Improve Web App Functionality

Expand the functionality of the web app to include features such as card editing, deck creation, and studying. Ensure that all features available on the mobile app are also accessible on the web app.

Priority Score

Quick estimate for initial prioritization

1.0B-Tier

Effort

7/10

Time Estimate

1.5-2 months

Decompose Web App Feature Set

The core task is to bring parity to the web app with the mobile app's functionality. This involves several distinct modules:

Card Management: Editing existing cards (title, content, tags), deleting cards.
Deck Management: Creating new decks, editing deck names/descriptions, deleting decks.
Studying Module: Implementing the spaced repetition study session logic on the web.
UI/UX Parity: Ensuring the web interface mirrors the mobile experience in terms of navigation and feature accessibility.
Backend Integration: Ensuring all new frontend actions are correctly persisted and retrieved via the API.

Estimate Backend Development Effort

The backend needs to support the new CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations for cards and decks, plus the study session logic.

Card CRUD endpoints: Update (editing), Delete. Assuming existing 'create' and 'read' logic, this involves modifying existing models/services and adding new API endpoints. Estimate: 2 engineers * 1 day/engineer = 2 days.
Deck CRUD endpoints: Create, Edit, Delete. Similar to cards, requiring new endpoints and potentially modifications to deck models. Estimate: 2 engineers * 1 day/engineer = 2 days.
Study Session Logic: Adapting the existing spaced repetition algorithm to a web context. This might involve session management and state persistence. Estimate: 2 engineers * 2 days/engineer = 4 days.

Total Backend Estimate: 2 + 2 + 4 = 8 days of focused engineering work.

Estimate Frontend Development Effort

The frontend requires new components and integration with the updated backend.

Card Editing UI: A modal or inline editing interface for card content, including rich text support if applicable. Estimate: 1 engineer * 3 days.
Deck Management UI: Components for creating, viewing, and managing decks (list view, creation form, deletion confirmation). Estimate: 1 engineer * 3 days.
Study Session UI: Implementing the flashcard display, answer reveal, rating/feedback mechanism, and session progress tracking. Estimate: 1 engineer * 4 days.
Integration & Refinement: Connecting all new components to the backend APIs, handling loading/error states, and ensuring responsiveness. Estimate: 1 engineer * 2 days.

Total Frontend Estimate: 3 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 12 days of focused engineering work.

Estimate Testing, QA, and Buffer

Comprehensive testing is crucial for a good user experience, especially for core learning functionality.

Unit & Integration Testing: Writing tests for both backend logic (CRUD operations, algorithm accuracy) and frontend components (form validation, state changes, API interactions). Estimate: ~4 days of work spread across developers.
End-to-End (E2E) Testing: Simulating user flows for card management, deck creation, and study sessions across different browsers/devices. Estimate: ~3 days for QA or dedicated test engineer.
Bug Fixing & Refinement: Allocating time for addressing issues found during testing. Estimate: ~3 days.
Project Management & Overhead: Including time for planning, code reviews, and deployment coordination. Estimate: ~2 days.

Total Ancillary Effort: 4 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 12 days.

Aggregate Effort and Derive Time Estimate

Summing the estimates from backend, frontend, and ancillary tasks:

Backend: 8 days
Frontend: 12 days
Testing/QA/Buffer: 12 days

Total Estimated Days: 8 + 12 + 12 = 32 days.

Assuming a standard 5-day work week and potentially parallel work streams (e.g., backend and frontend can overlap significantly), this translates to roughly 32 / 5 ≈ 6.4 weeks.

This is a substantial undertaking, involving core application features. A reasonable time estimate would be 1.5 to 2 months.

Derive Effort Score

A time estimate of 1.5 to 2 months indicates a significant project requiring multiple developers over an extended period. This involves developing core features (editing, creation, studying) and ensuring cross-platform parity. Based on the effort scale:

1-2: Trivial (hours to 1-2 days)
3-4: Small (1-2 weeks)
5-6: Medium (3-6 weeks)
7-8: Large (2-4 months)
9-10: Massive (6+ months)

This project falls squarely into the Large category. It requires significant development effort across multiple domains (backend, frontend, algorithm implementation) and extensive testing.

EFFORT SCORE = 7

Time Estimate

1.5-2 months

Decompose Web App Feature Set

The core task is to bring parity to the web app with the mobile app's functionality. This involves several distinct modules:

Card Management: Editing existing cards (title, content, tags), deleting cards.
Deck Management: Creating new decks, editing deck names/descriptions, deleting decks.
Studying Module: Implementing the spaced repetition study session logic on the web.
UI/UX Parity: Ensuring the web interface mirrors the mobile experience in terms of navigation and feature accessibility.
Backend Integration: Ensuring all new frontend actions are correctly persisted and retrieved via the API.

Impact

7/10

Revenue Proxy

Reduction in churn by ~0.5% absolute, increase in user engagement (session frequency)

Identify Primary Business Metrics

This project directly impacts user engagement and retention by enabling core functionality (editing, creation, studying) on a more convenient platform (web). This could also influence user acquisition if the web app becomes a strong entry point. The key metrics are:

User Engagement: Increased time spent in-app, frequency of use, and feature adoption (specifically card/deck management and studying).
User Retention/Churn: Providing a seamless cross-platform experience reduces friction and potential reasons for users to abandon the app, especially those who prefer desktop access.
Potential for New User Acquisition: A robust web app can attract users who primarily use desktop computers.

Estimate Scope of Problem & Opportunity

The current web app's limited functionality is a significant barrier. Users wanting to manage their cards or practice on a computer are blocked.

User Base: Assume a mobile-first app has a significant portion of users who also use or would prefer to use a desktop. Let's estimate 50% of the active user base (~100,000 MAU based on assumption) would benefit from or prefer web access for certain tasks.
Frustration Factor: Users unable to edit or create cards on the web are likely experiencing friction. The inability to practice (study) is a core function missing. This impacts users who want to dedicate focused study time away from their phones.
Opportunity: Enabling these features addresses a core user need for flexibility and convenience, potentially unlocking deeper engagement for a large segment of the user base.

Research Baseline Metrics and Benchmarks

For a freemium/ad-supported app like this, retention and engagement are paramount.

Baseline Churn: A typical mobile app might see monthly churn rates between 5-15%. Let's assume a baseline of 10% monthly churn.
Engagement Benchmarks: For learning apps, higher engagement (e.g., >3 sessions/week) correlates strongly with retention. Currently, the web app likely contributes minimally to this.
Cross-Platform Impact: Studies show apps with consistent cross-platform experiences often have higher retention rates. Enhancing a secondary platform (web) can significantly boost overall user loyalty.

Calculate Expected Improvement

By enabling full functionality on the web, we address a key gap:

Reducing Friction: Making card/deck management and studying accessible on the web directly reduces a major point of friction for users who prefer or need desktop access. This could directly prevent churn.
Retention Impact: If we assume 10% of our 100,000 MAU actively desire web access for core features, and 5% of those might churn due to the lack of it, that's 0.05 * (0.10 * 100,000) = 500 users potentially retained monthly.
Engagement Boost: A more accessible web app can increase overall session frequency. If web sessions add just 0.5 extra sessions per user per month for 10% of the user base, this is a 5% increase in total sessions (0.5 sessions * 10,000 users / 100,000 total users / avg sessions/user).

Estimated KPI Impact: Reduction in churn by ~0.5% absolute (500 users/month) and increase in overall engagement.

Derive Impact Score

The calculated impact suggests a ~0.5% absolute reduction in monthly churn and a measurable increase in user engagement. This is a significant improvement, addressing a core functional gap and catering to a substantial user segment's preference.

Comparing this to the impact scale:

1-2: Negligible
3-4: Minor
5-6: Moderate
7-8: Significant
9-10: Transformative

Preventing churn for potentially hundreds of users monthly and increasing overall engagement is a Significant benefit. It addresses a clear user pain point and unlocks the potential for deeper, more consistent usage of the app across platforms.

IMPACT SCORE = 7

Revenue Proxy

Reduction in churn by ~0.5% absolute, increase in user engagement (session frequency)

Identify Primary Business Metrics

User Engagement: Increased time spent in-app, frequency of use, and feature adoption (specifically card/deck management and studying).
User Retention/Churn: Providing a seamless cross-platform experience reduces friction and potential reasons for users to abandon the app, especially those who prefer desktop access.
Potential for New User Acquisition: A robust web app can attract users who primarily use desktop computers.

Expected Profit

Financial modeling for revenue projection

Return on Investment

347%

Internal Rate of Return

24.8%

Net Present Value

$156K

Payback Period

17/mo

Related Reviews

Can you organize it in a way so we can add folders (a container for decks)? Images can not been seen on pc version of the app. Simplicity is great but still please add a few more features.

Emrah Demirtekin·4/29/2021

Hi, team. First of all I want to say - you doing a great job, I was looking for spaced repetition app for a while and your app is the best to me for now. The app have almost all I need. Only one question are you going to add edit flashcard function to web version?

Федорова Екатерина·11/16/2020

This app has really great potential! I love making all my flashcard decks for my studies and being able to study them individually or spanning all of them. The issues I have are: 1) Sometimes it will crash at start, or while I'm making a card. 2) Would love to be able to study my cards on the site. 3) I can only add new cards or decks on the site, not edit or delete. 4) Notifications don't seem to work. 5) Formatting and foreign language makes card previews look weird.

Nicky·5/3/2020

I really love this app! It's really well designed and looks pretty. It's very easy to add cards to and gives you lots of options to add images, formatting etc. It's also handy to have a web app where you can add cards, although I'd love to see a way to practise on the web as well. I'd love to see some swipe gestures for revision and a way to share decks with friends would also be really useful, but it's already helped me a lot!

A Google user·4/1/2020

In this last update, it has become very slow to save after edit in android version. Would you add option edit and upload image in your web version?

A Google user·11/16/2019

Great app for memorization and user friendly. One thing I would like to request, however, is an improved website interface so that I can view all my cards and review on the computer.

A Google user·5/8/2019