[Idea] WaniKani Windows 8 Tile

Hi guys, umm…I’m not sure if this is the right thread to be asking this question in, but I can’t find anything to help me in the forums or via internet searches, so I’m just going to go ahead and ask here! I’m hoping there is someone out there who is much more tech-savvy than I (wouldn’t be hard!) who knows the answers to my questions.

I just upgraded to a Surface Pro 2 with Windows 8 (after 7 years with the same laptop…just to give you some idea of how noobish I am with all of this stuff) and I was excited to try doing my WaniKani reviews in front of the TV using the tablet the other day, only to find that the website doesn’t function very well at all without a keyboard attached. The input box is covered by the pop up keyboard and the data on screen is also tiny…I am so new to all of this, but I wanted to see if there was an app available for the Surface that will make doing WK reviews easier with the tablet? Also, I have no idea how to add an ‘app’ to my Surface…so any advice on that would be fantastic!

Thanks for tolerating my (possibly very silly) questions! :slight_smile:

If the input box is covered when using Internet Explorer in touch mode there are a couple of things you can try.

1. Try using Internet Explorer in the old ‘Desktop’ mode. 

Right-Click on the Internet Explorer tile on the start screen and choose ‘Pin to task bar’. You’ll now see an Internet Explorer icon on the task bar when viewing your desktop which will launch into desktop mode when clicked.
2. Download and install Google Chrome. Google Chrome has better support for modern internet standards than Internet Explorer and will likely give you a better experience when viewing this site. There are other options such as Firefox which will also do a fine job!

Currently there isn’t an application which will solve this problem, and it’s likely there won’t be one which can. The best we can do at this stage is create an application which mimics the behaviour you get in the web browser.

To install a windows ‘App’ you just need to open the app store, create a windows account if you don’t have one, and start browsing through the catalog.

The store looks like this:


Here’s a run down of new features included as part of the Start Screen. This should give you a good starting point and help you feel comfortable navigating around and customising the layout to make it yours!

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows-8/start-screen-tutorial


Ah, thank you Dangles! That’s very helpful - I’m using Firefox now and if I zoom in with the tablet held vertically it’s much more readable than it was, without the issue of the keyboard in the way when I type in answers.

Do you happen to know of any good apps/websites for learning how to write Kanji using the tablet & stylus? I have had a look at Scritter, but it’s pretty pricey.

Anyway, thanks again for the info!

Reicheru said...Hi guys, umm...I'm not sure if this is the right thread to be asking this question in, but I can't find anything to help me in the forums or via internet searches, so I'm just going to go ahead and ask here! I'm hoping there is someone out there who is much more tech-savvy than I (wouldn't be hard!) who knows the answers to my questions. 

I just upgraded to a Surface Pro 2 with Windows 8 (after 7 years with the same laptop...just to give you some idea of how noobish I am with all of this stuff) and I was excited to try doing my WaniKani reviews in front of the TV using the tablet the other day, only to find that the website doesn't function very well at all without a keyboard attached. The input box is covered by the pop up keyboard and the data on screen is also tiny...I am so new to all of this, but I wanted to see if there was an app available for the Surface that will make doing WK reviews easier with the tablet? Also, I have no idea how to add an 'app' to my Surface...so any advice on that would be fantastic! 

Thanks for tolerating my (possibly very silly) questions! :)
 I don't personally like how Chrome works in touch on my Surface but the desktop keyboard might still get in the way on either IE Desktop or Chrome anyways. The problem isn't the browser it is the on-screen keyboard getting in the way -- screen space.

Have you tried just rotating the display? Then the keyboard would be out of the way for the most part. The view will most likely mimic a mobile browser view in that orientation. I know the keyboard isn't in that way when I use WaniKani on my phone.

On another note, have you enabled the Japanese keyboard yet? It's pretty cool being able to easily switch and type in Japanese.
satsuma said...
A windows phone app with a working 'ignore typo' feature would be awesome.
 I had a brief look at the Windows phone WebBrowser available to devs and it could potentially be used to inject user scripts. Once I clean up the code from the original project and get it submitted to the store I might take a look at porting it over to WP8(.1), no promises though ;)
Is the 'ignore typo' an existing user script fix, or are you referencing the native WK feature?

 It's an existing user script.