diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83ab075 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +# Yomichan + +A while ago I started working on an [Anki](http://ankisrs.net/) plugin in an attempt to solve various annoyances I +encountered when trying to read Japanese books on my computer. Yomichan is the result of my efforts and makes Japanese +sentence/vocabulary mining trivial. + +The software I was using for mining up to now was [Rikaichan](http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/). I'm sure most +people studying the Japanese language are familiar with this browser extension and probably have it installed in +Firefox. Although pretty amazing, this tool is bound to Firefox. Firefox is obviously not a book reader: it doesn't +behave well with large text files, doesn't remember where you last stopped reading, and most importantly there was no +integration with Anki. As such, adding new vocab to my Anki deck was annoying; I wanted to be able to do this with one +mouse click. After several hours of work, Yomichan could do this and much more. + +Yomichan can be downloaded from the its [Anki shared addon page](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/934748696), the +[Yomichan page on GitHub](https://github.com/FooSoft/yomichan/) or directly from [my +homepage](http://foosoft.net/projects/yomichan/index/yomichan.zip). There is an automatic update checker in the plugin +that (unless you disabled it) will notify you when new versions become available. + +## Basic Usage Instructions + +1. Make sure you are running the latest version of Anki. +2. Open your vocab deck and note the fields that are used in your deck. + + ![Card layout dialog](index/layout.png) + +3. Launch Yomichan from the tools menu inside Anki. +4. Open the text file you want and you will see its contents in the Yomichan. Your layout and color scheme will look + different because the screenshot shows my personal settings. + + ![Reader dialog](index/reader.png) + +5. To look up words hover your mouse over them while pressing the middle mouse button (usually this is your scroll + wheel). You can also press and hold shift instead if you like (or your mouse has no center button). +6. To set up your Anki deck for Yomichan select Preferences from the Edit menu and you should see a screen that looks + like this: + + ![Preferences dialog](index/preferences.png) + +7. Now you should add markers such as `{expression}`, `{reading}`, `{reading}` and `{sentence}` to specify how new + cards should be created. Card fields will vary depending on your deck model. +8. When you look up definitions you will have the option to create Anki cards for them with one click. You will see the + icons for performing these actions next to each item. *Icons for actions which update your decks won't show up if + Anki thinks you can't add a fact with those items*. This likely means that they would either be duplicates of + existing cards in the deck or that Yomichan hasn't been properly set up for your deck model. + + ![Icons](index/icons.png) + + Here is what the icons mean (in order from left to right): + * Add term in Kana form even it can be written in Kanji (e.g. べんきょうか). + * Add term as it appears in the dictionary including Kanji (e.g. 勉強家). + * Copy the expression, reading and definition for the term to the clipboard. + +## Keyboard Shortcuts + +By request, I've added several keyboard shortcuts which make Yomichan even easier to use: + +| Shortcut | Command | +|------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| +| `Shift` | Search under cursor | +| `]` | Move search cursor forwards | +| `[` | Move search cursor backwards | +| `Shift` + `Ctrl` + `#` | Add current Kanji at index 0 - 9 to deck | +| `Ctrl` + `#` | Add current term at index 0 - 9 to deck | +| `Alt` + `#` | Add current term at index 0 - 9 to deck as Hiragana | + +## Importing Vocabulary + +Yomichan is capable of importing vocabulary lists from plain text files and the vocabulary deck database the [Amazon +Kindle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle) automatically generates when you look up words in the built-in dictionary +(this file can be found as `/system/vocabulary/vocab.db`). Note that importing does not create flash cards +automatically, but rather outputs the contents of the file to the Vocabulary and Kanji panes so that you can add facts +the same way as when reading within Yomichan. diff --git a/index/icons.png b/index/icons.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..862ed0a Binary files /dev/null and b/index/icons.png differ diff --git a/index/layout.png b/index/layout.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ff64f1 Binary files /dev/null and b/index/layout.png differ diff --git a/index/preferences.png b/index/preferences.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..431aec5 Binary files /dev/null and b/index/preferences.png differ diff --git a/index/reader.png b/index/reader.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df18a6e Binary files /dev/null and b/index/reader.png differ