Posts made by b birney

the announcement is here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/new-words-in-the-dictionary , but I can't find the actual list of words added (or deleted, for that matter).

@lolamoth I agree that ZA is a better play; in fact, that is the actual play I made at that point in that actual game.
But I don't think that the Move Strength Indicator algorithm is sophisticated enough to take that into account ... kind of what @mistertoad said in this thread.

@mistertoad
yes, I fairly often find a bingo on the rack but there is nowhere to hook it, but rarely can create one using a hook when there is no bingo on the rack .

@mistertoad said in Move strength algorithm:

I did think that the Move strength algorithm might be extremely complicated to program. But now I think it simply looks at all possible words in all possible places (just an easy enough 'brute force' approach for a computer).

Agree that it would be very complicated to be perfect.
It sometimes indicates that there is a very high-scoring play available, such as a bingo, which just doesn't seem attainable to me.
on the other hand, sometimes it misses a fairly obvious one. in this example, ZA shows as 100% when in fact ZAG would be an improvement.

While we're on the subject, don't forget that "Move Strength" as it is currently titled, is not infallible.
Here's an example:
Using the "S" still in the rack, to make SCUDS, would be worth a couple more points, so SCUD's strength is a bit under 100%.
Interesting but no big deal

@roymccoy said in Tile recall:

I'll have an active arrow and still can't type a letter into the tile.

yes, I have run into this too. But it is both rare and inconsistent, so I haven't complained, as I can't say what specifically seems to trigger it.

Well, I guess so. The "Play" box is red; the strength slider indicates what the word's strength would be if the word were actually valid. So there is no conflict.
thanks,
bill

See the screen capture: there is conflict between Dictionary, which says a word (in this case, RUCON) is not valid, and the Play Strength indicator at lower right which implies that it is. The capture shows the little red/blue strength display to the right of PLAY, although it doesn't show the actual numerical value (in this case, 44%) which you see to the right of the indicator when you hover the cursor over it. But they're there
That indicator is usually absent for an invalid word.
This may seem like a niggling complaint but actually, I frequently use this feature of Lexulous -- it's a nice touch and is very useful as long as there's no conflict as in this case.

If you make a tentative play, and then hover over Play / Move Strength, it shows "Move Strength: NaN%". I tried closing and reopening Lex, even rebooting laptop, but it's still there :-(.

@dan-mitchell or a "rants and raves" one

I had noticed this too. I guess having it shuffle only tiles to the left of the leftmost space could be of value, but just shuffling all the ones remaining seems more useful.
there are lots of improved features in the new release of Lexulous, much appreciated

The unseen tiles/vowel % line above the playing board is not working right. Often, the tile count is wrong; the wrong unseen tiles are displayed. etc. In this example, note that it shows the J is unseen, when in fact I am about to play it in JA at centre left.

@jrp32 not only that, but the old version doesn't work right either! ... it shows one of the scores in each completed game (in Archives) as 0!

One more:
The Dictionary "word box" validates the word there "on the fly", as entered. So there's no longer any need to hit the ENTER key in order to get a word checked.

Also, it is cool that on the main game screen, with the Dictionary tab selected, the two-letter word list is displayed -- very handy

The Dictionary word box gives definition(s) for the last word(s) played -- appreciated, a good learning tool!

The pop-up for Unseen Tiles now shows letter values, and is nice and big, much appreciated. (But it should be movable with the cursor.)

This is posted in the Feature Requests forum because there is no other/suitable place to write about the best new features in Lex V2! So if there is one you particularly like, how about mentioning it here? Or, if someone has already posted their fondness for it, then you can just upvote their post
I'll put a couple below to get things rolling.

In V1, you could click on Unseen Tiles, and then move the pop-up window to the side, so that you could see most or all of the board in play. That way, you simultaneously see both the active board and the remaining tiles, which can help with strategy.
Please keep it working like that in V2.

@kisswpg you could be right as I have the Pro version. Get Lex Admin on it!