6 ms·

But the very act of making and organizing your card deck is part of the SRS! It “sucks” because you get no dopamine hit from a fresh desk, as the reward system

But the very act of making and organizing your card deck is part of the SRS! It “sucks” because you get no dopamine hit from a fresh desk, as the reward system is not yet in place.

Buttons840 3mo ago
Again, I really think this is a viewpoint we've talked ourselves into to help us feel better about how cumbersome creating the cards are. I'm willing to grant that there is some value in choosing what to put in the cards, but most of the awkwardness around making cards is UI related. Nobody creates cards on their phone, or while they're walking (AI could do both of these) - people create cards sitting at their computer (like cavemen!) usually clicking through a clunky UI and managing thousands of cards with thousands of clicks. That sucks, and people probably wont realize it sucks until something better comes along.
- fragmede 3mo ago
  > Nobody creates cards on their phone, or while they're walking Wait, when are you doing it then? No wonder you think it sucks! Adopt some modern tools, yo. Use Anki, or vibe code your own app.
  - fn-mote 3mo ago
    > Use Anki Anki is great for studying, but the card creation experience sucks. To be specific: I found creating any custom card type immediately dropped me into the bowels of CSS. It felt like writing HTML by hand. Is there any facility for re-using shared pieces? I felt like it needed a static site generator type tool to move up a layer of abstraction and reduce the copying of chunks into my card. Is there one? Please mention if so.
    - fragmede 3mo ago
      It's rather nerdy, but QuickTurtle9 released mdfc on GitHub, https://github.com/bttger/markdown-flashcards https://github.com/bttger/markdown-flashcards a couple of years ago Using that as the input file format standard, AI can generate what you're looking for, Android app, Webapp, iOS app, pdf.
    - golem14 3mo ago
      > I found creating any custom card type immediately dropped me into the bowels of CSS. Ah, LaTeX syndrome.
    - BeetleB 3mo ago
      Write a tool to reduce the friction. I use an Emacs based SRS tool. I have a capture template to quickly make a card. For anything tedious, it's critical to reduce the friction!
    - cheesecakegood 3mo ago
      I really never thought it would come up in a HN thread but I’m actually working on a modified version of Anki as a personal project (not quite ready yet though, but will open source probably in a few weeks) where improving the editing/curating/creating experience is a big focus. I’m trying to make it markdown-based too. Just to pick your brain real fast, when creating new cards (from scratch?) what would a better experience look like for you?
    - rsanek 3mo ago
      I rarely make cards by hand anymore. I would recommend forking something like https://github.com/jasperket/clanki https://github.com/jasperket/clanki and editing it (perhaps with an agent) so that it works exactly to your liking.

But the very act of making and organizing your card deck is part of the SRS! It “sucks” because you get no dopamine hit from a fresh desk, as the reward system is not yet in place.

Buttons840 3mo ago

Again, I really think this is a viewpoint we've talked ourselves into to help us feel better about how cumbersome creating the cards are. I'm willing to grant that there is some value in choosing what to put in the cards, but most of the awkwardness around making cards is UI related. Nobody creates cards on their phone, or while they're walking (AI could do both of these) - people create cards sitting at their computer (like cavemen!) usually clicking through a clunky UI and managing thousands of cards with thousands of clicks. That sucks, and people probably wont realize it sucks until something better comes along.

fragmede 3mo ago
> Nobody creates cards on their phone, or while they're walking Wait, when are you doing it then? No wonder you think it sucks! Adopt some modern tools, yo. Use Anki, or vibe code your own app.
- fn-mote 3mo ago
  > Use Anki Anki is great for studying, but the card creation experience sucks. To be specific: I found creating any custom card type immediately dropped me into the bowels of CSS. It felt like writing HTML by hand. Is there any facility for re-using shared pieces? I felt like it needed a static site generator type tool to move up a layer of abstraction and reduce the copying of chunks into my card. Is there one? Please mention if so.
  - fragmede 3mo ago
    It's rather nerdy, but QuickTurtle9 released mdfc on GitHub, https://github.com/bttger/markdown-flashcards https://github.com/bttger/markdown-flashcards a couple of years ago Using that as the input file format standard, AI can generate what you're looking for, Android app, Webapp, iOS app, pdf.
  - golem14 3mo ago
    > I found creating any custom card type immediately dropped me into the bowels of CSS. Ah, LaTeX syndrome.
  - BeetleB 3mo ago
    Write a tool to reduce the friction. I use an Emacs based SRS tool. I have a capture template to quickly make a card. For anything tedious, it's critical to reduce the friction!
  - cheesecakegood 3mo ago
    I really never thought it would come up in a HN thread but I’m actually working on a modified version of Anki as a personal project (not quite ready yet though, but will open source probably in a few weeks) where improving the editing/curating/creating experience is a big focus. I’m trying to make it markdown-based too. Just to pick your brain real fast, when creating new cards (from scratch?) what would a better experience look like for you?
  - rsanek 3mo ago
    I rarely make cards by hand anymore. I would recommend forking something like https://github.com/jasperket/clanki https://github.com/jasperket/clanki and editing it (perhaps with an agent) so that it works exactly to your liking.