ABC of templates, styles and concepts

Problem

m. suggested:

I am your biggest fan! However, after many years of SuperMemo, I still do not understand templates. I was just about to learn about categories when you introduced concepts. I don't even mention fonts, styles and other detail. I use incremental reading and rely on formatting as imported from the web. My collection looks like a chaos of 50,000 items. Each is different. I think you should create some simple video for dummies about templates and concepts. I do not even know how to explain the problem, but your menus and options are totally counterintuitive.

My problem is that I have an exam in 10 months, and I want to have 3 branches, 3 concepts, 3 templates, 3 fonts, etc. I already dread the hassle. If I do not separate my subjects visually and physically, I won't be able to manage my preparations effectively. I want to have separate strategies and statistics. I might create 3 collections, but this is awful for motivation. I want to make my repetitions in the morning, as you recommend, and have visual separation between my subject areas.

Thank you

Answer

Please see this video.

Here are the steps:

• create 3 branches in the contents window (use buttons Add or Insert at the bottom of the window)

• convert branches to concepts (e.g. with Ctrl+K)

• repeat for each concept the procedure of setting up concept template as explained below (3 times in your case)

This is the procedure for customizing concepts:

• in the concept box choose a concept (use the anchor button to set the concept as the default concept)

• use Add new to add an item

• use Template : Save as default on the element menu to save the default template for the concept (e.g. Biology template for Biology concept)
• change properties of the template (e.g. color, style, font, sizes of components, types of components, etc.)

The procedure for customizing templates:

• to change the color, choose Color on the element menu

• to change the font, use Text : style : New style on the component menu (in plain text components, you should use Text : Font options instead)

• to reuse a font, use Text : style : Link style

Difficult SuperMemo

Your problems are not unusual. SuperMemo is pretty streamlined for proficient learning, however, it is rather counterintuitive at most "first step" procedures. These are the things you do once before you invest months in learning. Those are the steps that are not well optimized for speed and access. You are right that it is pretty annoying to do Text : style : Link style : Font on a deeply nested menu. Those rarely used procedures are not listed in the commander despite the fact that commander commands are "customer driven". The good news that once you do those basic steps, things should go smooth from there.