I’m posting this in the website category but I’m actually using both the website and the mobile version (not the beta though). I’m studying Japanese and Chinese.
First of all I’m really enjoying using skritter, I always like to write the characters when I practice and skritter is great for this. I wish I had found it sooner.
I’ve noticed a few rough edges, nothing serious though, just some observations:
The stats in the website have more information but they’re often inconsistent, in one place it says I have a streak of 1 day, in another place it shows my real streak. Number of minutes studied, etc. I think this started when I switched from Chinese to Japanese for the first time, and it seems to happen when I switch languages in the web interface. Nothing serious, and it seems to get it right after a reload or two. Stats in the app seem to always show the correct numbers (but some are only shown in the web interface).
It seems to me that studying Chinese in the web is mostly about drawing the characters. Only sometimes it shows meaning or reading prompts and almost never tone prompts. The app seems to distribute the kinds of prompt more equally. This may be a sampling bias.
As someone else mentioned in another topic for the web version, sometimes after writing the last stroke of a character the application automatically advances to the next test. I’m using a Wacom tablet on a Mac, and it may happen when the last stroke touches the right arrow on the edge of the writing pad, but I’m not sure.
The Chinese version seems more polished than the Japanese, I’ve noticed words without audio or with low-quality audio. This may explain why I didn’t hear about it sooner: I’ve been studying Japanese for a few years, but only very recently decided to begin with the Chinese. It’s a shame because I don’t think there is another app quite like it for Japanese, I have Kanji Study for android which is great for writing practice but it does not have a review system, which makes me forget to use it. I hope the Japanese version keeps improving to match the Chinese one.
Scheduling of items seems a bit off sometimes, when I’m made to review some items repeatedly while there are new items waiting or “pending”.
This is already too long but I’m wondering: from what I’ve seen the new (beta) apps will be very different in study modes and such, will these changes also be applied to the web version? My initial impression was that the web version was more polished, but after not getting tone prompts for some time I decided to use the apps more, at least for now. I’d like to be able to use both, sometimes I prefer to study in the computer, but if the apps will be the main focus going forward, that’s ok by me.
Have you checked out the legacy site’s stats page? You can access it at: https://legacy.skritter.com/progress
You can click “Totals” in the upper right hand corner to get a breakdown of your overall progress. The stats page for other clients is still in the works, however you might have a better time using the legacy stats in the meantime.
The web version should be showing you reviews based on your personal study history, if you are succeeding at some card types and not as much as writing, that could explain why writing cards are coming up more often. The app should distribute these at the same frequency as the web version, it might have been a coincidence!
Do you have auto advance enabled? That might be why the prompt is skipping to the next after you’re done writing. If that’s not the case, it might be that you’re accidentally pressing the next arrow as you finish writing (as you mentioned)?
The Chinese version has been around for longer than the Japanese version, however we’ve really been focusing on Japanese recently. The app itself is just as polished, however you’re absolutely correct about the amount of audio available (though we’ve recently been recording a bunch more!)
Good question about the mobile app and the web version and whether they match. This is our ultimate goal, however in the meantime while the app is being focused on, the website won’t be matching the mobile app. Not yet anyway, but this is the ultimate goal!
Another thing I’ve noticed in the Japanese version is that I enable kana support in the app and it gets disabled by itself sometimes. I think it may happen when I study using the web version and then come back to the app, but I’m not sure.
When this happens, are you able to reenable it in the app and are then able to study kana writing? (or does it keep switched off)? Would you be able to confirm which version of the Japanese app this is happening on?
Yes, I can reenable and it shows messages like “Processing…” or “Assembling…” or something like it, and then it works. I remembered to post about it here because it was the second or third time it happened.
The only version information I can see (in the left drawer menu) shows 2.1.2. It’s on an Android phone.
Since yesterday when I posted this I didn’t use the web version, and kana support is still enabled, so more evidence supporting my initial impression that using the web version was causing the option to be disabled.
