0.9.2 Release
The official 0.9.2 release is finally here. This version is pretty much the same as the second release candidate, but Adam Ehlers Nyholm Thomsen was kind enough to also contribute a Danish translation. Thank you!
I originally had planned to add more features to this release, but found that at its current state its already very stable and has more than enough features to be declared as a release in itself. Check the Changelog to see just how much has been added.
Work on the next release has already started. The focus on the next iteration will be importing and exporting. Jan Stamer contributed a patch that allows to create printer-friendly .PDF files and Brennan Vincent has already started working on a CSV import/export functionality.
January 4th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
I just tried jMemorize for the first time, and it looks promising.
However, for my possible use case, it has problems. I would like to try it out by making some simple multiplication and arithmetic flashcards for my son, but I see several problems:
1. There doesn’t seem to be enough control over the formatting of the card. I could only figure out how to change the font size. I would like to make something like “7 * 7″ in big bold text that is centered on the flashcard.
It would be great if you could embed a RichTextEditor for the flashcard content or an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor.
I would also like to be able to embed pictures in the flashcards, e.g. pictures of flags, states, money (e.g. 4 quarters), etc.
2. I would like the ability to enter the answer and have JMemorize compare it to the store answer. Or, alternativly, be able to present a list of possible choices so that the test taker only has to click instead of typing.
For my use case, it isn’t appropriate for the test taker to say whether they answered correctly, because they could cheat.
3. During the learn session, it would be great if the flashcard popped up in it’s own window all my itself with minimal controls, instead of being embedded in the main window.
4. I found it a little annoying that after learning the flashcards, the Learn button become disabled. I may want to practice the flashcards again before the next day or whenever they become unlearned. I think you should never disable the Learn button.
4. At the end of the test, it shows me a graph of the Summary, Start Deck, Deck1, Deck2, Deck3, etc. I found this interesting, but if someone was just using the software with a flashcards someone else made, it would be approprate to just show a summyary of the number of correct and incorrect answers, e.g. 87% correct. My son wouldn’t understand the Deck1, Deck2, etc. stuff.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:26 pm
I’d like to add pictures to cards. Chemistry is hard without it. :-)
January 7th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
@Alex
Hello Alex. We’re trying to improve jMemorize all the time. Concerning your points 1 and 2, I’m sure that jMemorize will feature those abilities at some point. We’re not just there yet.
On point 3, please note that you can resize or even completely hide the upper part by dragging the divider. The divider also has some small arrows on its left side. Click the upper arrow and the upper area will be completely hidden, given you more space for the bottom learn section.
On point 4, this is on purpose, because the whole idea behind jMemorize is that by learning a card, it is considered learned for a specific amount of time. The more consecutive hits, the longer the time until it expires again. This makes a big motivation, because you have a specific target while learning. Just enabling the learn button all the time, would contradict the way jMemorize and the learn algorithm developed by German psychologist Sebastian Leitner are supposed to work.
Anyway.. you can easily tweak the algorithm by setting a custom timing schedule in the learn settings. For example you could say that a card that is learned at deck 1 only takes about 5 minutes to expire. That way you should always have cards left to learn.
Concerning point 5, I think thats a nice idea. I’ll add that to the feature request tracker at the project site.
Thanks for checking out jMemorize and for your feedback. Its higly appreciated!
Regards
-Riad
January 7th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
@CH
Hello CH,
adding pictures is pretty high on our TODO list. You will just a have to wait a little longer, until someone gets finally around to do it. :-)
Thanks for your feedback!
January 10th, 2006 at 6:37 am
I just wanted to say that this is one of the most useful pieces of software I’ve run across in some time. I’ve made more progress in learning French since I started using JMemorize (circa 0.9.1) than I had in all the years before.
The ability to drag images or even wavs onto the cards would be nice, but it’s hardly essential. JMemorize is tremendously useful just as it is.
One thing I really like is the ability to highlight and drag text from a browser into the “add card” interface. When you’re making a few thousand French flashcards, it saves a lot unnecessary typing.