Test the New Digital Pali Reader

Dear Friends,

The Digital Pali Reader is now up in a new, revised and easier to use
form.  Please take the time to try it out, if you are interested in this
sort of project.  Please note that the reader itself is crippled without
the PED and DPPN files on the local computer.  All of these files are on
the IBC web server, but I am concerned about advertising their location
publicly due to potential copyright infringements.  It is easy to get
them yourself - just email me and I can explain how.  The reader itself
(without the PED and DPPN files) can be found at:

http://pali.fivethousandyears.org/DPR.zip

Just download the zip file, extract it to the desktop (or elsewhere),
and open the directory "DPR" that it creates and open index.html (using
Firefox Web Browser).


Here is an explanation of the script:

Notes:

    1. The reader was created for my own personal use, but anyone is
welcome to use what I have made for their own benefit or the benefit of
others. I would appreciate if no monetary profit was made off of the reader.
    2. The reader only works on Firefox web browser (version 1.5),
AFAIK.  I will try to look into why that may be in the near future.  For
now, consider downloading Firefox.  It is a nice browser, and you can
still run whatever browser you normally use as well.  Firefox can be
found at www.mozilla.com
    3. Many of the words 'recognized' by the reader are still incorrectly
so.  Please bear with me as I correct them as I have time.

What is it?

The Digital Pali Reader (DPR) is a tool, much like a book-format reader
used in learning a new language, that facilitates learning the Pali
language at an advanced level.  Rather than offering a translation for
the text being read, a reader usually includes a dictionary with all of
the difficult words found in the reader.  The DPR differs from an
ordinary reader in several respects:

    1. The DPR allows for instant lookup of words, simply by clicking on
a word in the passage at hand.  This avoids time spent looking for the
word in a hard-copy dictionary or in another place on the computer.
    2. The dictionary files in the DPR were not designed specifically for
the purpose at hand, and of course sometimes are incorrect based on
imperfect analysis.
    3. The DPR is designed for use with three dictionaries - the CPED of
Buddhadatta, the PED of the PTS, and the DPPN.  Use of the PED and DPPN
requires having the dictionary files local on your computer; these files
have not been included due to copyright purposes (please write to me if
you would benefit from having the PED and DPPN on your computer).

While the DPR is far from perfect, it is sure to be useful for
intermediate Pali students who wish to advance their studies to a higher
level.

How to Use:

    1. The right side of the screen contains the main controls.  It is
mostly self-explanatory.  At the top, there is the list of books and
sub-sections for each book.  Below all of that, there are some buttons,
for initiating the script ("Go"), calling up the original velthius from
the XML file ("xml"), and two previous ("<") and next (">") buttons. 
Below that, there is a manual word search, and some links to various
resources, including this help file.
       
    2. Once you get a paragraph up, you just read through it and click on
any word to bring up an analysis of the word and hopefully at least one
(and hopefully correct) definition from one of the three dictionaries.
       
    3. The analysis may contain any one of  several strange looking
things as follows:
       i) words in parentheses are alternative compound matches.  For
instance, subhaava comes out as: subha-ava (su-bhaava).  In this case
the second option (su-bhaava) is obviously correct.
       ii) passages in {} are alternative readings to the accepted
Burmese readings.
       iii) numbers under a word denote alternative matches or multiple
definitions.  an 'n' under a word signifies an alternative name match
from the DPPN.
       iv) the definitions are colour-coded.  A yellow word has a match
in the PED, a green word in the DPPN, and a yellow word in the CPED.
       v) the short defintions on the right of the center frame are from
the CPED, and those in the bottom frame are from the PED or DPPN.
       
    4. There is a scratchpad at the bottom of the screen, just grab the
bottom edge of the bottom left frame and pull up.  There is also a
Velthius to Unicode converter below the scratch pad.

Final Words:

     1. Please write to me with errors, bugs, etc.  My email is
yuttadhammo@...

     2. Please check the Pali forum at E-sangha.com for updates.

Best wishes and thanks for taking the time to try the script,

Yuttadhammo

February 22, 2006 C.E.