Flash Based Vocabulary: A Major Step Backwards

> I can live without seeing the vocab on my phone, but not being able to copy and paste vocab into offline lists is a real step backwards. I would love to have the flash cards on my phone!!!! I've been trying to think of a way around it by using the exported XML (but I really shouldn't have to do that much work). Also, is it possible to print out the flash cards? As bill says, I can't always get to my PC to study and would like some help for offline study too. Thanks :)

@LostInAsia: iFlash is the way forward. I used to be using Safari's activity window (select all the URLs, Copy them and paste them into the download window) but as you say, this is now gone. What I'm working on at the moment is a script to take the XML from the export feature, clean up the Pinyin, create a delimited file (for importing into iFlash) and download the audio to a folder. A couple of things to iron out before I incorporate it into my workflow, but I think it's the only way forward for now. If you have any suggestions, give me a shout. What I'd love to see is a place where we can all share resources as a community. I'd be more than willing to make my iFlash decks available to others, but wouldn't want to undermine the fact that vocabulary is only available to paying ChinesePod customers.

yòng should have said

yòng

3rd time lucky? yòng

I tried to copy the pinyin from the PDF's into a Word document to make my own flash cards but that got mangled too. I want to simulate the flash application. Is this possible? I cheat too much with the PDF's as the English is too visible as it’s directly under the pinyin dialogue, though I suppose I could fold the page over for the vocab section.

@valleygirl: You have highlighted my stupidity/forgetfulness and solved my first difficulty. Thanks. You can still copy and paste from the HTML version of the lesson vocab. Open the PDF, look down at the bottom of each page and click, "text version". You can copy and paste from the resulting web page just fine. Issue 1 can be crossed off my list above. :) Why didn't I think of this before writing. Do you have a similar solution for downloading the audio for the vocab? Would really make my day. Maybe the question regarding the use of Flash should be taken to the forum as it isn't directly related to study.

Nah, the audio got me stumped too because they are individual files. You're a web programmer, write a program to got through the XML and make a http get request to the sound-bites and save the response. :) Seriously though, what do you want to do with them offline - did you want them on your phone or just on the computer not connected to the internet?

I use a flashcard program called iFlash. I used to add the audio so that it would play when the pinyin was shown. This way I could correct my pronunciation. I've had a quick look at trying to process the XML file in AppleScript, but it seems like the wrong tool for the job. If I come up with a solution I'll let you know.

I agreed in a similar thread earlier today. When I study a lesson, I always view the dialog in one window and the vocabulary in another window. This allows me to use ChinesePera-kun to view meanings of characters in the vocabulary section. This really helps me with word retention. You can't use the ChinesePera-kun within Flash.

Yeah they're no longer machine-readable.

When exporting the vocab using either XML or CSV, the PinYin doesn't come out as intended. For example: yòng Another issue with exporting is that by default all your tags are selected, meaning you either have to export all vocabulary or go down the list of tags manually deselecting the ones you don't want to export. Copy & Paste was simple. :)

We aren't using Flash just to use Flash, or to limit access to text. This implementation was the only practical way to fix a bug that affects 20% of premium users. With this bug, if a page contains 15 or more Flash objects, all Flash audio will cease to function. Weighing the convenience of text against the ability to reliably hear the audio that premium users pay for, we had to choose in favor of the latter. [more info in this thread]

Also, I think that improving the export functionality is a good next step for improving convenience. I will get on that.

Also, here is the explanation direct from our CTO, coming from an internal e-mail: As a veteran in the fields of user interface and interactive design, use of Flash is always the last resource I would use to address any issue in our websites. After spending 2 days trying to find an alternative solution to get around a critical Flash plugin fault associated with the FireFox browsers across multiple platforms without any luck, I had no choice but to use the integrated Flash audio playback method, which I invented myself, to get around this problem (which I believe Adobe has no intention to fix). I think there are many easier ways we can solve billgloveruk's issues but not using Flash certainly isn't one of them, since we still have to look after the interest of 20% of our site visitors which are using the FireFox browser to access our sites. Without this fix, they just simply couldn't get audio on any page from our sites containing more than 15 Flash audio files using the FireFox browser. And worse still, once user clicks on the play button on any page containing more than 15 Flash audio files, the audio will cease to play even on those pages containing less than 15 Flash audio files until user restarts the browser. So that's the whole story behind it.

'I think there are many easier ways we can solve billgloveruk's issues but not using Flash certainly isn't one of them' What kind of an answer is that? I am a long-time premium (and practice plan) suscriber and I'm not impressed. There would have been a very easy way to address the problem, by simply splitting vocab over 2 pages, which in most cases could have been Key and Supplementary. I'm sure this would have been way simpler to implement, if not as slick, at least a lot more in line with web 2.0 principles. I just hope you don't apply the same silly principle to the expansion section which I do copy/paste but isn't available from the html file. Anyway, as indicated in another thread, so long as the html file is available, I can copy/paste the vocab and will continue so doing.

@John: Thanks for your detailed response. Not being one of the Firefox users (other than for using the rich text editor when posting) I was completely unaware of the bug. I completely understand the need to solve the needs of a large number of premium users (of which I am proud to be one). Whilst I don't feel as strongly as goulniky, I still feel that the use of Flash is a step backwards. And that more elegant solutions were available. @all: Apologies for starting a new thread on this topic. I wasn't aware of the older one. Once they disappear from the conversations page they are lost forever :)

Like billgloveruk, I also [used to] use the Vocab page to download the audio, and then add it to my cards in iFlash--and I already really miss the ability to do that! Even though those little 1-3 second MP3s aren't part of any advertised service, they're one of the most valuable things I "buy" from this site. Actually, since the vocabulary is already on the html, those MP3s are the only reason I ever went to the Vocabulary page anyway. Please please somehow find a way to bring them back. Could they somehow be linked into the Vocabulary Manager listing? (Although I guess that would raise the issue of 15+ flash items on a page.) (No way am I going to start studying with the flashcards on offer here. I've got too much time invested in the iFlash deck, which faster, more flexible, and available offline. When I try to use the online features I seem to spend more time waiting than I do thinking about answers.) billgloveruk: it looks like we could add the vocabulary to the vocabulary manager, then study the flashcards with audio, and then when each flashcard comes up, download the relevant audio. Which seems horribly drawn-out. I assume you're doing this through Safari's Activity window as well? I've just refreshed my Vocabulary Manager window, and it took 3m02s to complete. Man, no wonder I've never been sold on that feature.

If you export as xml you get the url's of the sound files. When you are uploading audio to your flash cards, can you browse to a website (cuts out you saving it)? I get fed up with waiting too on the chinesepod website so try to do as much offline as i can. Also hunting down words to add to the list is hard work.

Sorry for beating a dead horse, but I don't completely understand the mp3 issue with Firefox. I use Firefox and have never had this problem. The expansion pages typically have more than 15 mp3's - I've always been able to play them all without any issues. Why isn't the vocab. page built like the expansion page? Apparently, it doesn't have the 15+ mp3 issue. It looks like the mp3's on the expansion page are Flash-based, but at least the text can be copied and Pera-kun can be used on it. (Not trying to be a pain...just trying to understand). I'd have to agree with Yves though...why not break up the vocabulary into 2 pages?

I only use flashcards on the website after a podcast or lesson just to refresh my memory. Then I use the flashcards I did by hand (omg by hand, sometimes you have to do something that isn't high-tech!) because it shows the tones the best. Lastly, I wrote on the back short sentences that I have a little memorized but I try not to so I can interpret and not translate. Sounds like a lot but it really isn't. About 5-15 or 20 minutes!