Rewrite

Yesterday I just finished a rewrite of reminderer.net. The big picture change is that reminderer is almost completely ajax-driven. One page gets loaded at the beginning and from there, you can review and edit very quickly.

The scheduling is now completely automatic. But I'm not sure it's working right. Currently, it's scheduling my items to appear again in 65 days, which seems long.

XSS security with nonces

One of the problems with Ajax is that a foreign web page can include ajax calls to a service which will be executed with the user's credentials. To prevent this, ajax calls should include a nonce, an unguessable string which is associated with the user. Ajax calls without the correct nonce are ignored.

Apparently, Wordpress does the something similar: http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/improving-security-in-wordpress-plugins-using-nonces

Recent Additions

Last week I made the following improvements:

1. Styling changes to emphasize the habits or facts being reviewed;
2. Styling changes to the edit page to make it more concise and easier to read;
3. Keyboard shortcuts to show_habits page to advance, retreat, show next card, and edit; 
4. Ajax security to prevent foreign pages from accessing/modifying a user's reminderer account; and
5. Autosave and validation on edit page.

Auto-save added to edit page

Just added auto-save for the edit page.

Keyboard shortcuts added

I've added keyboard shortcuts (j=next flashcard side, n=no/defeat, y=yes/victory). I modified the jquery hotkeys library and submitted a patch.

Hacker News

I just asked for critique from the Hacker News community. Wonder what the reaction will be . . .

Pitching reminderer.net

Here's my current pitch which I will be using on Reminderer.net 's front page:

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

Samuel Johnson

English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784)

Add those things which you want to be reminded of to your reminderer, and never worry about them again.

I've gotten a lot of good advice over the years from books, presentations, personal conversations, and especially from myself. The problem is that I've failed to make the most of that advice by not building it into my life, by not internalizing it.

What's the use of reading Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" only  to forget all the great lessons in a month?

Now, whenever  I read a book or watch a presentation that I want to remember. I put the lessons I want to remember in reminderer.net. Then, as I review my reminders everyday, I begin to internalize the lessons.