Got a new touchscreen Windows 8.1 PC (an Acer Aspire S7 392) and I just wanted to mention that Skritter works great on it.

You just have to know to use the link that makes Skritter act like it's on an Android, one of these two:

http://www.skritter.com/study/all?android=true
http://www.skritter.com/study/all?android=true&resolution_width=1024

I figured that out with a little bit of searching through the forum, especially this discussion:

http://www.skritter.com/forum/topic?id=739066510

Pretty neat! Yay Flash :)

That is good to know! Do you ever use any of those Bamboo pads or anything like that? I'm wondering if I should get one of those or if the touchscreen PC would do the trick.

I've used the Wacom Bamboo pad in the past, it's great. But the reality is, I hardly every use it anymore, because I usually don't have it on hand.

I haven't used the Windows 8 touch interface long enough to know whether it's an adequate replacement, all I can say is that so far it's pretty awesome! I should try it with a stylus, too.

By the way, @nick if you see this, it would be nice if you could display these "Android version" links somewhere on the Study page for the benefit of Windows 8 touchscreen users:

http://www.skritter.com/study/all?android=true
http://www.skritter.com/study/all?android=true&resolution_width=1024

I know you can't detect if a user has a touchscreen, but it would be really useful if those links were available for people who do have a touchscreen. The standard study version doesn't work at all with a touchscreen.

(Of course "Android version" is a bit of a misnomer now that Android doesn't support Flash. I guess "touch-Flash version" is more accurate.)

woops, sometimes those "android=true" links don't work. It's like Skritter ignores the parameters, since the versions with or without resolution_width display the same. It stopped working for me while using Chrome, so I tried with IE and Firefox, and they worked fine, for a while, then also stopped working for touch. It would be nice if this was more reliable, 'cause I was enjoying using the old web version with touch.

It's hard to keep supporting those, because in order to do so, we have to keep a really old version of the Flash compiler working on the computer of whoever is deploying to production. Is there something in the Flash version you want that you don't get with the touch-friendly HTML5 / Android version?

I guess what I miss most in mobile versions is example sentences (on Android) and drilling down (or up) on character components for the item or any other word.

Also, sometimes the Windows device is the only one on hand, or I prefer to use the larger screen.

Anyway, I can understand not wanting to do much more Flash development! But this particular problem seems to be a web bug, because at some point those URL parameters stop getting taken into account, even for the HTML layout: the display doesn't get narrower with just android=true.

Today, it's working fine again for me, and it's great.

Also, I say this not just for me. With touchscreens and Windows 8 becoming more prevalent, I imagine you will have more and more people expecting Skritter to work with a touchscreen on Windows. And the web version does work, no extra work required for you! Except for this occasional transient bug.

My impression is that touch-based Windows is becoming a pretty OK platform, much to my surprise. This compromise-from-hell of a traditional OS and touch-based UI might just work, if there are a lot of people like me, who like the UI advances of iOS and Android, but get frustrated with having to give up on "real computer" features like true multi-tasking, ie, not having things like browser tabs or apps just _go away_ when you do something else :D

Kai, try putting http://www.skritter.com/study/all?android=true&resolution_width=1024 as your start page for internet explorer 11, and use chrome or something else for other internet use. I'm at close to 100% success this way. The flash version worked fine with IE 10 (i.e. Windows 8), but no way to downgrade IE version it seems, as is now a windows component.

Nick, I agree with Kai. It may be that don't have many new users of flash version on windows 8.1 touchscreens as it doesn't work easily. I've tried the html5 version, and use the ios version on planes, neither is as useful to me as the flash version (although the html5 version has improved tremendously since the first version, well done!). Two biggest advantages of flash version are being able to see all the information to the left of the writing box without pressing any further buttons, and the ability to click on the lookup or components etc. and drill down/up and through to other related or unrelated words (i.e. the access to the full online abilities), plus keyboard shortcuts. Skritter's best feature from my perspective is list management and linking through characters/word to other characters/words - that's primarily why I moved from anki.

Is there a way to solve the difficulty of seeing the pinyin and translation of the example sentences on the flash version for touchscreen users? Currently it works by hover, which doesn't work when have no mouse. Possible solutions could be (a) first touch on sentence shows pinyin/translation (and stays there), double tap to open word are above (one touch does this now), (b) a new "show" button next to the current "change" button, (c) simply show the pinyin and translation when answer is shown (same as automatically shows mnenomic etc.). Basically any way at all the works, easiest way now is press "change" but is a lag as it collects other sentences, whereas the hover is instant so already is loaded for that sentence. I sometimes use flash version with keyboard, and I think a keyboard shortkey for "show" and/or "change" would be great too for non-touchscreen users, its one of the only times I have to reach for the mouse.

Anyway, hope that there remains a way to use flash version with windows going forward, I don't mind fiddling a bit so long as works.

@ricksh yeah thanks that link is what I use, though sometimes I use Windows in portrait mode, so the version without the width parameter works well then.

Really I ought to make a video, it's super to use Skritter with a touchscreen.

And yeah, I also have a little trouble with the hover for example sentences in touch mode. It's a bit finicky, but I sort of manage by long-pressing, as you mentioned in a previous post I think. It's not a huge problem for me.

A slightly bigger problem for me is that the web version is pretty slow when you click on anything to drill down or change, as you noted. But the information is good, so it can be worth waiting for!

I've got two win8.1 touchscreens, can see sentences with hover with one (with stylus fine, with finger obscures a bit), but not with other - seems different touchscreens operate slightly different (manufacturer software? pressure points?). As to lag, it takes 3-10 seconds to open character/word info box, 5-20 seconds to open example sentence "change" box, although am in china so not sure how much that is a skritter thing.

Hope can get some solution on example sentences, imagine speed a little more difficult (at least if are in china).

Here are two bookmarklets I use to go from a normal Skritter study web page (Flash) to one that is touch-enabled:

SkritterTouch:

javascript:void(location.href=location.href+"&android=true")

SkritterTouchWide:

javascript:void(location.href=location.href+"&android=true&resolution_width=1024")

These can also be used when studying a specific list.

How to install a bookmarklet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmarklet#Installation

I just ran across a mention by Nick of a way to set the "Android mode" in a more permanent way in the settings:

"There's now a setting in your study settings (the gear on the study page) which you can use to set the Android mode for your account, instead of having to add ?android=true everywhere."

That's nice, but the settings are still missing the equivalent of the "resolution_width=1024" parameter.

I like the wider version when in landscape mode, because it displays more information as I go along, which can save me some extra tapping if I need it.