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Yet Another SRS App - ali.najaf - 2010-08-08

Hi guys,

I've been working on this for a while and I thought it might be of interest:

http://www.cardmonkeyhq.com/

I needed something simple just like RevTK for spaced repetition on my own flashcards and wasn't too happy with Anki, so I decided to put my own app together. It borrows a _lot_ from RevTK, especially the leitner box diagrams (I even use the same javascript svg library to draw them).

This is not a competitor to RevTK, as a lot of the value of this site is from the stories. I would still recommend that anyone who wants to study Heisig use RevTK over my site.

Please give it a try and let me know what you think: ali.najaf@gmail.com

Moderators, if you don't think this post is appropriate then please go ahead and edit as you see fit.

Regards,

Ali

Yet Another SRS App - ToasterMage - 2010-08-08

There needs to be a page with screenshots of what it, I dont want to have to sign up to find this out.

also rather than a link to the login page, have a textbox for login/password.

Yet Another SRS App - Zarxrax - 2010-08-08

What reasons would someone have for wanting to use your app? I'm not seeing any features or anything listed that set this apart from anything else. I think most of us are plenty happy with anki, unless you've got some killer awesome feature on this thing.

Yet Another SRS App - slivir - 2010-08-08

Well if you prefer the leitner system that's one advantage I guess.

Yet Another SRS App - Tobberoth - 2010-08-08

slivir Wrote:Well if you prefer the leitner system that's one advantage I guess.
Anki uses a leitner system as well. That's what an SRS is.

Yet Another SRS App - Anna B - 2010-08-09

I'm interested for the same reason I'm doing RTK here rather than Anki - simplicity. In fact, I'm planning to work on vocabulary when I finish RTK and and I've been wishing for a site similar to this one for that. I know a lot of people like Anki, but I'm not one of them.

I think Cardmonkey needs import ability, though, in addition to the ability to create your own individual cards.

Yet Another SRS App - ali.najaf - 2010-08-09

Thanks for all the feedback.

@ToasterMage, This is the most common feedback I'm getting at the moment. The focus of the next iteration will be the advertising site, which will include screenshots and an a rundown of benefits explained in a way that will be easy to understand for people who aren't familiar with SRS apps.

Will definitely change it so there's a login form on the main page rather than after a click, it's one less step. Easy win.

@Zarxrax, If you're 100% happy with Anki, then CardMonkey won't really appeal to you. I'm not really planning to take on Anki on features, as almost every conceivable idea for a feature I have is already possible on Anki in some form or another.

Instead, the focus is on simplicity. I only want to include the features that really add value leave out the rest. When I first used Anki, the UI was confusing and thats part of the reason I never really stuck with it. Also, I couldn't get local decks to synch with AnkiOnline, and couldn't be bothered to figure out how knowing that a web-based app wouldn't have this issue. Cardmonkey is, more or less, supposed to be "RevTK for your own cards".

@Anna B, thanks for the interest! Import ability is a high priority feature that I will probably do within the next few iterations.

First time through will probably be with Anki decks if I can figure out the file format. Though as my app is quite a bit simpler than Anki, you will probably lose a lot of info during the import.

Sounds like there's a lot of work for me to be getting on with. Will post to this thread when I make big changes.

Yet Another SRS App - bombpersons - 2010-08-09

ali.najaf Wrote:First time through will probably be with Anki decks if I can figure out the file format. Though as my app is quite a bit simpler than Anki, you will probably lose a lot of info during the import.
If you don't mind using any python in your app, you could use libanki to import/export cards from/to an anki deck fairly easily.

Yet Another SRS App - ali.najaf - 2010-08-09

From what I understand decks are stored as an sqlite database so I should be able to crack it open fairly easily in ruby, but I'll look into libanki as a starting point. My python skills aren't that hot Sad

Yet Another SRS App - ali.najaf - 2010-08-10

OK, I posted an update today, here's what I got done:

- screenshots on landing page
- login form on landing page
- deck freeze

On that last point, I found that sometimes I just need to take a break from a deck and don't want my cards to tick over into 'due' during that time.

You can now freeze a deck, so you can't do any reviews are studying on that deck. Then, when you're ready to start studying it again you can unfreeze it just as easily.

Thanks to anyone that signed up, I hope some of you will stick around and use it actively!

NB: For anyone who's interested in how deck freezing works, a deck is 'frozen' by creating a record in a freeze table with the deck_id and a freeze date. 'Frozen' just means that a deck has a freeze record in the freeze table. When the deck is 'Unfrozen', I just iterate over the cards and shimmy the due date forward by todays date minus freeze date. Not that hard!

Yet Another SRS App - meredithcat - 2010-08-10

Your app looks great! I've actually been looking for a simple, Leitner-based flashcard app for a while now. I love RevTK, and in my opinion Anki has so many features that it can be overwhelming. I also wanted it to be web-based, so that I could use it without worrying about syncing over multiple devices. And, even though Anki is Leitner-based, it doesn't really feel like it is, since there are no boxes - cards are just slated for some time in the future. I like to be able to see visually (and numerically) exactly where all my cards are.

I haven't extensively tried using the app, but once I do I will let you know what I think of it! ^_^

Yet Another SRS App - ali.najaf - 2010-08-10

thanks @meredithcat, I was in the exact same boat you are when I decided to cook up this app. Its still quite rough around the edges but my wife has used it to pass her UK citizenship test, and I'm using it for vocab, so I can safely say it just about works!

Let me know if you think there's anything missing or if you have any suggestions for improvements.

Yet Another SRS App - resolve - 2010-08-10

Tobberoth Wrote:
slivir Wrote:Well if you prefer the leitner system that's one advantage I guess.
Anki uses a leitner system as well. That's what an SRS is.
This is not correct. Leitner is one kind of spaced repetition. Anki does not use Leitner (a cards in boxes model), but a variation of the SuperMemo 2 algorithm. SM2 is a learning algorithm - if you fail a card it is scheduled more conservatively in the future, and your average performance over the deck affects new cards, too. Each card is scheduled individually, instead of being lumped together with a bunch of other cards in a box. And you also have the ability to provide the algorithm with more information about how well you remembered, rather than a simple pass/fail. Leitner was a useful system for paper cards, but IMHO it's not the optimal choice for a computer system.

Yet Another SRS App - Anna B - 2010-08-10

ali.najaf Wrote:Let me know if you think there's anything missing or if you have any suggestions for improvements.
iPhone app?

Yet Another SRS App - ali.najaf - 2010-08-11

@Anna, Yeah I want an iPhone app too. Its on my todo list but I don't have a mac to develop it on. For the time being though, I would consider making a mobile version of the site in lieu of a native app.

Quote:This is not correct. Leitner is one kind of spaced repetition. Anki does not use Leitner (a cards in boxes model), but a variation of the Super...
Interesting, I wasn't aware of that. I think this is perhaps one of the reasons I didn't take to Anki so easily, being used to RevTK.

I like the leitner system for its simplicity and for the easy, visual tracking of progress using boxes. Also, personally I don't like having to rate my retention on review, i.e. I prefer just saying pass/fail rather than fail/almost/pass/really got it.

At the same time though, the SuperMemo algorithm sounds like it has merit and I'd be willing to give it a try.

The underlying implementation isn't that much different, so I'm fairly sure I can emulate a version of this algorithm in cardmonkey. The way I envision it, you would have an options page for the deck where you can choose between leitner/supermemo algorithms, and this would change how cards are reviewed and scheduled. I had in the back of my mind that you would potentially be able to set the algorithm for a given deck, so I knew this was coming.

The only point I'm not sure on is what would show up on the 'progress' screen for a deck set to the SM algorithm. It would be a lot easier to sell Supermemo if there was an easy way to visualize your progress so far. I'll play around with a few ideas and see what I come up with.

Yet Another SRS App - HerrPetersen - 2010-08-11

@ali.najaf: You do know about the anki-graphs? Here an excerpt. As a progress screen you could take the first graph.
http://ichi2.net/anki/shots/graphs.png

Yet Another SRS App - gyouza - 2010-08-14

Hey ali.najaf!

I like your app so far and am quite excited about what's to come!

ali.najaf Wrote:The way I envision it, you would have an options page for the deck where you can choose between leitner/supermemo algorithms, and this would change how cards are reviewed and scheduled.
But in my opinion that would be the wrong turn. The way I see it, your "unique selling point", what distinguishes you from Anki, is the simplicity. An app that is not loaded with options and features. By starting to "anki-alize" it, you might undermine that philosophy.

Anna B Wrote:
ali.najaf Wrote:Let me know if you think there's anything missing or if you have any suggestions for improvements.
iPhone app?
More importantly: Android app? Big Grin

Yet Another SRS App - trusmis - 2010-08-14

Android app +1

Yet Another SRS App - Daichi - 2010-08-16

It looks really nice, personally I don't have any reason to move away from Anki. But I'll probably recommend this to potential new SRS users over Anki, in the future, due to it's simplicity.

Edit: Going on the iPhone/Android thing. You should be sure you at least have a generic mobile web skin for it. So people on mobile devices can make use of it on the go.