RikaiXUL update (use Rikai-functionality directly from Firefox)
(note: this article is out of date. Please see http://rikaixul.mozdev.org/installation.html for the latest version)
I've taken some of the new popup code, merged it with the code I used to have in RikaiXUL, and now you can have Japanese popups on any web-page without ever touching rikai.com
Install RikaiXUL v0.4
Released under the GPL.
To use:
- you MUST use the firefox browser.
- go to a Japanese web-page you want to read.
- right-click, and choose "rikaixul!" from the popup menu, or use tools/rikaixul! from the main menu.
- mouseover to see popups.
- use shift-rightclick (technically, any mouseup event not on button 1) to pop up information on a single kanji
thats it!
This is released under the GPL.
Please let me know if you use this in an educational setting (you may, you may!).
I've taken some of the new popup code, merged it with the code I used to have in RikaiXUL, and now you can have Japanese popups on any web-page without ever touching rikai.com
Install RikaiXUL v0.4
Released under the GPL.
To use:
- you MUST use the firefox browser.
- go to a Japanese web-page you want to read.
- right-click, and choose "rikaixul!" from the popup menu, or use tools/rikaixul! from the main menu.
- mouseover to see popups.
- use shift-rightclick (technically, any mouseup event not on button 1) to pop up information on a single kanji
thats it!
This is released under the GPL.
Please let me know if you use this in an educational setting (you may, you may!).
posted by Todd Rudick at 12/29/2004
39 Comments:
Cool!
I tried it on my Macintosh.
(Note: you may want to add a note about Macintosh use:
option-click, and choose "rikaixul!" from the popup menu)
I only seem to get the single kanji defs on mouseover. However, maybe if I experiment more, I'll get regular popups.
Charles
Hmm. I forgot there's only one button on the mac.. You might try shift-option-click (try clicking a few times in a row if the context-menu pops up, as it's mouse-up I'm capturing)... I may need to rethink how that part works.
Anyway, I appreciate the help debugging and glad that it works on an untested platform (yeah firefox!)!
I just realised it doesn't have an install script for mozilla--but it almost certainly works... I'll whip one up.
I'm confused
I'm using Firefox 1.0 on Windows XP SP2, but I don't seem to be able to install RikaiXUL?
I clicked on the "Install RikaiXUL v0.4", but nothing happens, it just redirects me to the page again?
(The "Install RikaiXUL v0.4" links to http://www.rikai.com/programming/2004/12/rikaixul-update-use-rikai.html# - is this right?)
Yes, that's right. There's an onclick event on the install link to actually do the install.
My guess is you didn't notice the firefox warning that appeared telling you installations were blocked. It has options for allowing installation from www.rikai.com which you need to set for the install to work.
Thank you Todd-san
It was as you guessed, I didn't have script installation enabled on FireFox.
It worked, though slow on my computer (P3-600MHz 512MB), for example it took about half a minute or so to load RikaiXUL on google.co.jp :)
Yes, the initial conversion you do has to load in the dictionaries. If you read more pages in the same browser, though, it should be very quick.
BTW, I've updated the mozdev rikaiul site, if people would like to start helping. Once the mailing list and cvs are updated to the latest version, I hope people will get involved and submit patches.
Great job Todd! I love it. My only problem is that my popups are coming up and having white text instead of black, and makes it very difficult to read on a yellow pop-up. Is this due to settings on my behalf, or because I'm using a mac? (mac osx 10.2.8)
Thanks
Hmm.. Strange. I tried changing my default colors and it didn't seem to have the effect on the popups. Does anyone else see this on the MAC?
On the other hand, it's interesting that the front of Rikai has a lot of default color dependencies now that I look. I guess I've got some fixin' to do!
Hey, that's magic!
although the shift+rmb doesnt seem to work on my work machine (win2k), could be because I'm using the gestures plugin though. If I shift+lmb+rmb it works though:/
It's great though, and I'm sure I can live with that.
Slightly unrelated, but is there a way to send text directly to the lookup page? So I can add myself a keyword in firefox, instead of always going via the front page? I'd more than happily have some adverts on the output page if I could do this:)
And again, if you don't mind too much, I'm thinking about trying to get Rikai to run on a pocketPC, because I've yet to find a really good dictionary for mine, lots of ok ones, but nothing really special. Ifso if I can combine Rikai style kanji mouseover popups with normal word over popups that'd be the bomb, I think. Although I might have to learn WinCE first, it can't be that different from Win9x+, can it?:)
Ah, Just noticed how to send an url on your other blog, cool.
Chris
Hello Todd
I think it would facilitate my kanji learning a lot if there were a comment line within each Japanese popup so I could add my personal mnemonics.
Thanks for a great reading tool! For the first time its fun to read in Japanese!
Tobias
Great great work ! I've been using Rikai.com for a while and know the plugin is really changing my life :))
By the way, i showed it to a japanese friend (ja->en on rikai.com) who was very interested... This plugin seems to do ja->en only ? Do you plan on releasing this kind of similar plugin ? Or did I just miss something and it's already possible ;) ?
Anyway, thanks a lot.
Just to correct the message I just left, I meant i showed him en->ja on rikai.com and wondered if there was a plugin for this way too :)
No, I haven't tried that yet. It wouldn't be very hard to do by the same method. You're welcome to give it a try. On the other hand, the available dictionaries are not as good in that direction.
タディ 様
Brilliant work with the Firefox plug-in. Fast and lovely. My question is whether this rikaixul work can also be used to read offline text, e.g. a text file. Maybe 2 years ago, I installed the old Mozilla stand-alone Rikai JPN reader and I wonder if there is something equivalent for Mozilla's new Firefox--so I could continue to do offline text-work with Rikai. (Firefox 万歳!)
Anyway, big thanks and much praise as always!
New Yorker in Hokkaido
I think it's an awesone tool; however, I can't seem to get it to work. After I isntall the plug in, all I get from any page with japanese is either "Javascript Error: , line 0:uncaught exception:[Exception... "Component returned failure code: etc." or "Javascript Error: undefined, line undefined:[object Event]"
Please Help.
Please don't put bug reports here, especially posting anonymously. I'll need more info to help you (browser version, platform, an example page, etc).
If you could use the Rikai feedback form and let me know your e-mail address, we can try to troubleshoot the problem.
I use nothing but Opera. Will there ever be a release for any other browsers?
This tool is very useful even though I just found it today, but tend to use it as a reference on the Japanese sites I visit.
Although I am studying the old fashion way, this will help me recognize Kanji characters I never tend to remember.
But I browse 99.8% of the time in Opera 7.23. DO I have to learn code? I cant see the text inside the yellow box either.
Anime_Warehouse
Thanx
I'm on the mac, with today's current Firefox. RikaiXul seems to work fine, but I cannot read the explanations because it writes with invisible colors (white on yellow or something ?) Could something be done so the user can configure the colorscheme himself ? Thx
The plugin is nice, but every time I click on a link or surf away from the page I'm using it on, the pop-up capability goes away and I have to start it again. Is there any way to keep it going continuously, like on the site version?
A slight problem I found. Don't know if it is intentional but here it is. When on a site if they decide to change the font color to somthing that clashes with the standard background of the popup it changes the text on the popup as well, rendering the popup unreadable and worthless. Just thought I would let you know. Thanks.
Good work.
Hey, finding this extension very helpful with my japanese studies. The only down side i get from this extension is that it crashes a fair bit when i have my 20+ tabs open and then try to riaixul! a page.
Thanks a lot for coding this extension.
Hi! I don't know if this is feasible or not, but would it be at all possible to make RikaiXUL work from within Chatzilla?
It's already a great piece of software, especially for reading texts from Aozora Bunkou and browsing Japanese message boards, but imagine if it could be used to process incoming messages on IRC line by line! No more having to look up every 3rd word in Gjiten while trying to type a reply... :)
Hi! I don't know if this is feasible or not, but would it be at all possible to make RikaiXUL work from within Chatzilla?
It's already a great piece of software, especially for reading texts from Aozora Bunkou and browsing Japanese message boards, but imagine if it could be used to process incoming messages on IRC line by line! No more having to look up every 3rd word in Gjiten while trying to type a reply...
By the way, thanks. :)
First off, thanks a lot, this is pretty much exactly what I've been looking for. I remember a couple years back, using something just like this, but it let you put a button on the toolbar instead of an entry in the context menu. That might be something to consider. This one seems to be a lot more flexible in selecting individual kanji or compounds, so I do appreciate that.
I am having a little problem though. I'm using Firefox 1.0.3 on XP, and when I start it up, after my homepage has finished loading, I see an error message in the status bar that reads Javascript Error: undefined, line undefined: [object Event]. Sometimes loading another page will make it go away, and sometimes it won't.
Another thing I have noticed is that on "miscellaneous" characters like katakana that are not part of a recognized word, spaces, or some punctuation marks, mousing over them produces an empty pop-up box.
Neither of these are big issues, but they can get annoying. Also, can't you start a forum on the mozdev site? That seems like it would be a much better place for this sort of thing.
I was going to program something like this myself, but you completely beat me to it! Thanks for doing the hard work for me, I'm going to now go and accelerate my learning of Japanese :)
Hi!
When I was back home in Sweden I used RikaiXUL in Firefox which worked just fine. But here in Japan I can't get it working. Can it be because I use japanese Windows XP? Has someone had same experience. I really want it to work cos it is such a good tool!
Please apologize if this is wrong place to post this comment but I didn't find a better place.
I posted here before and I thought that I should also inform of the error message I get when I try to activate RikaiXUL. It is:
Javascript Error: , line 0: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIChannel.open]" nsresult: "0x80
and then I can not read more of it, but I understand it can not find a file. Has to do with my japanese Windows, or?
Hi Todd,
Here are a couple things to ask you about.
First thing is how to turn-off “rikai”? I know about the enable/disable options, but that is not what I’d like to know. Right now I see only the way to do so by reloading the page.
And here is another thing. Could “rikai” just ignore a non-Japanese text? Because it makes empty yellow pop-ups, which are could be very annoying, especially when somebody reads Multilanguage text.
Sorry if I duplicate any previous questions.
Thanks!
Todd, I love your work, but I can't install RikaiXUL on my G5 (mac os X). no right-click popup nor new menu...
????
Peace,
Romain
Hello Tood,
Is it possible to use french dictionnary with rikaixul? (or even other languages)
The site http://dico.fj.free.fr/dico.php provides diferent formats of french<->Japanese dictionnary that may be compatible with rikaixul. Is it possible to use on of them?
Thanks for your feedback and for that great tool!
Great tool - thanks!
One site I've not been able to make it work with is Google's GMail - having selected rikaixul it then appears to reload the page, bringing up GMail's "Loading..." message and then stalls.
Using Firefox 1.06, Windows XP SP2.
Hi Todd,
One of the greatest kanji learner's tools ever! Thanks a lot. But the XUL doesn't do combinations of kanji as well as the webpage version. Keep up the good work!
Hans...
No, I use Japanese version of XP fine with this plugin.
I feel the idea really good.
Thanks... but it still apprears some little bugs.
Thanks you and long life to rikai !
I does not work for me.
Maybe it's because I am running firefox 1.5?
I am running it under linux and the context menu (right-click) shows me rikaixul! option in one place, and in another after I select it, and reverts back when I seleckt it again.
shift-right-click also shows the context menu.
Anyone else can confirm if it is a problem with ff 1.5 or is it just me?
It doesn't work for me in Firefox 1.5 either. However, rikaichan (an update to the code) does work, and is much better anyway. Please uninstall and try rikaichan instead.
Hello ! Rikaixul is definitely a cool ap.
But the new stable version of Firefox is 1.5.0.1, and rikaixul refuses to install on it. Can you do something for us so we can continue to use it? :)
Does not install for FireFox 3.0b4 version
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