Great Uses of Ideas

Here's a great use from Gabe Recchia, of Berthoud, Colorado, USA, who writes:

I'm excited to report that I've implemented an idea I got from IdeaExplore! I'm a teenage programmer, so I always like to check out the computers category, and about a month ago I saw the following idea posted by Jonathan Stamp:

"In word processing software, the user should be able to 'right-click' on a word and then, like with a thesaurus, they can select another word that means the same as the original. This would definitely be possible as thesaurus software already exists."

I thought this would be a great idea, as I often use the Thesaurus function of Microsoft Works when writing essays, and a pop-up thesaurus menu would be very convenient. So I wrote a computer program that allows you to highlight a word in virtually any word processing or e-mail program, right-click on it while holding down the Alt key, and see a list of synonyms. You can see a screenshot of the program in action, as well as download it if you want, at my Free Spareware website. Of course I credited IdeaExplore and the author of the idea on my contact page.

P.S: It uses Microsoft Word's thesaurus file, which means that you have to have a relatively new version of Word installed for it to work. I've only tested it on Windows XP, but it should work on other operating systems too. For some reason, it doesn't seem to work in PowerPoint or Corel WordPerfect, but it works in every other program I've tested it on.

I'm thinking of continuing work on this program so it can be used to conveniently retrieve dictionary definitions, translate foreign words, or any other functions I can think of. Thanks for the ideas!

Thanks, Gabe! Thesauro works with web browsers also (though of course it can't edit web pages). It is compatible with Windows 98 also. Before using Thesauro, remember to run it (from the Start menu, Programs).

Gabe won the IdeaExplore Award for February 2003 for his consistent contributions of ideas.