullshit post as above, you tattoing the soulmen logo in your forehead is an extremly bad deal for the soulmen.
    Stick to word, write them you stupid support nags.
    How can you request the soulmen be responsible for a default osx feature? If the weather turns shit do you write requestst to who made youre weather-widget?
    Im just a regular board member but i just couldnt resist this one.
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      CommentAuthorniklas
    • CommentTimeMar 27th 2011
     
    I'll have to second madox here. That attitude was totally uncalled for. You asked a question and one of the developers gave a quick answer. You got a straight answer, it wasn't harsh or unfriendly in any way. And that you should send your reports to Apple for a Mac OS feature isn't really *that* "awkward" is it? Where else should one send it?

    The built-in lexicons are used by many many Mac applications (and that is the reason for their existence – so that every developer shouldn't have to write their own). Some still do, like Microsoft, but I sure think that there are much more interesting things that the soulmen (and other developers like them) could do with their time. Go ahead and switch to something else if this is really too annoying for you. But I think you'll find that almost all alternatives use the same lexicons.

    Should you decide to stay with Ulysses, I suggest you take a deep breath and come back with a more friendly attitude, and I'm sure the developers and all other users on this board will be willing to help you with future problems.
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      CommentAuthorfehnman
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011
     
    @serge: I may have provided a bit short of an answer, but essentially we can't do anything about the lexicon Apple provides. It's just like saying that you don't like the way the services menu is laid out, or that you'd like to have a clipboard that holds more than the last copy – there's just nothing we can do about it, since we use standard OS features here.

    I understand your frustration with the lexicon, if it's as bad as you describe, but since we're not responsible for it, I can only point you to the people who are – Apple. I can't even check on your problem, the specific word, because there's just no way for us to fix anything wrong with it.

    So I'm sorry if I came across as being harsh or not caring. It's just that there's nothing we can do, really, since providing our own lexicon is way out of scope for a company such as ours, and comparing us to Microsoft or the Open Office project or Firefox is a bit unfair, to say the least. We need to stick to what Apple provides, and if that sucks, it's on Apple to change that. Sad as it may be.

    Having said that, I do think your attitude is a bit off also, but maybe we can just begin anew, what do you thnk? :)
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      CommentAuthorserge
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011
     
    @fehnman : Thanks for the long answer. I am sorry my attitude sounded a bit off to you, I thought it was hard to make a point since your answer was kind of short. My hope was that this kind of fun (but in no way offensive) dialogue would help carry the message.

    People tend to think Apple make everything perfect. I thought it would be helpfull for you to know it doesn't. Other vendors found this out, maybe there are open-source lexicons out there, or even licensable ones.

    Anyway, that was just a customer feedback.
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      CommentAuthorfehnman
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011 edited
     
    @serge: It's helpful to know that the french lexicon is a bad one, but only in a way that we now know. If the matter comes up again, we can now say that we've heard it before, and that it's sad and that we wish Apple would provide a better one.

    However, we won't implement our own solution. It's beyond our resources, really. What you could do is look for third-party alternatives, something like WordSecretary or such. Or, since Apple's implementation is extendable, maybe there are additional lexica out there that better fit your needs. Being non-french, we can't be of much help here, though. :(
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      CommentAuthorfehnman
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011 edited
     
    Alright, so WordSecretary seems no longer supported... dunno.
    You could try out Antidote, as it may just be what you're looking for
    http://www.druide.com/a_english.html

    Here's a rather old review/comparison of Antidote with another app of the same class:
    https://www.calico.org/p-72-Antidote%2098.html

    I don't know if and how it works with Ulysses, though, but it should, as it's supposed to integrate with every OS X app that uses the standard text system. ;)
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      CommentAuthorserge
    • CommentTimeMar 28th 2011
     
    Thank you for this info. This conversation has proven to be valuable for both of us I guess. Too bad Antidote doesn't have the same pricing policy as you though :) ... (55 euros for the lexicon)
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      CommentAuthorfehnman
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2011
     
    Well, but there you have it: If we would integrate something like this (and for every language, see), we would have to sell for far more than we ever did, and 98% of our users wouldn't understand, because for them OS X' built-in system works just fine and Antidote et al are perceived as overkill.

    But where you ot me thinking is that I'll try and contact some of these third parties and see what happens. At the very least make them include our app to that list. ;)
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      CommentAuthorRubin
    • CommentTimeApr 3rd 2011
     
    French trolls are the worst...
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      CommentAuthorfehnman
    • CommentTimeApr 3rd 2011
     
    @Rubin: That was pretty much uncalled for, don't you think?
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      CommentAuthorRubin
    • CommentTimeApr 3rd 2011
     
    Agreed. I should have added a smiley. I'm French myself so that was a joke. :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorJan Mast
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2011
     
    Hi all,

    The OSX dictionary system can easily be extended and there are plenty of open sourced sources available.

    There is also an app to convert these files to the exact file you need for your Dictionary app and corrections.

    Firstly, install this :

    http://code.google.com/p/mac-dictionary-kit/

    Then look for some dictionaries here :

    http://yeelou.com/huzheng/stardict-dic/dict.org/

    Or here for French ones :

    http://yeelou.com/huzheng/stardict-dic/fr/

    And here is an outdated how-to :

    http://davidtse916.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/adding-dictionaries-to-the-built-in-dictionary-application-in-leopard/

    Works great here on 10.6 and 10.7

    Good luck,
    And btw : looking forward to 2.1 !

    Jan

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