Quote:
Originally Posted by karunaji
Original Mobipocket reader on PC supports multiple dictionaries. When you select a word lookup it can give you a choice among multiple entries and even multiple dictionaries. It is important because many inflected wordforms can be interpreted differently and the first match is not always the best one.
Kindle support is limited in this regard. Also when you browse the dictionary itself, it doesn't support inflections at all. Also Kindle does not support lookup for Asian languages and even for Russian.
Probably, these details are outside of the scope of the format.
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Yes, my old Opus and Gen3 supported multiple dictionaries in Mobipocket format, so it 's a Kindle software limitation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karunaji
Even using mobipocket dictionary format requires that a reader software implements these features. I used to favor mobipocket on this count but after careful consideration I no longer think that it discredits epub format. After all, dictionary format is simply a list of paired headwords and entries. It is very simple concept and it is the software that has to do most of the job to use it. Of course, we need a commonly accepted format for dictionaries too but it is not a technical issue but the question of an agreement.
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I think there's a "small" problem here. I'm totally aware of the software doing the lookup (I develope software, even compilers, after all). But that "question of agreement" is the main point: if ePub specifiers are more interested on including video in the new format than specifying a common format for dictionaries, that is the troublesome point. I don't care if it's easy or difficult to implement, you have to have SOMETHING to implement.
Aside of that, I have no problem with ePub or mobipocket in the books I read: they're mainly novel, so I don't lack a lot in any of them. And I don't discredit the format, I only point to its lacks, very important in some cases, quite a lot more important than the poor implementation of blockquotes or lack of right margin.