Introduction
Flashcards Deluxe is an easy to use, yet powerful iPhone/iTouch flashcard app which you can use to study just about anything you want. I use this app for my own Chinese studies, and am constantly improving it to make it better for myself and others. (Click here for screenshots.)
Features:
- Two smart study modes that automatically focus more on the cards you miss: Leitner and a more advanced Spaced Repetition mode (similar to SuperMemo)
- Built in searchable "dictionary" of your cards that allows you to easily look up other terms as you study
- Divide cards into categories
- 3-sided cards
- Scroll large pictures and large amounts of text.
- Custom text and background colors
- Browse-mode that lets you easily navigate forward or back without keeping score
- Slideshow mode
- 3 response levels: Wrong, I kind of know, I know really well (vs the standard correct/wrong) - for more efficient studying
- Backup your flashcards to your computer
- Great support! I promptly respond to any questions or feedback you may have.
You can create flashcards either on your computer or directly on the iPhone. If you don't want to make your own cards, there are many good places on the web to find pre-made flashcards, which you can copy/paste into your own list. This app provides a great way to study your flashcards (wherever they may come from) on your iPhone/iPod Touch.
Creating cards on your computer is an easy process of making a two column list of questions and answers in a text editor or spreadsheet, copy/pasting your list into our web site, and then downloading it to your iPhone. You don't even need to use our web site if you can host files on your own web server or use Mac web sharing.
Getting Started
After installing the application, view the sample "Introduction" deck to get familiar with the application. You can also download this deck from the shared library (featured section).
Creating Your Own Decks
You create your flashcards by first typing them on your computer, either in a text editor or spreadsheet.
Spreadsheet : column 1 = question (side 1), column 2 = answer (side 2). Each row is a new card.
Text editor : separate question and answer with a tab. Use enter/return key to start a new card:
Question {tab} Answer {return}
Question {tab} Answer {return}
Import text files support up to five columns:
Side 1 Text, Side 2 Text, Side 3 Text, Category 1, Category 2
Below are samples of flashcard text in various formats:
Text Sample Word Sample Spreadsheet Samples
After creating your flashcard text, the remaining steps are:
Upload your text to this website:
1) Copy your flashcard text into memory (control-c or command-c)
2) Go to the Upload page (at OrangeOrApple.com) and paste your text into the "Flashcard Text" box
3) Enter a "Deck Code", which is way to identify and find your cards from your iPhone/iPod.
4) Click "Upload"
Download your flashcards from within the app:
5) At the main screen, tap + (add)
6) Tap "Private Deck" and enter your "Deck Code" (the same one you used to upload above)
7) Tap "Download Cards"
If you want to use an existing deck that someone has already made, you can search the (small but growing) in-app library, or I recommend going to Quizlet.com, as they have lots of flashcard sets and it's very easy to export their cards. See this page for instructions on transfering flashcards from other sites.
You don't have to use my website to get flashcards onto your iPhone if you have your own web server. See the "Working without this website" below for more details.
Contacting Me
If you have any questions or comments regarding this program, feel free to email me at et@OrangeOrApple.com, or use the "Feedback" page.
Sincerely,
Ernie
The Details
The below information augments the in-app help and should give you a better understanding of how the app works.
Creating Your Flashcard Text
About this Website
Formatting Text
Adding Pictures and Sounds
Unicode and Special Characters
Handling Line-Feeds in Excel / Google Docs
CSV Files
Transfering from Other Programs
Using the Application
Using the App - Introduction
Card Order Options - Leitner and Spaced Repetition
Easing Into New Cards
Categories
Backing Up and Exporting
Managing Card Updates and Re-downloading
Tips, Tricks and Miscellaneous Features
Scrolling Text
Sharing Decks
Separating Dictionary Items
Working Without This Website
About this Website - Please Read
This website mainly exists so you can easily transfer your flashcards between your computer and your iPhone/device. You will upload your flashcard data to this website, then download it from your iPhone. You should consider this website as temporary storage for your data. As long as you keep a backup on your computer, re-transferring your text, pictures and sounds should be a very easy process if it becomes necessary.
For private decks, picture and sound files may be deleted from this server after one month, and your text may be deleted after two months of no updates/uploads to the deck. If you add new content within the app, please backup occationally. You can then go to the "Export" page here in this site to transfer your flashcard data (text, pictures and sounds) back to your computer.
Formatting Text
New line: to create a new line in the flashcard text, enter a "|" (pipe character) or use the <br> tag.
(If you need this symbol in your text, use a similar Unicode character: ∣ )
Bold: <b>This will be Bold</b>
Italics: <i>This will be Italicized</i>
Underline: <u>This will be Underlined</u>
Strikethrough: <strike>Strikethrough</strike>
Text Color: <color red>This will be Red</color>
<color #0000FF>This will be Blue</color> (You can read about color names and codes here.)
Background Color: <background-color #FFFF00>The side will have yellow background
Only color *codes* (RGB Hex, not names) are supported for background colors. See link above for help.
Specify this tag anywhere in the side's text.
There is an in-app background setting for all cards, so this is only used when you want different colored backgrounds for individual cards.
Superscript: <sup>This will be Superscript</sup>
Subscript: <sub>This will be Subscript</sub>
Center: <center>This will be centered</center> (assuming the rest of the side is left justified)
Bullet points: Just copy this into your own text: • and use | (shift \) to create new lines.
Setting font size: While you can set font size for each side within the app, if you want more control for specific text, you can use <size> tags:
<size .5>This will be half size</size>
<size 2>This will be double size</size>
<size 40>This will be a 40 point font (greater than 5 is a specific size)</size>
Space without line break: <sp> (create a space, but won't wrap text to next line)
If you have complex equations you'd like to show, the following website can create pictures to show them:
http://www.codecogs.com/components/equationeditor/equationeditor.php
Adding Pictures and Sounds
To add a picture to a flashcard, you include the file name of the picture in the flashcard text, then in a separate process, upload the pictures to this web site. You use "<pic [file_name]>" as the special coding to insert a picture. (Note the keyword "pic" is required.) For example, if you have a picture called "Starry Night.jpg" that you want shown on the front and back of a flashcard, the line in your flashcard text might be
<pic starry night.jpg> {tab} Starry Night<pic starry night.jpg>
After you upload your flashcard text, you will be prompted to upload each picture that you've defined, one at a time. (You can also upload a single zip file.) From your iPhone, when you download a new deck, pictures will be downloaded to your iPhone so you don't need an internet connection to view your flashcards.
The process to add a sound clip to a flashcard is very similar as adding a picture, but instead use <snd> tags. Example: <snd Hola.mp3>
Instead of uploading media files to this server, you have a couple other options:
1) Use the "media directory" option to tell the app where to find your files. See here
2) Use full URL paths for your media files, for example: <pic http://OrangeOrApple.com/starry night.jpg>
If you are using Excel, you might find it convenient to create formulas to combine text and picture tags in the same side (e.g. =A1 & "<pic " & B1 & ">").
Unicode and Special Characters
This program supports the unicode character set, so many symbols and languages are supported. For example, Chinese characters can be uploaded and shown on flashcards just as easy as western characters. If you have a math formula and want to show an integral sign, do a web search for "unicode integral", and you'll find a character you can copy into your card text list.
Handling Line-Feeds in Excel / Google Docs
See the file Spreadsheet Samples (tabs 2 and 3) for information related to line-feeds in a spreadsheet.
CSV Files
This app does not read CSV files directly, but if you have a spreadsheet program, such as Excel, all you need to do is open the CSV file in the spreadsheet program, then copy/paste into this website.
Transfering from Other Programs
If you have flashcards in another program or website, you can most likely transfer them over easily by exporting them to a tab delimited or CSV file. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact me and I'll try to help.
SuperMemo: This page provides a tool to convert SuperMemo's Q&A format to a tab delimated format.
Using the App - Introduction
The app contains a lot of in-app help. Look for a question mark (?) icon at the top for help related to the current screen you are viewing. The information on this website will generally augment the help found within the app.
At the main screen, tap on a deck description and you will be put into study mode. Cards are shown in "rounds", which is basically one pass through the deck. The idea to be aware of is that, depending on the "Card Order" option, each round might not consist of all cards in the full deck. In this case, the program has selected a set of cards that it had determined you currently need practice on. In standard quiz mode, every card needs to be answered before moving to the next card. There is a "browse mode" that will allow you to skip through the deck without keeping score.
Card Order Options - Leitner and Spaced Repetition
The Card Order setting defines how cards in your deck are shown and is an important setting:
Ordered – each card is shown in order (default for new decks)
Random – cards are shuffled before each round
Leitner – focus is given on cards you don't know as well.
Spaced Repetition – advanced learning method where cards are scheduled at timed intervals.
To change this setting, tap the information/setting (i) icon at the top of the *study screen* (not main screen) then tap "Card Order". While the first two settings are simple, you can read more about Leitner and Spaced Repetition here.
Easing into new cards
When learning new cards, it makes sense to practice just 10 new cards or so at a time, rather than go through an entire deck of 100+ cards before repeating anything. While the new Spaced Repetition mode handles this automatically, Leitner does not. A solution for this problem in Leitner mode is to assign categories to cards, such as "1-10", "11-20", etc, so that you can start with just the first 10 cards and add new cards when you are ready. The "Categories to Study" screen allows you to show/hide categories.
Categories
Cards in a deck can be divided into categories, which can provide a great way to break large amounts of cards into manageable study sets. Each card can belong to up to two. You can assign categories when you create your card text by entering the category name in column 4 and optionally a second in column 5. You can also assign categories within the application.
To select which categories you want to study, enter the "Study Options" page, and tap "Categories to Study". If you use distinct categories for 1 and 2, you will get more advanced options... For example, if your category 1 groups are "Chapter 1" and "Chapter 2", and your category 2 groups are "Nouns" and "Verbs", you have the option of studying just Chapter 1 Nouns.
Backing Up and Exporting
If you make changes to your cards on your iPhone, you'll probably want to backup your changes periodically. To do this, tap Edit at the main screen, tap your deck, then tap Export. Your flashcards will be uploaded back to this server. Next, go to the "Export" page on this website, which will allow you to download your flashcards from this server back to your own computer.
Managing Card Updates and Re-downloading
This app works best when you have a single master version, either on your device, or more commonly on your computer. There is no mechanism to "merge" changes from both sides, so you'll need to handle this. Personally, I make few changes on my device, but if I do, I "flag" them so I can later make the same change on my computer's master list. Maybe exporting will work better for you.
When you re-download to an existing deck (through the Deck edit screen), you can either append the new data or completely replace all cards. If you replace all cards, the only information that you'll want to keep from your old cards is the statistical data you've built up, and the app will try to do this.... The app will search for an existing card whose text matches the new card. If a match is found, the statistics are carried forward. A unique text match on side 1 OR side 2 is all it takes, so as long as you keep at least side 1 or side 2 the same, a match should happen. If you've changed the text on both sides, then the statistics for that card will be lost.
You can backup statistic data in the card text by choosing the appropriate export option. When re-importing a deck with statistic data, you will be asked whether your existing stats or the stats in your text file should have priority.
Tips, Tricks and Miscellaneous Features
- Toggle full-screen in study view by tapping the center of the title bar.
- Use Folders (add deck: Folder) to help organize decks
- Use Combination decks to group multiple decks together to study
- Copy/Move cards between decks: From the card listing screen, tap "Mode" to get started.
- Zoom into a picture by touch and holding picture.
- Loop a sound clip by touch and holding sound play button.
- Double-tap sound play button to toggle Auto-Play on/off
- View side 3 first by using the "Card Layout" setting.
- You can specify many deck specific options in your upload text. To see how this is done, make the setting within the app and export/email the deck to yourself. You'll see special header lines for these settings.
Scrolling Text
When a card is shown that has too much text to fit on the screen, you will see a green down-arrow at the bottom. Touch and hold the text to enter text "zoom" mode so you can scroll up/down through the text. The reason for this extra mode is that swiping up and down are usually already used for responses strong-correct and wrong. If you disable the "swipe up" and "swipe down" commands, then swiping up/down will scroll your flashcard text immediately without having to enter zoom mode. The Swipe/Tap defaults "Love to Tap" and "Easy Scroll" will both allow for immediate scrolling of text. (Swipe/Tap help within the app has some more details.)
Sharing Decks
Shared decks are a copy of your private deck at the time you upload it to the library. To share a deck, tap "Edit" at the main screen, tap the deck, then "Share". You will need to enter a "User Name", which serves as both a user name AND your password, so choose something unique. This user name will give you rights to update and remove your shared library decks. To remove a shared deck, go to My Shared Decks, tap the deck then tap Remove from Library. Removing from the library does not delete your private deck. Conversely, deleting your private deck does not remove it from the shared library.
Separating Dictionary Items
You can tell the program that you want a certain card shown in a separate section at the bottom of the dictionary (card listing), instead of being sorted in the A-Z sections. To do this, start your side 1 text with either "_1" or "_2" and these cards will be put into a "1" or "2" section at the bottom.
Working Without This Website
You don't have to use this website to download new decks to your iPhone if you use a web storage utility like Dropbox, or can host files on your own web server (which can be as easy as turning on Web Sharing on your Mac). Click here to learn more about how to do this.
I guess that's it for now. Go study!
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