Hello everyone!

It's been a while since there's been an update from the developers, but we've been hard at work on our biggest update so far and we appreciate your patience while we pushed forward with it. There's a lot in this, so let's jump right into the changes.

Performance Updates

Theming

• Your chosen theme is no longer attached to your account but rather to the device/browser instead.

Part of the performance update required that we change the way we were storing which theme users wanted. Without getting into specifics, this was one of the first systems that we needed to rewrite so that we could improve performance across the site.

Let's just say there's a reason why even large websites like YouTube don't store your theme preferences on your account 😁

Network Request Overhaul

• Network requests are now batched together to ensure that data is only being fetched once, regardless of how many times it is requested on the page.
• Data is now automatically refreshed so that you do not have to refresh your page — this was done so that you do not have to refresh the page and re-download everything to see what you have to do.
• There are now loading views for every page on the website that will show when data is loading.

This was a large part of the work as we had to rewrite the way that we retrieve, store, and access the data across the entire site. Each page now renders right away and then fetches the data it needs, presenting you with what is known as a "skeleton" view during the process.

As a result of these changes, you should notice that everything you do feels more responsive across the board.

Feature Updates

Community

• Added a way to connect and disconnect your NativShark and Discord accounts to each other

Currently this will give you a role corresponding to the streak badge that you are at as well as reflect your subscription status in the Discord. We have other plans for how to use this integration moving forward, so please look forward to it 😁

Flashcards

• The appearance of new kanji and vocabulary flashcards has been updated to reduce confusion and make it easier to realize when you are being presented with new information rather than review information
• The number of options when reviewing flashcards has been reduced from 4 to 3
• Audio will correctly stop when moving to a new flashcard
• Audio autoplay can now be disabled entirely on flashcards
• Modified the SRS algorithm based on the data we've collected regarding its usage and efficiency so far
• Made it so that you can now see how many cards are in a deck in addition to how many new and review cards you have
• Removed the infinite scrolling view from the flashcards browse page

The flashcard updates that you see are a stepping stone in the direction that we are going to be taking NativShark moving forward. While it's clear that our initial approach was heavily inspired by Anki, we found ourselves falling into the trap of trying to figure out a way to provide the customization that Anki provides while also trying to prevent users from adopting destructive habits accidentally. We are adopting new techniques now that exist to benefit users and ultimately help them achieve their educational goals.

Kanji

• Fixed an issue where the system would ignore the kanji image setting
• A kanji radical table has been added to Context-kun (the menu in the bottom-right corner)
• You can now hover over the elements in the kanji mnemonic field to quickly see what they look at — this makes the mnemonics infinitely more useful

This was something we wanted to add in time for launch, but unfortunately it slipped out of the launch window and we weren't able to squeeze it in until now. While there is other work that we are doing to the way we teach kanji, we firmly believe that this change makes our current system much more useful for everyone using the system.

Lessons

• Fixed an issue where the author popup would go off of the screen and would not link to the author's profile

Progression System

• Fixed an issue where you were unable to reset your progress

This required rewriting part of our backend system to be able to accommodate the amount of data that is generated by the system and so it took longer than previously expected to fix.

Shadowing System

• The system shadow albums now only show content that you have seen during your studies (users on the premium subscription can see all of the tracks in each album if they would like to)
• Added a shuffle feature to shadow albums
• Optimized how tracks are received to reduce the amount of data being sent
• Replaced the infinite scrolling tracklist with an easier to use system

We are still thinking of ways that we can improve the shadow loops before we start work on the native mobile app, but this groundwork will allow us to make more improvements moving forward.

Stats

• Fixed an issue where your daily stats would incorrectly display your total time studied in certain circumstances
• Fixed an issue where the system was incorrectly displaying your completion date and progress when you finished Phase One

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What's Next?

We're only just beginning. This update took longer than we wanted it to because it required us to rewrite most of the system to fix some less than stellar architectural decisions that were made previously in the project. Now that the update is finished, we have a more stable base to work on moving forward. With that said, what are our next plans?

Streak SaverThis is something that is long overdue and so we are finally going to get it in place. Once this is released, it will retro-actively fix any streaks that were dropped due to a missed day.

Extra Credit UpdatesOne of the most requested features is to be able to edit Extra Credit entries or to log them after the fact. We hear you and this is on its way.

Referral ProgramWe aren't ready to discuss exactly what this looks like yet, but we are putting a referral program in place to help grow the community as well as reward those who like NativShark enough to share it.

3-Year PaceWe are going to be adding a 3-year option to the pace slider. You will be able to switch to this when it launches (if you are on the old premium plan or the new plan) and the system will automatically adapt to everything you've done in the past.

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While the team has been relatively quiet recently, we have still been paying close attention to the community, feedback, and requests. What we've mentioned above is just a small portion of what we have in the works and it's something that you'll get access to soon.

This update has a lot of changes and may take some getting used to. As before and as always, we appreciate all feedback that you have and welcome healthy discussions either in our Discord community or on our feedback site.

NativShark was created to help you achieve your education goals and every change we make starts with that as the foundation. We look forward to making you successful and removing the stress of what to do and when. Thank you for being with us up to this point and we hope to continue to provide the best service possible moving forward.