Kotoba
Quickly search the built-in iOS dictionary to see definitions of words. Collect words you want to remember.
Installation (iPhone only)
If you have Xcode:
- Clone or download Kotoba from GitHub.
- Open
code/Kotoba.xcodeproj
in Xcode. - Connect your iPhone via USB.
- Select your iPhone from the scheme selector.
- Product > Run.
How to Use
- Tap "Add a new word".
- Type or dictate the word you want to look up, and hit the Search key.
- The iOS system dictionary view will slide up, showing you the definition of the word.
- If no definition appears, you may not have the right dictionaries installed. Tap "Manage" in the bottom-left of the screen, and download the appropriate dictionaries.
- Tap Done, and you're back at the main screen. The word you just looked up is added to the word history list.
- You can delete words from the list by swiping left and tapping "Delete".
Why Kotoba?
The original idea came from @gruber in a DM to @DFstyleguide:
Ever find a good iPhone dictionary app?
Best I’ve found is Terminology, but it’s so complicated I usually just fire up Vesper and use the system “Define” service.
The system one is good; and it’s perfect for when I’m reading in an app. I find it fiddly to use though when I’m reading a printed book.
I want:
- Open dictionary app.
- Start typing word to look up.
- Read definition.
Instead I have to:
- Open Vesper
- Open a note
- Type the word I’m looking for
- Select the word, tap Define
- Read definition.
- Close dictionary and delete the word from my note.
Development Status
Kotoba is in a bare-bones state, with just enough functionality to be useful.
As far as I know, it works fine. But if you find any bugs, or have suggestions for improvement, please raise an issue on GitHub. Any feedback is heartily welcome.
Why Open-Source?
Look, ladies and gents, you are much smarter than I. I am a working developer, but Swift/iOS is not my day job. I made this open-source for two reasons:
- Honestly, I suspected Kotoba wouldn't be approved for the App Store. If it's open-source, the Xcode-savvy can at least install it on their personal devices.
- If smarter, more experienced Swift developers can suggest improvements or fix my bugs, I will learn from them.
Which is a nice segue to...
How to Contribute
- Fork.
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b my-new-feature
). - Commit your changes (
git commit -am 'Add some feature'
). - Push to the branch (
git push origin my-new-feature
). - Create new Pull Request.