The native format of the Plover dictionary file "dict.json"

[Ed]

MK> I feel strongly that I *do* want to Plover's native format to be
text editable without importing/exporting, but I'm not sure how
rational that feeling is. It might just be an artifact of frustration
from the general
closed format style of proprietary steno software. Input from cooler
heads definitely welcome.
______________________________________________

I agree with Mirabai about the importance of this, and so does my
wife, for the following reasons:
We make many (often daily) changes to "dict.json" in ways that a
dictionary manager may not be able to do at
all, or may not be able to do as easily or as quickly.
Here are some examples:
* Manually locating some dictionary entries to the top of the file (to
get to them quickly, because they may
need to be changed frequently, and/or they may need to be changed as a
group).
* Sorting the entire file, except for the previously described top
section, and except for the last few lines.
* Changing the sort method in various ways (for example: so that
capitalization matters, or so that
capitalization doesn't matter).
* Changing the sort method so that the sort is for the steno side
only, or for the English side only.
* Manually ordering some entries so that they appear together at a
specific location and in a specific order
for a specific reason.
* Sorting only selected dictionary entries, or sorting only a selected
block of dictionary entries.
* Creating different versions of the Plover dictionary file, where
each version has the same entries, but each
version is ordered differently for a functional reason. Right now we
have dict.json (the active Plover
dictionary file) right next to dictSortEngl.json and
dictSortSteno.json, for a quick look at when needed.
* Using global find and replace (which may include an invisible
character, such as a carriage return).
* Using copy and paste to clone a single entry or a large block of
many entries all at once (like when adding
the number bar workaround).
* Doing searches in just the steno side, or just the English side
(which may include invisible and/or non-
standard characters).
* Finding duplicate lines.
* Finding lines where only the steno side is the same.
* Using regex functions to do some things that are not listed above.
* Using different text editors to take advantage of their different
capabilities.
* Using various file compare utilities on 2 different dict.json files
to see the differences (this works best
with text files that have minimal differences).

It would be nice to have both a dictionary manager,
and also have the dictionary file be in a text editable native
format.
That seems like it might be optimum.

Cheers!
Ed

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