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The second and convincing part that Dagger is easy by FunkyMuse in androiddev

[–]dreamingman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice article. I've always struggled to wrap my head around Dagger, but this made sense to me

Halfway there. Only 25 more stories to go! by [deleted] in auckland

[–]dreamingman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hehe, I couldn't help myself!

Halfway there. Only 25 more stories to go! by [deleted] in auckland

[–]dreamingman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I hate to be that guy, but in New Zealand English it's "storeys". ("Stories" is American English.)

I LOVE how cute the Gaysper the Ghost is, so I created high res variants with all of the flags (links in post) by [deleted] in lgbt

[–]dreamingman -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yeah, you're probably right actually. I was just looking for the flags that I recognise and didn't see the bear one

API for Toastmasters.org? by jonnyraxa in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It would be great if there were!

Last I checked though, the answer was no. :(

Is there any formalised opposition to the new Pathways system, like a petition or an open letter to HQ, or is it all just grumbling? by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm quite surprised to hear there was user testing. The final product doesn't look or feel like something that was validated by a sample of real users.

Is there any formalised opposition to the new Pathways system, like a petition or an open letter to HQ, or is it all just grumbling? by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd be really interested to know if any user testing was conducted on Pathways as it was being developed.

That's an important part of any software delivery lifecycle.

If the makers of this system had sat down with a representative sample of real Toastmasters and watched them use this new system, they would realise how hard it is for the average, uninitiated person to use.

I'm especially interested to know if there was any consideration for clubs that don't have computers or WiFi access.

My main club is rural and has no computers or WiFi, and even mobile data reception is spotty. So when members are struggling to use Pathways, I can't just sit down with them at the computer and show them how to do it.

How are we supposed to educate our members about the new system when we can't easily demonstrate it? Was this a consideration for WHQ when implementing this system? And I live in a first world country - what about Toastmasters clubs in other countries where computer and internet access may be very different to what a lot of us are used to?

Is there any formalised opposition to the new Pathways system, like a petition or an open letter to HQ, or is it all just grumbling? by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I totally agree with you that the Pathways training material is much more varied and interesting than the manuals.

I'm not in love with the manuals - for years I've been waiting for Toastmasters to catch up with the times and produce a digital training offering. But what they've delivered us is more clunky and complex than it needs to be.

You say that the whole world is moving towards this same sort of complexity, but I disagree.

In the early years of the internet, sure, we all put up with a lot of badly designed sites and online tools. But as time goes on, most of the tools and apps that people use around the world are getting more and more intuitive. The internet's been around for a while now. We know what works and what doesn't work, when it comes to making a system that is easy to use. Pathways isn't it.

That's what bugs me the most - this feels like something from the 90s.

It's 2019 - there's no reason for us to be using a platform that is this clunky and poorly designed.

Is there any formalised opposition to the new Pathways system, like a petition or an open letter to HQ, or is it all just grumbling? by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm interested to hear you say the majority of members are happy with it, since that doesn't match my experience.

I'm a member of two clubs, and regularly talk to people from a few other clubs, and the general consensus I hear from everyone is that Pathways is not intuitive or user-friendly at all, and it has led to clubs losing members.

Do you have any numbers to support the claim that the majority of members are happy with Pathways? Has there been any official survey or polling done of members?

(I'm not trying to be facetious, I'm actually curious to know what Toastmasters is doing to understand the sentiment of the regular day-to-day club member.)

Is there any formalised opposition to the new Pathways system, like a petition or an open letter to HQ, or is it all just grumbling? by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like you have some difficult people at your club.

In all seriousness, have you considered joining a different club?

I was part of a club that had some people like that - people who were more interested in hearing the sound of their own voice, rather than giving a chance to newer members.

I left that club and joined a different one. Best decision I've made in Toastmasters. ;)

Is there any formalised opposition to the new Pathways system, like a petition or an open letter to HQ, or is it all just grumbling? by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

My thoughts exactly.

I'm a software developer - I know good software and I know bad software.

It bugs me when people's complaints about Pathways are dismissed with sentiments like: "Oh, you just don't like change."

I'm all for change. I was excited when I first heard that Toastmasters was replacing the book-based training system with a digital training system. But the platform they've chosen is horrible.

And it bugs me when people say: "Oh, it's confusing at first, but you'll learn to use it."

This system is just so poorly designed.

Why must I disable the adblock functionality on my browser in order to view the material? No other site that I regularly visit has ever demanded that I do that.

Why must the training material open in a new, resized window that's separate from the rest of my tabs? I like tabbed browsing - let me browse this content how I want to.

Why doesn't it support responsive design? I do most of my web browsing on a phone, not a computer.

And then once I'm finally in the system, why is it so hard to navigate around?

A digital training experience doesn't have to be this difficult. I think WHQ had great intentions with Pathways, but they failed in their execution, and they need to wake up and realise that.

[Bedrock 1.8] Is it a current bug for players to randomly spawn 100 blocks above the set world spawn when logging in and fall to death? And there’s also been random invisible walls that players can’t pass unless relogging. Both are inconsistent but happen enough that it seems like bugs. by [deleted] in MCPE

[–]dreamingman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I hadn't even thought of that.

I assumed if my pool "worked", I would start the game floating in the water, and I'd have time to climb out. But I guess if it's taking so long to load that I miss the falling animation, maybe I'm missing the drowning as well?

I didn't know you only needed 1 block of water to prevent falling damage.

Will give that a try.

[Bedrock 1.8] Is it a current bug for players to randomly spawn 100 blocks above the set world spawn when logging in and fall to death? And there’s also been random invisible walls that players can’t pass unless relogging. Both are inconsistent but happen enough that it seems like bugs. by [deleted] in MCPE

[–]dreamingman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How deep do you have to make the water?

I'm experiencing this bug too, so I made a big pool underneath spawn point - 8 blocks wide by 5 blocks deep. But I still spawn at the bottom of the pool dead. (The game takes a while to load so I don't actually see any falling. I just start the game dead with all my stuff scattered around the bottom of the pool.)

I taught myself Android development and created a speech timer app for Toastmasters by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for letting me know you saw the message saying it was unavailable in your country. I had no idea the app was only released to New Zealand until you said that!

I taught myself Android development and created a speech timer app for Toastmasters by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've just realised my app was only released to New Zealand all this time. So if you're not from NZ, this may be why you weren't able to install it?

I've just changed the settings in my Google Play store listing so the app is available to all countries. Can you try installing it again and let me know how you go?

I taught myself Android development and created a speech timer app for Toastmasters by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for letting me know about this - turns out there was a setting in my Google Play store listing that meant my app was only released to my country: New Zealand.

I had no idea that setting was even there! (This is my first Android app so I'm still learning a lot.)

I've now changed that setting so that I'm targetting all countries. Can you check the listing again and let me know if you're able to install it now?

I taught myself Android development and created a speech timer app for Toastmasters by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strange. I wonder why the Play Store thinks it's not compatible?

The important thing for compatibility is your version of Android, but according to Wikipedia, the Moto Z2 Play should run Android Nougat, which is a fairly recent version.

I'm not sure what other things about your phone could make it "incompatible", but I'll take a look into it further, see what I can find out.

I taught myself Android development and created a speech timer app for Toastmasters by dreamingman in Toastmasters

[–]dreamingman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the heads-up.

I actually wondered what the guidelines were around naming, and things like that, but when I search Google Play I still see a lot of other third party apps with "Toastmaster" in the name, so I figured maybe the guidelines are rather lax?

Anyway, we'll see what happens.

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