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PowerPoint Flashcards

OpenCards was born from the idea of using PowerPoint files as flashcard sets. The slide title is presented as a question and the slide content is presented as the answer.

Markdown Flashcards

Building on the idea to use .ppt files as flashcard sets, OpenCards has been extended to also support markdown files as flashcard sets. The scheme is the same: sections are questions and section content are answers.

The advantages of using markdown to organize your flashcards are:

• Plain text format which can be version controlled with git
• Better editing power
• Allows users to mix documentation with questions and answers. OpenCards will by default just consider section that end with a "?" as flashcards. This can be changed in the preferences (->Advanced)
• Better support for equations (e.g. using MathJax)
• Easier programmatic creation of flashcard sets from content
• Faster because it works without reading the tough binary .ppt format
• More web-friendly since markdown can be converted to HTML within the browser

Example:

## What is a blocking factor?


A blocking factor is a source of variability that is not of primary interest to
the experimenter

## What is a factorial design?

-   factorial design is used to evaluate two or more factors simultaneously.
-   The treatments are combinations of levels of the factors.
–   more efficient – allow interactions to be detected.
-   Nice example in V&R:p165


## What is the code snippet to do XX?

The code snippet is

```
fancy code here
```

## General Overview
 
Since Opencards just treats sections with titles ending with ?  as questions we
can even mix documentation with questions and answers.
                         
                    

Concept of OpenCards

There are many flashcard learning applications available. Some of them implement fancy learning techniques, some of them look very polished, but almost all of them lack of one essential feature: Flexible, intuitive flashcard creation. In most cases they support simple text cards only. Here we tried to overcome this limitation by building an easy-to-use flashcard learning solution around two of the most popular file-formats: PowerPoint Presentations (.ppt files) and MarkDown (.md files).

OpenCards basically provides two essential ingredients for successful learning.

1. A powerful categorization view to organize your flashcard sets.
2. Two learning modes to serve different needs.
   • A long term memorization mode which presents flashcards in optimal spacing. It is based on a powerful flashcard scheduler that knows when you show review which flashcard.
     This mode is the heart of OpenCards and the most efficient way to memorize knowledge in the long-term.
   • A last-minute mode that allows to quickly cram huge amounts of cards in preparation for exams. However, be warned that item learned in such a fashion will not last long in your head.