Good Alternatives to Anki? - Printable Version

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Printable Version

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Pages: 1 2

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Isbilenper - 2013-02-01

SomeCallMeChris Wrote:Anyway.
Hyperborea didn't address this, but, the point is that you can only have -one- Note Type that the Japanese plugin recognizes, which must be called Japanese.

Sorry, but this just doesn't seem right. You can name your note types Japanese_xxx and it will work with the Japanese plug-in. I currently have two different note types, Japanese_Kanji and Japanese_JEVocab that both work fine with the Japanese plug-in. Sure, I did have to rename them both from "Japanese" as they were both called back in Anki 1, but it didn't take me much more than a minute.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - oefirouz - 2013-02-01

SendaiDan Wrote:I held out until yesterday to upgrade but had to because I wanted to be able to sync to my phone. It took me a good couples of hours to work everything out and get the format of my cards working correctly. I definitely agree with others that I liked the old UI much better. I just feel it was more used friendly - or maybe that's because I've been using that interface for the last 3 years or so. Kinda like going from iTunes 10 to iTunes 11 (eugh - just reinforced how much I hate iTunes /offtopic)

I thought Anki 2 was a big improvement generally. I know the feeling you experienced, and at least for myself, it was because I had gotten used to Anki 1.

There are still some UI problems, everything could be a little more streamlined, but Damien's working on it alone, and for free. So for that, it's great.

For people who want something a little easier to use, Mnemosyne is a great alternative, but I get the feeling it lacks some of the power user tools that Anki has.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Inny Jan - 2013-02-01

I don't get why people are saying that they have to switch to Anki2 to be able to synch. Is it really that hard to:

Code:

xcopy F:\AnkiDroid\Core2000.anki C:

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Zlarp - 2013-02-01

Inny Jan Wrote:I don't get why people are saying that they have to switch to Anki2 to be able to synch. Is it really that hard to:

Code:

xcopy F:\AnkiDroid\Core2000.anki C:
?

Believe it or now, but, yes. This is not a natural thing to understand for your average user, even if it seems simple.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - PotbellyPig - 2013-02-01

As someone with both an Android tablet and an iPad, the differences between the anki versions are like night and day. The iPad version runs great and I haven't found any bugs. The ankidroid version's first release is so full of bugs that, for me, it's unusable. I have to note,however, that the iOS version is a relatively expensive app which probably has a good amount of resources dedicated to it because of that fact. Ankidroid is free and I believe an open source project. I see that the developers have added about 14 beta versions of ankidroid 2.0.1 so I hope the release version will come soon and be usable.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - ryuudou - 2013-02-01

PotbellyPig Wrote:As someone with both an Android tablet and an iPad, the differences between the anki versions are like night and day. The iPad version runs great and I haven't found any bugs. The ankidroid version's first release is so full of bugs that, for me, it's unusable. I have to note,however, that the iOS version is a relatively expensive app which probably has a good amount of resources dedicated to it because of that fact. Ankidroid is free and I believe an open source project. I see that the developers have added about 14 beta versions of ankidroid 2.0.1 so I hope the release version will come soon and be usable.

2.0.1 is very solid for me so far. Everything is fast, beautiful, and all of the features and customization is there.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - gombost - 2013-02-01

There is a software similar to Anki and SuperMemo called Mnemosyne. I have never used it though.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - ryuudou - 2013-02-01

Hyperborea Wrote:
Inny Jan Wrote:I don't get why people are saying that they have to switch to Anki2 to be able to synch. Is it really that hard to:

Code:

xcopy F:\AnkiDroid\Core2000.anki C:
?
I find no man entry for xcopy. Oh wait, that's a Windows command. I certainly hope that you weren't seriously trying to pretend to be über-geeky about "why do products needs to be user friendly" while putting forward a Windows command. Epic fail.

The lack of realization that products should be built for users to assist them in their task and not to give them a new hobby in figuring out the program would cause me to reject even an intern candidate.

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/34211154.jpg

Please edit your post. It's embarrassing.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - awaken - 2013-02-01

ryuudou Wrote:
Hyperborea Wrote:
Inny Jan Wrote:I don't get why people are saying that they have to switch to Anki2 to be able to synch. Is it really that hard to:

Code:

xcopy F:\AnkiDroid\Core2000.anki C:
?
I find no man entry for xcopy. Oh wait, that's a Windows command. I certainly hope that you weren't seriously trying to pretend to be über-geeky about "why do products needs to be user friendly" while putting forward a Windows command. Epic fail.

The lack of realization that products should be built for users to assist them in their task and not to give them a new hobby in figuring out the program would cause me to reject even an intern candidate.

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/34211154.jpg
Please edit your post. It's embarrassing.

Yeah... And what a great way to fail at life is to make fun of people who supposedly want to pretend to be "über-geeky" and then use a piece of shit like memegenerator.net.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Inny Jan - 2013-02-01

Yes, cp would work to but given that my comp has Windoze only it's not an option for me (and for other people FTM). You could also use mouse, you know - like click on the your dear Core2000.anki and drag it to your mobile device.

Why do you need synching through Anki server again?

Good Alternatives to Anki? - vix86 - 2013-02-02

Hyperborea Wrote:The conversion from the Anki 1 decks gave everything that used the old plugin the note type named "Japanese". I ended up with about a half dozen note types all named "Japanese". During conversion it should have done something smarter like named them Japanese_NameOfOldDeck.

So effectively the thing that traumatized you about Anki 2 was the fact that there was a bug in the import process and you've gotten your panties in a bunch over all of Anki 2 as a result. Ok.

Quote:Oh, that's "obvious" - lol. You pick the "Add" operation.

Just as obvious as Shutting down by clicking Start.
Just as obvious as Getting into preferences by going to Tools, or in some cases Edit.
Just as obvious as Getting updates or adding plugins by going to Help.
Just as obvious as ...
Its pretty common for stuff to be illogically placed in software. Once you find it its never an issue again unless they change the UI around. And this will continue to be the case up until we can talk to our computers and tell them what we want them to do with spoken language. You can't put every action you want to do in a program all on the main screen. Building a user interface that's both intuitive and user-friendly is not easy and the only reason why Apple has done it so well is a combination of very bright people and lots of market testing. Many things which a free piece of software has no access to.

I'll sympathize with you though; bugs in software for setting up or porting something over to another piece of software are very annoying. But its a process thats not in the LEAST bit easy for the developer who, in this case, is trying to port decks to an entirely new database model (I'm not speaking about just unifying the decks, the way the data is stored and presented in the deck, changed completely as well in order to shrink the size).

Inny Jan Wrote:Why do you need synching through Anki server again?

Because its convenient, especially when you consider the fact that people are going on about how you have to have a degree in Engineering or Comp Sci to able to even use the new Anki 2. Which by that degree, using a script to copy a deck from Windows to devices would require you have a Ph.D in Comp Sci, something that no one can do.

But seriously, joking aside, its all about convenience. To use the copy method you would have to plug your phone/devices into the computer to do that and run the script (assuming you don't have some sort of autorun script configured). You'd need an even more elaborate script if you want to use wifi at your house. Plus you also need to be careful that you are copying the correct file, other wise you might be overwriting a newer file (assuming you aren't checking modify dates).

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Isbilenper - 2013-02-02

Hyperborea Wrote:
Isbilenper Wrote:
SomeCallMeChris Wrote:Anyway.
Hyperborea didn't address this, but, the point is that you can only have -one- Note Type that the Japanese plugin recognizes, which must be called Japanese.
Sorry, but this just doesn't seem right. You can name your note types Japanese_xxx and it will work with the Japanese plug-in. I currently have two different note types, Japanese_Kanji and Japanese_JEVocab that both work fine with the Japanese plug-in. Sure, I did have to rename them both from "Japanese" as they were both called back in Anki 1, but it didn't take me much more than a minute.
Huge wall of text.

I'm not quite sure what your point is. I am by no means a tech-savvy person, yet I figured this out by myself with a bit of googling within five minutes. You could just look at the number of cards within your old decks and the number of a given Japanese note type to identify which of them is which, and rename them yourself.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - sherlock - 2013-04-05

Daichi Wrote:Agreed, the Anki 2 UI is pretty much shit, but you get used to it. Most of the old functionality still exists, it's just a matter of finding it.

I have to agree with this. When I upgraded, I was kind a lost at how the new UI looked. I was used to the first Anki and when I opened Anki 2, I seriously didn't know what to do. I couldn't even find my own decks. So it took me a few hours to get the feel of Anki 2, and a few more days to get my studying up to speed.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - mochiusagi - 2014-09-21

Has anyone used Cooori before? it's quite similar to Anki. I found a write up on it comparing the two. http://cooori.com/weblog/enjp/2014/07/10/arnars-perspective-thoughts-about-anki-language-learning/

Good Alternatives to Anki? - sunehiro - 2014-09-21

Is it possible to switch Anki -> Coori without losing data?

I think that could make the difference.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - aldebrn - 2014-09-21

mochiusagi Wrote:Has anyone used Cooori before? it's quite similar to Anki. I found a write up on it comparing the two. http://cooori.com/weblog/enjp/2014/07/10/arnars-perspective-thoughts-about-anki-language-learning/

I laughed when I saw the graphs showing that people preferred it over Anki. Any site with a modern web design aesthetic will be far more attractive to beginners than Anki with its 1990s-era interface. It's not until you start wanting to customize your cards/notes and add personalized multimedia that you begin respecting Anki's flexibility and accept its nightmarish UX experience. And while I do think there's a space for an Anki-replacement that first and foremost targets web+mobile without sacrificing general-purpose flexibility, I think building custom services targeting specific learning goals and communities is also a really great idea, so I will definitely check it out.

The only question I have is why they mention JLPT levels when starting at the second level if course contents can be customized inside, especially only N5 or N4 which seem to be completely asinine exams.

But, gross: triple-O in the site name.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - aldebrn - 2014-09-21

sunehiro Wrote:Is it possible to switch Anki -> Coori without losing data?

I think that could make the difference.

I've spent some time understanding Anki's databases for review logs as well as notes/cards, but since there are potentially an infinite number of Anki decks, and that Cooori probably uses a totally new "deck", and finally that Cooori seems to be a fundamentally different kind of system, I think it's unlikely to have any Anki interoperability.

Honestly, Cooori reminds me more of MangoLanguages.com than Anki: it just tried to teach me "Japan", "earthquake" and "Saturday", and feels like it's trying to give me conversational vocabulary.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - vix86 - 2014-09-21

Cooori is just iKnow.jp 2.0.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Kuzunoha13 - 2014-09-22

Cooori looks kind of interesting, but I'm way too invested in Anki to start switching.
Also, on the linked page he says:
"Anki’s greatest strength, flexibility, is also its weakness as a language learning tool. That flexibility means that it is difficult to adapt to the specialized needs of language learners."
Sounds kinda like he's contradicting himself? Tongue

Good Alternatives to Anki? - Inny Jan - 2014-09-22

Kuzunoha13 Wrote:"Anki’s greatest strength, flexibility, is also its weakness as a language learning tool. That flexibility means that it is difficult to adapt to the specialized needs of language learners."

My specialized needs as a Japanese language learner were (to name a few):
- display kanji stroke diagrams using data from KanjiVG despite my phone not being able to handle SVG
- annotate "reading" field with the pitch accent
- link RtK notes to my vocab deck so I could have an example usage of kanji on my RtK cards

To solve the first one I munged the original SVG files to JS and customized cards so my phone would display the strokes in <canvas />.

For the second one I get and parse pages from http://www.weblio.jp and change, for example: くるま　to くるま

The third one is to have cards in my RtK deck that do, for example:
Q: graduate そつぎょうせい
A: 卒【卒業生】

... "difficult to adapt to the specialized needs of language learners."? This must be a joke of some sort.

Good Alternatives to Anki? - mochiusagi - 2014-09-24

vix86 Wrote:Cooori is just iKnow.jp 2.0.

Do you mean that Cooori is better than iKnow?

Good Alternatives to Anki? - RawToast - 2014-09-24

Kuzunoha13 Wrote:Cooori looks kind of interesting, but I'm way too invested in Anki to start switching.
Also, on the linked page he says:
"Anki’s greatest strength, flexibility, is also its weakness as a language learning tool. That flexibility means that it is difficult to adapt to the specialized needs of language learners."
Sounds kinda like he's contradicting himself?

It's just worded badly. Either you write software to do one thing well or you make it flexible so that the user has to tailor it to their needs. The weakness of Anki is you have to tailor it yourself (less so now that many plug-ins and decks exist).

Good Alternatives to Anki? - vix86 - 2014-09-24

mochiusagi Wrote:Do you mean that Cooori is better than iKnow?

I've never used both but they are both packaged studying systems with their own decks that you pay to use. I doubt one is better than the other honestly.