The Reader is now so sluggish (using Google Chrome and Firefox on a desktop PC) that it is almost unusable - thanks to the longer text imports (alone ?).
So, here we go again: is this the fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. time since the introduction of v5?
I think the best news has no longer to do with LingQ, but with the fact that the other Steve
(from ReadLang) is going to continue the development of his Reader SW.
Once the longer lessons of the imported e-books (mainly PDFs based on Kindle e-books where I removed the DRM using Calibre) are created, it requires hundreds and hundreds of mouse clicks (or pressing the “Enter” key) to get to the end of a (ca. 30 min) lesson.
Sometimes, it seems impossible to get to the end at all.
Audio is ok, but turning pages and marking phrases is so frustratingly slow
that I gave up yesterday.
Happens in English, Dutch, and Spanish.
And there’s no difference between the browsers mentioned here.
PS -
I’ve to add that I want to get “quick” through these longer lessons
either bc. I just want to listen to the audio and don’t care about reading
or practicing ultra-reading while listening where the audio speed is 1.25x or 1.5x.
Anyway, a kind of quick fix would be to have shorter lessons
(ca. 2000-3000 words) again bc. in this case the speed of going
through the lessons is quite good.
I would definitely like to have the choice in the settings for automatic imports. Or at least a pop-up question on each import that give us the possibility to have a few choices on the length of the lessons.
Making the length of lessons adjustable in the settings seems like a good compromise for people who are affected by performance issues.
I don’t want to see the limit lowered again for everyone after waiting almost 10 years to be able to import full ebook chapters. You’d think in 2023 the length of lessons being an issue should be a thing of the past.
Also, could the format of the file be an issue when importing longer lessons? PDFs are a lot heavier than EPUB or Word format. Maybe the team could look into this as well.
Yes, why not have an option: “lesson length: 3000 or 6000 words?”
Reg. the file format: not sure if PDF per se is the problem.
As my e-books are usually pure texts, I can convert them to any format supported by Calibre.
But even with EPUB / .txt, for ex., the reading experience in LingQ isn’t that great either.
In other words, “lesson length” is definitely a factor affecting the performance - at least in my case.
I’ve also tested it with a long non-fiction book (“Transformación del Mundo”, PDF, 284 lessons - ca. 12 min each): turning pages / marking stuff is much faster in the case of the old (shorter) lessons.
So no, the file format shouldn’t be the cause of the sluggish responsiveness.
I was very hopeful back in March when the team announced that performance had improved significantly and that the end of lesson splitting was on the cards. Unfortunately, it looks like it is actually not the case and that we are still riding a steam locomotive in 2023 when we should be on a bullet train.
Well, every time LingQ announces “innovations” (or even changes)
I start praying: “Please, don’t try to innovate, just focus on a non-cluttered
AudioReader that works - most of the time!”.
Seems like we need our own “LingQ deity” for this:
Normally, my new “hobby” is to create AI-based monster hybrids (Pennywise, Freddy Kruger, terminators, xenomorphs, etc.), but this is what Craiyon came up with for the prompt: “Lingq - language learning app - Greek deity”.
Does it help? No, but it calms the nerves and gives an (illusory) feeling of user control
I definitely vote for the non-cluttered, less clicking, less waste of time for finding workarounds version. But I guess that LingQ deity will do for now.