Macintoys
LeoService
jumper.org
Macintoys
LeoService
 |
LeoService - language at your fingertips |
LeoService lets you highlight a word in most applications and opens a dictionary webpage with a single keypress.
The keyboard shortcut and dictionary URL are customizable.
Download Version 1.0.19: Universal Binary DMG (316k) | Source DMG (available on request)
README
With LeoService installed, you can highlight a word in most applications and then hit
a keyboard shortcut (Command-Zero by default) to open a web page with dict.leo.org.
If the engine recognizes the word as being English or German it will show a list of translations.
LeoService is free software - not as in beer - but as in freedom.
This means the sourcecode is available (see License)
for other developers
to create more software in shorter time or for you to change it.
To justify putting time into free projects, I ask for donations.
As a developer who wants monetary compensation but does not enforce it
for this product, it is of interest to me how many times people use what version
of my software and if they've paid for it.
Nonetheless, I think it is your right to know and keep control of where your data flows.
If (and only if) you use the Feedback, More stuff or Donate functions,
LeoService will transmit this (and only this) information to my website or email folder.
LeoService will never transmit your selection of words anywhere besides
the URL which is set in the preference pane (dict.leo.org by default).
If you can't accept this, your options include editing the sourcecode to change it,
letting me know
and moving this piece of software to the trash.
Keyboard shortcuts for Services can use only Shift-Command-Letter and a few punctuation characters.
This means that all the apps and services you use compete for those few shortcuts.
Therefore, LeoService comes with a Preference Pane that you can use to customize the shortcut
(and also the target URL) as you like.
You can also use LeoService from the Services menu (located inside the main application menu).
Just double-click the Installer - it will show some progress messages while installing
LeoService and LeoPrefs in the Library/Services and Library/PreferencePanes
directories in your home folder.
Installing LeoService and LeoPrefs for all users of a machine
is not yet supported. If you care, I can supply you with the gory details.
In case you want to remove LeoService,
navigate to the Library/Services folder inside your home directory
delete the package LeoService.service, then do the same with LeoPrefs.prefPane
in Library/PreferencePanes and logout and back in.
ServiceScrubber by Peter Maurer is a nice utility that lets you regain control of the crowded Services menu.
I also recommend IceCoffee for easy Ctrl-Click/right-click access to the services menu.
Note:
With IceCoffee you won't see the keyboard-shortcuts -
they are visible only in the Application->Services menu.
LeoService and LeoPrefs are written and copyrighted by Björn Kriews.
Thanks to (#)T42 for testing, endless supplies of tea, music and atmosphere.
The installer was built using Platypus, a wonderfully versatile
Application-Wrapper tool
released as free software by Sveinbjorn Thordarson.
Steve Bowen, Chris Lilley and Carmen Delessio generously helped me in tracing the origins
of the cute little lion. It was rendered from an SVG drawing that is used to show off
the Mozilla SVG engine. Further investigation traced the image to being in the public domain,
available as Anim0012.wmf from clipart.free.fr (as of 2005-11-12).
If you happen to know who the original artist is (whom I'd like to credit) or know of any reason why
I should NOT use this image, please email me at feedback@jumper.org.
LeoService is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
LeoService is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
Disclaimer: LeoService is in no way related to any employer or client of mine.
Read the GNU General Public License
All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
LeoPrefs works by editing the Info.plist file that is located
inside of LeoService.service and then dynamically updating the services.
Some people will look down on this method - please tell me if there is a better one.
Therefore, it is difficult to install for all users because only an admin user can
manipulate the shortcuts (at least in a secure setting :-).
For now, you should be able to install it in your account,
configure with your PreferencePane and then move
~/Library/Services/LeoService.service to /Library.
(I didn't yet try this - let me know what happens)
Kind regards, Bjoern