I took the plunge and signed up for a Skritter subscription.

However, I soon discovered that the app doesn't work very well without an internet connection. I couldn't study anything until I had a wi-fi hotspot, at which point the app downloaded a few words from the list I had chosen.

I do 100% of my studying on my iPad while commuting (I don't have an internet connection).

Would it be possible to add the following features to be more offline friendly:

1) [Online]: Import a word list into the app (both downloaded from the site, and imported from a Pleco-compatible flashcard file) so that words can be added while offline

2) [Offline]: Allow manual adding/management of words directly in the app.

Thanks for your consideration. I really like the writing test in Skritter.

lechuan, probably the best thing to do is to double-tap the manual add button before your commute starts and have the app add a ton of words (as many as you like). Then it'll feed those through to you throughout your commute, mixed with your reviews--no internet access needed.

When you get more words in your account, it's less of a problem if you don't have enough new words, because you usually have enough reviews that are worth doing. At first you have to make sure to get a big buffer, though.

Technical limitations prevent us from adding words while offline, since the words and lists live on the server and can't really all be duplicated on the app properly--it's got to be sort of an on-demand thing.

Hope this helps!

Oh cool. That should work well. If I manual add, will the words be added in the same order as the list?

Also, If I was to add perhaps 600 words using the manual add button, would this be any different than having them added automatically by the app?

BTW excellent work guys, it's pretty awesome :)

Yes, in that adding gradually is a much more fluid process. If you add 600 words to your studies, they're all there and you have to learn them pretty much at the same time. So ideally let the app add them gradually, as you'll have a smoother ride that way.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll start with manually adding 10 per day and see how that goes.

I see that in the iOS version of Skritter I can send a word to Pleco to see the dictionary definition, which is incredibly cool and I'm sure will be useful for off-line study as a substitute for the on-line references I use when Skrittering at home. (click the "i" icon in the upper right and and then the "Pleco" icon in the upper left.) Now I am dreaming that Pleco will add a function to "send flashcard list to Skritter." I wonder if anyone has thought about this / approached Pleco on the possibility.

Yes, Pleco-to-Skritter is something we're planning to work with Mike on.

I have a serious problem with the App.


I am adding and learning words too fast and now my Chinese is so good everyone is jealous of me and now all my friends hate me.

Please patch the app immediately.

;P

I'm a little unclear on how the offline functionality works. I'm going away for a week entirely offline. I followed this thread and double-tapped the + icon to add 100 characters. I did that twice. I have no idea how many characters I have or whether they will all work when I am fully offline. I also don't know if I'm now studying up to 200 characters simultaneously or whether the app is drawing characters gradually from a saved list of 200 characters.

It would be helpful if the app was a little clearer in this regard. It could say something like "200 characters banked for offline use, 20 characters learned, 40 characters being trained, and 140 characters awaiting training". Something like that.

Also, I can't figure out what the number of "due" characters, indicated at the top of the app, is supposed to mean. "Due" in what sense?

These are just suggestions. I really like the app and I'm sure it will get more and more user-friendly over time. Thanks for creating it!

Mike

@mreid - An easy way to check how many new words/characters have been actually added today is to go to your "Progress" screen, "Day", and check the number added under Character Writings and Word Writings; regardless of how many sides you are studying those two are where they will be added first.

Due reviews (the number at the top) are the cards which are past due; i.e. their interval has been exceeded and thus are prioritized for review. You might want to read through the FAQ, in particular this point and its links; they explain it clearly.
http://www.skritter.com/faq#scheduling