Some Issues With The Latest Website Upgrade

good info. Lets hope its not ignored. I agree WLCP is a valuable tool, and done by amateurs in their spare time for no money. Hello Shanghai.

RJ, Andrew, and Jon,

I think that incorporating WLCP-like functionality is the best solution. ChinesePod needs to continue to evolve to meet the needs of its users, while at the same time staying simple enough for the average person to use. (This is quite a challenge!)

In the short-term, our solution is to beef up vocabulary export to support Pleco, Anki, etc. and start to add WLCP-like functionality (yes, we're watching UserVoice!). In the long-term, we are moving toward an API that will empower third-party developers.

Calkins,

You're right to raise these issues. Let me address them one by one.

1. You can still create a post through Me > Posts like you used to, and you can save as draft there. This new way to post directly from the Community page is an effort to transition to a more intuitive interface, which will be done iteratively. Supporting the "Save as Draft" functionality directly on the Community page had certain implications that we decided to address in future iterations, but your points are good ones.

2. The vocabulary duplication issue is a strange one, and it's being addressed. (Just one of many, many reasons why we're building a new AMS.)

3. You're right. I will add this to the blog post as well as to the ChinesePod help section. Our staff are aware of the issue.

4. WLCP is definitely an amazing project, and it's been on my radar for a while. ChinesePod is not accustomed to accommodating 3rd party programs in upgrades, but I got in touch with Andrew last week about WLCP, and we'll be working together more closely in the future.

This is a tricky issue because the majority of Premium users do not use WLCP, and are just happy to have the changes.

The good news is that we have no plans for further WLCP-disrupting changes on the lesson pages, and we are looking at ways to provide further WLCP-like functionality on the main site.

What is WLCP? We like chinese pod?

MIkeinewshot,

I'm pretty sure they're referring to We Love Chinese Pod software.Their group is here

John,

perhaps the answer is to incorporate the WLCP type of functionality into cpod, realizing support of 3rd party programing is going to be a never ending headache. How do we know how many users use WLCP? Maybe like Mike, if they had heard of it, they would have used it. I would say give it a try Mike but right now is not a good time.

btw- my problems with IE6 page formatting disappeared this morning. I havent heard anything but Im giving you guys in SH the credit. Thank you.

John, thanks for your detailed response.

I'm wondering if during future website updates, if it would make sense to have a clearly visible link on the ME page, describing any new changes.

For instance, I didn't realize that there are now 3 different places that you can create a new post.  Each one is a little different than the other, but unless we stumble across them we won't know the differences.  As the site gets more and more complex, I think these little changes need to be explained.  The big changes (like the new character support button) have been explained very well in the blog.  It's just these little ones that seem to fall through the cracks.

Maybe this linked page could describe the changes, as well as show a list of known issues and how to fix them.  I think it would save the community from repeated posts, and save you guys from repeating yourselves over and over.

Just a thought.

I would suggest a banner that no one could miss at least informing you there was an update and giving clear direction where to go for more info. Usage patterns vary and Im sure there are still people unaware there was a change. Calkins suggestions seem like good common sense to me.

deja vu...

all over again.

I'm not in the habit of complaining because I think Chinesepod is a great website, But I also use WLCP and after this upgrade on Chinese pod it has become unusable. I know that the Andrew and Jon must have put much time into it to help us get greater benefit from Chinese Pod and I greatly appreciate it. Its such a shame that this work would go to waste. I personally do not understand in the least bit how to program or tweek programs and rely competely on those with this knowledge to fix problems. Their latest update was really great. And as stated it makes it possible to access the lessons when off-line. I really hope that Chinese Pod can do something so we can all benefit from this wonderful program.

Thank you for listening

Hi Tvan,

I think the point here isn't that CPod should bend over to accomodate WLCP, but rather they should consider adding some of the features proposed in WLCP directly to the web site. Then this whole issue of supporting a third-party extension would be non-existent.

And people can address this developer all they want, except for small requests like tweaking a stylesheet or help getting it running, I'm done for the foreseeable future (I can't speak for Jon though).  If people want the features of WLCP they should address the person who they're giving money to.

RJ, Goulniky,
actually in this case, I tend to disagree.

This was definately *not* the V3 / iceberg  / V4 type of "update" ("We changed the database, sorry, nothing works for 6 weeks, but we'll promise that this might maybe lead to possible feature enhancements in the distant future").

This time, CPod has announced and described the Changes on the CPod blog, in "News and Features", and in the Conversation section.

The glitches were also affecting only small sub-groups of the CPod user base and have been dealt with quickly.

Looks like lots of progress in my eyes.

And I have to say, for me this was the most relevant enhancement (rather than just "fixes") to core functionality since the introduction of "Audio Review" and "Qing Wen".

Henning, I'm not arguing whether changes are minor or major, working or not, it's probably all for the better and frankly, I don't really mind.

But as it turns out, I have conflicting priorities so I no longer come here as often as I used to.I don't go to the blog, and my landing page is the conversations section. As you know, conversation topics change very fast, and there is no 'sticky' option.

But you may be right, I just have to be used to finding new things or finding them in a different place.

Hi goulnik,
conflicting priorities...I know very well what you mean. Recently, I got some of those myself. Or let's say: I have begun taking them more seriously.

Henning,

you are right. It went much smoother this time and some things have improved, but some of the complaints sound very familiar. Over all I think it was done well but it took too long and there are still issues.

tvan - I dont expect them to accomodate WLCP but these features are very popular, maybe they should incorporate them.

Andrew/RJ, no disagreement really.  I've never used the WLCP because of a personal philosophy to try to keep a clean system.  I also don't use the Pleco product; however, a stronger flashcard tool/vocab manager would be useful and, if those changes accomplish this, great.

Still, I'm too happy with the traditional characters to quibble now.

Hi all,

WLCP operates by downloading the same HTML lesson files your browser uses, parses them and then generates easier-to-handle, clean XML files.  As you might expect, the format of these HTML files had to change with the recent ChinesePod upgrade, and so the WLCP parser broke.

One of the features Andrew proposes is for ChinesePod to provide such XML files directly.  This would not only help WLCP users (and in fact obsolete much of WLCP), but also be of invaluable help to anybody else wishing to create their own ChinesePod-based study materials.

As posted on the WLCP webpage, one of the items on my
 to-do list is to repair WLCP.  As much as I'd like to deal with this, I simply don't have the time to commit to it right now.  I've managed to write a parser that handles lesson dialogue tab HTML and generates an XML fragment similar to what WLCP produces, but much more work than this remains.

Jon

I would like to make one more minor suggestion:

- The characters in the vocabulary tab are very difficult to read, especially many traditional characters.  They appear to be in bold font.  Is there anyway to have them in regular font so they're easier to read?

Please note that I didn't start this thread to complain.  I'm just voicing my opinion on things that I think could be improved, so Cpod can be even better than it already is.  It's just an opinion (right or wrong), Cpod can listen or not, obviously that's their choice and either way it's all good.  Obviously I love learning Chinese here.  But I think it's good that we share our thoughts with them.  And it's like free market research for them (unsolicited of course!).

On the changes above, I generally agree with the exception of the WLCP.  In the case of third party products made to work as an add-on, it is the duty of the third party to make sure his/her software works with the original product, not vice versa.  

IMO you need to be addressing the developers, not CPod.