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Spaced repetition systems have gotten better

(domenic.me)
679 points domenicd | 1 comments | 18 May 25 11:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.413s | 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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1. Muromec ◴[18 May 25 14:39 UTC] No.44021742[source]▶
>An HN-reading tech nerd can probably figure it out, but your average Duolingomaxxing normie? No chance.

Me, the person who reversengineered obfuscated code doing weird crypto primitives and submitted patches to linux kernel can't figure it out either. Maybe I'm not HN nerd enough, so I had to do the duolingo to pass my citizenship exams.

Anki seems like it works for a lot of people with a very specific flow, but I don't know what the flow is and why it doesn't work for me. It's weird.