I am writing this post because I have been using LingQ on the iPad quite heavily for a couple of weeks now and I have observed that the developers here appear to be very open to hearing about problems with the site and suggestions for how to fix them. I also realise that the developers have limited resources.
(I have a new iPad Mini and I think that the LingQ website runs great on it. I can find lessons, import lessons, make all the LingQs, and listen to the audio. I usually start every morning by sitting in bed with a cup of tea and reading a bit on LingQ with the iPad)
There are a few problems with using the LingQ website on the iPad that are mostly related to the design of the iPad and not the website (such as the lack of the ability to double click). My main problem with using the LingQ website is with searching the library. When I am in the library, there are many ways in which content can be filtered. For example, I can filter by Level, New Words Percent, Audio Duration, etc., or by an arbitrary combination of these. Setting up each combination of filters requires clicking on the little boxes next to each option. The problem is this: when I click on a little box, to check it or uncheck it, the website immediately searches for all content that fits the selected filter criteria. On the iPad, this is rather slow, and basically shuts the machine down for 10 seconds or more. I will show why this is a problem with an example.
Say I go to the library, and none of the filters have been checked, and I want to find all lessons that have >25% of the words known, are between 5 and 10 minutes long, and are in the Fairy Tales category. I start by checking the >25% of words known box and the website starts the search, which I find shuts down the iPad for 10 seconds. When I get control back, I then try to click on the box next to ā5:00-10:00ā to search by audio duration. Unfortunately, it is quite common that I hit the wrong box, and so I accidentally select the 10:00-20:00 box instead. I lose control again, and when I get it back, I now have to deselect the 10:00-20:00 box, and select the 5:00-10:00 box, which may take 30 seconds or more to do. I then go and select the Fairy Tales button and wait until the search is finished. This often takes several minutes and is a very frustrating experience.
Furthermore, I often have to hit the box several times to select it, and am often not shown that the box has been selected immediately, which means I often find myself selecting and deselecting the box accidentally, when all I want to do is select it. I also find that if I make too many searches in one go, I often get no results, or results that donāt match my selected criteria, which means that after doing all of the stuff that I have described in the previous paragraph, I end up with no results.
My suggested fix to this problem is rather simple. If it was made such that a the website does not search the library the moment a box is selected, but instead waits until a āSearchā button is selected, then this would all be made a lot easier. I hope this post is not too long, and is useful for the developers who I think have done a great job making this site.