… scrapped the idea of bringing back the Summary Page, and have instead focused on what they think really matters; a new level up alert banner.
I appreciate that I may be speaking only for myself, but I have never had an issue tracking what level I am on, or how I am progressing on it… mainly because there was a progress bar on the homepage.
This bar coupled with the Summary Pages allowed me to quickly see where I was at on my current level (HP) and to see my wider progress with items moving between each level (SP).
The biggest hinderance to my tracking process was when they introduced the Extra Study section and that pushed the progress bar further down the homepage. I understand the need to promote this new feature, but I would have like the option to have the progress bar above the extra study section as that is more in-line with how (I assume) most people use Wanikani.
Two months ago or so, with the update that removed the Summary there wa a great outcry from users over the loss of the Summary Page. “We are looking into it” “We have taken this feedback on board”, yet here we are with an update that tells us stuff we do not need to be told, and would not need to be told if earlier changes had not got in the way.
I’m not bemoaning the Extra Study feature; I occasionally do use it and think it is a good idea. What did bother me, is that I couldn’t remove it and I had to scroll down the page to track my progress. It is a slight inconvenience, I get that, but the point is it has made it (for me) less user-friendly and thus perhaps adding to this perceived difficult that WaniKani claim users have of tracking their progress.
Then then week, we have an update which (to me) infantilizes us further by putting up this banner. It sells itself on the fact that people have struggled to track their process. How? How have they not released that they have increased a level or been able to track their progress? After 3 or 4 levels people would normally be aware of how it works, I would assume. Perhaps, if they had a summary page or the progress bar was more prominent on the homepage, this update wouldn’t be needed.
Why was this update focused on and prioritized over replacing the Summary Page? It gives mor credence to those saying that WaniKani will wait for the shock and annoyance of the lost Sumamry Page to die down, and then ignore it.
It seems like a team of developers are fresh out of college have taken over, and are more interested in making unnecessary changes for the sake of changes instead of focusing on what the site and users really need/want. Or is this update the brainchild of an intern with nothing else to do?
Why waste so much time and effort on such a needless update and feature, when there is clearly a demand for the summary page to be returned, or and equivalent added.
Yes, there are work-arounds and third-party software but not every has time or know-how of how to implement them. If anything, it adds more weight to my view that WaniKani’s updates are so bad that they have to rely on 3rd parties to make their product work more effectively by removing the updates they are releasing.
I am not talking about the bugs that need to be resolved when an update is launched; that happens with 90% if not 100% of updates to any form of software. I’m talking about the update itself.
I don’t usually rant online. I appreciate this will not be in line with other people’s thinking but I am just astounded by how dumb, and needless, some of these updates have been. Wanikani is an excellent resource but I cannot think of a product that is cannibalizing itself with such poor decision making. The summary page was such a useful and beneficial tool. It just pisses me off so much to see these moronic, child-like, ridiculous banners being flouted about as something that will make the WaniKani experience greater, when there is no apparent demand for it, but there is a clear demand with logical reasoning posted 100 times over, about a need and want for a summary page
To quote Benoit Blanc, “It’s just dumb.”
Anyway, good luck to whoever doing the JLPT next week. Happy f**king Friday.
And even if the e-mails didn’t notify us, it’s always been pretty obvious when a level up happens because a huge batch of new lessons get unlocked. This new level up banner definitely feels childish and unneeded. I 100% agree with everything you said!
. Like, people have leveled up before and knew they leveled up without the new alert, because the information about the level is literally everywhere.