DACCO

Why do you have PDF versions of Dacco?

The PDF versions of the dictionary were created so that users had a bit more flexibility in how they accessed Dacco. We realise that an online dictionary does not suit everybody and that some people much prefer to have a dictionary which they can hold in their hands and physically flick through. Of course, some of us like to have both types of dictionary for different purposes...

How up-to-date are the printable dictionaries?

Dacco is, and will always be, a work in progress. We add new entries every day of the week and frequently correct errors and extend existing entries. New versions of the printable dictionaries are only released every few months, so it is inevitable that your printed dictionaries will not be as up-to-date as the online dictionaries. Of course, the best way to keep your dictionaries up to date is to print a new copy with each new version that is released. However, we would request that, if you do this, you ensure that the old version is placed in a recycling bin rather than thrown straight into the trash.

So are the PDF files just like the webpages but in PDF format?

No. The PDF files have been specially created so that they replicate a traditional dictionary (i.e. neatly presented two columns to a page and with guide words at the top of each page).

Does it really matter whether I print out the dictionaries for English speakers or Catalan speakers?

Yes. As an English speaker you are advised to print out the dictionaries for English speakers as they are specially tailored for English speakers and contain appropriate examples and usage notes.

Do I have to pay in order to print a copy of the dictionaries?

No. You may download the dictionaries you are interested in, print yourself a copy, print a copy for your friends, colleagues, family. You may even go the whole hog and get it bound at a local printers such as Kinkos so that you don't keep getting your pages mixed up ;-) From the very beginning our philosophy has been to make our data free in both senses of the word - this may all seem very noble but is in fact simply because Dacco's founder is herself a lazy cheapskate who hates having to repeat work that's already been done and hates forking out money for things that she believes should be free. Our guiding principle is to provide our users with high-quality English < - > Catalan reference materials that they can use, modify and build upon for free, and is likely to remain so.

How many pages are there in each dictionary?

The latest version of the English-Catalan dictionary runs to about 170 pages and the latest version of the Catalan-English dictionary runs to about 120. Unless you are either extraordinarily rich or have a particularly benevolent boss who does not mind you printing out stuff for free on the work's printer, we would strongly suggest that you play around with print options and remember to print on both sides of your paper.

How did you create the PDF dictionaries?

We used a piece of software called Prince which is an XML to PDF formatter. As the Dacco source files are in XML, this tool made the conversion to PDF a breeze. A license for this software normally costs upwards of $300, but we were kindly provided with a free demo copy by Yes Logic when we explained what we needed and that we couldn't afford to pay anything for it. Needless to say, we are very grateful to Yes Logic. This free license also explains why, when you print the PDF files, you get a watermark across the bottom of each page which says 'yeslogic Prince 4.x (alpha)' - a small price to pay to keep our dictionaries free, wouldn't you agree?