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Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users
Daily Trick 28. Wikipedia Browser
I believe we all have ever used Wikipedia and perhaps we often use it. And usually, we will use our web browser to search the entry of Wikipedia, won't we?
But using our Mac, it is not necessary for us to open web browser just to look for the entry in Wikipedia. It's because we can use our Dictionary.app to browse through Wikipedia entries.
But initially, you will need to enable Wikipedia as one of your Dictionary sources. Here are the steps to do it:
- Open your Dictionary.app and go to its Preferences
- Inside you can see many sources for your Dictionary. You should choose the one labelled Wikipedia, tick it, and drag it to the first order
- After you've done this setting, you can type in your search term and the search result will be grabbed from Wikipedia
Of course with similar steps as above, you can also enable Thesaurus or other dictionaries as the source.
Categories:
Daily Tricks
Tags:
Dictionary
Daily Trick 15. Quick Dictionary
Having English as my second language, there are many words that I don't know. As a result, I will need to open Dictionary most of the time.
If everytime I need to launch Dictionary.app to see the word definition, I will waste my precious time and decrease my productivity.
However, thanks to my Mac, with a simple keystrokes Ctrl-Cmd-D a quick dictionary pane will appear right in front of your eyes. If you failed to call the quick dictionary, it's possible that you've previously changed the shortcut. To change the shortcut back, follow these steps:
You can click on the thumbnail for larger view.
- Open Apple → System Preferences
- Go to Keyboard & Mouse and choose Keyboard Shortcuts section
- Search for Look up in Dictionary and change the shortcut back
Unfortunately, this feature is not supported by some applications, like Firefox.
Categories:
Daily Tricks
Tags:
Dictionary
Mac Dictionary, Secret Words
No much things to show for now, just a bit of fun that you can get with your Mac Dictionary.
First of all, open up your Mac Dictionary, choose to display Thesaurus and type in one of these secret words:
Apple
"Varieties of apples: Ambrosia, Baldwin, Braebum, Cameo, etc."
I don't know there are so many varieties of apple. Surprisingly, there is also a variety of apple called McIntosh, which I think, from where the name Macintosh comes into use.
Democracy
"A democracy in Irag is quite unlikely for now or any time soon."
Metal
"Metals and Alloys: Aluminum, Antimony, Brass, Bronze, etc."
But now Google has use Chrome for its web-browser name. Maybe next time we can expect other company to have their browsed code-named Pewter?
Maybe you got other interesting Hidden Dictionary Words to show us? The comment box is always there for you :)
Categories:
Applications,
Misc
Tags:
Dictionary
Leopard Tricks : Dictionary
Adding Reference Libraries
By default, your dictionary's reference libraries shown are Wikipedia, Dictionary, Thesaurus and Apple. Obviously, you can add more references to it.
First, go to your Dictionary Preferences Pane by either using keystrokes Command-Comma or using menu bar Dictionary ▸ Preferences. Then you will see there are more than four default references which is available for your Dictionary.
Leopard - Quick Dictionary and Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts
Actually, you don't need to open dictionary application each time you want to check the definition of a word. With Leopard, you can trigger your word definition checking (Dictionary) on-the-fly. Like this :
Leopard Take A Look - Dictionary
Leopard Dictionary got a new look.
Unlike old Tiger OS where Thesaurus and Dictionary are separated into two different Applications, Mac OS X Leopard integrates Dictionary, Thesaurus, Apple Dictionary and Wikipedia into one single Application called Dictionary.