Just here to offer a mild alternative to the current clamor.
34 Likes
Same. I think the UI is a downgrade in readability for checking answers. Otherwise, Iâm not too bothered by review scripts breaking and the summary page missing is whatever.
The team will likely respond as theyâre known to do and address peopleâs grievances.
10 Likes
Yeah, I think any change to interface takes some adjustment, especially if it had been the same for a long time. But to be honest, I have no real strong feelings about that either!
5 Likes
Kinda in the same boat. I do feel bad for all the people using scripts and stuff like that, but as someone whose been content with WaniKani in its vanilla form I donât feel too blindsided by the changes. I will admit, however, that the UI is less sleek/pretty now. Honestly with the smaller kanji size and black-on-grey text it feels harder on the eyes, which is ironic considering they said the purpose was to make it all âeasier to readâ. Could it be at least optional to swap back to the old UI? Doesnât seem like it would be that hard to do
8 Likes
Yeah, this is how I feel. I did give feedback in the update thread but just because they specifically asked for feedback, and it can basically be summed up as âIâm neutral on thisâ. Didnât run into any problems when doing my reviews, and even though my scripts are broken I donât care that much about it. And hey, a lot have already been fixed 
Even with the design changes I personally am not a fan of, itâs definitely more of an âeh Iâll get used to itâ kind of feeling, and I understand why they made the changes they did. To be honest if there wasnât such an outrage I probably wouldnât have even noticed most of the changes.
The most jarring part of this update for me is the reaction, not the update itself. Itâs weird having discussion on the forums be so heated today 
Iâm used to our relatively chill community, itâs why Iâm on here so often.
But I think a lot of the outrage is because people are resistant to change just by nature, and this change felt very sudden to a lot of people
Also @ElijahB it says itâs your first time posting here, welcome to the community!!
22 Likes
I want to quote your whole post just to agree with it
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I disagree about the simply âPeople donât like changeâ idea when it comes to this.
I agree with the concept in broad terms but these specific changes are in my opinion mostly negative. Itâs not purely from a visual perspective, I donât care about the changes in color or anything like that, but the functionality is different. Summaries were useful data, which I no longer have. The layout of the meanings/readings was consistent, so when I got an item wrong, I would always know where to look to correct myself. So for me, these changes are a very unwelcome addition because I have to change how I use the service.
Of course everyoneâs entitled to their opinions and Iâm sure Iâll get used to it over time, maybe even the new way will be better, but at the moment I think the changes theyâve made arenât beneficial in any way.
11 Likes
Actually, there are some beneficial changes also (not to mention thereâs probably backend stuff thatâs been improved too, mine seems to run faster at least). Adding synonyms to the lessons is super useful, Iâm from Ireland so we use a bunch of different words for things, so thatâs a welcome addition.
4 Likes
Yes, but I think a lot of the if the update had been rolled out in a different way (more obvious beta that lasted longer, or updating in phases, or more communication in general), there would have been less backlash since people would have been more prepared and would have gotten more used to the new design. Thatâs mainly what I meant by the âpeople donât like changeâ thing. Itâs not the only reason people are upset of course, but itâs more that I think the dev team should have taken this into consideration when implementing because then it could have been a smoother experience.
For summaries, itâs really unfortunate that theyâre gone, but since itâs tied to the backend changes (removing sessions, thus removing timeouts and summaries), itâs a sacrifice Iâm willing to make. Iâm still hoping theyâll somehow find a way to bring it back (maybe through a âsummary of the last 24 hoursâ or something?), but itâs not the end of the world for me.
Personally I prefer the old UI more too, but like you said Iâm sure Iâll get used to the new one in time.
3 Likes
Yeah I completely agree with that. Beta testing wouldâve been a great idea, it wouldâve cut down on the amount of reading theyâd have to do from the megathread about the update. Just a little more warning time for the user script writers wouldâve been a decent idea too I think. I wonder how easy it would be to make the designs optional? They might put an option in the settings that allows a higher degree of customizability in general, that would probably make everyone happier, script writers included because it could add some of the functionality that they would have previously had to write scripts for.
2 Likes
Just wanted to point out there was beta testing, but it was not advertised very much or for very long.
As far as I know it was only linked in that thread.
I like how Bunpro is doing it with their Reviews 2.0, where you can opt in. So there are two designs running in parallel at the moment. Of course at some point everyone will have to merge into one system, but after much longer beta testing.
5 Likes
I appreciate you do not care about changes in colors but for some, color changes can make a formerly accessible website inaccessible. I wouldnât say Iâm in pitchforks over this but I have spent all my reviews time just trying to get the new design to stop breaking my dark reader.
2 Likes
Same here 
I mean, the UI did get worse, but not that much, sure it looks worse, but it still functions the same. Wanikani is still an amazing SRS thing that you can use to study kanji very well, it still has good structure, mnemonics, it still teaches you radicals, kanji and some vocab along the way. It works faster after the update, too, with a few things improved. Heck, new frontend fixed a graphical bug I used to have on my ancient hardware.
Scripts got broken but thatâs not even the first and the second time it happened, itâll get fixed in a few days (it almost always does). Vanilla Wanikani is pretty good, I cleared todayâs batch of 150 reviews with no problems, even the burned items. Sure I fat-fingered maybe a couple of items but eh, who cares, more repetition can be good anyways, itâs a study, not a competition who burns more items quicker.
I donât really get why people got so upset
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I entirely understand your point, Iâm just speaking from my own personal point of view. I donât mind myself, but I totally get why someone would.
1 Like
Ahh yeah Iâm basically never on the forums to be honest so Iâm not surprised I missed it. Which I also think has added fuel to the fire of people being annoyed about the âsuddennessâ of it. An email notification wouldâve been nice. Then again, there mightâve been one and I was either too busy or just didnât notice it. Thatâs good to know though, I might keep an eye on preview.wanikani.com to see if thereâs any changes/rollbacks/etc. slated for the future.
Thereâs a plethora of reasons people are upset. Most of which are justified in my opinion. Like I said earlier, itâs made it more difficult for me to use the platform. Some people are just more habitual I guess? But I get you, itâs a study tool, not a competition. Thing is, I love the tool, but I feel like it has gone backwards instead of forwards in terms of usefulness. Donât get me wrong, thereâs still plenty to love, but itâs a slippery slope. Couple of changes here, couple of changes there and it could become a mess very quickly. Case and point would be Ubisoft vs From Softwareâs UI design 
3 Likes
I donât know about others, but I am as critical of Wanikani as I used to. Maybe now too many people know about Userscripts? Perhaps as a result of forum and reading clubs being lively and luring people in?
Then, right now the forum banner at the bottom of the dashboard is less flashy and doesnât fetch recent posts. Perhaps demographics will change in the future again?
Userscripts aside, perhaps slightly negative, with the biggest con being summary pages; but nothing is to say unusable. I am sure people adept in keyboard could adapt to new keyboard shortcuts.
2 Likes
I think there are definitely problems with wanikani, itâs definitely not perfect by any means. Iâm not trying to say that it shouldnât be criticized (I donât really believe that about anything, to be honest.)
I once learned that itâs usually only the most extreme opinions that we regularly hear, especially on the internet. People often love or hate things, and the people who do neither donât share that opinion often, so it can lead to a skewed perspective of the opinions of people in general. So, I posted this thread to show thereâs at least a few neutral opinions among the deluge!
I hope the mods etc arenât having a terrible day, dealing with outrage on the internet is the most stressful thing in the world. So, I am not outraged.
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Iâm sure this was expected on some level. Theyâre in the main thread still offering answers and even making quick updates. The team is clearly listening and responding. Hopefully they decide to highlight the meaning text in reviews with negative spacing, sizing, bold, or something so I can quickly understand my mistake and move on.
1 Like
A lot of people who are never on the forums or often not (like me) probably saw the update and came right to the forum to find out what happened.
Personally I donât really like the changes but I also donât really care as long as the main feature (SRS manual input flashcards) is untouched, which it is 
. The amount of hostility is pretty wild.
6 Likes
Yeah so true. I was also very surprised about the reaction of the community. I wasnât expecting this much backlash. I think it was a bit over dramatic, but I also believe that the staff wasnât necessarily the clearest when they did this. The moderators could have definitely done this better. In the end, it was kinda both the communityâs and the staffâs fault it went the way it did.
4 Likes