FAQ: Advanced authoring with SuperMemo 2000 |
Writing collections
such as Advanced English is easy!
You can determine the priority of
elements
You can import sound files directly to the sound
registry
You can import many GIF files at once
You can search for an image
You can transfer a template from one collection
to another
You can add a sound recorder
It is possible to change the element background
color in many elements at once
You and your wife can jointly expand the same
collection
You can memorize chess positions with chess font
You can globally change the layout of components
Title may differ from the question text
You can merge collections
Transferring elements from one collection to another should retain the learning process
Component order may determine how the
titles are generated
You can use mind-maps with SuperMemo
Automatic question-answer swapping is rarely applicable and hence not implemented
You can display a pop-up message by means of scripts
Captions cannot use a customized font
You do not need to understand registries
Writing collections
such as Advanced English is easy!
(Boris
Milikic, Slovenia, Nov
27, 1999)
Question:
Is there a quick guide to build collections such as
Advanced English? I have the hierarchy and contents on paper
Answer:
See: User's Guide. The most important things to learn in the beginning are:
You can determine the priority of
elements
Question:
I keep material of different learning priority in my collection.
Can SuperMemo help me pay more attention to high priority material?
Answer:
Yes. You should reduce the value of the forgetting index
for high-priority material (forgetting index is a proportion of items not remembered
during repetitions). In the contents
window select the item or node
that you want to have higher priority and choose Process branch : Forgetting index :
Set forgetting index on the pop-up menu. Forgetting index
is 10% by default and can be set to 3-5% for high-priority material or only to 20% for
least important branches of the knowledge tree. You can
also set the forgetting index in a subset of elements with Process browser : Forgetting
index : Set forgetting index on browser's pop-up menu. Read: Using
forgetting index
You can import sound files directly to the sound
registry
(Keith Gibson, USA, Sep
3, 1997)
Question:
How can I introduce a sound file directly into the sound registry?
Answer:
Choose Import files on sound registry pop-up menu.
To open the registry with Search : Sound, you
need at least one sound stored there
You can import many GIF files at once
(Christian Roessel, Germany,
July 21, 1998)
Question:
In my collection I
have a template that consists of two image components. And I have a large number of GIFs, numbered 1.gif,
2.gif, 3.gif, etc. Is it possible to import 1.gif to the first image component, 2.gif two
the second, 3.gif to the first of the next item on and so on?
Answer:
Not exactly. You will have to rename your images to a1.gif, b1.gif, a2.gif, b2.gif. Then
go to the first item to which you want to add those files and choose File : Tools : Import : Multimedia files. All elements that do not have corresponding images will be ignored
and relevant files will be skipped
You can search for an image
(David Mckenzie, New Zealand, Apr 8, 1998)
Question:
How to search for an element that contains no text (only an
image)?
Answer:
Use Search : Image. With Ctrl+F or
Ctrl+S you can search for the image name or you can simply scroll to the image in
question. Then press Ctrl+B to list all elements using the selected image
You can transfer a template from one collection
to another
(Marcin Piekarniak, Poland, Dec 2, 1997)
Question:
How to transfer a template between collections?
Answer:
Use Template : Save to file and Template : Load from file on
the element pop-up menu. To save the new template in the template
registry, use Template : Save as template. Read more: Using templates
You can add a sound recorder
(Gabor Schmera, USA, Dec 13, 1997)
Question:
How do I add a recorder component to my items (as it is done in Advanced English 97)?
Answer:
Add a sound component and check Sound : Panel : Recorder on this pop-up menu
It is possible to change the element background
color in many elements at once
(Tomasz
Chudy, Poland, Oct 17, 1998)
Question:
How can I globally change the color of element background in the whole collection?
Answer:
You could accomplish that by defining a one-color background image (Tools :
Options : SuperMemo : Default background image). Background image must
be in BMP format
If you use question-and-answer templates throughout your collection or if you use other uniform templates, you can also try the following algorithm:
You and your wife can jointly expand the same
collection
(Brian Canova, USA, Aug
28, 1998)
Question:
Me and my wife use Medical Biology collection. How can we both add new elements and synchronize our efforts so that we both get the
elements introduced by one another?
Answer:
SuperMemo does not have any nice mechanisms for real-time sharing data between students.
However, there is a rather complex algorithm you might use. Please try this out only if
you are an advanced user of SuperMemo:
You can transfer whole collections or individual branches with Tools : Transfer branch on the contents pop-up menu in the contents window
You can memorize chess positions with chess font
(Lloyd M. Uhler Jr, Jun 12, 1998)
Question:
I have fonts for Chess and might want to use
SuperMemo to remember Chess Positions. Can I import material created in MS Word?
Answer:
Try using the OLE component
You can globally change the layout of components
(Doug Edmunds,
USA, Nov 4, 1997)
Question:
How can I globally change the layout of question, answer, font, background color, etc.
Answer:
Do as follows:
Important! Only plain text components use font objects. If your template uses rich text components, the original font will be retained. To quickly change fonts in question-answer items, redefine the Classic template or its copy
Title may differ from the question text
(Ryszard Kosowicz, Krakow,
Poland, May 16, 1997)
Question:
Why does not SuperMemo automatically change the title when I edit the question part of the
item?
Answer:
It does it only if both texts are identical. Sometimes the author of the collection might wish to keep the too different. To update the
title press Alt+T and Enter (this will
open Title window and propose to use the first default text as
the title)
Component order may determine how the
titles are generated
(Krzysztof Morawski, Poland, Dec 28, 1998)
Question:
I am learning Norwegian. Until recently, SuperMemo has
automatically chosen appropriate titles for my elements;
however, for some time now, it has been choosing Norsk as the title for all
elements (Norsk is a text included in a text component displayed as a label on
each page). How can I make SuperMemo choose the right title (in my case, Polish word used
as the question)?
Answer:
SuperMemo will automatically generate the title from the first text component
in the component order. Your Norsk component is clearly first in the component
order in your template. Choose Component order on the element menu and drag the component with your question text to the
first position. Then choose OK and save your element in a new template
(choose the same template name as before, i.e. default item template name)
Captions cannot use a customized font
(Adam, Australia, Mon, May 14, 2001 4:04)
Question:
I noticed that when I use a pinyin font
(romanized Chinese) it is not recognized in the element title. It shows ASCII codes in place of special characters
Answer:
It is not possible the change Windows system font used in captions programmatically. You can either ignore caption titles (they do not take part in the learning process) or use an appropriate national version of Windows.
For SuperMemo to utilize the appropriate font, you have to choose it for display in
Contents (use Customize : Font on the pop-up
menu). SuperMemo will use this font throughout wherever applicable
You can display a pop-up message by means of scripts
(facep2b,
USA, Tuesday, July 17, 2001 3:45 PM)
Question:
Is there a way to have my question and answer elements and have a pop-up text box that is hidden unless I click on a button?
Answer:
You could, for example, try to use the
MESSAGE command in scripts
You can merge collections
(Vit Usela, Czech Republic, Nov
2, 1999)
Question:
I have separate collections for learning English, German and French. Won't merging
these collections as advised in your FAQ not produce excessive confusion? What is the
simplest way to merge?
Answer:
Automatic question-answer swapping is rarely applicable and hence not implemented (#5895)
(Patrik Nilsson, Tuesday, July 24, 2001 9:27 AM)
Question:
Is there any way to define a component both as question and answer? Instead of creating multiple items? For example, if I have a molecule: Ask for its name through showing its structure and next time show its name and I should know its structure?
Answer:
No. Both
suggested elements should have a separate learning process. For this reason, you need to create a duplicate. You will probably discover that a plain swap name-picture is rarely an efficient way of formulating your questions. Many of such created items will become very difficult to remember. You will have to develop individual strategies for dealing with difficult material (e.g. answering questions about individual components of the molecule instead of the whole molecule at once). This is why a simple swap of the question with the answer is rarely a workable solution
You do not need to understand registries
(Tomasz P. Szynalski, Monday, July 30, 2001 6:59 AM)
Question:
Why does SuperMemo force me to care whether a font is in the registry?
Answer:
You do not need to use
registries. Registries can be helpful if you want to define and name your own font. Later you can find this font's definition by its name. The same is true with other objects such as images or scripts. Registries make it easy to name objects, reuse them and search for them (including incremental search). If you give up registries, you give up this functionality. Similarly, indexing service in Windows makes it easy to search the content of your hard disk. It is entirely optional, but it is also worth learning
You can use mind-maps with SuperMemo (#6029)
(Pascal Heimlicher, Switzerland, Tue, Aug 07, 2001 1:53 AM)
Question:
Is there a possibility to learn with mindmaps I've created in MindManager. Where
can I find a description?
Answer:
If you would like to use mindmaps editable with Mind Manager via OLE, use OLE
component. You can also export mindmaps as graphic files and used them with
image components. Some of users on this new Yahoo
eGroup use Mind Manager. You could share the experience or simply browse
their messages. Remember to turn off the Scaled parameter in your template
(on the element menu)
Transferring elements from one collection to another should retain the learning process (#6037)
(Jens Buurgaard Nielsen, Denmark, Saturday, August 04, 2001 5:42 PM)
Question:
I recently transferred elements from one of my collections to another. In SuperMemo 98, I had a warning that the first day in the old collection was older than that in the new collection, and that the old first day would be deleted. In
SuperMemo 2000, I did not get this warning, and I now wonder if everything is ok?
Answer:
To save space, all dates in SuperMemo are kept relative to the first day of the learning process. For this reason, a collection cannot keep two values of the first day. Once you transfer elements from one collection to another, the first day setting of the source collection is ignored (i.e. not "deleted"). This warning will not appear if the new collection has no elements memorized (i.e. the learning process has not started). There has been no change in that respect between SuperMemo 98 and SuperMemo 2000