New Flashcard Features

[goulniky]

Even though I've long been an enthusiastic user of this tool, starting with Oxford and now with ABC/NWP, I only started exploring the flashcards last night for the 1st time - I may actually start using flashcards which I never considered before.
The option to add current words with a simple click is very good, and I was wondering if there could be an option to automatically log every entry. An alternative would be to grab the history menu and move all entries into a flashcard.

It's just that when I'm looking up a whole series of words in a text I'm in try-to-understand mode, not quite in setup-flashcard mode.

 

[Jianchuanbrit]

I like goulniky's suggestion and would second it as a useful feature. Sometimes I think after I have moved on, oh I wish I had added that to the flashcards (which I used to use in the Oxford version), but it is too much hassle later. But if you could go to a drop down menu and choose add history to flashcards, I can see that as being helpful.

 

[gandq]

i don't think such a feature would make a lot of sense.

a simple tap while browsing the dictionary or after going back using the 'back' arrow gets the same results.

i think one should think about flashcard setup while using the dictionary - that's why i would even like to see an option that makes me choose the flashcard list i want to add an entry to each time i press the 'add' button. i think keeping one's flashcards organized and not crammed up with all kinds of words that one not even might remember the context for is important for efficient learning. one cannot learn a language just by dictionary entries, one alway needs at least a bit of context 'ringing' in one's mind.

that is just my personal opinion.

greetings,


jo.

 

[baturjan]

Has anyone looked at Super Memo's approach/features? I just started looking at Super Memo. People I know who have used it raved about it. I don't know enough about it to comment on it's features. I'm still trying to get the fonts to work on hi-res.

 

[miltownkid]

Has anyone looked at Super Memo's approach/features? I just started looking at Super Memo. People I know who have used it raved about it. I don't know enough about it to comment on it's features. I'm still trying to get the fonts to work on hi-res.

Basically you make flashcards. Do tests everyday (and grade yourself). And it tries it's best to space the repititions (hard cards more, easy cards less). It's been working really well for me.

I just read on the Supermemo wiki that they'll be releasing a new version this year that will be high rez compatible.

http://wiki.supermemo.org/index.php?tit ... Palm_Pilot

 

[mikelove]

miltownkid - actually the text export feature doesn't export full definitions (due to licensing restrictions), only headwords and Pinyin, so I'm afraid it wouldn't be of much use for SuperMemo importing.

And I'm not certain about this, but I believe fonts with SuperMemo would still appear blocky or low-res even if they added high-res support; you're still dealing with regular-sized font characters from CJKOS et al, they may be high-resolution but they'll still look blocky when magnified. A better program for high-resolution Chinese flashcards would be Anki (http://www.anki.com), though it doesn't offer anywhere near SuperMemo's level of study optimization (and by PlecoDict 2.0 our software should be able to do just about everything that Anki does).

goulniky - we actually had a feature like this in the works for quite a while. Basically the list of recent entries used for back/forward was going to be a flashcard list, with an adjustable length cap and the option of "sweeping" entries into other flashcard lists if you ran out of space. We never got around to implementing this, but we've just added some fields to the flashcard data file format (which unfortunately is changing in Beta 2 - sorry all, but you should be able to text export/import and preserve most of your Beta 1 cards) so that we can implement it in a future release.

 

[mewaters]

miltownkid - actually the text export feature doesn't export full definitions (due to licensing restrictions), only headwords and Pinyin, so I'm afraid it wouldn't be of much use for SuperMemo importing.

Aha! I had a feeling this was what was going on... I just posted something in the Flashcard Exchange forum about exporting definitions if they're user-created. Is it possible???

 

[edboy]

flashcard session ability to make characters larger

On the current pleco version, when I test myself using the flashcard session, even with the "magnify chars" checked, I can't read many of the traditional characters to know if I'm writing it correctly. In the next version, will there be a way to set the flashcard session's character font size or something like a "magnify selection" to be able to to see the characters larger?

 

[mikelove]

Yes, at a bare minimum it should be possible to magnify definition characters in flashcards just like you can in the main dictionary.

 

[hele]

suggestion

The flashcard feature seems for the most part wonderfully flexible and well thought-out -- but still one feature keeps it from being really usable for me:

It seems (unless I am mistaken) that it is impossible to work with a diminishing list, that is, for characters to be removed from the pile you are studying as they pass to a higher rank. I have tried, for instance, to change the settings to use only characters from Rank 1, so that I could go over the characters within the rank until they have all moved up, working with fewer and fewer cards until I know them all perfectly; however, even when cards are learned and have moved up to the next rank, they are still included in the list and returned to, no matter how many times I have already gotten them right. I've tried to manipulate all the settings, but it seems that it is just impossible to be truly *finished* with a card, to push it out of your current working pile and use only the ones you don't yet know.

How can this be? Is there something I am missing? Is it really necessary to continually cycle (however infrequently) through words you have already learned in that session, unless you actually exit, allow the "limit ranks # through #" setting to kick in, and restart again?

I guess all that would be necessary to change this would to make this setting ("limit ranks...") apply continually, that is, even as the ranks change during the session, so that the working pile can get smaller. I can't speak for everyone, but for me and certainly many others that I know this has been found to be the most effective method for studying.

thanks! just bought the product very recently and I'm REALLY hoping to be sufficiently satisfied with the flashcards to finally switch over from paper..

-何樂

 

[mikelove]

Yes, in Endless sessions the rank changes don't take effect until you exit and start a new session - Endless mode was kind of a late feature addition in PlecoDict 1.0 and we didn't get around to redesigning the session system to immediately remove cards once they changed rank in a way that put them outside of the session parameters. To be honest, we didn't really envision people using Endless mode continuously until they learned a card the way you seem to be doing.

Anyway, this should all be fixed in 2.0, we've done away with "ranks" but the new scoring system lets you set an upper score bound for a session and once a card's score exceeds that it'll drop out and you won't see it again.

 

[johnh113]

hele suggestion

Dear Hele,

I use "repetition spacing" instead of "endless loop" and don't have the problems you are describing. At one session I go through all the cards that are scheduled for that day. When I finish the session, Pleco tells me how many cards I got wrong, and if I start a new session those cards show up. I go through the cards until I have correctly identified all cards, and then Pleco won't show me any more because there aren't any more due to be seen based upon my "repetition spacing."

If you look at this link:
viewtopic.php?t=429&highlight=johnh113
down a couple of emails is one of my emails explaining how I set up "repetition spacing" and then down a couple more emails on that link is another email from me explaining the setup in more detail. Since then, I've changed my settings a little, but it's basically the same idea.

Also, if you look at this link:
viewtopic.php?t=614&highlight=koreth
and go down a few emails you will find an email from Koreth who gives a very good explanation of how he uses "repetition spacing". I think the major difference is I set my first spacing to "0" days and he sets his to "1" day.

If "repetition spacing" works for you, then I think using either Koreth's or my settings for "repetition spacing" might ameliorate some of your problems.

John

 

[MALAILI]

DEAR SIRS:

I LOVE YOUR FLASHCARD SYSTEM AND USE IT DAILY TO "TRY" TO LEARN MY NEW VOCABULARY WORDS. I USE A NEW LIST FOR EACH CHAPTER.

THIS WORKS VERY WELL AND I CAN REVIEW OLDER VOCABULARLY BY CHECKING THE OLDER CHAPTERS.

IF YOU COULD IN THE FUTURE HAVE THE "NEW LIST" APPEAR AT THE TOP OF THE LIST INSTEAD OF THE BOTTOM, IT WOULD BE HELPFUL.

I THINK IT IS MOST LIKELY THAT THE WORDS IN THE "NEW LIST" WILL BE STUDIED MORE FREQUENTLY.

I KNOW I CAN AND HAVE MOVED THE "NEW LIST" FROM THE BOTTOM TO OR TOWARD THE TOP, BUT WITH MANY MANY LISTS, IT IS TIME CONSUMING.

THANK YOUR FOR YOU ATTENTION.

 

[mikelove]

That's actually trickier than you might think with the way our new category system works, but we'll see what we can do...

 

[MALAILI]

XIEXIE NI.

 

[MALAILI]

I DON'T THINK I HAVE THAT PROBLEM.

I USE THE FLASHCARDS EVERYDAY AND I STUDY THE VOCABULARY BY CHAPTER(S). I MODE I USE IS "FIXED # OF CARDS" I DECIDE, DEPENDING ON HOW NEW OR FAMILIAR THE WORDS ARE, AS TO HOW MANY CARDS I WANT TO REVIEW AT A TIME. i.e. BRAND NEW WORDS, ONLY 5 AT A TIME.

I LIMIT THE RANKS FROM ONE TO (x), USUALLY 2 OR THREE IF I AM LEARNING NEW/UNFAMILIAR WORDS.

I SET THE RANKS TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT RANK AFTER 2 CORRECT IN THE RANK, AND RETREAT 1 RANK AFTER ONE INCORRECT IN THE RANK.

DOING ALL OF THIS, GETS RID OF, (NO LONGER TESTS) CARDS ONCE THEY EXCEED THE RANK LIMIT SPECIFIED.

AS I LEARN THE WORDS, ACCORDING TO THE FLASHCARD SYSTEM/SCOREKEEPER, THE NUMBER OF CARDS DECREASES AND EVENTUALLY IS DEPLETED.

WHEN I TRY TO CONTINUE, I RECEIVE A MESSAGE, SAYING THERE ARE NO ENTRIES MATCHING MY CRITERIA.

(I HAVE TO INCREASE THE RANK SETTINGS TO TEST THE CHARACTERS FURTHER.

I HOPE THIS HELPS.