Ok, thanks Rodyzi. You a right: In the new version the options accessible from the “four dots menu” apply to the selected level only. That’s at least a little relief.
Still I am really missing a better overview of all levels and that FORCED SCROLLING MAKES ME MAD, makes me hate the app and stops me from wanting to use it.
Going from one level to the next literally takes at least 20 seconds: 4 seconds for the app to auto scroll me to my topmost level and the rest for me to manually scroll down again and find the desired level.
I find it most interesting as only one of my phones has received the update for the new UI for the Memrise app.
The phone that received the update is sadly now broken; I’m rather gutted really as I would have loved to try out and test the new interface.
Thanks again. That helps somewhat. It’s not so much that I don’t have to wait for the scrolling to finish, but it’s nice that I don’t need to scroll so far back again.
I want to stress that part of the problem of the scrolling time is that the animation has a limit on its max scroll speed, so the duration of the animation is proportional to the length of the course. This can be resolved by:
Removing the speed cap and making it so the scroll time is the same regardless of the course length.
Having it jump part of the way up before doing the scrolling animation
Or, obviously, getting rid of the scrolling animation entirely
The scrolling might seem like a minor complaint if you only look at short courses, but I made a video to emphasize how lengthy and prohibitive the animation is when you’re working with a course that has a large number of lessons:
Also, like someone mentioned already (and as you see in the video), it replays the animation from the bottom every time you return to the home screen from a lesson, propelling you to the “top” of the lesson list each time. Ideally, it should put you back to the lesson you just came from (without playing the animation).
I know it is usual after every release/big change in any application to get lots of people who don’t like it…but here is my gripe.
I’ve been using memrise for over a year now, and this update is another in a continual process of making the app ‘prettier’ to capture the attention of new users, but at the same time making the app less usable for ‘power users’.
There are plenty of language learning/memory/flash card apps out there. Memrise was originally great for the wide range of courses with lots of content. Now, learning a few courses, which have lots of levels (Hi HSK 5!) is much more painful (Hi Loss-of-auto-ignore!).
I think memrise would do better to target their apps for power users instead of trying to wow people with animations that grow old fast when you stare at the app for > 1 hour per day for a year…
What is a ‘power user’? That’s a good question and while I’ve tried to define it here I’m not happy with my results. It presumes the core function of memrise is simply to learn and runs the risk of denigrating some users who perhaps don’t use it that much. This is not my intention. Learning is good regardless and all reasons to do so have merit. I would welcome anyone else offering a better/more concise response.
In this context I think ‘power user’ can be taken to mean someone who:
Uses the software a lot, perhaps up to or over an hour a day.
Has used the software for an extended period of time.
Has and intends to take full advantage of the software’s key functionality over time.
Is interested in the software for its key functionality and learning how to get the most out of it with less interest in aesthetic elements, bonuses and awards etc unless they directly contribute to the core functioning of the software.
However, these criteria aren’t all great. Perhaps it would help to define a power user by contrasting it with a non-power user who:
Uses the software occasionally, and briefly, perhaps has started recently and may or may not use it into the future.
Owing to their lack of use they are less concerned with occasional bugs or problems.
Are more interested in using the software for the experience of using the software rather than for the core purpose that the software was designed. E.g. competing with friends rather than learning for its own sake.
To be simple: a power user uses memrise to learn large and or multiple courses regularly if not every day, has done so for a while and will continue to do so earning millions of points while learning thousands of words and non-power users don’t.
Many thanks for the constructive feedback. Your comments have been incredibly valuable to help us improve the new interface.
In the next update we will implement a few fixes and tweaks to improve the dashboard’s usability for heavy users. It will solve the scrolling problem for those of you with lots of progress.
As a temporary solution the goal indicator will be displayed in the course selector popup, until we are ready to release the permanent solution.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these improvements (which are due for release very shortly).
I’m on android and I don’t care for the new layout at all. To me it is WAY too busy looking. It was better before where it was simple to use and simple to navigate.
It feels to me they are trying to make it too “cool” or something. I think the old interface was pleasing to the eye enough an we didn’t need moving spaceships and things. I am disappointed that I signed up for the lifetime pro and they are using their time to seemlingy update things to make the fancier instead of fixing the long time issues.
I actually stopped using Memrise because of the crappy new interface on the iOS app. It’s too busy, too difficult to navigate to where I want, it’s too much scrolling, it’s not organized. The new interface, while looking pretty, is significantly LESS useable than the old interface.
If I could install an old version of the iOS app with the old interface, I would. And then I would likely continue using the app. But since I can’t, it appears that I am, at least for the time being, done. This new interface is just too difficult to use with too many stumbling blocks to get to where I want to go that it’s just too much effort to use.
I don’t use Memrise on the web since that’s just not convenient for me, either. So, yeah. Done.
Pretty is not more important than functionality. It really isn’t. It’s too bad Memrise designers/developers/powers that be haven’t figured that out yet.
Late 2014 through mid-2015, Memrise was on quite a kick of making the web site worse and worse and worse… until, lucky us, they began completely neglecting the web site in late 2015. So at least they stopped screwing it up even more, and it hasn’t gotten any worse for a while. In the meantime the mobile apps were really bad, but it’s sad to hear they’ve turned their attention towards doing the same thing to those as they used to do to the web site. Surprise redesigns based on appearance, that make things harder to use. That’s been the Memrise way for nearly two years now : (
unfortunately, the only reaction to our complaints (see the old forum) was that those disliking gamification bubbles are dinosaurs waiting for extinction .
I still love memrise and use it everyday. I’ve gotten used to navigating the new (terrible) Android interface. It’s not that bad once you figure you where you want to go and how to do it. Though I do think it is kind of a ugly interface, not very motivating, and difficult to navigate if you don’t spend a little bit of time figuring it out.
I just wish Memrise would really listen to us users on what we want and need. You cannot please everyone but I wonder who decided it was a great idea to redesign the apps when they were fine as it and instead of making it better they made it worse. Also, they STILL haven’t put a link to the new community on their main site page. How dumb is that?
Sheesh memrise, I’m a long time user and I couldn’t have gotten this far in my learning without you, but still. Get it Together! Please, for all of us.
My thinking resonates with what you’ve posted, but my usage has dropped away a lot. It is as if the pleasure has been removed - which is a strong motivation killer.
