Added recommendations on how to use the answer buttons

[Expertium]

Closes https://github.com/ankitects/anki-manual/issues/260

[brishtibheja]

I was wanting to do this eventually, but in a different way:

1. Remove the topics about how grades are chosen.
2. Retain these paragraphs somewhere:

   See Deck Options and the FAQ to learn more about how the algorithm works. You can use the 1, 2, 3 and 4 keys on your keyboard to select a particular button, where 1 is Again. Pressing Space or Enter will select Good.

3. Name the current topic "Grading cards".

[Expertium]

Retain these paragraphs somewhere

The problem is - where?

[dae]

I'm reasonably happy with what these changes are trying to convey, but feel the wording could still be better. For example, how about changing the start of the section to remove the current intro, and using something like:

• The Good button marks your answer as correct. You'll typically use this button about 90% of the time.
• The Again button marks your answer as incorrect. You'll typically use this button about 10% of the time.

Hard and Easy marks your answer as correct, and tells Anki to be more or less aggressive when scheduling that card in the future. This can result in more efficient scheduling for cards that are uncommonly hard or easy, but some users feel that the extra time taken to decide on an answer button is not worth it. If you decide to use these buttons, you should expect to be using them about 5-10% of the time. If you find yourself marking the majority of your cards as Hard, you should probably be using the Good button instead.

[Expertium]

1) Ok, no intro. 2) I disagree about percentages, since they imply a fixed retention rate. Let's not use percentages. 3) No "tells Anki to be more or less aggressive when scheduling" or "more efficient scheduling". Dae, please understand, this has to be as beginner-friendly as possible. Imagine that you are trying to explain this stuff to your grandma.

[dae]

The reason why I think we might want percentages is they give users a ballpark figure for what's reasonable - if they find themselves using Hard 50% of the time, that's clearly a lot different to 5%. I'm aware there'll be some individual variation, but still feel that 'about 90%' and 'about 5%' might be more useful than providing no guidance whatsoever.

Dae, please understand, this has to be as beginner-friendly as possible. Imagine that you are trying to explain this stuff to your grandma.

The tone I was going for was 'you don't need to use these buttons, but if you wish to, here's what they do'. I don't think you can avoid talking about what they do completely, but perhaps this could be reworded so such users don't feel the need to read further.

[Expertium]

Alright, how about this?

---

• Again should be pressed if your answer is incorrect. If your answer is partially correct, you should be strict with yourself: if it would count as a fail outside of Anki, then it counts as a fail in Anki as well. You'll typically use this button about 5-15% of the time.

• Hard should be pressed if your answer is correct, but you had doubts about it or if you made a minor, non-critical mistake.

• Good should be pressed if your answer is correct, but it took some mental effort to recall it. When Anki is used properly, this should be the most commonly used button. You'll typically use this button about 85-95% of the time.

• Easy should be pressed if your answer is correct and it took no mental effort to recall it.

Simply put, press Again if your answer is completely incorrect, and press Hard, Good, or Easy if your answer is correct. If you don't feel confident in your ability to decide precisely how difficult a card is, you can only use Again and Good, which is a perfectly valid way of using Anki.

[dae]

I'm ok with that wording. I personally think listing hard/easy further below and/or mentioning 2 buttons are valid further above might also be worth doing, but it's not a blocker.

[dae]

Simply put, press Again if your answer is completely incorrect, and press Hard, Good, or Easy if your answer is correct.

This still leaves open questions about 'how incorrect is incorrect', and might risk encouraging users to use hard on partially-forgotten material.

[Expertium]

Listing Hard and Easy separately would be weird.

This still leaves open questions about 'how incorrect is incorrect'

I'd love to write an entire paragraph about 'how incorrect is incorrect', but the whole purpose of this section is to be clear and easy to understand. What wording would you use?

[dae]

Perhaps it would be better not to talk about minor/non-critical mistakes? E.g.

---

Hard should be pressed if your answer is correct, but you had doubts about it or if you made a minor, non-critical mistake.

Hard should be pressed if your answer is correct, but took a long time to recall.

Simply put, press Again if your answer is completely incorrect, and press Hard, Good, or Easy if your answer is correct.

Simply put, press Again if your answer was not completely correct, and press Hard, Good, or Easy otherwise.

---

I think if we mention them, it might encourage the use of Hard when material has not been properly recalled.

[dae]

Thank you!

[brishtibheja]

Any issues with removing algorithmic information from here and link people to here and here instead ?

Explaining this doesn't make sense if people don't read deck options section.