User Interface Feedback Thread

[mikelove]

However, there still is a flaw: Sometimes, I have to interrupt my reading to look up a single word in the dictionary, e.g. if a teacher is explaining the content using different unknown words. If I go back to the reader, the text is lost – and I have to go through to the whole process again.

Good point - we'll make it copy text that you "send to reader" to the clipboard in 2.3.6. (that's about the only way to do this without massively changing the interface)

Also, is there a specific reason why it is not possible to copy text from the reader into the clipboard or to save it as file? I noticed the lack when I thought about using the clipboard as work around for the described problem.

The copy-to-clipboard issue is simply because we haven't yet found a way for our tap-lookup system and the Android text selection system to coexist. As for saving, there's actually a menu command for that - just press your device's menu button and you should see it. (requires our Text File Reader add-on, though, since otherwise there'd be no way to open it)

 

[dahuailang]

Maybe this has been mentioned before. For people learning to write the language as well it would be nice to have a writting flash card test. It could be similar to your writting input with suggestions on the right hand side of the screen. It seems like you have all of the components except a test choice of writting.

Thanks, Fred.

 

[mikelove]

Maybe this has been mentioned before. For people learning to write the language as well it would be nice to have a writting flash card test. It could be similar to your writting input with suggestions on the right hand side of the screen. It seems like you have all of the components except a test choice of writting.

We actually do already have that - set "Test type" to "Fill-in-the-blanks" and "Prompt for" to "Characters."

 

[skripp]

Is there any way to make a flashcard of the sample sentence? If I try to mark all the word and tap flashcard I just get the first word as flashcard. Would be very nice to be able to get the sentence as a flashcard with their provided translation. I assume this would be easy if you had some form of "tag" system with "headword", "pinyin", "example" etc and a lot harder without that.

 

[mikelove]

Is there any way to make a flashcard of the sample sentence? If I try to mark all the word and tap flashcard I just get the first word as flashcard. Would be very nice to be able to get the sentence as a flashcard with their provided translation. I assume this would be easy if you had some form of "tag" system with "headword", "pinyin", "example" etc and a lot harder without that.

Not possible yet, but it's something we're working on - we've got all sorts of interesting things sketched out for databases of example sentences.

 

[Alexis]

Can a "Switch Dictionary" button be added to Flashcards? I'd like to be able to view definitions from different dictionaries after I have revealed an answer.

 

[tsr]

Can a "Switch Dictionary" button be added to Flashcards? I'd like to be able to view definitions from different dictionaries after I have revealed an answer.

It's not as fast, but you can already view the definition in different dictionaries by selecting the whole word and using the up and down arrow that pop up next to the dictionary entry to switch dictionaries.

 

[mikelove]

Can a "Switch Dictionary" button be added to Flashcards? I'd like to be able to view definitions from different dictionaries after I have revealed an answer.

Already exists - Card Text / Allow dict switching will enable it. It's off by default because the entry-switching bar means less space for the definition which we think a lot of people may find annoying.

 

[Alexis]

Already exists - Card Text / Allow dict switching will enable it. It's off by default because the entry-switching bar means less space for the definition which we think a lot of people may find annoying.

Thanks! I had it enabled already, but didn't realize it was there. Now that you point it I don't know how I missed it.

On a separate note, would it be possible to half the heights of the Correct/Incorrect buttons?

 

[mikelove]

On a separate note, would it be possible to half the heights of the Correct/Incorrect buttons?

This option has been much requested and should be coming in a future release (though we don't know which one) - lots of screen sizes to deal with.

 

[HW60]

One of my favorites in Windows Mobile was the Compounds screen, looking at my user dictionary with all of my flashcards in order to know which words I should know. The Android screen for that seems to be Word in the Dictionary interface. Is there a shortcut from within flashcards possible as it was with Windows mobile?

 

[mikelove]

One of my favorites in Windows Mobile was the Compounds screen, looking at my user dictionary with all of my flashcards in order to know which words I should know. The Android screen for that seems to be Word in the Dictionary interface. Is there a shortcut from within flashcards possible as it was with Windows mobile?

Yes - tap on a word to select it, then tap on the > button to bring up a dictionary definition screen for it.

 

[Giraffe]

Flash cards too responsive

Is it possible to tune the flashcards a bit so that there's a tiny delay before it recognizes, the next tap on the reveal or answer buttons? At least once per session, I inadvertently show a card or hit the wrong answer just from the twitchiness of my finger and the fact that it's hovering over the screen. This usually happens in far less time than it takes to actually read the card, so I don't think it would have a negative impact on the interface.

 

[mikelove]

Re: Flash cards too responsive

Is it possible to tune the flashcards a bit so that there's a tiny delay before it recognizes, the next tap on the reveal or answer buttons? At least once per session, I inadvertently show a card or hit the wrong answer just from the twitchiness of my finger and the fact that it's hovering over the screen. This usually happens in far less time than it takes to actually read the card, so I don't think it would have a negative impact on the interface.

Heh, that's an old one - we actually did this on Palm and WM but stopped on iOS because it seems to do an acceptable job detecting / avoiding accidental double-taps on its own. On Android I think it's a manufacturer-dependent thing - are you still on a Samsung Captivate? What firmware are you using?

 

[Giraffe]

Re: Flash cards too responsive

Heh, that's an old one - we actually did this on Palm and WM but stopped on iOS because it seems to do an acceptable job detecting / avoiding accidental double-taps on its own. On Android I think it's a manufacturer-dependent thing - are you still on a Samsung Captivate? What firmware are you using?

The Captivate is definitely at least a small part of the problem. It's such a generally laggy device that it sometimes fools me into tapping a second time when it's just slow.

Firmware is 2.2.

 

[Alexis]

Just wanted to suggest a consistent approach between the Flashcard's "Statistics" and "Search" screen in regards to the scorefile. The "Search" screen allows you to select the name of the score file to use, the "Statistics" screen uses the scorefile from the most recently used profile. Might it be possible to add a scorefile selection button in the "Statistics" screen?

 

[mikelove]

The Captivate is definitely at least a small part of the problem. It's such a generally laggy device that it sometimes fools me into tapping a second time when it's just slow.

Ah, that could be part of it, though lag is not an uncommon phenomenon on Android in general... thanks!

Just wanted to suggest a consistent approach between the Flashcard's "Statistics" and "Search" screen in regards to the scorefile. The "Search" screen allows you to select the name of the score file to use, the "Statistics" screen uses the scorefile from the most recently used profile. Might it be possible to add a scorefile selection button in the "Statistics" screen?

Possible, yes - I think it works the way it does now because originally we had the statistics screen accessed via the New Session screen.

 

[HW60]

Is it possible to keep the once selected tab of the Card Info screen for subsequent inquiries? I almost always would like to see the "Word" tab and always have to tap on Words therefore, because the default value is "Defn".

That was a problem in WM too and it took some time to scroll through the dictionaries, but now with the quick Pleco for Android it should be no problem.

 

[mikelove]

Is it possible to keep the once selected tab of the Card Info screen for subsequent inquiries? I almost always would like to see the "Word" tab and always have to tap on Words therefore, because the default value is "Defn".

There is no "Words" tab on that screen - do you mean the dictionary definition screen? How are you able to access those other tabs at all from Card Info?

 

[HW60]

Is it possible to keep the once selected tab of the Card Info screen for subsequent inquiries? I almost always would like to see the "Word" tab and always have to tap on Words therefore, because the default value is "Defn".

There is no "Words" tab on that screen - do you mean the dictionary definition screen? How are you able to access those other tabs at all from Card Info?

Instruction Manual / Flashcard Reference / Test Interface and then your hint: "tap on a word to select it, then tap on the > button to bring up a dictionary definition screen for it."
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2823&p=25820#p25830

I did not find a description in the Instruction Manual (flashcards) for this procedure and therefore took the name from the Dictionary Reference 2.f.(iv), but it seems to be the same screen.

As for the Instruction Manual I have a suggestion: I often scroll through the text of the Manual, trying to find something. Then when I find a heading like "Interface" and try do follow the instructions, I do not know where I am: Dictionary, Flashcards, where at all? I suggest to add some more information to some of the headings, in the example for instance

Interface [Flashcards.Studying.More Settings]

or anything else to help the reader to find out of the jungle. Maybe a backtab function instead could do the same job.