Restore Input-IDs on the website
Hello,
A while ago I created a Chrome extension (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/duolibro/ogianofickehjjgaopiohbgjhmhbdafn?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher-info-dialog) that automatically changes the keyboard input to another script if needed. (e.g. Cyrillian for Russian, Hebrew for Hebrew). It currently has around 2000 weekly users.
A few weeks ago some things in the source code of Duolingo changed, so now the extension doesn't work anymore. A lot of people contacted me via email and asked me to fix it.
However, I'm having a hard time getting the extension to recognize when to use the different script now, because the inputs don't have unique IDs (#word-input for single word answers, #text-input for longer answers) anymore, and also the single word answers don't have the placeholder "Type in Russian/Hebrew/Klingon" anymore. The placeholder was needed to check if the input non-English and the alternative script is needed.
Would it be possible to restore the old IDs, or at least add the missing placeholder text? If you're feeling particularly nice today you could even add a field like data-input="foreign" to the inputs to make it even easier for developers to build extensions.
I hope you'll find the time to consider this, as the users of Duolibro are waiting for a fix for the extension.
Thank you
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I had been using my phone app for a few months and recently returned to my desktop. I was frustrated to find that the Duolibro extension no longer worked. It is really a pain to switch between the Hebrew and English keyboards. The app is just multiple choice, but the desktop allows me to practice typing and spelling. Please change the code and bring this back!!!
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My duolibro extension stopped working today, so now I can't do the duolingo Hebrew anymore. Please change the code so that duolibro works.
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I hope the input-IDs are able to be restored because I love this Duolibro extension and felt that it really helped me. I can't imagine how important it is for those learning Russian.
I wish I had known about this when I was learning Russian. I'll eventually come back to Russian and will hope this extension is restored. Or "absorbed."
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Duolingo!!!! Please help Felix get duolibro working again! Or better yet, make this a default in your site. I can't do multiple languages without it!
Duolingo staff: Please add some kind of marker back to the pages to this kind of extension can work!
Another frustated DL user here (English to Hebrew) who really loved this extension and urges DL to restore the code to make it work again.
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Please Duolingo! Can you fix this, becaus I don´t know how to use the Hebrew keyboard anymore and that´s a real pity...
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I found this because Duolibro has never worked for me. Is there any forward progress / answer / solution or do I just keep using my phone ?
I think you very much for your extension, even if I was never able to use it. Please have 5 lingots.
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Just do what a hundred million Russians do: Alt+Shift
It'll very soon be just one more thing you can touch type.
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Well, 2000 users are waiting, possibly 0.001% of all users. One of the problems of using userscripts is that it relies on the website or browser not making changes that might affect the script.
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I learned about Felix's extension just one week ago (May 17, 2017) but it has VASTLY improved my DL Russian experience.
One of the reasons only 2,000 users have installed it is because, like me, they only learned about it after expressing frustration at not realistically having any chance of completing timed exercises in DL courses where toggling between keyboards is an absolute necessity, e.g., English to Cyrillic or English to Greek. The Microsoft Window + Shift key toggle is highly error prone, especially when you have a long list of keyboards installed, as the most dedicated DL users do.
My suggestion was for DL to sequence a practice session's questions so that the first half require one keyboard and the next half require the other, thereby reducing the number of keyboard toggles to one. But Felix's solution is sheer programming brilliance. I implore DL to consider restoring the necessary IDs (or furnishing an alternative table) so that Felix and other volunteer developers can make the DL experience as enriching as possible.
Especially as DL expands its subscriber base of Greek, Japanese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Russian and eventually Korean learners, the demand for an extension like Felix's will grow exponentially. Please, please give Felix's efforts more consideration.
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I am surprised Duolingo hasn't made it frankly a whole lot easier than required add-on userscripts to achieve this useful functionality. Perhaps Japanese's eventual arrival to the web will bring us some more consideration of non-Latin language issues. Personally I think your ordering the questions idea to minimize switching is quite a good one.
As to the matter of a long list of keyboards, you may find helpful tips in this thread: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/19909038 particularly those in the exchange between LICA98 and Casper_duo
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I didn't know about the US International Keyboard. That is really handy. Thank you!
I confess that I still like the idea of becoming comfortable with the native keyboard layout in Germany and France, just in case I'm working in an office or Internet cafe there. For German, it's a snap - just switch Y and Z, and for French it isn't bad either (5 rearranged letters). So I set the keyboard to German (or French) at the beginning of a DL practice session and keep it there. But for Russian, toggling keyboards is unavoidable.
The assignment of customized hot keys to perform the toggling is a good one ... something I will try if Felix's Chrome extension stops working for Russian. Fingers crossed; so far so good.
Psionpete, thank you for your extremely helpful and constructive contribution to the topic.
Sure, 2000 users are probably only 0.001% of all users, but for them it would better the user experience of Duolingo and therefore them more likely to keep using it. Adding the "Type in [Language]" placeholders (which should take the engineers around 5 minutes total) would also create a more consistent look, since then all input fields would have a placeholder.
