Announcing the New Visual Thesaurus Online! : Announcements : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

We're proud to announce the redesign of the Visual Thesaurus web site. Starting this week, you'll see new and exciting improvements to the Visual Thesaurus Online. What's new? We've added auto-complete so you can look up words faster. We've introduced brand-new, high-quality audio pronunciations. We've made the Visual Thesaurus magazine easier to read and navigate. And much, much more...

We see the Visual Thesaurus web site as a home for people who are passionate about words and language, a place where those who love words can explore the English language and participate in educated discussions with writers, linguists, and other creative people.

We want to thank you, our loyal subscribers, for all the suggestions you've sent us for improving the Visual Thesaurus. We've worked hard to put your ideas to work, and we will continue to work to make the site better.

Please let us know what you think of the redesign -- and how you think we can make it better -- in the comments section below. Thank you again for your support!

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Comments from our users:

An outstanding redesign job! The site has much more eye appeal. Less clutter.

Now, how about redesigning the Word of the Day. The layout is awkward and difficult to read. The information is so sparse. It reads like a teenager's afterthought blurted out on the way out of the house. Surely you can do better. After all, I am paying for this.

Still, I thoroughly enjoy your site.

The Word of the Day has been very educational to me. Its the first thing I do each morning. Tho I still have my Roget's Thesaurus at hand length, I've have not opened that book since I've gotten the Visual Thesaurus.
Thank You.
rjyak --

I love this new redesign. The red box for Look up a Word is little too big...needs to reduce about 2 or 3 inches.
I enjoy learning words and language. It is very educational and fun.
Thank you for your great job!
Alice

I feel that the Look Up Word box is appropriate in size to its functional importance. The Community Wordlists are well-placed and easy to navigate. The redesign is well planned. It is visually appealing to adults and looks a little "fun" which will benefit children.

My one suggestion is that the landing page is a little too long. I suggest that the archive be moved to another page linked to the landing page. The landing page should be limited to meeting an immediate need for information, and archived information is by definition no longer immediately needed.

In all, good work. And thank you. Simone

A fresh look is always appealing ... momentarily. I found the previous design easier to read and use. The new design has at least one readability mishap: the lime green headings. While the Internet is reinventing the way we approach information, it is not reinventing the way the human eye functions: we still read our letters best (quickest, easiest, etc.) when there is a high degree of contrast between the foreground and the background.

Great layout, makes it easier to navigate. The look-up box is too large however .....

Rita

I appreciate the new design, however, I am bothered that I can't see the whole "word web." Is there a way that I can maximize the size of the thesaurus area? To me, it was more convenient when the thesaurus was a separate pop-up from the website as I could then maximize the screen size if needed. I also agree that the search box is too large. For users that use the thesaurus tool more than they read the helpful articles, you may consider my suggestions.

Thank you!

Jessica

Jessica (and others),

Thanks for all your comments! Just so you know, you can click the "look it up" button (or press the enter key) to launch the Visual Thesaurus application just like on the old site. The word map on the home page is there just to give you a preview of the word you are about to look up.

You can also click in any white area of the word map and drag with your mouse to reveal the areas that are hidden.

Nice redesign, but what happened to the voice??? When I looked up the word "polar" for my little 7-year old, the voice said, "pola" as if it were from England. This is highly unacceptable. Unless I can change the voice, I'll be asking for my money back.

Margaret, thanks for your comment!

Actually, we offer both British and American versions of the audio pronunciations. We recently switched the default to American but if you subscribed before December 17th you may have the British version turned on. Here's how to switch to the American version:

1. Click on the "settings" menu bar at the top of the Visual Thesaurus application to open the setting panel.

2. Click on "Advanced Settings" on the left hand side of the settings panel.

3. Choose "American English" in the drop down where it says "Audio Preference"

Incidentally, the reason we switched the default is because we are in the process of re-recording all the pronunciations in the Visual Thesaurus. In addition to improving the audio quality, we are adding more audio recordings. Of course, all subscribers will get access to new audio as it becomes available.

Paul Graham:
I am a "Pastor-Teacher" and I write Bible lessons each week for a group of senior citizens. I subscribed to Visual Thesaurus several months back and I am totally satisfied with what it has to offer. I feel confident that anything new will be just as helpful as what you already offer to your customers. If you can make it better, you have my approval. I am with you forever.

Love, Love, Love the new design. It is SO much easier to read and manipulate. Kudos to VT. I love your daily emails and the site helps me with my writing much more than I can ever say!

Happy Holidays!

I think the big red word box is not only restful for weary eyes, as readers have when working hard enough to need your software.
I also love the drop-down sign-in box. That helps take the form-filling format out of your old, clunky site (I HATE FORMS!).
I would also love a larger word result box display -- full screen would be great, but it would have to be reducible for practical reasons.

Oh -- your word result box expands to full screen already! Sorry, tired eyes...

My Friends at the VT,

Harris mentioned that I should look at the new site, and I LOVE it! Congratulations, and I will enjoy myself exploring all of the new links and quirks. I use your thesaurus all the time for my papers, and I have shown it to several friends who also treat it as an indispensable writing aid now -- I miss you guys, and I hope that I'll be in New York again soon!

-Katie

Is there a way to get a definition of one of the word in the circle without making it the center. Example: roll over the word and presto,
there is the definition without changing circle
Thank you,
Linda

Hello to the V.S. Team.Glad to read you are working on improving the audio on word pronunciation.I was taken aback with the British inflexion,as well,however I have an added problem.I have now lost my hearing in the upper range of tones.MOST woman speak in THAT range(CNN ladies are hopeless for me to understand)so would you give the hearing-impaired a think when you add voices to the words?
Your site is indispensable to me,and it is always an adventure when I'm there!
Thank you,
Ellie

It's indeed an excellent experience to be involved in your visual thesaurus.I was wondering will it be too much to ask for a very brief description of the origin of the primary word in a corner of the screen thus saving the effort and time to go to the dictionary?

For some time now I have been thinking of buying a new dictionary and thesaurus in hard copy, but how to choose what would satisfy my hunger for words, their sources, etc., was a problem. Then in the meantime I made the wonderful discovery of the New Visual Thesaurus Online - Wow! Am I going to have fun from now on.

Would it be possible to use the word of the day in a sentence? Thanks.

As long as we are sharing the positives and negatives, could someone explain the reason/value/worth of the front page "Word List"? I am sorry but I am missing the point.
I am enjoying the new design and have always found Thinkmap the most valuable aid day today.

The words at the top of the page (edit, print, etc.) are too small and fuzzy for easy reading.

I am having difficulty dragging words from the website to my document. The Thesaurus covers my document making "dragging" a word impossible.

Suggestions?

Bill Piecuch

I would like a way to reduce the size of the circle, words and definitions so they would fit on one paper. I am a tree lover, so
please be tolerant and help me know how to resize when printing.

Thanks so much, and I love visual thesaurus. I find it helps me understand the depth of a word so much more. I recommend it to my friends.

Linda W