May 5, 2011

Tip: if you prefer the pinyin to be shown next to the 汉字 instead of below the 汉字, click the "Display Settings" link just above the search result and choose "Show pronunciation: right of 汉字".

New layout for search results

The MDBG dictionary website started about 10 years ago. Over the years many features have been added, resulting in more and more buttons and columns. In the new design we put the focus back on the content. Some of the new features are:

• All action buttons moved to a mouse-over menu, just hover (no need to click) your mouse cursor over the icon to access the action buttons
• Direct links are included in the action menu to search words containing (*汉字*), starting (汉字*) or ending (*汉字) with a Chinese character or word
• Get detailed information from the character dictionary (including Cantonese pronunciation) using the button in the action menu
• To copy an entry in plain text, click the button in the action menu and use CTRL-C (or ⌘-C on Mac) to copy the highlighted text
• Stroke order animation, character decomposition, word decomposition and pronunciation examples are now shown inline instead of a pop up window
• Click the button to find more information about words directly in Baidu Baike without leaving the search result
• Print a vocabulary list from a "Look up All Chinese Words in a Text" or "Translate a sentence" result
• Larger Chinese characters are used for improved readability

New display settings

The display settings allow you to change the way the search results are displayed. To open the display settings, click the "Display Settings" link just above the search result. If you prefer the pinyin to be shown next to the 汉字 instead of below the 汉字, choose "Show pronunciation: right of 汉字". For those who want an even cleaner result page, it is now also possible to hide HSK levels, Cantonese pronunciation, Cangjie and Four corner codes. The display settings also allow you to choose between Yale and Jyutping Cantonese.

Tone colors

The pinyin tone colors are not a new feature, the only change is that they are enabled by default now. See this page for more information about the tone colors. The pinyin tone colors can be disabled through the display settings.

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Flashcard dictionary

Another new feature added to the display settings is to hide the pronunciation until you hover the mouse cursor over an entry. This adds a kind of flashcard effect to the search results, stimulating memory recall.

Sound player support for iPads

Previously Adobe Flash was used to play the pronunciation examples. Devices such as iPads do not support Adobe Flash and were unable to play the pronunciation examples. The new sound player adds iPad support through the usage of HTML5. Android devices will need to have Adobe Flash installed to play the pronunciation examples.

Translation page

Previously, the translation page only offered a word-by-word dictionary look up in addition to the translation. It is now also possible to choose a vocabulary list or mouse-over pop up annotation instead.

Browser support

Internet Explorer 6 is no longer supported. The MDBG dictionary website is best viewed in Firefox 3+, Safari 5+, Chrome 11+ or Internet Explorer 9+. Updating to any of these browsers is free.
The mobile version of the dictionary website now automatically scales to the screen size of your device.