Ready Russian: Detailed Site Change Log

Changes Released 19 February 2022

Usage 9—Translating “Encourage”: Summarized the three Russian concepts as "cheer", "urge", and "promote"; simplification of wording; underlined 'encourage' word in each example
Russian Synodal Bible with Audio: Fixed bug which caused a page flip when the user attempted to select text with the mouse
Grammar 5—Russian Case Charts: Corrected instrumental singular of "дочь" from "дочери" to "дочерью"; Corrected order of prepositional, dative, and instrumental in н-declension table

Changes Released 24 February 2021

Removed border from favicon, extended background out to edge
Recommended Books and Websites:
- Updated link to 501 Russian Verbs to point to current edition on Amazon.com
- Added links to Tech For Teaching and Russian Language List
Usage 7—False Friends: rewrote first two paragraphs to improve clarity and reduce wordiness
Grammar 7—Model Sentences: corrected "сёстер" to "сестёр".
Grammar 12—Declension of Names: rewrote and expanded introduction
Grammar 16—Который: fixed grammatical disagreements in the examples
Video—An Introduction to the Russian Cinema: re-encoded videos and provided adaptable bitrate versions
App Mode version 1.10: behavior of the main menu when dragged in and out has been improved. It now no longer jumps in and out when dragged but instead smoothly follows the movements of one's finger.

Changes Released 10 May 2020

Recommended Books and Websites: removed link to JW Bible 2 since the site is gone.
Youtube Videos for Learning Russian: added two new categories: Advice and Music
Video—Cartoons on Youtube: added two Winnie-the-Pooh cartoons
Reading 4—Спасибо, Иегова: fixed broken links
Reading 5—Пожарные собаки: fixed typos, improved glossary, removed duplicate title, added link in See Also box to Tolstoy's reader from which the story is drawn, added some secondary links in the document metadata: to articles mentioning London fire dogs named Bob and to an illustration of Bob, the mother, and the little girl from a children's book
Reading 7—Удивительные дела Бога: Fixed broken links, expanded introduction, added vocabulary
Reading 8—Послушание приносит благословения: fixed broken links, rewrote introduction, moved vocabulary to bottom and chorus to right
Reading 9—Жизнь—чудесный дар: fixed broken links, rewrote introduction, moved vocabulary to bottom and chorus to right

Changes Released 11 October 2019

The Russian Language FAQ page, which was formerly contained only a single link to an article about a single question now has four questions with short answers and links to articles with further information.
Improved the illustrations in the article How to Say "ready" in Russian.
Added new FAQ article How to Greet Someone in Russian
Added Share on Linked In as an option when you share an article by pulling down the right hand menu in App Mode and choosing Share This Page.

Changes Released 13 September 2019

Vocabulary 6—Comprehensive List of Theocratic Terms: Added "Kingdom Hall Assistance Arrangement".
Usage 7—False Friends: Added "confetti".
Video—Alphabet on Youtube: new video about И and Ы to replace one which is no longer online
Video—Numbers on Youtube: new video for counting from 100 to 1000 by hundreds to replace one which is no longer online
Recommended Books and Websites: Dropped linked to JW Bible 2 on Google Play since it is no longer there.
Removed Google+ from the list of options for sharing pages since Google has shut it down.

Changes Released 24 March 2019

App Mode (now in version 1.09):
- Slide viewer is no longer partially visible at top as menu bar fades in and out. We now hide it using "display: none" rather than "z-index: -1".
- Fixed the offline fallback page. The text now refers to the offline cache and the passive voice is used to to suggest that the requested page may be loaded as soon as the device is connected to the Internet. The "online" event handler is now attached to the window object rather than to the document object. Though both may work, attaching to the window object appears to be the more accepted practice.
Grammar 25—Russian Synodal Bible Added discussion of the rendering of the tetragrammaton.
Reading 3—Я иду на работу: Fixed broken reference, added missing word, clarified "References" to "References in Text".

Changes Released 21 December 2018

App Mode (now in version 1.08):
- Fixed broken link to Subject Index.
- Increased size of controls in the site search box.
- Fixed switch to App Mode from index.html#sec_footer (which has no analog in App Mode)
- Added 250ms fade-in to submenus
Improvements for visitors without Javascript:
- Setting of <base target="iframe"> is now done from Javascript. This way clicking on these links now leads out of App Mode
- Introduction to this Site: changed hrefs of links to videos to point to the standalone pages for each video rather than to "#". This is so that a user without Javascript will at least see the player rather than clicking on the link and having it do nothing at all.
- Added to the main flat index a <noscript> element containing a note that the Learning Web Apps require Javascript.
- Music 1—Ямщик, не гони лошадей, Music 2—Очи чёрные: fixed so that the song title is no longer hidden under the player if Javascript is disabled
Updated link to JW Bible 2 App on Recommended Books and Websites

Changes Released up to 31 March 2018

Tables too wide to fit on narrow screens can now be scrolled horizontally independently of the page.
Youtube Videos for Learning Russian: running time shown at bottom left corner of each thumbnail
App Mode version 1.07: links to parts of the main menu now go to the proper part of the respective version of the menu in both simple mode and app mode
ReadyRussian.org Contact Card: added radio buttons two select the four different versions; added link to the PDF version.
Social media image of the homepage now reflects the current version of the Contact Card. This means there is less empty white space around the edges. We'll see whether this causes a problem when social media platforms crop it.
Alphabet 3—Russian Cursive: cursive letter images can now be zoomed by clicking on them

Changes Released During Week Ending 3 March 2018

Grammar 5—Russian Case Charts: added clarification to "masculine" column for adjectives
Grammar 16—Который: Added declension table, increased spacing which had been made too tight in order to get the article to fit on a single page
Blurbs and meta description on language generators rewritten to include the phrase "Russian universal language generator" wherever possible. This should help people to find them using search engines.
HTTPS is now always used, not just in App Mode.
HTTP redirects to https://www.readyrussian.org are now permanent (301) redirects
Added lang=en tags since otherwise search engines could mistake the Russian lessons for Russian documents
Removed robots-no-index since Google has already indexed it and it looks good in the results. Added appropriate description.
App Mode version 1.06 with fix for iOS Safari. The buttons were not responding because there was an invisible <div> (the slide viewer) over them.

Changes Released 24 February 2018

Replace homepage blurb with one which better reflects the special nature of the materials on this site and gives a better explanation of who might get the best use of out them.
Replaced meta description of homepage with one which includes a call to action.
Dialog 1—Basic Presentation: rewrote blurb to state specifically that the visitor in the dialog is one of Jehovah's Witnesses
Replaced illustration of a skirt for vocabulary with a better drawing
Renamed /website/ directory to the more sensible /start/
App Mode version 1.05 to accomodate renaming

Changes Released 17 February 2018

Reading 12—Репка: added slides
Language Generator 6—Видеть (To See): added See Also box, rewrote blurb, write English translations for aspectual and tense forms offered
Restored Workbook Lesson 2A—Review of Basic Grammar which at some point had been overwritten by Workbook Lesson 2B—Language Generator 1 Practice which had also been erroneously made lesson 2A
Vocabulary 13—Prepositions: corrected some typos, examples, sorted in alphabetical order
Workbook Lesson 8B—Good News, Bad News: reformatted
App Mode version 1.04 fixes the back button in slide mode
Completed reconciliation of linked text with the titles of the target documents

Changes Released 3 February 2018

Dialog 1—Basic Presentation: redrew the Dialog 1—Basic Presentation Slide in SVG (previously its was an ODT file) and linked to it from the See Also box
Grammar 5—Russian Case Charts: improved formatting, reduced number of tables which do not fit on small screens, renamed from simply "Case Charts" to "Russian Case Charts"
Grammar 9—Motion and Location: Added See Also box, links to Language Generator 8 and video, added illustration inline and as a slide in 4x3 and 16x9 aspect ratio versions, removed Google Plus buttons, added social media image
Grammar 19—Imperfective, Perfective, and Future Tense: reworded explanation of the earthquake example, added See Also box, added slide of pre-existing illustration
Grammar 23—Bible Citations: moved links into a See Also box
Language Generator 8—Motion and Location: moved links into a See Also box
TPR 1: added slide
Vocabulary 17—Garden and Orchard: added blurb, social media image
Vocabulary 16—Fishing: added social media image
The "Share this Page" option in the Aux Menu now uses the Web Share API if it is available
Wrote blurbs for the Audio Files and Video Files download pages
Added a Slides download page
Did a mass replacement of typewriter em dashes (--) with Unicode em dashes (—)
Started reconciling linked text with the titles of the target documents
App Mode version 1.02

Changes Released 20 January 2018

Added section "Site News" as a space to announce noteworthy changes which regular visitors may want to check out
Renamed "What has Changed on this Site" to "Detailed Site Change Log" in order to distinguish it from Site News. Unlike "Site News" this log will continue to describe incremental improvements such as the fixing of errors, addition of words to vocabulary lists, and the additional or replacement of illustrations.
New item: Grammar 25—Russian Synodal Bible
New item: Reading 12—Репка
Fixed popup video player which was failing whenever it selected the DASH or HLS player backend. This problem was introduced in the January 6th release.
Grammar 9—Motion and Location: improved the literalness of the translations of the example phrases
Grammar 14—Counting Things: reworded discussion of counting phrases in other cases

Changes Released 13 January 2018

Reading 4—Спасибо, Иегова: Replaced play buttons with See Also box, added blurb, vocabulary, note at bottom about how the lyrics in the new songbook are sligtly different
Reading 7—Удивительные дела Бога Replaced play buttons with See Also box, added blurb, vocabulary, changed title to conform to new songbook
Reading 8—Послушание приносит благословения: Replaced play buttons with See Also box, added blurb, vocabulary
Reading 9—Жизнь—чудесный дар: Replaced play buttons with See Also box, rewrote blurb
Reading 11—Verses for Field Service: Added blurb and See Also
Language Generator 1—У кого есть, у кого нет (Who Has, Who Does Not Have): moved links into See Also box, added link to video Video—What is a Language Generator, dropped "друг" to make space, tightened up blurb, add proper English translation to examples, added illustration of "У меня есть карандаш."

Changes Released 6 January 2018

Added See Also boxes to numerous handouts. In many cases the links in these boxes replaced embedded play buttons. The See Also box provides a neater and more consistent way to direct the student to related material.
Reading 5—Пожарные собаки: Replaced illustration
Vocabulary 6A—Essential Theocratic Terms: Dropped "Christian Life and Ministry Meeting", added "Good News From God!"
New item: Vocabulary 6B—More Theocratic Terms

Changes Released 16 December 2017

HTTPS is now used in App Mode.
Vocabulary 6—Comprehensive List of Theocratic Terms: added "territory" and related terms
Renamed Grammar 6—Case Charts Simplified to Grammar 6—Abbreviated Case Charts because usage statistics suggest that visitors mistakenly thought that they should start with the "Simplified" charts.

Reorganized the phrasebooks and created a new category called "Usage Advice" into which a number of articles were moved from other cateogries where they fit poorly. This reorganization necessitated the renaming of articles as follows:

Old Name	New Name
Phrasebook 1—Group Bible Study	Phrasebook 7--Group Bible Study
Phrasebook 2—Field Service	Phrasebook 1--Door-to-Door Ministry Phrasebook 3—Deeper Bible Discussion
Phrasebook 3—Questions for Conversation	Phrasebook 8--Getting to Know People
Phrasebook 4—Prayer	Phrasebook 6--Public Prayer
Phrasebook 5—Basic Bible Study	Phrasebook 2--Home Bible Study
Phrasebook 6—Shackles of English	Usage 2--Shackles of English
Vocabulary 7—Words Easily Confused	Usage 4--Translating the Word "People" Usage 5—Translating the Word "Ask"
Vocabulary 25—Things in Your Bookbag	Vocabulary 7--Things in Your Bookbag
Grammar 3—Ты verses Вы	Usage 1--Ты verses Вы
Grammar 4—Verb Conjugation	Grammar 8--Verb Conjugation
Grammar 7—Thinking in English	Grammar 3--Thinking in English
Grammar 8—Odd English	Grammar 4--Odd English
Grammar 11—Declension of Names	Grammar 12--Declension of Names
Grammar 12—Translating the Preposition "For"	Usage 3--Translating the Word "For"
Grammar 22—Nationality and Citizenship	Usage 6--Nationality and Citizenship
Grammar 25—Model Sentences	Grammar 25--Model Sentences
Grammar 26—Asking Questions	Grammar 11--Asking Questions

Added new phrasesbooks:
Added new dialog: Dialog 9—В ресторане

Changes Released 2 December 2017

In App Mode the navigation bar at the top now hides itself when you scroll up in the displayed document.
New item: Russian Vocabulary Drill Game: Read words as they fly by and click on the correct picture
New item: Russian Synodal Bible with Audio: Synodal translation of the Bible with audio recording of a professional reader
New item: Russian Stress Finder: Enter Russian text or paste it from another document and press the button. The text will be analysed and most of the accent marks added.
Added a few items to Vocabulary 6—Comprehensive List of Theocratic Terms
Added links to further information to the Course—Teaching Methods Used
Grammar 1—Review of Basic Grammar: Added a sentence diagram to the second part
Grammar 2—Introduction to Inflection and Grammatical Case: Rewrote part about why it is important to start learning cases right away
Added Goethe Verlag Starnberg to recommended websites
Dropped the e-book version of this website since it was out-of-date and has not even been linked from the index in a long time
Dropped support for the Offline Cache for now. It used AppCache which is considered a failed standard. It was only moderately useful since it would not cache sound or video files. It also required a lot of maintainance and testing. Effort will be better spent on a new offline cached based on the new Service Workers standard.

Changes Released 19 March 2017

While quizzes were renumbered in the 13 December release, the numbers were changed only in the sample outline, file names, and main index. The numbers at the top of each quiz were not changed. This has been corrected.
Dropped the category "Recommended Youtube Channels" from Recommended Books and Websites since we now recommend videos from these channels in the Youtube player and the channels themselves can be reached from our Youtube player in two clicks.
Grammar 2—Introduction to Inflection and Grammatical Case: reworded statements about the overwhelming power of case
New video: Video—What is a Language Generator
Introduction to this Site: added links to Alphabet, Finger-Guided Reading, and Language generator videos

Changes Released 5 March 2017

Workbook Lesson 0A—Cognates Exercise: Still had the old name "Alphabet 3—Cognates Exercise" at the top. Replaced it with correct workbook page heading.
Alphabet 5—Spelling of Biblical Names Corrected rules for "Matthew" and "Thomas"
Alphabet 1—Instructions for Learning the Russian Alphabet added link to new video entitled "Learning the Russian Alphabet", changed QR code to point directly to handout, simplified wording of much of the text

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