Introduction

Your Workbench is the area of your Dashboard where you will see all of your pinned items, namely Decks, Terms & Sentences. The Workbench provides three tools to create, study & share language materials on PalWeb:

• Deck Builder
• Card Viewer
• Record Wizard

How these tools are used is explained in the section of this page corresponding to each.

Deck Builder

The Deck Builder is a tool to create Decks by grouping Terms from the PalWeb Dictionary. Once created, you can study these Decks in the Card Viewer & share them with others. The Deck Builder is divided into two pages:

Select

On the Select page, you will see an array of all the Decks you've created. (If this is your first time creating a Deck, it will be empty.) If you would like to edit a Deck, click on any of the available Decks to select it, then use the navigation bar to move to the next step. If you would like to create a Deck, simply use the navigation bar to move to the next step; the Deck Builder will stage an empty Deck for you.

If you access the Deck Builder by interacting with a Deck & selecting "Edit Deck" from the Context Actions menu, you will be sent directly to the Build page with the Deck staged. You can always return to the Select page from the Build page at any point to choose a different Deck to work on.

Build

On the Build page, you will see a mockup of the Deck you've selected in the previous step, or of an empty Deck if you're creating a new one. Aside from the Terms they contain, Decks only have two fillable fields: the Deck's name — which is required — & an optional description.

After filling out these fields, use the Search Genie to find the Terms you would like to add to the Deck. Select the Term you would like to add from the results to add it. You may remove any item from the list by clicking on the trash icon. Click & drag any of the items in the list to reorder it. Don't be afraid to play around with things, as your changes will not be saved until you click the "Save" button.

Each Term you've selected will include a dropdown list containing all of the Term's Glosses (i.e. definitions). By default, the Term's first Gloss will be displayed whenever the Deck is viewed, but you may select a different one to be shown by default. (When studying a Deck in the Card Viewer, all Glosses of a Term are shown on its card.)

Once you're satisfied with the Deck, click "Save" to save your changes; this will create the Deck, if applicable. You can now click "View" to open the Deck's page in a new tab & see your edits. If you don't want to save your changes, you can simply exit the Build page without saving. You can also click "Reset" to revert the Deck to its original state before the current editing session. After saving, you can continue editing the Deck, or return to the Select page to edit another one. (If you've just created a Deck & would like to create yet another one, return to the Select page to deselect the Deck you've just created, then navigate to the Build page again.)

If you would like to delete the staged Deck, simply click the "Delete" button. You can also delete any Deck you've created from outside the Deck Builder simply by interacting with it & selecting "Delete Deck" from the Context Actions menu.

By default, every Deck you create goes into the Deck Library, where others may view it, pin it, study it, export it, etc. If you would like to publish your Deck as private, so that only you may view & interact with it, click the Lock button on the top-right corner of the Deck in the Deck Builder. You may change the Deck's privacy status at any time by clicking this button anywhere else on PalWeb where your Deck appears.

Card Viewer

The Card Viewer is a tool to study Decks you have pinned as flashcards. The Card Viewer is divided into two pages:

Select

On the Select page, you will see an array of all your pinned Decks. Click on any of the available Decks to select it, then use the navigation bar to move to the next step. If you'd like to study something else, use the Search Genie to browse for other options. Select the Deck you would like to study from the results to pin it; it will then be available among your pinned Decks for you to select.

Study

On the Study page, you will be presented with the Terms in the Deck as a carousel of Cards that you can swipe through. You can also use the keyboard to control the application. Use the Options panel to change how you view the Cards. Experiment with the different options to find the settings most suitable for you! (Refer to the information dialog in the Options panel for more information about each setting & a full list of keyboard controls.)

Record Wizard

The Record Wizard is a tool to record yourself speaking Arabic. Its primary purpose is as a means to source audio samples of the many possible Pronunciations of the Terms in the PalWeb Dictionary; this is for documentation purposes, but is also practical for learners of Arabic dialects to have something to listen to, practice with & emulate.

But the Record Wizard is not necessarily only for native speakers to use. If you speak Palestinian Arabic well, or even if you just want to practice, you are welcome to use the Record Wizard too. All Audio files are associated with a Speaker whose Fluency level is indicated everywhere that they appear, so it will always be clear which Audios belong to native speakers as opposed to other learners of Arabic.

On opening the Record Wizard, your browser may ask you for permission to use of your mic; you must allow this to proceed. The Record Wizard is divided into four areas:

Speaker

On the Speaker page, you will create or adjust your Speaker profile & test your mic.

On the left-hand panel, fill out the form & create your Speaker profile if you haven't already. Refer to the information dialog at the top-right corner of the Wizard for more information on how to appropriately fill out all the fields. With the exception of your Dialect (see below), you may adjust these values at any time, but you will likely never need to — aside from Fluency, if you're a learner.

On the bottom of the right-hand panel, you will see a "Waiting" status. Click the Play icon to start a recording test. When you see a "Recording" status, speak into the mic. If sound is detected, then once you finish speaking a "Listening" status will be shown & the Wizard will automatically play back your test recording. If everything is in order, use the navigation bar to move to the next step.

Dialect

Your Dialect is the variety of Palestinian Arabic that you speak, or that you intend to represent in your Audios. PalWeb is an ongoing research project, so the list of Dialects is provisional & will grow & be adjusted as more Speakers from different backgrounds record themselves in a way that pushes against the rigidity of the existing list. However, this must be done carefully: Once your Speaker profile is created, your Dialect can only be changed by the site administrator. This is to ensure the integrity of the data & prevent misuse of the application, intentional or accidental.

If what you consider to be your Dialect does not appear on the list, simply choose the closest one. You may see discrepancies between the items presented to you & the way you pronounce them; this is absolutely normal. Just record the items in the way that comes naturally to you. You are invited to reach out to the site administrator about this, or they may notice & get in touch with you to suggest a change to your Dialect.

Queue

On the Queue page, you will queue up a list of Terms to record. Refer to the information dialog at the top-right corner of the Wizard for more information on how to add items to the Queue. You may return to the Queue page at any time to adjust the list & add more items within the same session.

Record

On the Record page, you will record the items in your Queue & upload the recordings to the cloud server (this automatically publishes them on PalWeb).

On the left-hand panel you will see your Queue. A dark-blue background on an item indicates that it is the currently selected item. On the right-hand panel, the currently selected item will be displayed in Arabic with its Latin-script transcription. You can change the currently selected item by selecting it directly from the left-hand panel, or by using the arrow buttons around the item in the right-hand panel.

On the bottom of the right-hand panel, there are sections labeled "Record" & "Upload". The Record section includes a button that toggles the recorder on & off, a volume meter that will display the volume of the received audio & a counter that displays how many of the queued items have been recorded. The Upload section includes a button that uploads your stashed recordings, a progress bar for the upload process & a counter that displays how many of the stashed recordings have been uploaded.

When you are ready to start recording, click the Record button. You will see the volume meter change from yellow to purple to indicate that the recorder is listening for your voice. Pronounce the item. The Wizard will automatically clip the recording when you're done speaking & select the next item in the Queue. You may continue recording items this way & the Queue panel will automatically scroll with you.

Once an item is recorded, it is stashed temporarily in local storage, becoming yellow in the Queue. When an item with a stashed recording is selected again, the Record panel will display a Play button to preview the recording & a Delete button to discard it. Keep in mind that stashed recordings are not yet on the cloud server, nor are they visible on PalWeb until you upload them; they only exist in the current recording session, so they will be discarded if you exit the Wizard or if you return to the Queue page & remove the item or flush the Queue.

You may upload your stashed recordings at any time in the Upload panel, beneath the Record panel. You don't have to record all the items in the Queue before doing so, but keep in mind that the Wizard will process all the stashed recordings at once; you cannot select individual stashed recordings to upload, so make sure to verify the quality of all your stashed items before initiating the upload process. Notice that while the Record counter indicates how many of the queued items have been stashed, the Upload counter indicates how many of the latter have been uploaded. Once the upload process is finished, the progress bar will be filled, but it will fall below 100% again if additional stashed recordings are created.

Once you've uploaded at least one item, you may proceed to the Check page at any time to verify your uploads. You may always return from the Check page to the Record page to continue recording.

Check

On the Check page, you can view a list of your created Audios & preview them. Unlike stashed recordings, the Audios listed on this page are on the cloud server & have been published to PalWeb. Still, it is always good practice to double-check your new Audios, in case anything was uploaded by accident. Clicking the Delete button for an Audio on the Check page will delete it from the cloud server & the database; it is the same as deleting an Audio from any other page on PalWeb.

The Info box at the top of the Wizard includes a link to your Speaker profile so that you can view your new files on PalWeb without exiting the Wizard, in case you would like to continue the recording session.