Mini-review: FlowDict gets UWP version - access online dictionaries

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Dict is a dictionary network protocol, i.e. a standard way for clients on all platforms to access online dictionaries in the public domain. FlowDict seems to date from Windows Phone 8.1 times, though I'd not heard of it before, but this new, free UWP version for Windows 10 certainly works as advertised, including with Continuum displays.

From the Store description:

  • Search in all installed dictionaries at the same time, results are displayed as a continuous list of article headers.
  • Dictionary article content are shown one after another on the same page.
  • Dictionaries could be added to the application from an online repository or device storage. Synonym files are supported.
  • No limitation on the number of dictionaries installed.
  • Full history of viewed articles is retained.

Effectively this is a version of the open source StarDict project, compiled here for Windows 10 (and 8.1 before it). Here's FlowDict UWP in action:

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The interface is kept fairly plain, but highly functional - there's a wealth of different online dictionaries for every possible language combination and you can download any for offline use; (right) a typical search result - largely plain text, but then these are free dictionaries from a variety of sources. A history log of all your searches is kept and you can view this at any time to re-do a particular search.

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There's not much needed on the hamburger menu - yet; (right) you do get to customise the fonts used quite a bit though, i.e. to suit your eyesight. Especially welcome, given the mass of textual content in a variety of foreign characters!

And, this being a UWP app, here's the obligatory proof with a shot of it running on a Lumia 950 on a Continuum display:

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As you'd expect, the larger display is used to the full, though the plain text nature of the content means that Continuum is a little overkill!

This is a free download here in the Store for all Windows phone versions (i.e. 8.1 and W10M).

Source / Credit: Store