Announcements

Visual Thesaurus Expands to the iPad and iPhone

We're proud to announce a major technological advance for Visual Thesaurus users. We've just released a new version of the Visual Thesaurus that works for the iPad and the iPhone, at no extra cost to subscribers. And whether you're using the VT in your Web browser, on your iPhone, or on your iPad, you'll enjoy lightning-fast load times.

The newly released version of the Visual Thesaurus is firmly on the forefront of online technology with its use of HTML5, the latest revision of the HTML standard for the Web. Not only does that make it possible for us to bring you the VT on the iPad and iPhone, but it also streamlines the Visual Thesaurus experience for users of up-to-date browsers, providing load times more than five times faster than the previous version.

HTML5 presents dynamic animated content without the need for a separate plug-in. In your Web browser, the new version starts just like the old one, only much more quickly. Just type a word in the search box, and click "Look it up." There's no need to worry about loading the Java plug-in, since everything happens right in your browser.

Here is a list of the platforms that will run the new version:

  • iOS (the operating system for the iPad and iPhone)
  • Supported browsers:
    • Firefox
    • Chrome
    • Safari
    • Internet Explorer 9

(If you are using an older version of Internet Explorer and are interested in upgrading, we'd recommend installing the Google Chrome browser, which offers the best Visual Thesaurus performance.)

Winner of the 2010 World Technology Award for education, the Visual Thesaurus has been a technological trend-setter for many years. We're confident that you'll find the VT to be even more powerful and user-friendly with this latest innovation.


Rate this article:

Click here to read more articles from Announcements.

Join the conversation

Comments from our users:

Thursday June 9th 2011, 7:45 AM
Comment by: Cameron Reddy (Ann Arbor, MI)
Woo Hoo! It is MUCH faster on my Mac! I’ve only tried it in Safari so far.
Thursday June 9th 2011, 8:43 AM
Comment by: Terri
Great! Would love VT on my iPhone.
How do you get it? Wasn't listed in the app store.
Thursday June 9th 2011, 8:55 AM
Comment by: Pete (Atlanta, GA)
Very nice! Before I routinely ran into conflicts with my various Chrome extensions. Now it runs like a top. I've always thought this was a worthwhile investment and with the new platform you've given word lovers another reason to rave about this grand product. Good job!
Thursday June 9th 2011, 8:57 AM
Comment by: Samuel F.
Sounds great! I searched for it at the App Store and did not find it. Could you post a link or give more info on how to obtain it.
Thursday June 9th 2011, 9:08 AM
Comment by: Pantagruel (New York, NY)
Use your browser! No app required.
Thursday June 9th 2011, 10:27 AM
Comment by: Thinking Reed
Sounds great; how do I access this new app?
Thursday June 9th 2011, 10:30 AM
Comment by: palavering (Tequesta, FL)
Well, if it's available as an an, where is the app?
Thursday June 9th 2011, 11:09 AM
Comment by: Doug G. (CARROLLTON, TX)
I'm seeing word maps with Safari browser with an original iPad but no definitions appear as expected.
Thursday June 9th 2011, 10:55 PM
Comment by: Ben Zimmer (New York, NY)Visual Thesaurus ContributorVisual Thesaurus Moderator
As explained above, the VT is available from within your browser on the iPad or iPhone, not as a standalone app. Subscribers can log in from the browser in the usual fashion, and the VT will launch when you type a word in the search bar.
Sunday June 12th 2011, 3:28 PM
Comment by: begum F.Top 10 Commenter
Yes, it is handy. I just checked the word "Naive" in my i-phone.
It readily loaded the Thesaurus option. I clicked on this (Theasurus)link and a series of word meaning appeared.
But I didn't see any listening options. That's very important for me. I'm still searching all features. Hopefully, I'll be able to listen to the words.
FB
Sunday June 12th 2011, 4:19 PM
Comment by: Ben Zimmer (New York, NY)Visual Thesaurus ContributorVisual Thesaurus Moderator
Begum: The audio pronunciations for all words are still available. Just click on the speaker icon next to the word in the center of the wordmap. Or you can right-click on any word in the wordmap (control-click on the Mac) and select "Pronounce Word."
Monday July 4th 2011, 4:06 PM
Comment by: Indigo75 (Jacksonville, FL)
VT need to be a stand-alone app!!!
Thursday July 14th 2011, 5:53 PM
Comment by: xYz (London United Kingdom)
"Thanks for using the Visual Thesaurus! We have recently made an update to the Visual Thesaurus, that has improved loading speed, and allowed users with iPhones and iPads to use the tool. As part of the upgrade, however, the 3D functionality that you described has been removed. We're sorry for any inconvenience. We're working to reintroduce it in the future. We'll keep everyone posted about new features on the site."

PLEASE BRING BACK THE 3D FUNCTIONALITY. Rotating word maps is essential with bigger and more complex maps. AND IT'S FUN
Thursday August 4th 2011, 10:08 AM
Comment by: mariagracia I.
this is great news but you are still behind the game guys, you need to become a stand along app.
Saturday August 13th 2011, 9:28 AM
Comment by: Doublygifted (Mobile, AL)
Now if I just had an iPad or iPhone...but as long as others have them, I won't mind...Way to go, VT
Saturday August 13th 2011, 4:30 PM
Comment by: Joseph P.
It is about time---the old site needed a faster engine and tried my patience on many occasions---thanks for the update at last.
Sunday August 14th 2011, 2:20 PM
Comment by: SoulFireMage
Guys, android too please. I have no problem donating within reason in addition to my normal fee but please get three d on my nice android as Apple don't appeal to me.
Monday August 15th 2011, 1:35 PM
Comment by: Kym R.
Thanks for getting this program to work on the iPad. I still cannot see the definitions/parts of speech panes. Any suggestions?
Monday August 15th 2011, 2:20 PM
Comment by: Ben Zimmer (New York, NY)Visual Thesaurus ContributorVisual Thesaurus Moderator
Kym: The definition pane isn't visible on the iPad/iPhone because the operating system doesn't allow scroll bars. However, if you hover your finger over any meaning bubble in the word map, you can see the definition.
Sunday September 4th 2011, 2:15 PM
Comment by: Calvin G. (Miramar, FL)
I don't see any app for visual thesaurus in the app store.
Monday September 5th 2011, 12:44 PM
Comment by: Ben Zimmer (New York, NY)Visual Thesaurus ContributorVisual Thesaurus Moderator
Calvin: As explained above, the VT is available from within your browser on the iPad or iPhone, not as a standalone app. Subscribers can log in from the browser in the usual fashion, and the VT will launch when you type a word in the search bar.
Thursday October 6th 2011, 6:58 AM
Comment by: Captainllama (United Kingdom)
I appreciate that this is a technical advance but personally I find my iPhone screen too small to be of much use for the Visual Thesaurus.

I am more concerned about the loss of the excellent 3d view. It is not referred to in the article nor, as far as I can tell, anywhere else on the site apart from a quoted response above.

I use this feature a lot and spent some time trying to find why it was not showing. Surely it should have been mentioned in this announcement? What other features have changed or been removed?

The quoted response says: "As part of the upgrade ... the 3D functionality ... has been removed. .. We're working to reintroduce it in the future." When is that likely to be? Is there any time scale for this?

Please reintroduce the 3D function as soon as possible. I have paid for access to a product which has subsequently been significantly degraded. I don't think that is right.
Saturday October 8th 2011, 2:50 PM
Comment by: Captainllama (United Kingdom)
Perhaps I was peremptory in my last post, occasioned by anger at the, I trust, temporary unavailability of three-dimensional viewing. Anger because I care very much about the elegance and beauty of words and connections organically occupying a universe which I can traverse.

It was this 3D view that meant I had to have The Visual Thesaurus. I showed it to my friends -something I seldom do. I asked them their favourite word, and then let them explore the world where that word lives, and rotate that world, and see synonyms and similes sailing past while in the distance antonyms and euphemisms orbit.

The spatial element gives such clarity to the extra-linear nature of words, which by their nature are ciphers for concepts. The 2D display is a marvel that I treasure, where connections between words are necessarily a linear web. If the 2D view is a marvel, the 3D is a wonder. I miss it very much.
Sunday November 6th 2011, 10:47 AM
Comment by: Captainllama (United Kingdom)
Any sign of 3D functionality reappearing?
Thursday November 17th 2011, 9:18 AM
Comment by: Mike (Florissant, MO)
Why just for the iphone/ipad? Why not for the Kindle Fire, for the Android os or other smart phones?
Thursday December 1st 2011, 8:19 AM
Comment by: zast (chicgo, IL)
I am extremely disappointed that the 3d functionality is gone. That was the whole point of the program for me. The ability to visualize the connections in that way made it worth using this thesaurus despite the fact that almost any regular thesaurus will return more words for a given entry. What on earth would make you get rid of your best feature? Why should we pay for a regular web thesaurus that simply shows a limited list of hyperlinks scattered on the 2d plane?
Thursday December 8th 2011, 10:37 PM
Comment by: 3WILSONS
Droid please.
Wednesday December 28th 2011, 1:38 AM
Comment by: Miriam W.
Android please... you know, for the people who can't afford IPads, etc
Sunday March 25th 2012, 11:18 PM
Comment by: Rebecca S. (Monticello, IL)
PLEASE BRING BACK 3-D!!
Saturday April 21st 2012, 9:59 AM
Comment by: lolingo W. (london United Kingdom)
i have more difficult for learn my english .
Sunday June 10th 2012, 9:08 PM
Comment by: Steve H. (Kirwan Australia)
Where is the Iphone App in Itunes ?
Sunday June 10th 2012, 11:17 PM
Comment by: Ben Zimmer (New York, NY)Visual Thesaurus ContributorVisual Thesaurus Moderator
Steve: As explained above, the VT is available from within your browser on the iPad or iPhone, not as a standalone app. Subscribers can log in from the browser in the usual fashion, and the VT will launch when you type a word in the search bar.
Sunday August 19th 2012, 1:59 PM
Comment by: Parag R. (Hyderabad India)
I would have loved VT on my android phone.
Tuesday October 2nd 2012, 6:21 PM
Comment by: David B. (Austin, TX)
How do you go Back << ?
Tuesday January 29th 2013, 3:31 AM
Comment by: Michael W. (Walkerston Australia)
I love using the VT each day. Can you bring out an application for a windows 8 phone. I have a nokia lumia 920.
Thursday October 31st 2013, 11:55 AM
Comment by: Clement N. (Bolingbrook, IL)
Do we vt on android phones?
Yesterday, 12:12 PM
Comment by: Christopher P.
iPad. 3D. Please. I WILL PAY YOU FOR IT.

Do you have a comment?

Share it with the Visual Thesaurus community.

Your comments:

Sign in to post a comment!

We're sorry, you must be a subscriber to comment.

Click here to subscribe today.

Already a subscriber? Click here to login.
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/visual-thesaurus-expands-to-the-ipad-and-iphone/
www.visualthesaurus.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2014-41
40650
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:BIUS6E4W6UK25KTTBW4RXPZCMVL33QDP
<urn:uuid:0404f22b-5669-4908-b440-10b8ca19753f>
2014-09-16T21:27:19Z
23.21.116.44
sha1:KCZVO4R2TIWTQPOSJIZK2TVW72XHF2V4
<urn:uuid:dfb8cd87-2f43-4978-9bc4-abd6e98d6a13>
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/visual-thesaurus-expands-to-the-ipad-and-iphone/
response
<urn:uuid:0f289da9-e957-463c-a0fa-8c39c7773a43>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-196-40-205.us-west-1.compute.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2014-41
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for September 2014
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf