can't type answers! help!

[isabel.bre...@googlemail.com]

hello!

i tried to install mnemosyne in windows xp and it is not working
properly

the program opens, but i can't type answers, so it is basically
useless!

what to do??

[Gwern Branwen]

Isabel, you're going to have to be a lot more specific and detailed
than that. Telling us what you've done and tried would also be great.
This is an open source project, so I commend to your reading ESR's
classic guide "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" (at
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html ).

What version of Mnemosyne did you install? Are you even using the 'Add
question' keyboard-shortcut/GUI button? Or, does it appear but can't
be focused? Or, if it appears and can be focused and everything, does
text simply not show up? If you try blindly typing in a question and
saving it, does it show up in the main window for review? Does the
statistics menu option list 1 question in the deck? etc.

--
gwern

[Peter Bienstman]

Hi,

The idea is not that you type in the answers, but rather formulate them in
your mind, then click "show answers", and grade yourself how well you have
done.

This saves a lot of time by not having to type in the answers.

Cheers,

Peter

On Saturday 07 February 2009 19:24:38 isabel.bre...@googlemail.com
wrote:

------------------------------------------------
Peter Bienstman
Ghent University, Dept. of Information Technology
Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
tel: +32 9 264 34 46, fax: +32 9 264 35 93
WWW: http://photonics.intec.UGent.be
email: Peter.B...@UGent.be
------------------------------------------------

[Bill Price (formerly Notyourbroom)]

> Are you even using the 'Add question' keyboard-shortcut/GUI button?

That was my first thought, since Mnemosyne doesn't support direct
editing of cards in the review window, instead utilizing the Add Card
and Edit Card windows. It's curious that she only specified "answers,"
though, since one would think typing a question would come before
typing an answer.

[Gwern Branwen]

Peter's interpretation of Isabel's email is, if I follow, that what
Isabel is confused about is not how to add an entirely new
question/answer pair, but rather she's confused about the entire
review process.

That is, she thinks Mnemosyne is a quiz program: one is presented with
the question, then one types in the best answer one can think of, and
ding ding! one is right or wrong.

As opposed to the real process which goes:
1) See the question
2) Think hard
3) Decide what the answer is
4) Reveal the real answer (via Space or pushing the mouse button)
5) Grade oneself on how correctly the answer was remembered and how
easily (by 1-5 or pushing the mouse around)

--
gwern

[Oisín Mac Fhearaí]

2009/2/8 Gwern Branwen <gwe...@gmail.com> 

That is, she thinks Mnemosyne is a quiz program: one is presented with
the question, then one types in the best answer one can think of, and
ding ding! one is right or wrong.

 

This does have its benefits for some situations (i.e. where you are worried about making spelling mistakes in a new language, especially with various accents and other modifiers). I think Pauker is the only spaced-repetition system I've seen that allows typing in answers (it compares them to the stored answers and gives you a colour-highlighted visual diff of mistakes with the option to mark correct anyway or put the card back - if you typed it exactly correctly, then it moves on to the next card immediately since it uses a binary grading system).

Of course, there are many, many situations where it's not really useful or appropriate (learning facts, improving your vocabulary in your native language where you won't make spelling mistakes or will notice them without needing to type, chemistry/maths equations, or iconographic languages like Chinese where you want to sketch the character rather than simply type it with the IME - I use a graphics tablet and drawing program).

It might be nice to add a basic scratch-pad entry thing to Mnemosyne as an option for cards.

Oisín

[Dellamorte]

you can also write it on a piece of paper and compare it with the
answer.

[Francisco José Fiuza Lima Júnior]

I write the answers for several cards. I just use the windows' notepad.

[le_sacre]

i'm new to mnemosyne, but one trick that seems to be working for me so
far with french and spanish is that i physically gesture the accent
(shape and direction) on each syllable as i say the item (out loud or
in my head). but i'm still undecided about how harshly to grade
myself for forgetting an accent... similarly with forgetting the
gender of a noun.

[markwi...@gmail.com]

Anki allows the entering of answers too :)