a SignWriting online dictionary open to many contributors...

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
March 5, 2004

SW Listers, and Stephen!
Thank you for sharing how you are programming your online SignWriting
dictionary...There are so many different ways to do this, and I look
forward to sharing this with Todd, our FileMaker database programmer on
Monday...I like the idea that other people will be able to add to your
online dictionary...You are right, that you will have some unusual
spellings in the dictionary, but on the other hand, that is a great way
to slowly work towards standardization of spellings...if people can add
to an online dictionary, then they can have a forum for discussion...I
hope you will stay on the SignWriting List, and keep us informed as to
your progress. I bet some of us will want to participate!

Val ;-)


On Mar 5, 2004, at 12:35 PM, Stephen Slevinski wrote:

> Hi Val,
>
> While SignWriter and the dictionaries do have the numbers, I will need
> make
> 9 additional signs, because each number has 4 orientations (suits):
> palm
> towards, away, side, and down.  I guess this would be a great time to
> try my
> skill with SignWriter Dos.
>
> My dictionary is just a folder with gif images.  www.pudl.info/dict
> The
> only searching I have is from a pull down list.  www.pudl.info/dict.php
>
> The English to ASL translator uses a scripting language (PHP) to
> replace
> each English word with the image file name.  www.pudl.info/trans.php
> An
> example would be "read and write sign" becomes "/dict/read.gif
> /dict/and.gif
> /dict/write.gif /dict/sign.gif". As long as the gif exists, the image
> will
> be displayed.
>
> On my site I try to use a lot of SignWriting.  I use a function to
> directly
> convert the English words into images.  For Black Jack Run, I use the
> words
> "black J 21".  See www.pudl.info/games/bjr  If I want to change the
> SignWriting, I only need to change the words I use, or the SignWriting
> images.  It makes the programming much easier.
>
> I plan on opening up my dictionary and allowing anyone to add
> SignWriting
> images.  This may be dangerous, but I will keep an eye on what happens.
> After the dictionary becomes larger, I would like to assign rights and
> privileges to individual users.
>
> -Stephen Slevinski
> www.pudl.info
>