“Quicktionary”
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Hallo Leute,
and welcome to day 22 of the German Advent Calendar. And behind today’s door is kind of another calendar tradition: Drumroll….
An upgrade
Hooray!!
Those of you who are regular readers know that this site is ever evolving because I do little updates here and there all the time.
And recently, I finally got around to working on something that has been bugging me for a while now – the dictionary search results.
Some of you are now like “What dictionary?” so let me give you a quick primer.
Feel free to skip it if you’re already familiar with it :).
My dictionary
The dictionary is where you land when you use the normal site search. It can help you find articles for topics, but the bulk of it is an actual dictionary with over 11.000 entries. And they’re all custom made. So I decided, which translations to use and how to group them and for many of them, I also have little usage notes that are helpful for English speakers.
And more and more of them also have examples that I also entered myself.
If you’re a premium member, you can also add your own notes to each idea, so you can basically customize the dictionary for you! And you can favorite individual ideas and slowly build your vocabulary collection that way.
(My goal was to do a flashcard trainer, but that’s on hold for now, till I have the time)
There’s a bunch of other stuff, like the “value” of an idea, which is a metric for how useful it is, and the link to its opposite.
And also, the dictionary entry will give you links to the relevant articles, if I have written any about the word.
And also also, the bulk of entries is organized in its respective family tree, complete with the original root and a quick explanation what the root meant and what relatives there are in English.
Oh, and there’s a comment section where you can ask questions about the word that I’ll clear up.
I have a lot of plans to expand and complete this, but I think it’s already a pretty cool tool.
But now, let’s look at what’s new.
What’s new
So far, when you searched for a relatively common word, you’d get a whole bunch of results that kind of fit.
And each result was showing quite a lot of information already. Not the examples and the family tree, but you could see all the meanings and notes and since recently also the related articles with links.
And that’s great, because that’s what you’re usually looking for, but it could also mean a lot of scrolling, if the word you were looking for wasn’t on the top.
So I have decided to make the results “expandable”.
By default, you just see the word, but with one click, you can make it expand and see all the information as before. And you also have the option to go to the full entry directly.
That way, you have a quicker and much better overview of the search results and you don’t need to scroll as much, while the information is still just one click away, without any loading time.
Here’s how it looks:
Clicking “details” will toggle open the meanings and notes within this list, clicking “entry” will take you to the entry, where you can find everything including examples and the family tree.
I’ll probably do some more modifications, but I’m really curious what you think for now.
I think, it’s overall better and quicker to use and explore, but maybe I’m wrong and you actually preferred the way it was before.
So let me know in the comments!
Oh, and … one more thing.
I have added a beta version of csv-export of single entries for premium members.
csv is a basic file format that’s good for lists, and it’s a good way to import data into flashcard apps like Anki.
For now, I am exporting the German word together with the translations and the respective notes, but I can technically expand that to include audio, examples or your own notes.
I’m not sure, how suitable my file structure is for import and also, I don’t know how many of you would even use this, so this is kind of an experiment.
But if you do use Anki for example and you create your own flashcards, it would be awesome to get your feedback on how my file works and what I could change to make it more useful.
Anyway, let me know all your thoughts in the comments, have a great day and bis morgen :)
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The work you do here for all of us is mind boggling. Thank you!
Thank you, Emmanuel! Your work is invaluable (priceless ). I haven’t used online flash cards before. I need to learn how because I’m about to search for a flight! Thank you, again!!! Camille
I noticed the dictionary now shows results even when I don’t write the Umlaut (my laptop doesn’t have them). Before, it showed the sad unicorn and I had to manually choose the word from the Suggested list. Great update.
The already-expanded dictionary usually intrigues me to learn new words when I see their meaning described. The update makes it more efficient, but I was enjoying the older version as well :)
That’s a coincidence. It shows them for the words where I have added the spelling variants, but not always.
I was aware of the dictionary due to using the search feature to find out whether you’ve written an article on a particular word. I have looked at it in the past but I would not say I’ve really taken advantage of what it has to offer. I’ve been playing with it a bit today. I think it can really help me with vocabulary. I’m looking forward to the next month as I give it a real workout.
Also I think I’d get more from the CSV if it did all my vocabulary in one file, but that might be process-intensive.
Hallo,
Definitely an improvement, I liked the dictionary before, now I love it :)
As for the export features, I’ve never used any such thing, have no idea of what Anki is, so can’t provide any feedback on that one ;)
Bis morgen!
The new dictionary format took a minute to get used to, but I think I like it better now. Maybe add an expand all/collapse all button at the top for the people who take issue with the new condensed format?
Just want to add another observation as I’m at home reading a german text. I just searched for anrühren. There is one result. So its not like there are 30 different entries – so there isn’t even a need for collapsing anything – its a single entry – there would never have been any scrolling. Now information that would have been immediately visible on the old version for this entry is hidden away and made more inaccessable… sorry if this is a bit ranty but you did ask for feedback : )
sorry if this is a bit ranty but you did ask for feedback : )
Oh no worries :)!! I do appreciate the input and earnest criticism and dislike. No need to beat around the bush :)
I use your dictionary *all the time* and it’s beyond helpful! I use your context + examples to help come up with my own examples for my flashcards (I use Quizlet) using sentences and scenarios that I’m more likely to use in daily life. I don’t mind scrolling, so I’m neutral about the new expandable feature, but I totally get how people might like it. I also recently started looking at the opposite meaning you list in the entry, and I that has been helpful.
I also think the ChatGPT feature you’ve built in is great for when you don’t have any pre-made examples.
I also SO appreciate your interaction in the comments section when I have questions!
I just tried the new .csv-export feature and I don’t think it will necessarily enhance the way I use your site, but it certainly doesn’t detract from it! So I’m neutral about that, too.
In the spirit of trying to think about what would make the entries better (for my personal use), even more explanations of when to use different German words when the English word is the same. Like an entry for ‘wechseln’ would give the examples for ‘wechseln’ that you have but also something like ‘but when you want to exchange sizes, use ‘umtauschen.’ That might be a clunky way to describe it, and there are many entries where you have this exact kind of recommendation already- I just wanted to say that I find it really helpful, and if you want to do more of that, I’d love it.
Thanks for everything you do, Emanuel!
Dein Wörterbuch ist großartig!!! Es ist sehr hilfreich, dass die Wörter miteinander verbunden sind. Mir gefällt auch, dass das Wörterbuch Sprachgefühl betont. Dieses neuere Format ist toll.
Oh hell yes!
I signed up for YDG for the articles without even knowing about the dictionary. But now, I spend most of my time in the dictionary. I appreciate the clear context and blunt honesty on how the words “feel.” It provides direction and meat which allows me to better understand and remember the words. The AI sentence developer, while not nearly as useful as the sentences you’ve written yourself, may be the single best use of AI I’ve come across yet. I have to say that I love the new, cleaner layout. It’s an upgrade I had no idea I wanted – the best kind.
I’ve used Anki as the backbone of my daily review since I began learning German in earnest. What takes the most time now is just building new cards so your interest in developing a way to import vocab into Anki is exciting.
I assume its a lot to ask and might only serve myself but I since you requested input I’ll just give a quick overview of my .csv dream:
A single cell for: the word in German (without article or plural); the word in English (with the parenthetical details of each definition kept in parenthesis); what part of speech the word represents (verb, noun, adjective, preposition, etc.); article (for nouns); plural (for nouns); prepositions (for verbs); verb forms: present, imperfect, and perfect; example sentence (1) in German; example sentence (1) in English…further example sentences when the word has multiple meanings
In a nut shell, what I’d like is the ability to parse out every piece of information already present in the dictionary into separate cells so I can import them into my own Frankenstein decks.
Even if you end up never touching the dictionary again it has already been an invaluable tool. Thanks so much
Haven’t played with the new version enough to have an opinion , but when I open up an entry on my iPhone , the icon for your pronunciation sits right in the middle of the word, covering two letters. Any chance you can move over to the side so one can see the entire word?
That’s a cache issue. It should solve itself within a few days.
Hi Emanuel. I have to say I’ve noticed the changes in the dictionary over the last day or so and I have to say i definitely preferred how it was before. Sorry.
Having everything collapsed is maybe a bit cleaner but also sometimes its nice to browse, and you can say get an overview of a prefix verb by being able to see the previews of the entries.
Now everything is collapsed and hidden it feels like this information is hidden away. Everything is now more “unübersichtbar”
What was great about the dictionary is that you can kind of get an overview of how related words relate to each other. And this change does the exact opposite and removes this.
I’m also finding there is increased scrolling as I have to scroll over to click on “entry” if I want to review the article. I can’t remember exactly how it was before but it seems like more work to get to where i want to be…
I know you’re not a fan of collapsed content :).
“I’m also finding there is increased scrolling as I have to scroll over to click on “entry” if I want to review the article. “
I’m not sure what you mean here. All you have to do is tap/click “details” and you’ll have all the info that was there before. To get to the entry, you can now click “entry” right at the top, next to the word, so you have to scroll less if you want to open the entry. And you get a quicker overview over which words are in the dictionary, which is especially useful if your search is not the first result, but the third or so.
I guess what i mean by increased scrolling is I could simply scroll down to get to “open entry” now i have to scroll to the right to get to “details” or “open entry”
Then there are the dubious “benefits” of collapsing content.
Say I want to an overview of ziehen and its prefix forms :
https://yourdailygerman.com/dictionary/?s=ziehen
Before you’d get a preview and get an idea of the sense of the each prefix verb all on one page
What am i supposed to do if i want this back ? click “details” like 30 times?
The great thing about the dictionary is its based on base verbs and relationships between words rather than it being alphabetical. This more or less breaks it.
I’m sorry to say this but for me its a classic example of Verschlimmerbesserung. please consider reversing this
I’d also add that its really detracted from being able to browse the dictionary using a search term and come across something interesting you didn’t know by chance – now you have to click “details” every single time thats less likely.
I don’t get what you mean by “scroll right”.
I will not reverse this, and I could also argue that people explore the search results for, say, “ziehen” more, if they don’t have to scroll past loads of definitions and instead can get an immediate list of words that are in the dictionary.
I think this is purely subjective and there’s no “objective better”.
The best solution would be to have a settings menu, where you can set how you want stuff to be displayed. But that’s a significant amount of work.
What I could offer you is a fixed user exception that always default-expands everything for just you.
Like here you can see this tiny little “entry” thing you have to click on on the right.
https://imgur.com/a/p94Y6dY
At least before you had a big centralised button saying “open entry”
But do you get my point about having to click “details” 30 times to browse entries in the old way?
I do, I personally hated the endless scrolling and felt people are more likely to explore if they can quickly see the list of results. That’s the main reason I changed it. Like I said, I can hack something based on your user account that exapnds everything for you by default.
So by “scroll right” you mean scroll with the eyes or move the mouse, right? You don’t actually mean horizontal scroll of the window.
So by “scroll right” you mean scroll with the eyes or move the mouse, right? You don’t actually mean horizontal scroll of the window.
Yeah soz, i meant move the mouse to the right.
I do get it by the way with the endless scrolling but isn’t there a way you could have the list of all the entries like they you have them now (like a contents page of a book) at the beginning and you just scroll down and you then get the entries with the expanded view in the old style? So you’d basically have the new first followed by the old ?
One thing that also kinda irks me is i can’t click on the word itself to get to the expanded entry.
“One thing that also kinda irks me is i can’t click on the word itself to get to the expanded entry.”
I wasn’t aware anyone did that because it was soo not communicated that that was possible. I could bring that back, I guess.
I think I’ll bring the extended entries back for you based on user and then see if I maybe eventually add a bunch of cookie settings were everyone can set it once for their account and it stays till changed.
Could you make it expanded by default for me too? I like to add notes and the old design made it easy to do that. Search, add note, hit enter, done.
I also used it to review old notes and sort of as a navigation tool. The overview was a good way to remember if I looked at the entry before (I tend to forget and click the same things over and over). For verbs like “machen” that have a bunch of prefixes, it was nice to be able to scan the related entries and learn something new at a glance, or find an article.
I also tend to do searches that only bring back one result, so scrolling wasn’t an issue. The overview was super convenient, and having to click for it is kind of annoying. (I also wasn’t sure if the “details” button worked, since it’s gray.)
Oh, nice reminder!
It should be default-expanded for both of you now.
Please holla at me, how it’s looking.
Sweet, it’s all expanded again! Thanks!!
Oh also:
The overview was a good way to remember if I looked at the entry before (I tend to forget and click the same things over and over).
Is that not working? Because I didn’t mean to take it down, even though it’s super ugly and I have no time to work on it.
Oh, I just meant having it expanded by default when you see the search results. Like this. And not having to click “details” on each result. I’m not sure if there’s another feature I forgot about though. I don’t remember anything super ugly offhand :)
Not related to this post, but just wanted to let you know that I played the prefix game with my teenage son this weekend and he thought it was cool. :) His vocabulary is much better than mine and he rightfully won. The online dictionary was really helpful to have, though some of the words had a blank page when we clicked on them. I’m guessing that’s a work in progress.
It is a work in progress, but please do let me know if you come across blanks. I can’t go through hundreds of entries by hand, so user reports really do help!