Ann | 15 December 2016

The main focus of FieldWorks 8.3 has been improving the ability to configure your dictionary and publish it to the web.

The primary new features in FieldWorks 8.3 are:

  • One-button publish to Webonary. Once you have an account at webonary.org, it is now as easy as configuring your credentials, choosing what you want to publish, and clicking a button, to upload your data to Webonary. To upload a newer version of your data, just click that button again.
  • New version of the Configure Dictionary functionality, featuring:
    • WYSIWYG dictionary previews. Now the Dictionary view is showing you (nearly) exactly what you will see on Webonary.
    • A preview pane right in the Configure Dictionary dialog.
    • A highlight button so you can see what content is affected by the node you are configuring.
    • The ability to enter Unicode values in the Before/After boxes.
    • Enhanced ability to duplicate and rename nodes.
    • All-around better reliability and consistency for all configuration nodes, and a foundation that will allow the developers to add features much more easily than was possible before this version.
    • Enhanced ability to manage custom configurations and link them to publications.
    • Built-in shared configuration for some of the nodes.
    • Separate nodes for Minor Entries that are Variants versus Complex Forms (and for Main Entries that are Complex Forms, in stem-based views). (In the Alpha version, these need to be configured separately from each other and from the Main Entry. In the future, it will be possible to indicate whether they should share another node’s configuration or be configured separately.)
    • Better connection between Reversal Indexes and Publications.
    • Publication menu in Reversal Index view.
  • New configuration possibilities:
    • Option for Senses to “display in separate paragraph” allows choice of whether the option applies to the first sense or not.
    • Subsenses can be configured separately from Senses.
    • More choices for Sense and Subsense numbering.
    • Examples can be displayed in separate paragraphs.
    • Names of nodes in Reversal configuration have been adjusted.
    • New default styles available to configure the reversal index differently from the main dictionary.
    • New node “Gloss or Summary Definition”, to more easily configure a reference that could point at either a Sense or an Entry.
  • Hybrid view: A new default configuration that is a cross between root-based and stem-based views. This view is based on the work of Bartholomew & Schoenhals’ Bilingual Dictionaries for Indigenous Languages1 Some of the key features of this layout include:
    • Information of greater interest to the language community comes first in the entry; information for academic linguists is last.
    • Complex forms are presented as main entries (like stem-based views), but it also includes “minor subentries”, to show minimal information about the complex form right in the main entry (like root-based views). There is an emphasis on clearly delineating the different kinds of information in the entry.

1Bartholomew, Doris A. and Louise C. Schoenhals, Bilingual Dictionaries for Indigenous Languages. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, México, D.F., 1983.
Bugs fixed since 8.2.8

  • LT-13041 LT-13041 Variant Comments can now be viewed/edited in Bulk Edit.
  • LT-17340 Option to attach audio files now includes .mp4.
  • No longer necessary to “Insert Reversal Index”. They automatically exist for all analysis languages.
  • LT-4443 Make Sense columns in Browse views show Subsenses along with Senses.
  • LT-17208 Activate spell checking in Bulk Edit Reversal Entries.
  • LT-15989 Don’t print letter headings when dictionary is sorted on something other than the Headword.
  • LT-17385 Fix a yellow box error when parsing with the XAmple parser and showing details.
  • Various other parser fixes.
  • LT-14995, LT-14996 Fix spacing in semantic domain worksheets.
  • LT-11388 Fix writing system problem with “Find Example Sentence” in a vernacular writing system that isn’t currently the primary one.
  • Enhance the HTML export of interlinear texts.