Launching Presentation Cards and Preview (Alpha)

Hi @lurkmoophy :slight_smile:

Google chrome, windows 10.

Course Japanese 7:
https://www.memrise.com/aprender/preview?course_id=1891062&level_index=2

3 Likes

Hi Luke,

On the shortcut keys (Windows 10 and Chrome), the “r” key doesn’t replay the audio file on these other courses I’ve tried:



5 Likes

It’s habitual to us to read from left to right, thus it makes more sense to put text block on the left side and video block in the centre. Hence while learning new material you go smoothly 1-2-3 instead of 2-1-3, moving from the central area to the left and then again to the right. This way it’s not ergonomic.

Thanks all for your feedback and bug reports. It’s really valuable and much appreciated.

Audio not replaying with keyboard - thanks for reporting. We have an internal bug (WEBSITE-1853) for that and will fix it soon.

I’ll do some more testing of keyboard shortcuts and Japanese fonts on Windows.

18 Likes

Interesting! We actually did this for the very specific feedback from our pedagogy specialist that when learning for conversation, you should be focussing on the sound first, then the text. So we did it so that you focus on the video first, then the meaning, then the written form, even if it’s a small interlude between them (we were actually playing with progressively making each element appear, but it was annoying).

The main reason behind this is that when you’re learning, having the meaning or the written form presented to you first can actually damage your ability to recall the accurate pronunciation because your brain could make the wrong associations with what you already know from your other known languages. A kind of false friends thing between your neural pathways…

10 Likes

Great comments above thanks. And I agree with many of them.


PS
Especially the poor use of word size, italics and not being more important than the image (which can have three different video clips and some have none. Also one person can do several clips in a level on your Italian courses - so the image is not even a way to remember the word) .


One which I don’t think has been mentioned, going right back to your first picture, Luke, is the yellow ‘progress’ bar (presumably) on the right image.

I assume this is not progress on a word as the planting and growing into a flower shows that.

But if it is progress on a course (or level) I think it is off-putting to see it all the time. I would have expected it just when looking at the whole level or the whole course.

In other words I find it distracting and it doesn’t help me learn (or review aka water) the particular item.


But I must say I am really pleased to see the planting ideas continues. And many of us have actually mentioned we really liked your original landscape theme which was your strong point.

This is certainly a topic for a bigger discussion and investigation. But I would skip video and go directly to the text section. :slight_smile: I guess it depends on what type of a student you are - a visual or auditory learner. Also, can not help but notice that learning audio first could affect your writing skills. You might know how to pronounce ‘school’, but have no idea how to spell it. So it’s a double-edged sword.

1 Like

So the words are now way smaller and not centered on screen…

I found a bug when I alpha previewing the words in Spanish course. The bug is that the word “no” in Spanish also appears to the succeeding words.




3 Likes

Thanks for this! Could you let us know what OS and browser you’re using?

10 Likes

You’re right in that the flower is still the way to see how your individual items are growing (this will continue in the sessions when we launch them proper).

On the progress bar, it’s showing you the progress through that particular session (basically, how many tests you have left). This is one that we’ve had loooooooads of feedback on that it helps motivate people through their sessions, and it’s a pretty standardised piece of game design to show progress and not make it feel like it’s an endless experience. Sorry to disappoint, but this is 100% not going anywhere!

Also, just want to put to bed the whole landscape/planting branding. I know there are a small vocal group who love the old branding, but it’s pretty safe to say the new branding isn’t going anywhere. I can see some of the garden/plant metaphors persisting (like the icons for the ‘modes’, the flower for item growth etc), but if you’re waiting for the landscape background to come back, it’s going to be futile. Instead, let’s focus on how we can continue to keep making the core of Memrise more awesome!

12 Likes

Good morning Luke!

I´m seeing that same bug in Level 1 of Spanish (Spain) 1 with Windows 10 and Chrome. Haven’t yet seen it anywhere else.

5 Likes

I apologise as I’m using both the Android App and Web browser at the moment, so may be confused.

I also didn’t know what the intended function was for.

On the App I have a thin black progress bar to show me the short learning session and on the current web, I have a thin yellow progress bar near the top. Both of these I fully approve of.

On the App, when I have completed 2 or 3 sessions it tells me I have achieved my daily goal, which I really like.

So I think you are saying your thick yellow bar is just a thicker and more prominent version of the current web interface.

So rephrasing my comment, I preferred the less dominating web progress bar to the new one (which I now understand what the function is).

Even though I have been on MemRise since 2013 there are a few things I don’t know what their meaning is or how to access different information (now resolved thanks to the Forum).

For instance why do I every 5th test (?) get a pinky-red correct and not the usual green. Initially I thought I had made a howler!

1 Like

The pinky-red correct means you’re on a run of correct answers I think

11 Likes

Ha! Yep, James is 100% right. It’s to show a streak of correct answers. It’s one of my bugbears that this isn’t communicated well enough though!!!

10 Likes

So we’ve fixed one of the keyboard shortcuts (r to reply audio) and made sure that the background constantly fills the screen (a bug that we noticed). More bug fixes coming soon! Making good progress on Speed Review too, which will be out next week hopefully :crossed_fingers:

11 Likes

Just to let you know a fix has just been posted for this!

8 Likes

We just posted a fix reverting the fonts back to normal instead of italics. Looks much better!

8 Likes

Hi @lurkmoophy :slight_smile:

I check that there is no longer the icon to mark as “ignore” or “difficult word”. I also couldn’t find how to mute the audio.

Japanese 7 (Chrome, Windows 10):


4 Likes

Hi, I like the new interface overall, and especially and its focus on the native speakers, but the visual hierarchy is lacking.

The course title font is absurdly large and distracting, and to a lesser extent I think the progress bar could be a bit smaller and the target language word displayed a bit bigger.

In addition, at smaller screen sizes the X on the upper right corner goes right up to the edge of the screen - a bit of padding would be nice.

A rough idea of my suggestions:

3 Likes