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Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

(domenic.me)
673 points domenicd | 1 comments | 18 May 25 11:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.592s | source
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keiferski ◴[18 May 25 12:38 UTC] No.44020946[source]▶
I’ve been using Anki for about a decade now, and as far as I’m concerned, the only real improvements needed are design/UI based. It is functionally irrelevant if the algorithm is optimized or not when the actual user interface seems boring to potential users. While I do like that Anki has power user options, it’s also very unintuitive to the average person just looking into it.

Which is really a shame, as the spacing effect itself is such an underrated aspect of human learning that it almost feels like cheating.

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arrowsmith ◴[18 May 25 12:47 UTC] No.44020994[source]▶
I love Anki but it’s an archetypal example of “designed by an engineer”.

It’s powerful, with a lot of depth to its features - but it’s also hideous, clunky and unintuitive, and it takes a long time to figure out how to use it effectively.

An HN-reading tech nerd can probably figure it out, but your average Duolingomaxxing normie? No chance.

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cenamus ◴[18 May 25 12:49 UTC] No.44021013[source]▶
Sorry, but what's clunky about it? All buttons in reach of your thumb on the mobile app and usable keybindings on desktop?

Is there not enough useless whitespace around every button?

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1. watwut ◴[18 May 25 13:38 UTC] No.44021346[source]▶
First thing that comes to my mind is that it is basically impossible to make it show you both sides of all the cards you are about to see for the first time today at the same time. So that you can actually try to learn it in more effective and less frustrating way then flashing cards on you in random order.

Second thing, control over workload should not be that hard. Anki requires too much tweaking to work reasonably.

Third thing, both old and new algorithm have a notion of "you are pressing the buttons wrong". If you are pressing the buttons wrong, you will end up with absurd intervals - like 4 months interval on something you just learned.