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december 2023Personal projectMobile developmentDesktop developmentFOSS
Vue.jsTypeScriptIonicTauri

When I switched from iOS to Android, I couldn't find any dictionary app that would replace the proprietary dictionary Antidote. So I decided to create my own.

A FOSS dictionary app

At the beginning, I created Remède for my personal use. From the start, I created this dictionary software to be :

  • Built on free tools
  • Available offline
  • Have a nice interface
  • Have its own free dictionary data

I decided to build the application using Vue and Ionic, a framework for building cross-platform mobile apps. This choice makes the application code maintainable and easy to understand, while being deployable as a mobile app.

But as I was building it, I realized that it could be useful for others too. So I decided to make it bigger...

A whole project for the dictionary community

Since then, The Remède Project aims to distribute and make language resources accessible to everyone. It's important that this software is compatible with other dictionary formats; Remède acts as universal dictionary software.

I searched the web for a way to make it more accessible to everyone. That's why I made Remède compatible with already existing dictionary formats such as :

  • The DICT protocol (described in the RFC 2229)
  • The XDXF (eXtended Dictionary eXchange Format)
  • And more are coming...

I also create a desktop application using Tauri, so Remède can be used on every device.

A dictionary uniting language resources

As I said earlier, I wanted Remède to have its own dictionary data. Using a Python script, I merge several sources of language resources into a single database.

Most of the data comes from the Wiktionary project, which is scraped using a customized API called api-definition originally developed by Frederic Gainza. This permits to merge the data from several sources, and allows Remède to have interesting and precise data such as :

  • definitions of words
  • pronunciations
  • examples of usages
  • synonyms, antonyms
  • conjugations
  • rime dictionary

The lifecycle of the build script is described as follows :

Schema of the dictionary build process

A loved application

Even though it's not published on the official app stores, my family, friends and some fellow developers who discovered my project on Github use it. It's a great application that I'm still using every day and working on, in my free time.

Welcome screen of the Android applicationScreenshot of the rime dictionaryScreenshot of the definition page, and the example usages.Screenshot of the definition pageScreenshot of the settings pageScreenshot of the definition page

Do not hesitate to leave a star on Github, and checkout Remède's website !