Dictionary is even better in Leopard
If you’re already using Apple’s Dictionary to look up words in place within an application, you’ll find a number of nice surprises waiting for you in Leopard, where Dictionary includes more definitions, more dictionaries, more languages, and is even more tightly integrated into Mac OS X. It’s now extensible, too.
So, what’s new in Leopard’s Dictionary?
Wikipedia Dictionary now displays live Wikipedia articles if you have an Internet connection. Articles feature the same text and graphics that you see when viewing Wikipedia in your browser, but they look more dignified in Dictionary, which displays them in a large-point serif font. You can choose from among a long list of languages for Wikipedia, too.
New dictionaries Dictionary now includes Apple-related terms; a Japanese dictionary, thesaurus and synonyms; and a Japanese-English/English-Japanese dictionary.
Front and Back Matter Books usually include pages at the front and the back with information about the book itself such as the book’s title page, table of contents, appendix, and index. These are the book’s front and back matter and may also include general information, often presented in tables or lists.
Apple has now added the front and back matter for the New Oxford American Dictionary:
Spelling
Capitalization and Punctuation
Words: Making the Right Choices
Clichés
Proofreader’s Marks
The History of English
States of the United States
Presidents of the United States
Declaration of Independence
Constitution of the United States
Countries of the World
Chemical Elements
Standard Weights and Measures
Metric Weights and Measures
Alphabets
Spotlight Dictionary now works with Spotlight, which displays the Dictionary definition in the search results.
Integration with Mac OS X
(These aren’t necessarily new in Leopard, but are included here for completeness.)
Parental Controls: In Tiger, the Accounts preference panel included a Parental Controls tab that let parents protect their kids from profanity and other mature content. Leopard moves Parental Controls into its own preference panel and clarifies how parental controls applies to Dictionary.
Safari: As in Tiger, clicking a link beginning with “dict:///” opens Dictionary to the corresponding definition.
View the definition for “giraffe” in Dictionary on your Mac.
All Cocoa Applications: Control-click (or right-click) on a word to look up a word in place. Read more. Also, type command-control-D to display the same in-place panel for as long as you keep holding command-control down, letting you move the cursor from word to word for a quick succession of definitions.
Adding additional dictionaries
If Apple didn’t include the dictionaries you were hoping for, don’t worry—developers can use Leopard’s new Dictionary Development Kit to create more using XML, HTML, and CSS. Expect many new dictionaries in coming months. In-house developers may find the kit useful for creating corporate glossaries as well.
Dictionary in Leopard is an even more powerful tool. Try it!