I’ve posted this before but giving it another shot in the hope that it would be implemented.
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Yes. Currently, in:
Cards mode - suspended cards are highlighted in yellow, and unsuspended cards are not highlighted. This is not intuitive
Notes mode - there is no highlighting depicting whether all, some, or none of the cards within a note are suspended/unsuspended. Therefore, there is no way to visually tell the above
Describe the solution you’d like
Assuming Green intuitively means good, included in learning, go, etc
Assuming Yellow intuitively means partial state
Assuming Red intuitively means stop, none, etc
Cards mode
When a card is suspended, then highlight with Red
When a card is unsuspended, then highlight with Green
Notes mode
When all cards within a note are suspended, then highlight the note with Red
When some of the cards within a note are suspended/unsuspended, then highlight the note with Yellow
When all cards within a note are unsuspended, then highlight the note with Green
Describe alternatives you’ve considered
As it stands, when in Notes mode, the only way to know if a note is suspended/unsuspended to not by mistake suspend/unsuspend it while using the keyboard shortcut is to either use the right button of the mouse and go into the options to see if it is suspended or unsuspended. Or, going back into the Cards mode to see if it is suspended/unsuspended
In Cards mode, I always forget what the yellow or no-highlighting states mean (have to use mouse to go into options to see if a card is suspended/unsuspended
White background for black text is more neutral than green background for black text.
Yellow background for black text is more neutral than red background for black text.
I’ve posted this before twice but have a better idea this time around so giving it another shot in the hope that it would be implemented.
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Yes. Currently, in:
Cards mode - suspended cards are highlighted in yellow, and unsuspended cards are not highlighted. This is not intuitive
Notes mode - there is no highlighting depicting whether all, some, or none of the cards within a note are suspended/unsuspended. Therefore, there is no way to visually tell the above
Describe the solution you’d like
Solution 1 (for people who use and don’t use flags)
Given that:
flags have many (7) color options,
some users use flags only some users use suspend/unsuspend only and some users use both, and
unsuspended/suspended cards have only 2 color states (yellow and no highlighting)
would it be possible for any type of of the above user types to be able to modify the flag colors to make the following colors available to use for suspend/unsuspend highlighting:
Assuming Green intuitively means good, included in learning, go, etc
Assuming Yellow intuitively means partial state
Assuming Red intuitively means stop, none, etc
Cards mode
When a card is suspended, then highlight with Red
When a card is unsuspended, then highlight with Green
Notes mode
When all cards within a note are suspended, then highlight the note with Red
When some of the cards within a note are suspended/unsuspended, then highlight the note with Yellow
When all cards within a note are unsuspended, then highlight the note with Green
Solution 2
Add option for “suspended/unsuspended status” column
Describe alternatives you’ve considered
As it stands, when in Notes mode, the only way to know if a note is suspended/unsuspended to not by mistake suspend/unsuspend it while using the keyboard shortcut is to either use the right button of the mouse and go into the options to see if it is suspended or unsuspended. Or, going back into the Cards mode to see if it is suspended/unsuspended
In Cards mode, I always forget what the yellow or no-highlighting states mean (have to use mouse to go into options to see if a card is suspended/unsuspended
Since you seem to be receptive to feedback about this, I’ll toss a few thoughts your way.
You’re saying “highlighted” – but really aren’t they just yellow? They aren’t “highlighted” any more than buried cards, flagged cards, or marked notes are. And in dark mode – which you are using – it’s a very pale yellow [#fef9c3], so it looks more tan to me.
Green and red already have firmly established meanings in Anki. Not only are they already used in the Browse window as flag colors – but they also stand for Review state and Learn/Relearn state. I don’t think it would make sense to reuse them for this purpose.
I’d also dispute that yellow intuitively means a “partial state” of something. I think a more typical interpretation would be alert or caution – asking someone to notice a difference – exactly what you’d want for suspended cards, since it’s the non-standard state for a card to be in. [Thinking of suspended as the non-standard state might help you with your issues remembering as well.]
It can be hard to support users who don’t understand much about Anki, but it would be much harder if there were a readily available way for them to change the color of everything from its default meaning. At least now they have to be advanced enough to have installed and customized an add-on before I have to worry about that – and I can always tell them they need to disable the add-on in their screenshots. [Speaking of – are you sure there isn’t already a display-mod add-on that will do a lot of this?]
Because every card (and every note, under your model) is either suspended or unsuspended, you’re proposing to have every single line of the table colored. So on top of the above considerations, you’ll end up with a table that is really hard to look at.
Since flags and marks override the coloring from suspended, you still wouldn’t get any visual indicator of suspended/unsuspended on those cards/notes, so this might not turn out be as universally standard as you are hoping.
There’s no reason to go digging to verify that in Cards mode. You can see it at a glance on the Due column. Anything with the date or New # in parentheses is suspended (or buried, but then it would be a different color).
How can I visually know when all, some, none of the cards in a note are suspended or unsuspended? (without having to go back and forth between Notes and Cards modes)
I was responding there specifically about your concern that you can’t tell which cards are suspended in Cards mode.
But you should also look at what the available columns already show in Notes mode. For instance, the Due column will be blank in certain circumstances – including when all of the cards are suspended. You may be able to find some suitable proxies for the things you’re looking for.
I don’t believe any of the available columns would tell me anything about the suspended/unsuspended status of the cards within a note while in Notes mode. Am I hiding a column and/or overlooking the data within a column that could give me a hint on the suspended/unsuspended status? Also, what do you mean by “You may be able to find some suitable proxies for the things you’re looking for”?
I gave you one example – in Notes mode, the Due column shows (see the link):
The due date for the note’s next due review or (re)learning card that is not suspended, buried or in a filtered deck.
I’m suggesting that you look at what data is currently available, and test it out against the situations where you are trying to get easier access to the information. You might be able to find “close enough” information (a “proxy”) for what you’re looking for.
If not, then you’ve made your proposal about how the app could change to make this information more readily available/visible for you. I think it’s a fairly niche request, with a lot of possible workarounds and keyboard shortcuts (even if you don’t like them) – and as I detailed above, it is likely to cause confusion for others. It’s certainly not up to me, but I would speculate that it’s unlikely to be implemented. You might as well use all of the options you’ve got already to make things work for you.
The due date for the note’s next due review or (re)learning card that is not suspended , buried or in a filtered deck
This is not reliable (doesn’t provide consistent results, as both suspended and unsuspended cards don’t show a date)
it is likely to cause confusion for others.
How does Solution 2/adding an option for “suspended/unsuspended status” column in Notes mode cause confusion for others if others can choose to not have it visible/as part of their columns?
At least now they have to be advanced enough to have installed and customized an add-on before I have to worry about that – and I can always tell them they need to disable the add-on in their screenshots. [Speaking of – are you sure there isn’t already a display-mod add-on that will do a lot of this?]