> This is probably not an original idea and if anyone knows already where to find such decks, that would be cool.
This is something I've wanted to do with my app (Fresh Cards). I ended up defining a simple text file format for the flashcards[1] to help make it easier to share and import cards. You could post flashcards as simple text that someone could drag and drop into the app to import. (Formats like Anki's .apkg file are great, but they don't make it easy to peruse the cards without importing into Anki.)
What's missing in all of this, though, is an actual community where you could search and browse the decks and collaborate to create new ones. Though, if you simply use text files, you could host a deck on github, for instance, and allow people to create pull requests to improve it. I think there's room for creating nicer user experiences to surface decks and encourage sharing, however. (Imagine, for instance, a social media-like feed where you could see new flashcards being created and you could search by tag for your target language.) Anyway, I think this area is ripe for exploration, but the user experience has to be done right to encourage collaboration and sharing of decks.
I hadn’t heard of Fresh Cards before, but this looks lovely.
I’ve used Anki over the years to great effect with second language learning and am fully bought into the paradigm, but I do find Anki quite clunky as a piece of software. Fresh Cards seems like it’s designed specifically in response to that.
Does this use a similar repetition algorithm to Anki? Are there any obvious limitations versus Anki? What sort of UX differences would a long-term Anki user need to get comfortable with?
Would also be keen to hear from anyone here that’s used this.
Thanks for the response. I read up on how Anki's algorithm works and tried to match it closely, although Fresh Cards doesn't have the exact same algorithm. I actually ended up adding a way for you to provide your own scheduling algorithm via javascript if that's your sort of thing. I also built a web page just so you can see the effects of recalling correctly and incorrectly, as well as reviewing too early or too late: https://www.freshcardsapp.com/srs/simulator/
I also included my attempt at converting Anki's algorithm to javascript so you can compare and contrast. I'm open to any feedback on improving the algo that I do use!
In terms of limitations, probably the biggest one is that Anki lets you create cards using a template system, which Fresh Cards doesn't have yet. In Anki you can create one note and then from that have multiple flashcards auto-generated using several templates. You can also do something similar with cloze deletions. One of my goals is to get to 100% Anki compatibility over the next few months, so I'll be adding a template system and similar cloze-deletion system.
In terms of UX, the app actually has multiple review styles. When I first built the app, a lot of users actually wanted to re-review cards, but the app would strictly schedule them, so you didn't have a way to do that. (Anki lets you "review ahead", but for the most part tries to keep you on the schedule.)
To satisfy both users who wanted to review whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted and users who wanted to stick to a spaced repetition system, I designed the UX to act as a "playlist". You just hit play and it'll start reviewing the cards in the order that you see. (You can sort and filter based on spaced repetition algorithm, or use several other modes.)
The app is pretty much designed to just pick up and go without a lot of instruction, so it should be easy to get used to.
This is something I've wanted to do with my app (Fresh Cards). I ended up defining a simple text file format for the flashcards[1] to help make it easier to share and import cards. You could post flashcards as simple text that someone could drag and drop into the app to import. (Formats like Anki's .apkg file are great, but they don't make it easy to peruse the cards without importing into Anki.)
What's missing in all of this, though, is an actual community where you could search and browse the decks and collaborate to create new ones. Though, if you simply use text files, you could host a deck on github, for instance, and allow people to create pull requests to improve it. I think there's room for creating nicer user experiences to surface decks and encourage sharing, however. (Imagine, for instance, a social media-like feed where you could see new flashcards being created and you could search by tag for your target language.) Anyway, I think this area is ripe for exploration, but the user experience has to be done right to encourage collaboration and sharing of decks.
[1] https://www.freshcardsapp.com/help/tech/index.html#text