For this Feedback Request round, we’re trying a new approach not with a prototype, but with a small PDF explaining what’s new, and open to everyone!
This time, we want to focus 100% on reviewing on mobile. As an SRS devotee ourselves, we know how crucial it is to have a good, on-the-go experience to crunch out reviews whenever the chance presents itself.
I think this looks great. I could abandon the website and go mobile with that design!
A thought on the “Right or wrong” section:
It seems weird for me that the undo button is the most accessible one (for right handed users). In my eyes, there should be more effort involved to reach the “undo” than the “answer” button. I’d probably prefer to see the one of these orders: “Hint - Undo - Info - Answer” or “Hint - Info - Undo - Answer”.
For me, it’s too much like… a website with oversized text.
The line spacing is too much, and when I have the keyboard open and there is more than one line of practice text, it gets really crammed or I have to scroll.
Page 5 in your PDF is a good example - that screen is extremely busy and hard to process. I know I can turn hints off, but I like having the full English below. I think ideally, the text size would be adjustable?
I like the design BunPyro uses for their review - I’ve been using their app for a while, but just switched to the official app today because BunPyro’s sync doesn’t work right sometimes, and because the official app has reading material.
(Unfortunately, the Reading Practice is currently not working - it just shows a grey background and then doesn’t load anything)
Everything looks good in that PDF! Excited to see some of those features implemented.
I think some of those features would also be cool to be added to the website/desktop version.
Some minor annoyance (at least in my use case) if it’s possible, both on mobile and the main site.
Is it possible to show on the result page the new streak / days studied number?
Currently I always have to go back to the dashboard.
Option to hide Session Progress (Beginner 1 etc), at least while in “question” mode, please. Knowing which SRS level a grammar point/vocab is is already hint that I don’t necessarily want. (Although sometimes it can be handy for very similar points.) Being able to see the new SRS level after answering is nice.
I’m a bit confused what the “Previous Review” thing does. Can you like, edit your review history there? Either way, I don’t need to know my review history while reviewing, that’s useless clutter on an already small phone screen/a distraction/a hint I don’t want. Option to hide, please. Again, would be fine with it after having answered.
The Hint button looks convenient. Never paid attention to what it looks like now, as I have all hints on my default. But if I want to use it in the future it definitely seems easily usable and understandable
The new button design of the answer/undo buttons also seems nice and a bit more intuitive than the current one. Although as someone else pointed out, I agree it’s a bit odd that the undo button is the closest to the thumb haha.
Quite like the new Results Screen too, mainly for the prominent End Session button, as I tend to skip the results screen asap lol. But being able to see any new badges collected during the session there is nice, less of a “huh, what’s this random notification” whenever there’s a new one then ^^
First let me say I’m excited and thankful to hear mobile will be getting intense focus! I’m 99% mobile and would love a smoother experience. Echoing some things from above along with my own feedback too:
The “guiding principles” for me on mobile would be:
Fast (performance)
Clear (not cluttered. Only necessary info)
Smooth (no jarring movements or scrolling. Easy to navigate)
Some specifics:
Yes please to customizable text sizes and line heights. Think of something like how Kindle / eReaders do it. Vertical space is sooo precious, especially for longer example sentences, and scrolling to see everything can be a huge pain.
Make sure furigana toggling doesn’t cause any unwanted scrolling or take away focus from the input field.
The Hint popup explanations are a good idea but I can see them getting annoying fast. On page 3, the last hint popup covers up the text explanation. Even if it disappears after a few seconds, that’s annoying. I’d suggest either an option to disable that hint popup (the visual dots are intuitive enough for me) or have the popups stop showing up for users once you think they understand the concept (maybe after invoking them X number of times or days).
I get the intent behind Previous Reviews, but I think it might overcomplicate things. I personally just want to let the SRS do its job, not manipulate item levels myself. I wouldn’t mind checking the previous item info from time to time but I have no interest in changing the SRS stage. If this feature stays in I’d personally like an option so that the SRS stage change options are not shown.
I also want an option to hide the current Review’s Level. Looks good for people that do want it there though. And I wouldn’t mind it showing up after the right or wrong answer like in the proposal. But having it there before answering is a hint I might not want.
I don’t personally care about seeing total reviews (the 345 on the top part?). Again, I just want minimal info necessary for my review set.
Hope you don’t mind the nitpicks :). There’s a lot of promising stuff here. Results screen looks cool. Just please focus on making it fast, clear, and smooth! To me those 3 things are all more important than raw features available.
My biggest complaint about the current mobile review experience is that the web view needs to be scrolled frequently to see the entire sentence and buttons and other UI controls when the keyboard is visible. Beyond that, I’m not particularly concerned about the location of any individual button or UI widget.
One other thing that I need is better communication of right vs. wrong answers for my moderate protanopia. Neither of the color settings really work for me all that well, so as long as something shows a check (or the ole Japanese “correct” circle or something like that) , then I’m good there.
I actually can see the green and red difference when they’re next to each other like in this screen:
but the old light-up of the full screen width answer strip is always difficult for me no matter what color option I choose.
The prototypes look nice but i also feel it looks rather cluttered with all of the buttons and pop ups.
When i use the app i find it hard to use the hints efficiently. It feels slow having to click the hint button a few times to get the translation but if i have the hint always show then there is too much on the screen and i have to scroll. Having a way to use shortcuts like on the website would make it feel smoother to me
@Ochamame Any currently available settings will be available in the new design, so rest assured that hiding SRS Progress, along with everything else, will be an option. What are your thoughts on not seeing the level when reviewing, but actually seeing the increase after answering?
Basically, you move up or down a level your previous review. The idea here is that right after answering a given study question, its easier to gauge how confident you are in your knowledge, thus being able to decide there and then whether you wanna see it more or less often. Completely optional too!
I really like this idea! I agree that when a long Study question comes by it’s very painful to read through it. Often times the hint/answer prompt gets pushed all the way to the bottom.
For your point 3 and 4, what are your thoughts on making them an user setting rather than removing them or forcing them on everyone?
Any current functionality will be migrated!
I think it’s extremely valid. At the end of the day, the focus should be laser-centered on helping you study as efficiently as possible. I’ll have this consideration added for our Zen mode mode!
Not a single bit. My ultimate goal with these Feedback Requests is to make sure we do exactly what everyone wants and needs. Thank you for such a thorough answer!
Extremely valid point, right now the only solution we offer for that differentiation is color, an icon is a great way to show that! Thank you so much for this!
@kush Completely agree. Is there any concrete example you could provide for shortcuts on mobile? To take it as reference.
That’s the new designs’ intention with the dedicated button! The UI CAN get pretty cluttered.
Thank you everyone for your replies, it’s all very valuable feedback! Definietly great suggestions and considerations I missed the first time. Any and all suggestions are still welcome, this is in active development!
Re: “3. The Hint popup explanations are a good idea but I can see them getting annoying fast. On page 3, the last hint popup covers up the text explanation. Even if it disappears after a few seconds, that’s annoying. I’d suggest either an option to disable that hint popup (the visual dots are intuitive enough for me) or have the popups stop showing up for users once you think they understand the concept (maybe after invoking them X number of times or days).
4. I get the intent behind Previous Reviews, but I think it might overcomplicate things. I personally just want to let the SRS do its job, not manipulate item levels myself. I wouldn’t mind checking the previous item info from time to time but I have no interest in changing the SRS stage. If this feature stays in I’d personally like an option so that the SRS stage change options are not shown.”
Totally fine with a user setting. However you want to implement it. Thanks for listening!
Since I use a flick keyboard to type japanese it would be nice to have the ability to use 。or some other input to toggle through hints but just having the space bar on a qwerty keyboard do it would also be appreciated. I dont use the other hotkeys as much but id imagine other people would appreciate them.
I don’t mind seeing the new level after having answered. And for the level edit knowing the new level is crucial, so that makes sense. Just being able to move up or down a level actually sounds useful. Kind of like having an “easy” and “hard” answer button, ish.
