On 6/6/06, Joan Moratinos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > 5. OpenOffice should be able to replace the wrong sentences.
>
> The checker should preserve formating, footnotes, etc. Ideally these
> things should not be passed to the checker (the footnotes and the like
> could be passed when the paragraph or the sentence that includes them
> has been checked, for example), but if the user chooses to accept a
> suggestion, the format (i.e. italics), the footnotes, etc. should remain
> in the original places. Perhaps we could pass "markers" embedded in the
> paragraph text and then return them in the corrected text to "align"
> the
> original and the checked sentences.
>
>
> hum... I think API can deal with it, my idea is not letting grammar
> checkers deal with these details, only analyse and suggests corrections.
> It could be difficult letting a grammar checker deal with indexes, text
> positions, underlining etc.
The checker can have a function to check a sentence (clean). If the user
wants to replace the original text with a corrected one the API can ask
the checker to divide the corrected sentence in fragments corresponding
to fragments in the original sentence. The checker is allowed to ignore
the request, and even the OpenOffice could not use this function but it
should exist. No one knows better than the checker the correspondence
between the original and the corrected sentences. It's not difficult to
think abot cases very difficult to solve for the API, that doesn't has
enough information.
For example, my Catalan checker can correct the sentence "El tamany del
fitxer" ("The size of the file"; "tamany" is a barbarism) to "La mida
del fitxer". The corrected words can be very different from the original
ones, there can be more or less words or a change of order. Here is an
example of my proposal:
- The user has written "El *tamany* del fitxer", with "tamany" italized.
- OpenOffice submits "El tamany del fitxer" (a clean text).
- The checker tells that there is a mistake and that "El tamany" should
be replaced by "La mida".
- The user accepts the change.
- OpenOffice then asks the checker to divide "La mida del fitxer"
proportionally to 3/6/11, the lengths of the three portions ("El ",
"tamany" and " del fitxer").
- The checker responds with 3/4/11, the lengths of "La ", "mida" and
"del fitxer".
- OpenOffice can then write down the change without breaking the format.
- If the checker has not the capability of "aligning" the sentences,
OpenOffice can proceed by "trial and error".
This is a nice idea too =). As I told to Santiago if we could not implement it we have to make an effort to commit as few mistakes as we could, letting at least font and size intact
> > 6. I think we should create an unified User Interface, for any
> > grammar checker use it.
>
> I think that this user interface should be optional. A grammar checker
> is a candidate for great complexity and we should not be constrained to
> a predefined UI. For example, the grammar checker I'm developing
> (http://www.einescat.org) uses its own UI, and can be eventually used
> from clients other than OOo. For me (in my particular case) it would be
> better not being bound to any user interface.
>
>
> We have discussed it before, there is a problem, today every grammar
> checker uses its own user interface, now imagine if you want to use two
> or more grammar checkers in the same time, each grammar checker should
> have its own UI? I think its not good. I know if we create a single user
> interface it cannot allow a fine tuning in each grammar checker but I'm
> proposing a unified UI with most common options. We are open to discuss
> here ok?
I agree that there has to be a UI, but we could leave an "escape way"
for checkers that can not (or want not) use it. I think there are good
reasons for this:
- The checkers can be "application neutral". They can offer services to
several programs (OpenOffice, Word, Abiword, Thunderbird...). If the UI
is a part of the checker, the integration with the clients is easier.
- The checkers can be very complex. It's impossible to foresee every
need. For example, my checker shows the parse it has done with a
graphic. Will the UI permit drawing a graphic? If it's possible, I will
have to rewrite a part of my program. If not, the users will miss an
important part of my work.
JMo
for this I'm suggesting the user interface I post in this project blog, take a look you grammar checker developpers are the right person to improve and comment on it.
