Introduction
The OED Online is a new version of the Oxford English Dictionary
designed for the Web. It launched this summer and Boston University
has just purchased it to replace the old,
text-only version. Here is a brief description of this new version
and its new features. At the bottom of this page, you will find a
link to the new OED Online.
New Interface
The new OED Online is a vast improvement over the text-only
version it replaces, because it was designed from the ground up for
the Web. The interface, besides being more attractive, is also more
functional and makes the OED easy to use and navigate.
New Search Capabilities and Features
The new version supports:
- Wildcards * and ?.
- Proximity searches.
- Hyperlinks, e.g., for cross references.
The old version did not support these features. Also, the new version
contains a Find Word box on every page for instant access.
Other New Features
The new version also includes:
- Extensive help, which not only explains how to use the online
OED, but also explains the OED itself, its conventions, format
of an entry, etc.
- A Print button on every page, which is useful since the site
is framed and browsers deal differently with frames when printing.
- An E-mail button on every page. You can mail a definition to
a recipient who can view it for free for 3 days.
Regular Updates
The OED Online contains both the OED2 (BU's old version)
and the New Edition (comprised of quarterly updates). So far, OED
has made two quarterly updates. The last update was 15 June 2000.
All entries in an update are listed in quarterly reports.
Using the OED Online
On campus. You can use the OED Online from any computer
on the Boston University network.
BU dial-up service. You can use the OED Online from any
computer when you connect to the Internet via the BU
dial-up service.
Non-BU ISP. You can use the OED online by configuring your
browser to use a Campus Proxy Server.
Non-BU ISP, VPN Access. You can install the VPN
(Virtual Private Network) client, provided by BU, which will
allow you to access on campus resources.
To use the OED Online:
- Go to the OED Online home
page.
- Click the Enter OED online button in the lower left corner of
the screen.
A Welcome page will appear. From this page, you can conduct a search
by using the Find Word option (upper right corner) or by using the
Search button (lower left corner).
11 September 2000
(updated 6 February 2003)
Prepared by
Networked Information Services
for
Boston University
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