Well, now I've had some time to live with the New World College Dictionary. I am less than pleased. It has to be one of the worst software implementations I have ever seen. (I have been messing around with computers since the early 1980s and I have seen some pretty bad software.)
New World College Dictionary can't handle plurals or alternate spellings. Try looking up "demonstrates," as a direct lookup from within a book. You will be rewarded with a blank screen. After playing around with it, I discovered that the reason is that the search strategy is literal and inflexible. Although "demonstrate" is included in the dictionary, the search implementation can't find it because it searches and shows only the result for "demonstrates" (Nada) There is no routine to show you spelling variants that are close. All you see is a blank screen.
This is not the behavior a dictionary should show. The Collins English Dictionary (on the Palm OS), for example, defaults to a list of close spellings and allows you to choose among them. I am finding that about a third of the words I look up result in a blank screen, even though variants of the word are in the dictionary. There is not even a warning message. All you see is pure white.
The software cannot handle long definitions. Try looking up a word that has seven or eight long definitions. You will find that the definitions are frequently cut off in mid sentence. The next page is blank.
Look up "demonstration." At the bottom of the page you will find the seventh definition reads, "7 a logical proof in which a certain" That's it. The bar says this is Page 1 of 2. Page 2 is blank.
This is not the behavior I expect from a $25 nonrefundable app. I sure wish that Collins (or even the OED) would rewrite for Android.
Be forwarned! (BTW, you won't find "forewarned" from a direct lookup in the New World College Dictionary. You have to find a place where the author used "forewarn.")
<sigh> Twenty-five bucks down the tubes.
New World College Dictionary can't handle plurals or alternate spellings. Try looking up "demonstrates," as a direct lookup from within a book. You will be rewarded with a blank screen. After playing around with it, I discovered that the reason is that the search strategy is literal and inflexible. Although "demonstrate" is included in the dictionary, the search implementation can't find it because it searches and shows only the result for "demonstrates" (Nada) There is no routine to show you spelling variants that are close. All you see is a blank screen.
This is not the behavior a dictionary should show. The Collins English Dictionary (on the Palm OS), for example, defaults to a list of close spellings and allows you to choose among them. I am finding that about a third of the words I look up result in a blank screen, even though variants of the word are in the dictionary. There is not even a warning message. All you see is pure white.
The software cannot handle long definitions. Try looking up a word that has seven or eight long definitions. You will find that the definitions are frequently cut off in mid sentence. The next page is blank.
Look up "demonstration." At the bottom of the page you will find the seventh definition reads, "7 a logical proof in which a certain" That's it. The bar says this is Page 1 of 2. Page 2 is blank.
This is not the behavior I expect from a $25 nonrefundable app. I sure wish that Collins (or even the OED) would rewrite for Android.
Be forwarned! (BTW, you won't find "forewarned" from a direct lookup in the New World College Dictionary. You have to find a place where the author used "forewarn.")
<sigh> Twenty-five bucks down the tubes.
