i hear the voices when I'm dreaming

You know the shitshow that is Ravelry's new look? Which was causing eye strain and migraines and seizures? And the site updates since then have all used perky icons (that are in some cases impossible to determine the meaning of) rather than bullet points?

It just got worse.



I'm shaking too hard to transcribe, but summary -- form letter response from Cassidy saying NuRav isn't causing medical issues, people are just spreading malicious lies.

Or, as ktb38 says:

Ravelry is now sending out a form letter.
Saying there are no problems with the updated design.
Everyone who has problems is lying.
The disability community is lying, according to ravelry.
Share this. Tell everyone what ravelry is doing.
#ravelryaccessibility #ravelry


I'm pretty much in shock right now. Of all possible responses from C, this was not even imaginable.

I fully expect rage tears later, but right now I'm just ... numb.

Edit with transcript:

Ravelry's updated design does not cause seizures, migraines or other medical issues.

The Epilepsy Foundation did not "call out" Ravelry. Angry users stared [sic] a letter writing campaign and the foundation published their warning based on these letters without any verification or research, as appears to be their policy. A medical doctor who specializes in migraines and seizures has said that he does not believe that Ravelry is causing seizures or migraines. We have found zero evidence that there is anything about the new design that causes migraines or seizures.

I would like people to consider their sources before spreading false information.

Cassidy

I am less enchanted with memrise than I was initially.

Some issues:

a) On the iPad, some of the font is way too small, and selections tend to be underlined. This means that (for the Spanish course) i and í and l and t and ! and ¡ all look alike, and because of the underline g and q look alike, and (for the Japanese course) any kanji more complicated than the basic are impossible to "read" and I end up guessing from what's available. There is no option to enlarge. There's also ridiculous amounts of white space that could be used for ... oh I dunno, maybe larger font.

(yes the iPad has a zoom feature, but then I'm having to scroll all around the screen, or zoom and unzoom and zoom and unzoom.)

b) On the computer, there are two review methods; speed review, presumably timed, and classic review. Which is ... also times. Not in the sense of "you have an hour before the session times out", not (just) in the sense of "you get extra points for completing quickly", but in the sense of "15 seconds to answer each question *or you get marked wrong*". With a mouse and onscreen keyboard I can't always type quickly enough, much less if I have to think to recall the answer. I could live with "bonus for completing within 15 seconds", but even if you're typing it will mark you wrong once time is up. There is no non-timed recall through the computer.

c) Punctuation is erratically mandatory. One of the sentences it teaches is "cheers!" In Japanese, this is ikō ... except they have it as ikō! with the exclamation mark. Similarly in Spanish, "let's go!" is ¡vamos!" You will get marked wrong for just "ikō" or "vamos". Which is kind of wtf.

d) There are weird unexplained jumps. It made sense to learn "watashi" (I/me) and "no" (possessive particle) and put them together to get "watashi no" (my), then learn "namae" (name) and do "watashi no namae" (my name). And then they jump to "悲しんでいます / kanashindeimasu" (being sad) without having introduced sad, or talked about the difference between imasu and desu, aside from lumping them together as "politeness particles"

e) They don't reinforce kana spellings of kanji. So they teach that 幸せです / shiawasedesu means being happy, but they never review it as しあわせです, and I can memorize that the kanji 幸 corresponds with happy but then they do the audio "shiawasedesu" and I go "...baroo?" Especially since I can't see the kanji all that clearly.

There are other issues too, but those are the main ones. And I'm kind of disenchanted. I think I need to find a different source for learning the grammar, and stick with wanikani for kanji -- you have to pay after level 3, but I can probably wheedle a sub as a birthday present this year, and anyway I'm only on level 2 -- and ... I don't know. Something.

(because I know y'all care so very much /grin/)

Teal deer version: gamings are not really happening much, and partly that's due to (probably depression-related) lack of interest, but mainly due to not having a setup that works.

Here's the thing: with zero mobility, I don't have a lot of options for where to put my hands. Which means that if the mouse is in reach of (either) hand, that hand can't reach the keyboard. Additionally, the keyboard I had been using, a Kinesis Freestyle (I think?) split, stopped responding when my computer had its latest set of shenanigans, which means that I'm stuck with a standard keyboard.

I'd had the KF set up with one half of the keyboard where my left hand could reach, and the other half up out of direct reach so that the mouse was usable with my right. This was not perfect -- a lot of games tend to expect, y'know, full keyboard access -- but it worked. WASD movement, 1-6 for skills, other left side of keyboard keys used for other functions (which I tried to standardize over all my games so b would always be inventory, c opened the character info pane, r toggled walk/run, t targeted nearest foe, etc.), and mouse control over the rest of the stuff.

(It also worked for regular use, not just gaming. If I wanted to type, I could use a stick to reach the right half of keyboard keys without moving anything, or for serious e.g. nano typing I could move the mouse aside and have both hands touch typing.)

But with a straight keyboard, I've lost a lot of that. The only way to make a mouse usable for me involves having the keyboard at a weird angle so that my left hand sort of reaches (but everything is skewed badly, so my touch typing instincts are thrown off, and if I accidentally hit capslock instead of shift that's why), or else I just move myself over relative to everything so that I use the mouse exclusively with my left hand, typing via either dictation (which sucks) or an on-screen keyboard (which also sucks).

These options, in case you can't tell, all suck.

Right now I am typing via left hand and stick, with the mouse out of reach so that the keyboard is straight. This is giving me a halfway decent WPM for typing. (38, which is slower than I used to be but at least workable) The on-screen keyboard gives me about three WPM. five if I'm lucky. And is so totally not workable for gaming, for obvious reasons.

I need to get a replacement for the KF; I'm just hesitating because Expense. (I am also tempted to get a gaming keyboard, which would take some getting used to but would give me possibly better options ... but hello Expense. Also Needless.) And I kind of want a gaming mouse, but I have no clue if I would be actually able to use it. (In a literal sense. My current mouse is a vertical one, and I hold it weirdly, but I was able to try it via my sister before getting it so I knew I could use it.)

And really Expense is a silly reason to hesitate, because it's not all that much and it gives better flexibility and actual access to what I want to do, but I think part of the thing is that I've gotten restricted too much to play video games even with the right equipment, and that makes me all sad and anxious.

...but anyway, that's that. Sigh.

Game-specific updates, mainly for my own benefit:

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