why why why do we not have good flashcard software?
I'm not the biggest flashcard maniac, but there have been times in my life where they have proven very useful; learning a new language, learning physics concepts and equations to help make more topics more "automatic" in my brain etc.
Every time I consider picking the flashcard habit up again, I hit a wall just looking at Anki and its website. The design is like something a UK hospital would use 30 years ago, I imagine some people must like it, but design aside, the actual act of making flashcards is like chewing glass. It gets even worse if you have a slightly more complex card than just text and text; I've used LaTeX in the past and that was a nightmare, or images/sounds combinations etc.
It's 2025 and you might say "okay great than use an OSS solution!" Alright sure, where? I know about Mochi (not OSS), and some random ones on the app store that I tried out of desperation but most of them fall into the same pitfalls as Anki.
The only list of requirements:
- looks nice
- syncs well
- has a modern backend that doesn't shit itself with basic filetypes
- doesn't require 20x more effort to make a card than it should
I shall continue looking. If you ever find one, please do contact me @sashaaldrick on X.