User selected/highlighted word(s) in the web page will be converted to a number value using a lexicon that associates individual letters to a number value. These numbers will then be totaled to yield the final value.
Optimally, I would like (with a button and/or hot-key) that a word or group of words could be stored, along with their associated value. This function would be coupled with a button-accessible page which would list all entries to date which have the numerical value of the word or phase selected.
I would also, very optimally, like that this info could be sent (via http get/post) to a public web server which would be setup to receive and store this data. In this scenario, having a kind of 'preferences' page to configure the server, page, and variable names sent would be the best option, as this will allow users to send data to whichever data server they prefer.
This system of word-number associations is called a Gematria. I would also like the toolbar to be able to store several different Gematria lexicons, the list of which can be updated/added to/deleted from. With different gematrias involved, a word's numerical value under one lexicon cannot be asociated to it's value from another lexicon, so words that are stored locally/sent to a server will also have to be associated to the lexicon which generated them. This is also data that would have to be sent to a remote server and be configurable in the 'preferences'
The word-number associations will be of importance to the users of the toolbar. They will be looking for different words that have an identical (or otherwise meaningful) association. In a future scenario, having the toolbar (or other application) pull identical values out of free-form strings (files, etc) may be an interest, but at the moment I"m not sure how i would want this to function, so the toolbar is sufficient for the moment.
for reference, and example of a lexicon would be the following:
Cypher for the Gematria of Nothing (I)
A = 13
B = 12
C = 11
D = 10
E = 9
F = 8
G = 7
H = 6
I = 5
J = 4
K = 3
L = 2
M = 1
N = 0
O = -1
P = -2
Q = -3
R = -4
S = -5
T = -6
U = -7
V = -8
W = -9
X = -10
Y = -11
Z = -12
so
fnord = 13 [GoN] The lexicons will be designed by anyone who wants to make them (and thereore make them available for download. As such the format for them will have to be simple and hand-writable by a human. This kind of lexicon is also know as a cypher, and the following is an example of one that will be used with the toolbar
The Cipher for the Gematria of Nothing I:
A = 13
B = 12
C = 11
D = 10
E = 9
F = 8
G = 7
H = 6
I = 5
J = 4
K = 3
L = 2
M = 1
N = 0
O = -1
P = -2
Q = -3
R = -4
S = -5
T = -6
U = -7
V = -8
W = -9
X = -10
Y = -11
Z = -12
these are not complicated.
2) yes, the user will select the word or words with the mouse.
3) i'm presuming that the lexicons will be stored locally, otherwise their use may be uncertain and that is not preferable.
4) I am unsure which "web-page(file or a database)" you are speaking of. When a word or phrase is computed using a lexicon it must be stored in a manner so that when the user computes a word which has a value of 5, they can click a button and see all words or phrases with a value of 5 which they have previously computed and saved.
With this in mind, there will be need for a button which, when clicked, takes the most recently computed word/phrase and saves it to a database or other file for later display.
please ask questions on anythin you are unsure about Posted by shpoffo Posted: 11:25 am 05/Feb/2002 5798883
Greetings from Grey Matter India, Thank you very much for opening up the PMB. Well, Project seems to be very interesting. Well, there are a few small queries; 1) who will make the lexicons, ie, user will make his own or he will download it from somewhere. 2) how are the words going to be highlighted on the web-page, user selected? 3) the lexicons will be stored by the plugin locally also. 4) are the words and there asociations be stored on the web-page(file or a database).
Once we get the reply for all these query we can give you the proper cost and time estimation. Definitely we are quite confident about the implementation of the Project. To this point, I am pretty sure I know what you want; the only unclear part is the data storage mechanism and preferences page that you briefly described as I have no idea as yet what you want there. If there is something other than a toolbar, surely you can understand that the project would need some further consideration referencing the bid, but as stated before, I am honest and negotiable. I am sure given the prospect of our working together, this will be defined. for an example of how this preferences page oud work please go to www.lite-soft.com/projects/hdietb.EXE and install the toolbar (it can be uninstalled). there is a prefs page available by clicking ont he logo. What mechanism you use to store the data is not too important to me - flat text file? probably soemthign formatted in a simple manner for data retrieval. Doubly so because it'd be nice to be able to update this file either 1)manually/by hand or 2) by downloading this information from the server specificed in the preferences. Since the only way i can reallys ee that happening is if the server sent a flat text file and the toolbar read it in, the ability to read ina flat text file and insert that data into it's associations would be nice. will the dual creation of the toolbar for both platforms impact your bid? As for saving this data (sending it to a server), the toolbar must be configurable to be able to point to any server. So the preferences can be changed if the server moves or the user wished to use another. The lexicons for associating letters->numbers must be able to be read-in (via a predefined and documented format) tot he toolbar and made an option in a drop-down. this will allow th user to decide which lexicon (gematria) they wish to use for determining word associations.
1. How the toolbar will recognize it should process the text entered in IE at the moment? Maybe, we should create an appropriate button on the toolbar, pressing which a user wants to calculate certain figure? 2. Is a user supposed to input manually server address, which gathered info should be transmitted to, or you plan to place certain list of servers there? 3. "The primary function of the toolbar is to convert on-page word(s) mouse-selected/highlighted by the user into a number value." What do you mean by "highlighted" in particular? 4. How frequently do you think data should be transmitted to server? 5. Do you have some rough toolbar design? Do you have icons design? How do you want to store “lexicons”? Is a certain set of “lexicons” supposed to be delivered together with the toolbar? Or the toolbar is supposed to determine newer lexicons and download them automatically?
Look forward to hearing your commants.
Thanks, Olga. Posted by LiteSoft Posted: 07:52 am 06/Feb/2002 5818762
Thanks. I`m happy you like our toolbar.
Everything you mentioned could be done easily. Please, answer the following questions to clarify the requireemnts.
1. Are you looking for toolbar development? If so, would you provide all graphics or we are supposed to design the details? 2. What functional do you think the toolbar should have (in addition to the descriptions you have provided already)? 3. Concerning the part you mentioned: it`s doable, but the protocol for connecting to server is unclear yet. Does server exists already or it should be developed as well? If you have one, than the protocol for connecting to it is known, and let me know which inquiry should we create, which reply should we create and in what form? 1) i was imagining that simply selecting text on the page would could that text's value to be dynamically computed in an area of the toolbar. The idea was to have a simple way of finding the numerical value of a word(s) without needing to go to another page or even switch windows. is this possible?
2)yes, manual input of the server address is preferred, with defaults set during installation of an address I will specify
3)"highlighted": if you click and drag on the web page anywhere it selected an area of text (probably in blue, if you do so on this page). I consider that selected text to be "highlighted"
4)as frequently as the user would wish to send. by preference, there would be a 'send to server' function in the toolbar. this would be called every time they add a word to their local list of words (there would be a preference option that says whether a word will be sent every time they add it locally or not). In the event that they do not send updates every time a word is added then they would have to send them in bulk. This could occur if they are offline and using the browser for the toolbar alone. A bulk upload could consist of sending ever word in the lcoal database sequentially, but that seems to be very crude. Better would, at least, be to flag words int he local lists as sent or not-sent, and only transfer the unsent words duringa bulk upload (then marking them as sent). Do you ahve any suggestions in this area?
5) I'll sketch somethign out for toolbar design, i'm planning on compiling all these thoughts sicnce i've embarked on contracting this into a single idea for construction. the lexicon format will probalby be somethign pretty simple like this:
i think we have a idfferen understanding of the term 'bulk' (or i'm not getting your wording). 'bulk' data is what is sent to the server en masse when they decide to synchornize/upload their whole local list. that list could be considered 'bulk' since that's what would determine a 'bulk' send, but i tend to distinguish the two. i jsut want to make sure we're clear.
i'm going to put together a doc that shoudl outline most of the toolbar into somethinga that more clear and whole. i'll upload it when i't sdone. in the meantime
1)when a user highlights some text it shoudl compute its value and display it in the toolbar, but it should not be added to the local file/dictionary/'bulk' until they click a button in the toolbar.
"Or you mean that bulk should store text a user has highlighted, but not figures? " -no
4) the data would be sent in the form of a http string, just like it was calling a web page.(I'd considered work with XML, but i'm not comfortable enough that the tech will be widely implemented, and i know i can solve this problem otherwise). see y post below on how this data is set in the preferences page in order to get an idea ofr the formatting. each http string will call a page and in that call will send: a word, it's value, the lexicon, 200 chars of notation text. the main unknown here is 'the lexicon'. in the case of the one listed in the previosu posts, that field would look like "GON", but there could be many others as the user inputs or downloads more. i will elaborate on thies more in the forthcoming design doc if there is still uncertainties.
5) good point! if any characters not in the lexicon should be summarily ignored in the computation, including numbers and punctuation. the only exception to this will be if the lexicon contains punctuation or other non-letter characters. I believe the lexicon should be case sensitive.
as for description of teh algorthim - this is what the lexicon is. in the example from the previous posts A = 13. so the work 'know' = -7
Posted by shpoffo Posted: 07:43 pm 07/Feb/2002 5856773
Thank you for comments.
Quick questions are:
1. You mean that when a user highlights some word (or text) in the browser, the toolbar detects it and calculates appropriate numerical value and saves it to bulk. Right? Or you mean that bulk should store text a user has highlighted, but not figures?
4. what is data format sent to a server?
5. You mean that the text highlighted by a user, consists from letters only? What if a user highlights text containing digits, spaces, colon etc.?
Could you provide us with strict description of the algorithm for numerical word value calculating?
see how the toolbar functions. Would you be planning on deigning the toolbar for our project using a similar style, or would you be using standard windows interface conventions (a regular look-and-feel)? Also, how do i uninstall the toolbar which that page had loaded? The option to uninstall is preferred for this project as well.
1) i would like to implement several different systems. The one to be used currently should be able to be selected from a drop-down. The user should also be able to write or enter a custom gematria which the toolbar will store and make availble for selection in this drop-down
2) at the moment i do not need serverside- support created, though int he future i may wish this and i would contact you in such instance. it will not be needed for the present project/bid
3) yes, saving words to the local machine is also necessary. developing this in an Windows environment it is likely that a .mdb file or similar build-in convention could be used for simplicity, but i'll let you make that call.
4) i understand this. the ability to install this from a downloadable file is something that i may prefer because of this. plese let me know how making a downloadable .exe may impact your bid.
Posted by shpoffo Posted: 11:48 am 05/Feb/2002 5799971
Hello,
Thank you for the additional information. We have experience with custom IE toolbars development and your project is within our expertise. Here is a link to a demo toolbar on our server:
http://www.dreamwaretech.com/searchbar/sbar.html
Just follow the installation instructions. Our toolbar consists of a search box and 3 simple links to pages on our server.
I have a couple of questions and comments:
1) Would you like to implement several different Gematria systems and algorithms (e.g. Hebrew, Greek, etc) or only one? 2) Do you need the development of the server side solution for data storage or only the client side (toolbar)? We can also provide the server side solution (PHP/MySQL) with comprehensive administration tools at an additional cost. 3) Will the user have the option to save words not only to the server but also on his local machine and browse them later? 4) You're probably aware that you will need to buy a secure certificate from Thawte or VeriSign so the toolbar can be signed and marked as safe. Our bid does not include the price of the certificate. 5) Unofrtunately, we currently do not develop software for Mac. We can only provide a solution for IE on Windows systems (95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP).
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