Mnemosyne Beta 8 Feedback
Private
Here are some issues I've found with suggestions:
#1. Cards > De(activate) cards.. is a little confusing. I found Activate categories better.
"Activate cards" It's strange that the menu is De(activate) cards, but the new window is Activate cards.
Even better, just Categories would be best, from a consistency point of view on both the menu and the new window.
#2. Settings > De(activate) plugins >
Same as above. The new window is Plugins. I suggest to make both just Plugins.
#3. Cards > De(activate) cards > Activate cards > Save this set for later use.
I deselected All card types and then selected a group of cards on the right and saved a set. When I clicked OK, I expected to only see these cards and start doing repetitions. This wasn't the case. Actually, I expected when I saved a set of cards, the category on the right would be selected at the same time, but that doesn't happen. At first, it seemed to be broken. I figured out what was wrong. I deselected everything from All card types and saved a set. I didn't reselect anything on the left activating any cards. Many this should be a tip!
The other issue was simply clicking. You have to double click to make the set activate on the right. This seems like a situation where you should only have to single click. The whole rest of the window is about single clicking.
#4. Cards > De(activate) cards > Activate cards > Activate cards from these card types:
When you collapse the tree by selecting the minus signs, and click OK, this setting isn't saved when you go back. I always defaults to the full tree. All the other settings are sticky, except for this.
#5. Cards > Browse cards
Same as above...the settings for the tree are not sticky, and always default to completely open, even after specifically closing all of the categories.
#6. Cards > Show statistics > Current card
The information is all there, but I think it would be better if it wasn't centered. As a table, this would be much easier to read at a glance, and aligned better..think Excel spreadsheet and how it's easy to read the data.
#7. When testing the Cramming scheduler plugin, the options to choose Wrong or Right are very clear. However, I use the number keypad when doing reviews. I don't use the mouse and don't want to to use the mouse. Shortcut keys are not obvious. Could you bind these to some of the keys like Wrong = 0 and Right = Enter or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5...ideally we could choose to make it whatever we wanted, but a shortcut key is important! Did I miss something?
#8. Help > Tip of the day
I think one page where all the tips are would be best, instead of clicking Next on a small window. Something like a Tip of the day FAQ with everything would much more informative, at least grouping everything in the Help > Getting started area. I figure people who want tips would want to look at them all at once instead of a little at a time.
#9. When you right click to choose whether to show the Toolbar or not, it looks funny as toolBar (with a lowercase "t") This should probably be Toolbar with an uppercase "T" (obviously minor, but an easy change)
#10. I hope this feedback is helpful. I use Mnemosyne 1.2.2 every day, and I mean every day, without missing. I only briefly check out some of the beta 8. I look forward to all the fixes and bugs to be worked out and once 2.0 comes, I'll cautiously upgrade! :) I use it on my USB stick in a portable version mode. That's the easiest way I've found to go back and forth between computers without an internet connection, and have everything contained in one folder. Is there any reason a portable version is the default?
Again, thank you and everyone else who contributes to moving the Mnemosyne software forward!
Peter Bienstman
> I just tried the beta 8 version on Windows 7. I imported my .xml list
> without any problems.
>
> Here are some issues I've found with suggestions:
Thank you very much to take the time to write down this detailed feedback!
> #1. Cards > De(activate) cards.. is a little confusing. I found Activate
> categories better.
Actually, categories in 2.0 are replaced by tags, because cards can now have
multiple tags. But even then, 'Activate tags' would not be a good description,
because in that dialog you can also deactivate cards based on their card type.
> "Activate cards" It's strange that the menu is De(activate) cards, but the
> new window is Activate cards.
> #2. Settings > De(activate) plugins >
> Same as above. The new window is Plugins. I suggest to make both just
> Plugins.
Good points, I will fix these inconsistencies.
> #3. Cards > De(activate) cards > Activate cards > Save this set for later
> use.
> I deselected All card types and then selected a group of cards on the right
> and saved a set. When I clicked OK, I expected to only see these cards and
> start doing repetitions. This wasn't the case. Actually, I expected when
> I saved a set of cards, the category on the right would be selected at the
> same time, but that doesn't happen. At first, it seemed to be broken. I
> figured out what was wrong. I deselected everything from All card types
> and saved a set. I didn't reselect anything on the left activating any
> cards. Many this should be a tip!
Good point, I will add a warning when you've either deselected all card types
or all tags that you will end up with no cards.
> The other issue was simply clicking. You have to double click to make the
> set activate on the right. This seems like a situation where you should
> only have to *single click*. The whole rest of the window is about single
> clicking.
On linux, this is single click. I guess Qt uses double-click behaviour under
Windows because Windows is designed with double clicking as default way of
accomplishing things. I could try to override the default Windows behaviour,
but then people who are used to that default behaviour might be upset :-)
> #4. Cards > De(activate) cards > Activate cards > Activate cards from these
> card types:
> When you collapse the tree by selecting the minus signs, and click OK, this
> setting isn't saved when you go back. I always defaults to the full tree.
> All the other settings are sticky, except for this.
> #5. Cards > Browse cards
> Same as above...the settings for the tree are not sticky, and always
> default to completely open, even after specifically closing all of the
> categories.
Yes, these annoy me as well. I will add this feature before the release.
> #6. Cards > Show statistics > Current card
> The information is all there, but I think it would be better if it wasn't
> centered. As a table, this would be much easier to read at a glance, and
> aligned better..think Excel spreadsheet and how it's easy to read the data.
I guess this is a matter of taste...
> #7. When testing the Cramming scheduler plugin, the options to choose Wrong
> or Right are very clear. However, I use the number keypad when doing
> reviews. I don't use the mouse and don't want to to use the mouse.
> Shortcut keys are not obvious. Could you bind these to some of the keys
> like Wrong = 0 and Right = Enter or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5...ideally we
> could choose to make it whatever we wanted, but a shortcut key is
> important! Did I miss something?
Originally it behaved like this, but there must have been a regression. I will
look into this.
> #8. Help > Tip of the day
> I think one page where all the tips are would be best, instead of clicking
> Next on a small window. Something like a Tip of the day FAQ with
> everything would much more informative, at least grouping everything in the
> Help > Getting started area. I figure people who want tips would want to
> look at them all at once instead of a little at a time.
Actually, this is the standard way tips of the day are presented in the vast
majority of applications. People who want to read everything at once can
always look at the manual (not yet there, though.)
> #9. When you right click to choose whether to show the Toolbar or not, it
> looks funny as toolBar (with a lowercase "t") This should probably be
> Toolbar with an uppercase "T" (obviously minor, but an easy change)
Hmm, it appears Qt sneaked this in behind my back. I will try and disable it.
> #10. I hope this feedback is helpful.
Definitely, it really helps to make the software more polished.
Thanks again!
Peter
Peter Bienstman
> > #4. Cards > De(activate) cards > Activate cards > Activate cards from
> > these card types:
> > When you collapse the tree by selecting the minus signs, and click OK,
> > this setting isn't saved when you go back. I always defaults to the
> > full tree. All the other settings are sticky, except for this.
> > #5. Cards > Browse cards
> > Same as above...the settings for the tree are not sticky, and always
> > default to completely open, even after specifically closing all of the
> > categories.
>
> Yes, these annoy me as well. I will add this feature before the release.
Actually, now that I remember it correctly, last time I got annoyed by this, I
implemented it that it defaults in both cases to the currently active tags and
card types.
That seems like reasonable default behaviour, no?
Peter
Private
> The other issue was simply clicking. You have to double click to make the
> set activate on the right. This seems like a situation where you should
> only have to *single click*. The whole rest of the window is about single
> clicking.
On linux, this is single click. I guess Qt uses double-click behaviour under
Windows because Windows is designed with double clicking as default way of
accomplishing things. I could try to override the default Windows behaviour,
but then people who are used to that default behaviour might be upset :-)
Activate cards from these card types: everything in the white space below is always completely open (not collapsed)
Peter Bienstman
> In Mnemosyne 1.2.2, the default behaviour to activate categories is a
> single click, on Windows! ;)
1.x uses Qt3, 2.x uses Qt4, I guess that's the reason for the difference
(Note that it's not me that explicitly says: double click here, single click
there. That's all taken care of by Qt)
> I don't completely understand what you mean.
> Activate cards from these card types: everything in the white space below
> is always completely open (not collapsed)
Ah, now I understand: you're not talking about what's selected, but about
what's collapsed. Makes sense, I'll try to add this before the final release.
Thanks!
Peter