English Input Problems on PPC Pleco

[Anonymous]

I have just installed the Plecodict full version on my phone, which runs Windows Mobile 5, the latest pocket PC OS. Everything seems to work ok, but when I type english or pinyin into the input, the letters are large and widely spaced, leaving only room for six letters and no more. Is there something I can do to change that?

 

[mikelove]

Try this: go to PlecoDict's Preferences screen (accessible through the Dict menu), tap on the Characters tab, and for Chinese Font select "NSimSun" or "PMingLiU" - that should get the English and Pinyin to look normal again.

 

[hejincong]

Should we install the fonts if they're not there? The only font listed under Preferences->Characters->Font is UniSun.

 

[mikelove]

Yes, in that case you should install the SimSun (or SimSun Minimal) font using the paid font installer (which is available through My Orders).

 

[hejincong]

Hmm... curious. I now have Unihan, SimSun, and NSimSun all displayed as font options, but the text entry is the same despite the font I pick.

 

[mikelove]

Try selecting NSimSun, then exit PlecoDict (using the Quit command in the Dict menu) and reopen it - that should get the font working correctly.

(we're seriously considering making PlecoDict exit completely when you press the close button in version 2.0 - yes Microsoft says that we should just put the program in the background, but it's a stupid design and makes no sense whatsoever on a memory-restricted small-screen Pocket PC)

 

[hejincong]

Works like a charm, thanks so much. I didn't realize Microsoft imposed those kinds of directives on software designers?

 

[mikelove]

Great! Glad to hear it.

And they don't have the power to impose actual requirements, you can pretty much release any application you like and they can't stop you, but most OS companies publish lengthy user interface standards documents (the Palm OS one is here for example) and require compliance with them in order to have your application certified under programs like Designed for Windows. And all of the programming templates, frameworks, example programs, etc will generally be oriented around the preferred way of doing things; going into the background when you press the X button is the default behavior and it's easier to do that than to make it behave another way.