I use Ultimate Timeline so I know when my critical reviews are, or when I’m about to get assaulted by 100+ reviews. I find that one useful, but don’t use any others. I don’t trust myself to be strict if I had reorder/ignore capabilities 
Resistance is futile. All your desktop are belong to us.
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Feels like the majority of “I don’t use scripts” threads are very focused on the ignore script. I think that script is far less dangerous than people assume (and the obsession with perfectly learning something though WK is dubious), but heck, let’s set that one aside.
There are a ton of quality of life scripts for WK even if you limit it to ones that have zero affect on the SRS. You’ve got:
• scripts that let you see multiple fonts while reviewing
• scripts that show you an accurate lesson/review number rather than “42+”
• scripts that show you how many reviews are upcoming and when so you can plan your schedule
• scripts that surface more information on the dashboard to save you time and clicks
• scripts that let you easily view similar-looking or similar-reading kanji
• scripts that show kanji stroke order
And on and on. None of these scripts could possibly damage your learning experience. Some will actively enrich and deepen it, even if we ignore the ones that simply make for a more efficient UI. Only a handful of scripts actually allow you to modify or subvert the SRS in any way. There’s a whole lot more to it than that.
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Yeah, plenty of people seem to be proud of not using scripts.
“I do my reviews uphill both ways, sonny!”
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Scripts in general add so much utility to WK that I think not using any at all on principle is objectively wrong. Putting the ignore script and ultimate reorder scripts aside for a moment. Off the top of my head in no particular order:
- There’s the Jitai font randomizer script that does what it says on the tin. Practicing reading kanji in different fonts is important if you don’t want to be totally stumped the first time you come across stylized kanji that you know in the wild. It also just extends the associations which you have with an item which is almost always good.
- There’s the hide context script which just puts a gray bar over WK’s translations of their example sentences so that you can actually try to read the Japanese without your eyes being drawn magnetically to the English.
- How about the Visually Similar kanji script that lets you easily look at kanji that look visually similar to the one you’re studying now so you can make sure you can tell the difference?
- I’ve installed extensions that import both Edict and weblio definitions for kanji because WK sometimes omits important definitions, or has poor word choice in defining an item.
- I also have a stroke-order script which is really nice to have readily available and doesn’t hurt anything.
All those scripts save you the time and trouble of flipping between a bunch of different resources or actually improve upon the learning that WK offers. Honestly, a lot of these are things that WK should just have available by default anyway. You’re free to choose not to use scripts yourself, but I really think you’re using an incomplete WK by doing so.
As for the ignore scripts and ultimate timeline scripts – WK is a means to an end, and that end is being able to read native material. That’s where you’re going to really learn words and how to use them, not in an SRS app.
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i think i have actually tried most of all available scripts and have 31 running at the moment. a tidier dashboard with more infos, additional knowledge details for every item and a in general a faster review experience, plus much more. the ignore script didn’t work well for me though. too tempting. 
to me wanikani without scripts feels very incomplete now and i think the crabigator team was very smart in making this sort of customization available for those who want it. of course i’m also eternally grateful for all the people who make use of that and actually write these scripts ^.^
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I don’t even understand what everyone means by scripts…never have. My brain says “stage play” and stays confused. It’s basically like coding/hacking stuff to make it gain functions that are unavailable without scripting? All I know is there is no WaniKani equivalent to learning computer languages (unless there is and I will add that to things I desperately crave to understand).
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I tried a few scripts but currently I just use two of them: ultimate timeline and the one that adds the ignore button.
The ignore button is really important to me, I do a LOT of mistakes because I did a typo and didn’t noticed before I pressed enter! For me it’s so fundamental that I don’t know why it isn’t a native option of WK. Ultimate timeline is good, I really like to check where am I inseide the level, but I could easly live without it.
here’s the Jitai font randomizer script that does what it says on the tin
I’m very interested in this one! Just installed, waiting for my next review section to popup!
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Me too, so I taught myself NOT TO PRESS ENTER! until I’ve read what I wrote and am sure I’m happy with it.
I also found that I was wasting a lot of time blazing out a reading or a meaning, then realizing it asked for the other and backspace, backspace, backspace, rewrite, etc. So I forced myself to learn and follow a process for every item.
(1) Item shows.
(2) Wait! Don’t start typing yet.
(3) Read it out loud in japanese.
(4) Look at the question, reading or meaning?
(5) Only then start typing
(6) Wait! Don’t press enter yet
(7) Read what I wrote
(8) Press enter if it’s right
You would think it’s slower with those two Wait! parts, but it saves me so much time in rewriting and failed items I think I win. Plus it doesn’t take long when it’s a habit. Discipline, people, jeez. I mean, I get the thing where the submitted answer is a correct synonym and just doesn’t happen to be the exact phrase WK is looking for. But I don’t let typos be an excuse (for me, YMMV)
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Typing accuracy is nice, but Wankani reviews aren’t the place to worry about honing that that skill. It’s a kanji learning platform, not Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. And even if you stop and take a few extra seconds to look over your answer, some typos will still get through. Allowing those typos to hold back your progress will do nothing to advance your understanding of the Japanese language, which is presumably why we’re all here. There’s a reason WK already has a degree of built-in typo forgiveness.
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Mmm, ok, if you don’t mind being a sloppy typist in Japanese, that’s fine, for you. For me, I figure now’s the easiest time to get that right too, since it’s really not much extra effort. That’s why I said YMMV.
Every place is the place to worry about honing that skill, if it’s a skill you want.
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I used to use scripts for the first 3 years I was on here, but after I reset back to level 3 I got rid of them all. Now I don’t use any. I kept experiencing problems with WaniKani when I had them installed and it’s all running smoothly again now without any so I’ll just carry on like this. I’m not here to race and try and level up as quickly as possible, I just do WaniKani as and when I can, so I don’t feel like they’re necessary.
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When I started WK I set additional challenges to myself:
- Never use any user script.
- Never add any user alias, just force myself to remember whatever WK wants me to remember.
- Never review WK items outside of scheduled reviews.
So far I have not regretted these commitments. I was traveling during levels 9, 10 and 18 and was not able to review every day, that is the reason they took longer.
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I’ll always be perplexed and fascinated by the desire to “hard mode” Wanikani. I wonder if it’s a side-effect of the general “gamification” approach WK takes? Maybe it triggers a desire to beat it in the same way someone might try to beat a game without using health potions?
Insofar as setting that kind of challenge is motivating to someone, it’s not even necessarily a bad thing. But I wonder how many people end up dropping out along the way (I guess by definition they won’t be on the forums to say) over quirks of the system that they didn’t actually need to slog through, due to eschewing totally benign but very helpful quality-of-life enhancements.
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I don’t use scripts not out of pride, but the fact I’m not interested in spending the time finding them, shoving them in, then finding which ones actually work on an old IPhone anyway.
(Is that all? Who knows. I’m here to learn Kanji, not find out.)
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Well, that’s easy. As far as I’m aware, that would be none. Regardless of iPhone age.
But cell phones have the apps, the creators of which usually put in things that function the same as userscripts here do.
I actually use AlliCrab. Makes it quicker to tap straight to reviews than using my browser. I have no idea how I would turn on any script features though.
(And the app has been janking up for a few days now anyway. So I’ll see how long that lasts)
I believe that was due to API issues, so it should theoretically be fixed now.
Nope I don’t use them. Never have.
1 Like