ZDT: Great program, but I need some help

[ruidianren2]

I just downloaded this program and it seems to be a great and stable program.

I have a problem. I wish to create my own wordlist.

I went to the categories window, created a new category, selected the catregory, rightclicked in the little window to the right were you can see the words in the category you selected, selected "add entry" and entered one of the words I want in my new list...but here is the problem. I want to add more then one word, but when I click "finish" it takes me back to the "category view" and I have to right click and select "add entry" again to add the next word. This makes it pretty slow to add new words.

It would be great if you could add a "next word" button next to the finish button, so that you dont have to go back and forth between the windows all the time.

Or maybe there is some other way to do this ?

[ruidianren2]

This is what I really wanted to say:

There are three small improvements that could easily make the program allot better to use.

1. When you want to create a new word list, and add your new words, its great that you just have to type the Chinese character and the definition and pinyin comes automatically but, why can you only add one word at a time. Each time you add a new word, you have to press finish, and then ctrl+n to go back to where you were to add the next word. Why not just add a “next word” button next to the “finish” button in the “add entry” window. This would save people time and a small amount of frustration.

2. I like to let the computer give me “听写”, just like a teacher would in class. So, I was very glad to see a “self review” option in the “flashcard options” window. But, when I tried it, I discovered a flaw. You can select if you want the computer to show: “pinyin, translation or the character”, but you can not select BOTH pinyin and the translation. When you have a list of 1000 words and about maybe 10 characters with the “yi4″ pinyin, then how should I know which one it is without the translation? The same goes if you only see the translation but have 2 or 3 characters with the same definition (but different use). What I am saying is that it should be possible to select 2 options at the same time.

3. Also, there should be a quick button (maybe there already is?) to display the next card, and another one to flip it. Using the mouse takes more time.

[bogleg]

Hi ruidianren2,

I saw your comments on the ZDT blog and I responded to it there. Anyway, I think I like your first 2 suggestions. Regarding your third point, use the Up arrow to flip cards, and press Enter to go to the next card. You can use the Key Assist (Help > Key assist...) function to find out what keyboard shortcuts exist for the current view.

Chris

[drahnier]

I second your thoughts ruidianren2. We need more flexibility in generate new wordlists. And do this quickly.

I'd like to have the ability to add new words to a specific wordlist from within the annotoator. My idea is to enter a lesson text of my curriculum in the annotator, use the adso plugin to determine word boundaries, and then add the words (by pointing to a word, then right click it and select "Add to ...") to a lesson-specific wordlist right from the annotator.

It would also be very convenient if zdt would accept wordlist files which just contain a single Chinese word per line and ties to substitute the missing entries form it's internal database on import.

Probably I'm asking too much. But if Chis is going to implement this I would commit myself to generate wordlists for the complete Roseta Stone Mandarin Chinese Level 1 and Level 2.