Hi,
Beta 4
XP
Dictionary
When studying, if I see a compound word with unknown kanji I press F8. Normally (at least until the beginning of the beta test) the window focus goes to the kanji info window, and I can press up and down to go through the kanji. When I'm done, I go back to my lesson. However, now I need to press F8 and then click on the Kanji info window. I'm not sure when this changed but it adds another step to the process.
Thanks!
Brett
From the download page of beta 4:
"Kepp the focus on the arrow buttons after a keyboard-shorcut tool query from the learn/test/match dialogs"
One persons wish is the next persons problem...
Hahahhaha. Oh man, that's funny. You know, I kind of figured that this was the case. :D
Well, I can completely understand that somebody would want it this way for the Dictionary or Example searches... You have a word and you want to look for related words in the dictionary, or maybe find an example sentence containing that word. So, you hit the query button, read an example or the dictionary entry, and then continue on your way.
It's a little inconvenient for multi-character words, however. You get to see the first character's info, which is fine, but if you want to check the rest of the characters you need to go over and click on them.
(you know, it's funny how a few years ago we all were searching in gigantic kanji dictionaries and looking up characters by radical, which took forever... and now we complain about an extra keystroke or click that adds about 0.1 seconds to the learning process. I suppose technology really does breed laziness. ::) )
Yes, the next problem is always the most annoying one, regardless of its severity...
In this thread the discussion started: http://www.stackz.com/forum/index.php?topic=124.0
I think to really solve this problem I have to implement a lot of customizable functions (choose your shortcuts, and the behavior etc etc...), which I am not able to do right now, so I hoped to do a small first improvement with this small change instead... but obviously this might be less desired for some people.
I now think that the main problem is the lack of going back to the study window using the keyboard. If the shortcuts were globally working, i.e. F3 not only opens the the learn dialog, it also takes you back there from a dictionary window, the focus issue would be less critical... a next step would then be the shortcut customization, and the focus behavior could also be user defined.
But as you say, these issues are relatively small compared to the startup crash I'm still working on, so please be patient a little bit :-)
Haha. Yes, obviously a functioning executable is more important than small stuff like superfluous clicks. :)
An easy way to do this might be to just have a key that cycles focus between the open windows...
...Or have a key that always returns you to the Test/Learn/Match dialog. Perhaps 'ESC'?
Hi Chris,
Just curious if there's any chance of making this an option in the menus?
I find that with the dictionary search (F6), I prefer the focus to stay on the test dialog.
For the kanji info (F8), I prefer it to go to the kanji info dialog.
I'm sure everyone has different preferences, so maybe each one of the search windows could have an option?
Thanks,
Brett
Sorry for all the messages...
I just realized that this problem could be solved even better by adding global buttons to scroll up and down on the Kanji Info window.
My only problem is not being able to check the second or third kanji in a compound word. But, in fact, having the focus remain on the test dialog is ideal. If the best of both worlds could be reached, that would be great.
My suggestion would be to have the PgUp and PgDown buttons act globally as Up and Down buttons for the Kanji Info window. So, even if the learn, test, or match dialog is in focus, the PgUp and PgDown buttons will still act on the Kanji window without removing focus from the current task. This way, the user can test their cards, press F8 for unknown kanji, check out each character individually, and return to the test without having to use the mouse at all.
Let me know if you think this is feasible. Obviously low priority, but I think it would smooth out the learning/testing/matching workflow quite a bit.
Thanks again for all of your support!
Brett