Unleash Your Anki Potential: CSS Styling Tutorial & Examples

Ari Horesh -

Are you tired of your Anki flashcards looking bland and uninspiring? Fear not, fellow future doctors! In this article, we will dive into the wonderful world of CSS styling for Anki, providing you with a step-by-step tutorial and captivating examples. Get ready to transform your flashcards into visually engaging learning tools that make studying a breeze!

Why Should You Style Your Anki Flashcards with CSS?

Before we begin our tutorial, let's discuss the benefits of using CSS to style your Anki flashcards:

  1. Visual appeal: A well-designed flashcard is more enjoyable to study, making the learning process more engaging and fun.
  2. Enhanced memory retention: Unique visual elements can help your brain associate information with specific visuals, leading to improved recall.
  3. Better organization: Custom styling can make it easier to distinguish between different card types and subjects, simplifying your study sessions.

Now that we know the advantages of CSS styling, let's dive into our tutorial and examples!

Anki CSS Styling Tutorial: Getting Started

To begin styling your Anki flashcards, you'll need to understand the basics of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). CSS is a stylesheet language used to describe the look and formatting of a document written in HTML, which Anki uses for its flashcards.

Step 1: Access the Card Templates

First, let's access the card templates in Anki:

  1. Open Anki and select the deck you want to style.
  2. Click on the gear icon on the right and choose "Manage Note Types."
  3. Select the note type you want to edit and click "Cards."

Now you should see the card template editor, which consists of three sections: the "Front Template," "Styling," and "Back Template."

Step 2: Understand the Structure

The "Front Template" and "Back Template" sections contain the HTML code that defines the content of your flashcards. Meanwhile, the "Styling" section contains the CSS code that controls the appearance of the flashcards.

Step 3: Add CSS to the Styling Section

Now that you're familiar with the structure, it's time to add some CSS to your flashcards . Here's an example of basic CSS code to get you started:

.card {
  font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
  font-size: 24px;
  text-align: center;
  color: #333;
  background-color: #f7f7f7;
}

.cloze {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #0076c7;
}

Copy and paste this code into the "Styling" section of your card template editor. This will apply a default font, size, alignment, and colors to your flashcards.

Step 4: Customize Your CSS

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to add CSS to your Anki flashcards, it's time to customize and enhance them. Let's explore some commonly used CSS properties you can use to style your cards.

Fonts

To change the font, use the font-family property followed by the desired font name(s). Remember to include fallback fonts in case your preferred font isn't available on your device.

.card {
  font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;
}

Font Size

Adjust the font size using the font-size property with a value in px, em, or rem.

.card {
  font-size: 20px;
}

Font Style

Emphasize text using the font-style property with either "italic" or "oblique" as the value.

.emphasize {
  font-style: italic;
}

Text Alignment

Control the alignment of your text using the text-align property with values such as "left," "right," "center," or "justify."

.card {
  text-align: justify;
}

Text Color

Modify the text color using the color property, followed by a color value (hex, RGB, or named color).

.card {
  color: #4b0082;
}

Background Color

Change the background color with the background-color property, followed by a color value.

.card {
  background-color: #ffe4e1;
}

Step 5: Apply CSS Classes to HTML Elements

Now that you know how to customize your CSS, you can apply these styles to specific elements in your "Front Template" and "Back Template" sections using CSS classes. For example, if you want to emphasize a specific term, you can create a new CSS class and apply it to the corresponding HTML element.

First, add the following class to the "Styling" section:

.term {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #c70039;
}

Then, in the "Front Template" or "Back Template" section, wrap the term you want to emphasize with a <span> tag and add the class term:

<span class="term">Emphasized Term</span>

Your emphasized term will now appear with bold text and the specified color.

Anki CSS Styling Examples

Let's look at some examples of creative CSS styling for your Anki flashcards:

Example 1: Medical Terminology Flashcards

.card {
  font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
  font-size: 24px;
  text-align: center;
  color: #3d3d3d;
  background-color: #e5f5e7;
}

.term {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #1b5e20;
}

These styles create a clean look with a light green background and dark green text, perfect for medical terminology flashcards.

Example 2: Chemistry Flashcards

.card {
  font-family: 'Courier New', monospace;
  font-size: 22px;
  text-align: left;
  color: #212121;
  background-color: #e8eaf6;
}

.element {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #283593;
}

.compound {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #f44336;
}

With a subtle blue background, this styling is ideal for chemistry-related flashcards. The bold blue text highlights chemical elements, while the bold red text emphasizes chemical compounds.

Example 3: Language Learning Flashcards

.card {
  font-family: 'Georgia', serif;
  font-size: 26px;
  text-align: center;
  color: #263238;
  background-color: #fff9c4;
}

.target-language {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #1565c0;
}

.native-language {
  font-style: italic;
  color: #9e9e9e;
}

This example features a warm yellow background and is perfect for language learning flashcards. The bold blue text represents the target language, while the italicized gray text symbolizes the native language.

Example 4: Art History Flashcards

.card {
  font-family: 'Palatino', serif;
  font-size: 24px;
  text-align: justify;
  color: #3e2723;
  background-color: #efebe9;
}

.artist {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #4e342e;
}

.artwork {
  font-style: italic;
  color: #8d6e63;
}

With an elegant beige background and brown tones, this styling is well-suited for art history flashcards. The bold text highlights the artist's name, while the italicized text emphasizes the artwork's title.

Conclusion

Now that you've learned the basics of Anki CSS styling and explored some examples, it's time to unleash your creativity and design the perfect flashcards for your study needs! Remember, a visually engaging and well-organized flashcard can significantly improve your learning experience, so don't be afraid to experiment with different styles and colors. Happy studying!