• 4 May 2009Scalable Vector Goodness

    Development of the website is ongoing, and the refactoring of the existing website pages/features is almost complete.

    Last week I have converted the Leitner bar chart to SVG (VML on Internet Explorer), with the excellent Raphaeljs javascript library. I was surprised to find that the graphics can work flawlessy in all major browsers: Safari, Opera, IE, Firefox, Chrome! This is very exciting because it means I don't need to use Google Charts, or FLASH, or complicated image/css tricks to do graphs anymore, I can draw them directly with simple vector graphics operations, and basically draw the charts any way I want!

    As a result of this I have just added an option to switch the bar chart view between "simple" and "full" mode wherein "full" view you can see the 8 card boxes of this site's Leitner-based reviewing system.

    I am now aiming to publish the refactored site around 22 May.

    To be able to meet this deadline I decided to move the Study area features for the very next release, and instead I am working on adding options to be able to manage flashcards freely, by adding any single card or range or cards, specified by RTK/"Heisig" frame number, OR by kanji. I am DETERMINED to make the review part of the site better!!

    So the following Study area changes should be implemented in the very NEXT release after the upcoming May release (in other words, it would be the first update of the refactored site):

    - Tagging your stories as "explicit" so that users can choose whether they want adult/visually explicit stories or not.

    - Tagging the language of your stories, and allowing users to switch between languages in the shared stories area.

    - A "Helpfulness"rating similar to that on Amazon. Basically the main difference is that you can vote DOWN something without necessarily "reporting" it. At the same time I am considering a few preset reporting options to let users flag stories that are not properly tagged.

    Those Story area changes are not set in stone yet and comments and suggestions are welcome (please use this topic) !

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