Access
- Access & Compatibility
- Cost
- Internet
- Skills Required
Flexibility
- Script Support
- Language Support
- Customizability
- Multi-User Support
Data & Compatibility
- Software Compatibility
- Import
- Export
Access
1. Access & Compatibility
TLex requires users to download the software from the TshwaneDJe website. The TLex application is compatible with macOS (64-bit) and Windows (64-bit and 32-bit). TLex currently does not support Linux systems, but there have been users who have managed to operate TLex on their Linux via Wine (see this page for more information).
2. Cost
TLex is paid software which must be purchased as a part of the TLex suite (which includes TLex, tlTerm, and tlCorpus). At the time of writing the price per license is:
- Academic/Community: $171 USD
- Personal: $435 USD
- Commercial/Government: $2,495 USD
These licenses are intended for use by one person, but can be installed on multiple computers (e.g., a laptop and a desktop computer). Additional licenses are available for purchase at a bundled and reduced rate. A free trial/evaluation version is available for download from the TLex website: it can be found here, near the middle of the page, under Evaluation. This version may have some functional limitations and can only be used for a limited time, but is useful for testing the software prior to possible purchase.
Click here for the TLex online store and to compare license prices and bundles.
3. Internet
An internet connection is required to download TLex, but once it is downloaded, internet is not needed to operate the software.
4. Skills Required
TLex is intended to be easy and simple to use. According to the developer’s website, advanced computer literacy skills are not required. If a user can use and understand Microsoft Word, then they will easily be able to understand this program.
Many features of TLex, such as customizing the DTD (Document Type Definition) are classified as advanced features, and may not resemble Microsoft Word. Despite these notable differences, the extensive text and video guides compiled by TLex help make the advanced features much more accessible and easy to use. We recommend accounting for the time it takes to become familiar with the written guides and tutorial videos when starting out with TLex.
Flexibility
5. Script Support
TLex supports virtually all of the world’s languages, and is fully Unicode compliant. There are settings available within the application designed to support right-to-left scripts.
6. Language Support
TLex can support monolingual, bilingual, and, to some capacity, multilingual dictionaries.
TLex dictionaries can be at most bidirectional, meaning there are two separate ‘sides’ of the dictionary. One side will typically have the headword/entry in Language A and the translations in Language B, while the other side will have the headword/entry in Language B with the translation in Language A. TLex dictionaries can be unidirectional as well, in which there is only one ‘side’ to the dictionary, consisting of headwords/entries in Language A and translations in Language B.
A reversal feature is built in, through which TLex turns a unidirectional dictionary into a bidirectional dictionary by taking the headwords/entries (for example, in Language A) and translations (for example, in Language B) from one side and flipping them so that the headwords/entries become the translations, and the translations become the headwords/entries on the other side.
Multilingual dictionaries can be created in TLex by customizing the DTD (Document Type Definition) and adding additional translation fields to the dictionary structure (note: TLex classifies editing the DTD as an advanced feature). The reversal feature does not work well with multilingual dictionaries, as TLex will treat all information in the translation fields as the same language. Multilingual dictionaries work best in TLex if they are unidirectional. An example of this would be a dictionary with headwords/entries only in Language A and translations for each entry in both Language B and Language C.
7. Customizability
Fonts, colours, fields, structures, and other aspects of the display can all be customized. The structure of the dictionary and entry fields are edited using the DTD (Document Type Definition), an advanced feature of TLex. The TLex Suite User Guide and the TshwaneDJe Software and Consulting Youtube Channel are very helpful when customizing the DTD.
8. Multi-User Support
TLex has fairly robust multi-user support and edit tracking. Users work on their own version of the database file, which can then be shared with other users. Once shared, two versions of a TLex file can be easily compared and merged.
TLex can be configured to require users to login to access a database. TLex can also track user information in entries, as well as subsections of entries, such as “last modified by” and “created by.”
Data & Compatibility
9. Software Compatibility
TLex supports the import and export of various file types and should be able to interface with any other tool which uses one of the same file types. The TLex Suite User Guide notes that data in HTML, RTF and XML-formatted files can easily be exported for use with Adobe InDesign.
10. Import
Multiple entries can be added to a dictionary at once by importing a CSV file, a type of file often used to save data from spreadsheet formats like Excel or GoogleSheets. Import categories are assigned with each column of the CSV file, meaning that, for example, column A can be the main head word (lemmas), column B can be the translation, and column C can be an example sentence.
Data can also be imported in an XML file format, although doing so is considered to be a more advanced feature. This method can also be used to merge entries into an existing database.
11. Export
TLex databases can be exported in part or in full. The main entry terms (lemmas) can be exported without any of the other data, or with a selected few categories (i.e., the lemmas and translations can be exported without the example sentences). The entire database can also be exported in full.
The export file formats that TLex supports are:
- TXT, which TLex recommends for spellchecking purposes.
- RTF, a popular way to export data since formatting is preserved.
- HTML for a dictionary which will be hosted on as webpage online. For HTML exports, there are further options to export specific sections of the dictionary separately (i.e., as alphabetical sections).
- XML is an option TLex recommends if users wish to export data in the open, standard XML file format.
- XML-Formatted file, which outputs data as it is in TLex, in its “internal, structured” format, and then applies the basic style and output order to the data. TLex recommends this export function when preparing data for typesetting prior to publishing. They warn that unlike the “plain” XML exporter, the “formatted” XML output does not lend itself easily to being imported back into the software.
TLex can export to Microsoft Word format (RTF, HTML, XML, CSV), Corel WordPerfect and OpenOffice (via RTF format), and Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. TLex also has an electronic dictionary software module output (CD-ROM), where users can publish their dictionaries online via the module. They estimate that this service will cost a minimum of 1,000-2,000 Euros.