[kde-edu]: Importing KWordQuiz

[Peter Hedlund]

On Tuesday 04 May 2004 04:36 pm, Scott Wheeler wrote:
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> On Tuesday 04 May 2004 22:55, Peter Hedlund wrote:
> > I'll remove some of the buttons...
>
> Specifically the sorting thing could go -- that's a standard feature of
> KListView and you could probably make the column renaming a context menu
> item for the listview header (i.e. where the column names are).

I'm using QTable. Besides, I don't think functionality should be available 
only through a context menu. Everything should be accessible through the 
regular menu system.

> Cut, copy, paste and print could probably also go (and just stay in the
> menus).  Also changing the font shouldn't be an often used item and should
> go.

The edit buttons are on by default in FlashKard. One of the main reasons I had 
for writing (K)WordQuiz is that I haven't liked the editor capabilities in 
other programs. This is true for both KVocTrain and FlashKard.

> That gets me down to this:
>
> http://ktown.kde.org/~wheeler/images/kwordquiz-2.png

I'm surprised you decided to keep the very special buttons for mark and unmark 
blank. Those would be the first to go if I were to do a cleanup.

>
> Though I still like it more with the main bar hidden.  I realized that part
> of what's confusing to me is the number of non-standard icons.  Most of the
> toolbar items are unique to KWordQuiz as opposed to the majority in other
> apps which are "standard" icons.  This probably isn't as noticeable to you
> since you're used to them by now.  :-)
>
> That's why I turned on the text descriptions in the "mode" toolbar.
>
> > > Also I think defaults that are better than "Column 1" and "Column 2"
> > > should be found.  I used "front" and "back" in FlashKard since I was
> > > trying to emphasize the visual metaphor.  "Question" and "Answer" could
> > > also work...
> >
> > This is one thing I've always wanted to get away from. For me there is
> > really no front/question or back/answer. I want it to work equally well
> > in either direction. One of the things I wanted to improve from FlashKard
> > was to have the ability to name the columns. The worst is vocabulary
> > trainers that enforce one particular language as the "base" language.
>
> Well, I don't think "front" and "back" imply that one is a "base" --
> they're just more descriptive terms for a set of two items than "Column 1"
> and "Column 2".  I also think that being able to change the name is good; I
> just disagree with the default names.
>
> If you asked a user -- even without seeing the program "What should go in
> Column 1 for the quiz?" vs. "What should be on the front of the cards in
> the quiz?" the second one will almost always make more sense intuitively. 
> It might be less accurate or biased towards something that really isn't a
> limitation of the program, but it makes it easier to understand.
>
> I'm sure there are other terms that would work well too, they're just not
> coming to mind at the moment.  :-)
>
> > You really need three bars then, one for overall progress, one for
> > correct, and one for errors. That would IMHO waste screen space. I
> > prefer the current numerical representation (which can be set to show
> > percentages).
>
> Not really.  A progress bar is for -- well, showing progress -- the
> relative amount completed, not the status of your answers.  Sure, you can
> get this information from other places, but it's not as strong of a visual
> indicator.
>
> > I'll change the default. I agree it may be confusing at first but it's
> > based on user requests (you are the first to argue against) and allows
> > for quickly moving through the quiz.
>
> I agree that the behavior is desirable; just not the widget.  :-)
>
> When I click on a radio button I expect to see it get selected.  It
> surprised me when it changed.  I think push buttons would work better in
> the "immediate" mode.

I know the behavior is non-standard, that's why I'll change the default, but I 
still think a radiobutton better conveys the notion that one and only one 
option can be selected. That's what they are for. You don't get cue from a 
push button.

> Another thing that I just noticed -- pressing enter should go to the next
> item to be entered, not the item below.  So in the left column it should go
> to the same item on the right and in the right it should go to the left
> column below.

This is another default that needs to be changed. Actually I thought I already 
did. This behavior can be set in the configure dialog.

Thanks,
Peter