Dictionary.app: how to change from wikipedia.org to wiktionary.org

Hey everyone, I noticed this thread today https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2600583?threadID=2600583 asking if it was possible to add wiktionary.org to the dictionary app in snow leopard. Well I haven't tried adding it, but I managed to replace wikipedia with wiktionary, which to me makes more sense for a dictionary app 🙂. Here's an image of how it looks http://i.imgur.com/RJsI0.png

So, using some friendly information* about how to fix an old dictionary.app wikipedia bug, it was pretty simple to do the job. Thanks graythought!

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage done to your computer. That said, the most serious thing we are doing is changing permissions of one file buried in the system directory. We will make back ups along the way anyway.

Here we go:

1) Chuck the following into terminal without the quotes.

"cd /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/Diction aryServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Wikipedia.wikipediadictionary/Content s"

2) Just to be safe, we'll back up the file we need to edit, so, in the terminal

"sudo cp Info.plist Info.plist.backup"

Any problems you have later on, just rename the backup file to "Info.plist".

3) Now, head on into the folder from step 1 using finder. When you get there you should see a bunch of files, including Info.plist and the newly created Info.plist.backup. Note if you don't see the backup file, seriously go back and make one.

4) The file we want to edit is rightfully protected. So, right-click on Info.plist and "get info". Scroll down to the bottom, click on the lock in the bottom right corner, fill in your details and then just change the privileges from "read" to "read & write". Take note of what you change if you want to change it back later on.

5) Double click on Info.plist. It will load up in an app called property list editor. Double click on the value next to the key to edit it. I have only edited 3 keys. The edits consist of changing wherever it says "wikipedia" in a url, to "wiktionary". Nothing more, nothing less. Here are the keys, original values and new values after editing. Changes have been highlighed in bold:

Key : WikipediaDataURL

Original Value : http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&useskin=monobook

New Value : http://%@.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%@&useskin=monobook

Key : WikipediaDataVariantURL

Original Value : http://%@.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%@&variant=%@&useskin=monobook

New Value : http://%@.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%@&variant=%@&useskin=monobook

Key : WikipediaIndexQueryURL

Original Value : http://search.wikimedia.org/?site=wikipedia&lang=%@&search=%@&limit=%d

New Value : http://search.wikimedia.org/?site=wiktionary&lang=%@&search=%@&limit=%d

6) Save the file and and if you want to, change the permissions back to what you did in step 4.

7) Load up dictionary.app, click on wikipedia and check out how you are now linked to a dictionary rather than an encyclopedia! I have checked it and it seems to work pretty well.

I'll try and help with questions, but the instructions, unless i've messed up, should be pretty self-explanatory. Cheers

*h**p://graythought.blogspot.com/2010/08/apples-dictionarywikipedia-bug.html