[Contents]
[Next: How to create a category]
Start up supermemo. In the main window, you'll see a button marked "Contents". Push it. See the window that pops up?
That's the "Contents" window--of course. The contents window shows you everything in your knowledge base, in a "tree" layout. It should look familiar to you: it's very similar to the display in Windows Explorer or in any program's file browser. The main difference is that it doesn't have any "folder" icons (which I think it should--but that's another discussion). The contents window is illustrated below.
As you can see, the contents window lets you organize your knowledge into a "knowledge tree". I have a branch for C++ programming, another for articles I'm reading using the incremental reading feature, another for Java which you can't see, and others besides.
Unfortunately, if you noodle around with Supermemo you will quickly discover there's a gotcha or two.
The first thing you'll notice is that there's no such thing as a "folder". If you want, you can make anything the "child" of anything else. You can make one question the child of another question, like this:
Now that's a crazy thing for you to do. And it's a positively frightening concept, I think. But you'd better get used to it! It means that "moving" knowledge around in the contents window doesn't do what you think it does, because you keep thinking that you're moving things from one "folder" to another. You're not.
The fact is, Supermemo doesn't care at all where you put things. The contents window is purely for your use. If you move things around, you're doing it for your own convenience, and Supermemo isn't paying any attention. Well, Supermemo sorta pays attention; it will do some sensible things which I'll explain later. But remember the cardinal rule:
Moving items in the contents window is for your convenience: it doesn't "do" anything!
Enter Categories
That's where categories come in. Supermemo allows you to create "categories", and to assign items to the category of your choice. All of my C++ questions, for example, are in my "C++" category. My Java questions are in the "Java" category. Articles are in the "Article" category. You get the idea.
But the thing you need to know is: categories are not folders! If you move a question from "C++" to "Java" in the Contents window, then that does not change the category of the question! The contents window provides one way to organize your knowledge, and categories provide another way--and they are completely separate (or, as a computer nerd might say, they are orthogonal).
If you want to see what category a question belongs to, you need to look at the question's properties. Type Shift-Ctrl-P and you'll see a property window for the current element. It looks like this:
Notice the highlighted field, which shows that this question belongs to my "C++ Programming" category. I can click on the drop-down menu and change the category for this question. If I do, supermemo will move the question to another place in the contents window, depending on which category I select. But if I go to the contents window and move the item myself, Supermemo will not change the item's category.
Summary
Supermemo organizes knowledge in two separate ways. The category window gives you an 'explorer' or 'tree-style' view of your knowledge. Categories give another way of grouping related knowledge together. But the two concepts are separate, and you'll get yourself into trouble if you confuse them.
