Latchword Browser Bar Help Page

Latchword Browser Bar Help Page

Introduction
Copying and License Information
Installation
Quick Start
Settings and Operation

Word Lookup, Word Lists, Drills and Quizzes, Preferences

Error Messages
Programmer's Notes

Organization,Technologies/Interfaces, Resources

Note: red text signifies a feature which has not yet been implemented.

Introduction

The Latchword Browser Bar is a vocabulary development and reinforcement tool for the Mozilla browser. It provides a convenient way to look up words in online dictionaries and other internet reference sources, enables you to create and maintain editable word lists, and generates quizzes/drills based on those word lists which may be run in either manual or automatic mode while you browse.

As with other search tools, users may enter a word to look up by selecting it in the current page or by typing it into the lookup box on the toolbar.

Unlike toolbars offered by a number of commercial dictionary sites, the Latchword Browser Bar can be configured to use your favorite online references in place of the five that are included by default. Multiple reference sources can be searched simultaneously, with the results returned in separate tabs for easy comparison. The user interface accepts a shortcut key, so a lookup can be performed without using the mouse, if desired. For logophiles, the toolbar includes a second button for accessing Word-of-the-Day sites.

The third button pictured above (the file cabinet icon) opens a dialog window for viewing and editing the word list file, automatically filling in the word input textbox with the current selection, if any:

In this window, you can delete or add entries to the current word list, select another word list file, or create a new one. LatchwordBB stores word lists in RDF format.

From these word lists, LatchwordBB can generate a randomized drill which will be displayed, either manually or automatically, in the compact quiz area of the bar:

Users can choose to prompt themselves by definition, shown above, by word, or have the complete entry presented all at once. In addition to vocabulary words, LatchwordBB could potentially be used as a study tool for other subjects that are suited to flashcard-style tutoring, such as foreign languages, legal terms, historical events, chemical formulas, etc.

Feel free to offer ideas and suggestions - your feedback is welcome. Contact me directly at melodious@mindspring.com or visit the LatchWord Browser Bar homepage listed below. You may report bugs via the MozDev Bugzilla page or by emailing me.

LatchWord Browser Bar homepage:
http://latchwordbb.mozdev.org

Copying and License Information

LatchWordBB - Vocabulary retention and reinforcement toolbar for Mozilla
Copyright (c) 2004 Charles Melhorn

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

Or see the GNU web site at: http://www.gnu.org

Installation

Manual Installation

Step 1:

Locate the "chrome" directory: <Browser>\bin\chrome or <Browser>\mozilla\chrome, where <Browser> is the installation directory for the version of Mozilla you're using. On Windows systems, this will typically be "Program Files\MozillaXX", with XX representing the release number.

Create a subdirectory called "latchwordbb" and unzip the Latchword Browser Bar archive file into it (...\bin\chrome\latchwordbb). Be sure to use the option to preserve the directory structure when decompressing the zip file (check "use folder names" if using WinZip). Verify that one subdirectory is created: 'content'.

Step 2:

Locate your Mozilla user profile directory. On Windows systems, this directory is usually

Documents and
Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\<profile
name>\<random string>

or something similar. On Linux, it would be ~/.mozilla.

Create a subdirectory under the user profile directory called "Latchwordbb", taking care to name it exactly as specified here (first letter is upper case 'L'). Copy the default vocabulary database file, "defVocab.rdf", from the Latchword application directory (...\chrome\latchwordbb) to the newly created subdirectory under the user profile directory.

Step 3:

If installing LatchWord Browser Bar for the first time...

In the 'chrome' directory (Program Files\'Browser'\bin\chrome), find the file named "installed-chrome.txt" and open it using a text editor, like Notepad. At the bottom of the file, append a new line with the following text:

content,install,url,resource:/chrome/latchwordbb/content/

The next time you open Mozilla, the Latchword Browser Bar should be installed. A toolbar will appear at the top of the browser, and there will be a menu item for displaying/hiding it under the View > Show/Hide submenu.

To Uninstall

If you need to uninstall it, delete the 'latchwordbb' directory and its contents. Then edit this file and remove the lines containing "latchwordbb" if present:

chrome/installed-chrome.txt

Finally, delete the following three files:

chrome/chrome.rdf
chrome/overlayinfo/communicator/content/overlays.rdf
chrome/overlayinfo/navigator/content/overlays.rdf

These files will be regenerated the next time Mozilla is started.

Quick Start

As a quick introduction to some of the features of the Latchword Browser Bar, try using it to look up a word, add the word to the default vocabulary list, and generate a quiz based on the newly modified list, as follows.

If not open already, display the help page by choosing "Display help" from the main menu button settings button

on the left side of the toolbar. Using the mouse, select the word "convenient" in the first paragraph of the Introduction section, and click the Lookup button

to search for it in the default reference work (which is the online dictionary site www.m-w.com). Observe that the search text, in this case "convenient", appears in the lookup text box as the browser retrieves the result of the search and displays it in the current window. Bring up the preferences dialog by choosing the "Preferences..." menu item from the main menu, select the References tab, and change the open method from 'same window' to 'new window'. Now look up the current word again in another reference resource by choosing "WordNet" from the lookup button pull down menu. This time the results web page is opened in a new browser window.

You can add the word to the current vocabulary list by clicking on the add word menu button add word button

in the original browser window. The View Word List dialog should appear with the current search term displayed in the 'word' textbox. Add a definition by typing or cutting/pasting text into the 'definition' field (bearing in mind that information retrieved from online reference sources is most likely copyrighted material), and pressing the 'update' button when you're finished editing the entry.
The new word will be added to the list on the left side of the dialog, and you can review it by selecting it and examining the word and definition fields. You should also see the date and time the entry was added in the 'last modified' field.

Now close the View Word List dialog window and select "Vocabulary drill" from the main menu. The quiz area text boxes and buttons will become enabled, and a blanked clue with one letter revealed should appear in the highlighted hint box. The default quiz style is to prompt the user by definition, and the default mode is manual. Request a hint by clicking on the "?" button; the first letter of the word in the highlight box will be disclosed. You can try to answer by typing a guess in the lookup box and clicking the "=" button (or hitting <ENTER>) to submit it. If your answer is correct, the entire word will be displayed in the hint box. If not, nothing happens. You can show the answer and/or advance to the next word by clicking the Pass/Next button pass button

. As you work your way through the quiz items, which are presented in random order, note that if the entire definition for a word is not visible in the definition text box, you can position the mouse cursor over it and the definition will be displayed in a popup that appears just below. To reinitialize the quiz, halt it and restart it by toggling the "Vocabulary drill" menu item.

Settings and Operation

Hiding and Showing the Latchword Browser Bar

To show or hide the LatchwordBB toolbar, use the menu item under the browser's View > Show/Hide submenu. The toolbar's display state is saved on exit.

Tool Bar Buttons:

	Main menu button.
	Lookup button. Select text with the mouse or enter it in the lookup text box, then click this button to look up your search term in the default reference source (the first item in the drop down menu). To search another resource, choose the appropriate location from the drop down menu.
	Word of the Day button. Click this button to open the default Word of the Day site (the first item in the associated drop down menu) or choose another Word of the Day site from the drop down menu.
	Add Word button. Select text with the mouse or enter it in the lookup text box, then click this button to add the word to the current word list file. This opens the View Word List dialog window and fills in the 'word' textbox with the selected text.

?	Quiz Hint button. For applicable quiz types (currently only Prompt By Definition), clicking this button will display a hint.
	Quiz Next/Pass button. Click this button to reveal the answer or advance to the next quiz item, as appropriate. To skip to the next item without displaying the answer, depress the <SHIFT> key while clicking this button.
=	Quiz Submit Answer button. For applicable quiz types (currently only Prompt By Definition), you can try to answer by typing your guess in the lookup box and clicking this button (or hitting <ENTER>) to submit it. If the answer is correct, it will be displayed in the appropriate textbox; if not, nothing happens. See Drills and Quizzes below for more details.

Shortcut Key

You can perform a search of the default reference source without using the mouse by entering the key combination <CTRL><SHIFT><U>, which places the cursor in the lookup box. Type your search term, then hit the <ENTER> key to initiate the search.

Getting Help

To display this help page, choose "Display help" from the main menu. You can visit the LatchWord Browser Bar home page to post a question to the mail list, or to browse the list archives by following this link, http://latchwordbb.mozdev.org, or by selecting "LatchwordBB homepage" from the main menu. Program version information, which may be helpful for filing bug reports, can be obtained by opening the "About..." dialog window.

Word Lookup

To search for a word or phrase in an online dictionary or other reference, select the desired text in the current page or type it into the lookup box,

then choose a reference source from the Lookup button

drop down menu or just click the button to search the default reference. The results page will be displayed in the same window by default, but you can configure LatchwordBB to open a new window or tab if you prefer. If you don't specify a search term, you'll be prompted for it. Note that text selected in a page will be stripped of leading and trailing punctuation, as well as extraneous white space, but text typed into the lookup box (or into the prompt dialog) will be searched for unaltered. Therefore, if you need to look up an abbreviation or some other term which includes leading/trailing punctuation, use the lookup box.

To search multiple reference sources simultaneously, specify the search term as above and choose "All preferred references" from the drop down menu. The search will be done using all reference sources in the drop down menu which are marked with a green diamond preferred reference marker

and each result will be displayed in a new tab. To designate a reference source as 'preferred', indicated by the green diamond, or to configure the drop down menu to include a different reference altogether, use the preferences dialog as described in the section on editing Lookup and WOD Resources later in this document.

As mentioned above, clicking the lookup button will search for the specified text using the default reference source, which is just the first item in the drop down menu. The order of the menu items, and thus which reference is used as the default, can also be modified using the preferences dialog.

Hitting <ENTER> after typing text into the lookup box will also normally initiate a default reference search. However, if a quiz is running, hitting <ENTER> will submit an answer rather than start a search. If you prefer that Latchword always perform a search when you press the <ENTER> key in the lookup box, regardless of whether a quiz is running or not, set the ignore_quiz_mode preference to true. See Preferences for more information.

Word Lists

To work with the current word list, select another word list, or create a new one, choose "Open word list..." from the main menu. The View Word List dialog opens with the path specification of the current word list file displayed at the top left of the window. Path specifications over 50 characters will be truncated, but a tooltip with more detail may be seen by positioning the mouse over the file name.

The word list is sorted in alphabetical order by default; to reverse the sort, click on the column header. Select an entry from the word list on the left to display its definition and the date it was added or modified. To add a new word to the current database, reset the form using the 'clear' button, complete the text and definition fields, then click the 'update' button. Date information is appended automatically by the program. To delete an entry, select it in the word list and click the 'delete' button. Note that the database file is updated immediately upon pressing either the 'update' or 'delete' buttons, i.e. you don't have to close the dialog for the changes to take effect.

The default vocabulary file is named "defVocab.rdf", and the program expects to find it in <user profile>\Latchwordbb, where <user profile> is the Mozilla user profile directory (the file should have been copied there during the installation process). Should you wish to restore the original version of this file after modifying it, you'll find a read-only copy of it with the application files in the Latchword installation directory.

To open another vocabulary file and make it the working word list, use the "Open..." option on the File button menu to bring up a file browsing dialog, then select the desired file. Once opened, it will remain the working word list until another is selected. Please realize that Latchword can only read .rdf files which use its custom record format.

To create a new word list, choose "New..." from the File button menu, browse to your desired directory (if necessary - Latchword will use the

<user
profile>\Latchwordbb

directory by default), and type the new file name. Once opened, it will remain the working word list until another is selected.

If you wish to copy an entry from one word list to another, open the word list you want to copy from and select the appropriate entry in the word list box. Now open the vocabulary file you want to copy to and make it the working word list. The previously selected entry information (word, definition, etc.) remains in the relevant text fields - simply click the 'update' button to add it to the new working word list.

Drills and Quizzes

Latchword can generate randomized flashcard-style drills/quizzes from the current word list and display them in the quiz area on the left side of the toolbar.

To start a quiz or drill, click the main menu button settings button

and choose "Vocabulary drill". Use the same menu item to halt a quiz. To advance to the next quiz item, press the Pass/Next button pass button

. To obtain a hint, if applicable for the quiz type, click the '?' button. To submit an answer, if applicable for the quiz type, type your guess in the lookup box and click the '=' button (or hit <ENTER>).

By default, Latchword prompts by definition and requires the user to manually advance to the next item by pressing the Pass/Next button pass button

; however, you can change the quiz type and mode through the preferences dialog (see next section). Latchword offers three quiz types:

Drill	Word and definition are presented simultaneously. Mostly used to familiarize oneself with a set of words.
By Definition	User is prompted by definition and given a blanked clue with one randomly selected letter revealed.This option allows the most user-participation (you can try to guess the answer or request a hint) and thus, theoretically, provides the greatest reinforcement.
By Word	User is prompted by word, with the definition textbox left blank. Meant to be a challenging variation.

There are a few minor differences in how the quiz controls function for each quiz type. When the quiz type is set to "Drill" or "By Word", the Hint '?' and Submit Answer '=' buttons are disabled. When the quiz type is set to "By Definition" or "By Word", the Pass/Next button will display the answer the first time it is clicked, rather than immediately advance to the next quiz item. You can skip the answer, however, by holding down the <SHIFT> key while clicking this button. Lastly, as mentioned above, you can submit an answer when the quiz type is "By Definition" by typing your guess in the lookup box and clicking the Submit Answer '=' button or hitting <ENTER>. As a shortcut, you can advance to the next quiz item, once the answer has been shown, by hitting <ENTER> a second time in the lookup box.

If you prefer, you can configure Latchword to advance to the next quiz item automatically after a set time period has elapsed for hands-free learning while you browse. This is done by setting the quiz mode to AUTO and specifying the interval between words in the Preferences dialog. For the "By Definition" and "By Word" types, you will also need to specify the amount of time that the program will pause after displaying an answer. You can still interact with the quiz (try to guess an answer, if applicable; request a hint; advance to the next item or pass; etc.) even when it's operating in AUTO mode.

As you work your way through the quiz items, which are presented in random order, note that if the entire definition for a word is not visible in the definition text box, you can position the mouse cursor over it and the definition will be displayed in a popup that appears just below.

Preferences

You can bring up the preference panel by clicking the main menu button settings button

on the toolbar and choosing "Preferences...". Modify the settings as desired, then press the 'okay' button to save the changes. If you don't wish to save your changes, use the 'cancel' button to close the preferences dialog.

The following preference options are available:

Preference	Default Value	Description
Drill Tab*
quiz type	By Definition	Determines how the user will be prompted (by word, by definition, or having both displayed at the same time) when a quiz is running.
quiz mode	manual	Controls how quiz items are presented, manually or automatically. Note that clicking the "next/pass" button will advance to the next question, even in automatic mode.
auto interval	10	The time in seconds between successive words in auto mode.
pause after answer	4	The time in seconds that the quiz will pause after an answer is displayed. This is only used for quiz types which expect an answer, i.e. By Word or By Definition.
auto hint	true	Determines whether a hint is autonomously displayed for By Word quiz types in Automatic mode. The hint will be displayed after half the time specified by the "auto interval" setting has elapsed.
hint box color	#00FFFF	Background color for the quiz hint textbox.
hint box font size	small	Font size for quiz hint textbox.
References Tab
lookup open method	Same Window	Determines how the results page from a word search, including a default search, is displayed: in the same browser window, in a new window, or in a new tab.
lookup resources 1-5	see below	Name and URL for search reference menu items. Double click or right-click to edit these values. Use the 'Restore Default References' button to restore the application defaults.
WOD Tab
wod open method	Same Window	Determines how the results page from a Word of the Day request, including the default WOD, is displayed: in the same browser window, in a new window, or in a new tab.
wod resources 1-5	see below	Name and URL for wod reference menu items. Double click or right-click to edit these values. Use the 'Restore Default References' button to restore the application defaults.
Options Tab
ignore quiz mode	false	Controls how the <ENTER> key is interpreted in the lookup box while a quiz is running. Normally, hitting <ENTER> in the lookup box will cause a search on the specified text to be performed using the default lookup reference, but if a quiz is running, hitting <ENTER> will submit the text as an answer instead. If you wish to override this behavior so that the <ENTER> key always causes a search to be done, set this preference to "true" by checking the box. Note that you can still submit text in the lookup box as an answer by using the 'submit' button in the quiz area.

*Be aware that drill/quiz-related preferences are consulted only when a quiz is initialized. Changing these preferences while a quiz is running will have no effect on its operation or display until the quiz is halted (using the "Vocabulary Drill" menu item) and restarted.

Latchword Browser Bar preferences use the preference node "extensions.lw." and are stored in the "prefs.js" file (along with the other Mozilla preferences) in the user's profile directory. On Windows systems, this directory is usually

Documents and
Settings\<user_name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\<profile
name>\<random string>

or something similar. On Linux, it would be ~/.mozilla.

Lookup and WOD Resources

To modify the resources (online dictionaries, thesauri, etc.) which appear as menu items under the Lookup lookup button

and WOD

buttons on the toolbar, open the preferences dialog, select the References or WOD tab, and double click or right-click on the appropriate item in the resource list.

You can make the item a 'preferred' resource, meaning that it will be included when doing a simultaneous search or selection of multiple sources, by checking the appropriate box in the Edit Resource dialog window. To make a resource the default, meaning that it is opened when you click the Lookup or WOD button, right-click on the item and choose "Make default" from the context menu. The first item in each list is the default value for the relevant button.

Use the 'Restore Default References' button to replace the current list items with the application defaults, which are listed below. To make the change permanent, you would, of course, press the preference dialog 'okay' button.

Default Lookup Resources

Preferred	Name	URL
true	M-W.com Dictionary	http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=
false	M-W.com Thesaurus	http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/thesaurus?book=Thesaurus&va=
true	Bartleby.com Amer. Her. Dict.	http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/sitesearch?FILTER=col61&x=16&y=9&query=
false	Bartleby.com Quotations	http://www.bartleby.com/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/sitesearch?FILTER=colQuotations&x=0&y=0&query=
false	WordNet	http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn2.0?stage=1&word=

Default WOD Resources

Preferred	Name	URL
true	M-W.com	http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl
true	dictionary.com	http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/
true	A.Word.A.Day	http://www.wordsmith.org/words/today.html
false	Bartleby Daily	http://www.bartleby.com/
false	New York Times	http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/wordofday/

Error Messages

Error Message Text	Description
Error 01: File already exists.	Displayed when attempting to create a new word list file and a file with the same path and name is found.
Error 02: Unable to write header to new vocab file.	Indicates that the program was unable to write RDF header data when attempting to create a new word list file. Check file permissions for specified file and directory.

Programmer's Notes

Organization

Technologies/Interfaces

Resources

Revised: 03/03/04

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