Clockwise

The data behind Folkets Lexikon is now able to be downloaded. I haven’t had much of a chance to look over it, but it looks like roughly 46,760 term pairs.

Probably the most important thing will be now that I have the data is figuring out the offline version of Lexikon. I’ve been hesitant to commit to anything until it was released, since there seemed to be some question if it would ever actually be released. There is a strong possibility that the Lexikon you know will continue as is. Perhaps with some modifications to switch from Lexin to Folkets Lexikon for the Swedish-English look ups. Then a second Lexikon like app would be developed with completely offline access. There are tradeoffs and advantages to both programs.

The current roadmap is to finish up update that has been in progress for Lexikon. Then to begin in earnest with figuring out what is going to happen and how best to package it up. I’m going to try and keep plans under my hat until I know for sure. Though if it is a separate application there will be a period to give current Lexikon users a chance to buy a discounted offline version before going to a normal price.

Hopefully Lexikon version 1.5 will be in Apple’s hands before the end of August and then current app approval times suggest another two weeks beyond that. Fingers crossed that Lexikon doesn’t require any additional time to be approved beyond that.

I don’t believe this blog sees a lot of traffic from Lexikon users, but it won’t hurt to see if I can get some feedback. Progress has slowed a bit with the summer holidy upon us. Lexikon is a side project as a hobby, otherwise I would seriously be in the red.

I will be implementing all the Lexin languages. However how much interest is there in using more than one language. I know from SFI sometimes someone knows their mother tongue and English so quick access to both versions might be desireable. On the other hand I imagine most users will only use one language with Lexikon. This simplifies the UI and moves the setting to its proper iPhone place the Settings app. Most likely that is how Lexikon will work in the next update with the solicitation for input if the other way is desired. If I get enough requests I’ll make it part of a future update.

Also I have a specific Twitter account for Lexikon. http://twitter.com/_lexikon. You can even see the new icon design I’ve developed for the update.

I also have an update about a Folkets Lexikon and/or offline app. So far it looks like the downloadable database did not happen before the summer holiday. It will be interestig to see what happens in the Fall. Will development continue or is it frozen? Once it looks like Folkets Lexikon is stable I will be looking into using it for the English dictionary as it has at least twice the number of words. I want Folkets Lexikon as much as anyone, but without an API or much communication we all have to wait for it.

Progress on Lexikon has been delayed. The next version 1.5 will support all the languages Lexin does. As well as providing suggestions from Lexin when a word can’t be found. I had hoped to have it to Apple in early June and then this past Monday. However since Lexikon is mostly a side hobby project it has been pushed down the priority list. I’m still optimistic baring any exceptional delays from Apple’s approval process that it will be in the App Store before July.

There hasn’t been much more information forthcoming about the new Folkets Lexikon. However that hasn’t stopped me from spending time on Lexikon. This update will probably be the last 2.x firmware release for Lexikon. There are interesting features to take advantage of in the 3.x firmware that will be released this summer.

As such it’s important to cross everything off my list. First the boring part of re-plumbing the application. I don’t think it will be a complete re-write, but nearly so. I’ve learned a lot about programming for the iPhone, on my own and from other developers. There are a bunch of best practices I want to implement in order to deliver a better experience. The interface should be more polished, and the code underneath more robust.

I’m unsure how popular this feature will be, but I will also be implementing support for all of the languages Lexin supports. The list of languages are: Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Croatian, English, Finnish, Greek, Kurmandji, Persian, Russian, Serbian, Somalian, Sorani, Spanish and Turkish. If you understand or look forward to any of these languages please get in contact if you would like to be involved in the beta process. I’ll do my best, but as a one man shop that mostly can only understand English this will be my best effort and hoping that Lexin has done a good job on their end. Also while not all these languages are supported by Apple for localization, if you would like to volunteer on the Arabic, Russian, Spanish, Turkish or Greek localizations I would appreciate the help.

The final feature planned is the support Lexin’s correcting of unknown words. If Lexin isn’t able to find the word you searched for, but did find similar words in its database, those words will be presented to the user. This has probably been the second most requested feature as of late, and I’m excited to finally be making it a reality.

These will all be part of the 1.5 release of Lexikon, which given Apple’s current timing on app update approvals and my schedule should be on the App Store by June.