Tool-tip Type Pop-up Boxes in EBooks?

[-K2-]

I'm curious to discover if E-readers like Kindles and so on have a particular feature. What I'm hoping to do is similar to 'tool-tips' you might find in Word, where when you hover-over/mouse-over a highlighted (or hyperlinked) word or phrase, a pop-up box appears either above the text or at the bottom of the page containing a description. On a forum, we might find something similar when we hover over a person's name or a thread title and you then see a box appears which shows us the first bit of text in a thread, or the persons stats.

Do they have such a feature?

Thanks for your help, I've searched the Kindle site and so on without finding an answer.

K2

 

[CTRandall]

Within Kindle, if you highlight a word, you get a popup with a definition. (Two definitions, one from a web search and one from I-don't-know-where.) A "toolbox" also appears enabling you to highlight passages in different colours or add your own notes.

I can't "hover" over anything as I only use Kindle on a tablet with a touch screen and no mouse. There is no cursor and no pointer or arrow. I suspect that will be the most common means of interfacing with Kindle.

 

[Ursa major]

and one from I-don't-know-where

My Kindle (a real one), has, in a folder/whatever called Dictionaries, three dictionaries -- Oxford Dictionary of English, The New Oxford American Dictionary and Duden Deutsches Universalwörterbuch -- none of which I can recall downloading.

Perhaps they were pre-installed on the device... and that one of them is the source of the non-web-search definitions. (I read in airplane mode, so I'm not sure I've ever received a definition from the web.)

 

[-K2-]

Thanks @CTRandall & @Ursa major for your responses. It's very possible what I'm hoping for isn't available... or, perhaps it is if they allow custom dictionaries to be loaded (I'll look further into that, I simply reached a dead-end and thought someone might know).

What I'm hoping is possible is shown below (using blue to make the text seem like a hyperlink, older alpha version).

Essentially, within my story numerous languages are used due to the numerous cultures there. In such cases, various words or partial phrases by the character will be in their native language (Thai, French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.) or pidgin-English. For the most part I could ignore those without concern since they clarify in English. However, then we come to the new pidgin languages the residents use heavily, P-say & Sowfee-say.

As I previously discovered, my beta-readers have trouble initially, which also works. Our first exposure to it finds the protagonist also unable to understand Sowfee-say, so, it adds to the feeling of her frustration. Quicker than my readers expect however, due to the mix of P-say, Sowfee-say, pidgin-English, and English used in by residents, they find that translating it without aid comes easily. Many readers commenting/laughing about 'becoming dumber' able to understand it.

However... I like the idea that there are clear translations available. For all readers there is a 'translation appendix,' but, if translations could be made available on the fly in digital formats, all the better.

To save related discussion as it has been argued already, I'm absolutely firm on using the various languages found in the manuscript. The response thus far by readers has been positive.

Thanks for your input. Maybe someone might have a yes/no answer and I'll keep poking around until I find out either way.

K2

 

[CTRandall]

In Kindle I can insert custom notes in my books. A superscript icon of a page appears next to highlighted text. When I tap on the page, a text box opens to display my note, very similar to your picture above. That sounds pretty much like what you want. I don't k ow if it can be done without highlighting text, though, and I don't know if it can be imbedded in a book bdfore distribution.

Footnotes in Kindle work as links. If I tap a footnote, I jump to a new page where I can read the note, then I jump back to my place in the book. Some readers would likely find the jumping around annoying.

Sounds like what you want is footnote function that opens a text box, rather than jumping to a different page.

 

[-K2-]

I agree 100% @CTRandall ; even if the pages automatically shifted back and forth, I also believe it would be too distracting. Since the pidgins are spoken with English intermixed, I've over numerous versions thinned it to aid in that regard as even a pop-up slows the reader down. However, I'd like for them to have the option easily used in the 'least distracting' fashion in that a quick check here or there builds confidence and then makes reading it more of a game than a chore.

I'll look into custom notes regarding embedding them before distribution. Thanks again!

K2