Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

Discussions around the Android version of the Gospel Library application.
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zoomiest
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Where are the color marking options?

#21

Post by zoomiest »

Where are the color marking options, when I tag a scripture? They used to be included in the interface.

First feedback: so glad that the Church continues to invest in this app. I love it. However this new interface will take some time to get used to.
lajackson
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Re: Where are the color marking options?

#22

Post by lajackson »

zoomiest wrote:However this new interface will take some time to get used to.
Yes, as always. My bug will be the updating of bookmarks, which I use extensively for reading. Before, if you opened something through the bookmark, there was an Update Bookmark function right at the top. Now, I have to scroll down through my bookmarks and find it again, click the three-dot menu, and select Update.

Not to mention that the bookmark menu moved from the bottom left to the top right, so it is a two-handed operation now.
lmcguire
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Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#23

Post by lmcguire »

sbradshaw wrote:
lmcguire wrote:Even with the new "Related Content" pinned, it does not scroll with content like the old footnote pane used to.
We were hoping to get this completed in time for the update, but we had to push it off if we were going to get the update out (and still have time to respond to major issues) before Christmas. This will be fully functioning in the next release (4.1). I think we were able to get it in for Android 6 and 7 devices, but auto scrolling for older devices is still in progress.
lmcguire wrote:I worry about the missing "subscribe" option - if I download everything am I automatically subscribed, or do I have to manually choose "download all" every now and then to ensure I'm getting the latest content?
This is on our list, though not on a clear roadmap yet.
lmcguire wrote:Also, there's no longer a way to view all highlights - only the ones that are either tagged or in a notebook. If you had highlights that were neither tagged nor in a notebook, you cannot pull up a list of them in the app.
You can see all your annotations, including plain highlights, under Notes > Recent (from the main library).
lmcguire wrote:Finally, you can no longer choose the font type face (serif vs sans serif) to use - the app decides for you, ignoring all the research about on-screen fonts vs in-print fonts. I don't care about branding or styling, I care about my eyesight. :(
There are several reasons for this, and branding is definitely one of them. With the new HTML5 content format, each department that produces a book or manual is able to have stylistic control, to keep the visual branding consistent between Gospel Library, LDS.org, and in print. See, for example, Preach My Gospel – serif, sans-serif, font colors, boxes with background colors and curved borders, etc. This type of rich content wasn't possible before, and as it is it would make for a poor experience if the fonts could be switched out programmatically without also redesigning the layout of the elements on the page. It's arguably a better experience on high-resolution phones, but of course in lower resolution (which still represents a lot of users) is where the serif vs. sans-serif debate comes into play.

Switching fonts is still on the list of items being considered, but it would require some creativity and a lot of custom CSS to make sure everything still displays well across the board. We have gotten a lot of feedback about it, so we'll see if they decide to make it a priority...
1) Good to know, but it my experience, that means the feature might be available next Christmas. What is is, and I understand the limitations they're working under, just stating facts, so I'll still be side-loading rather than waiting.

2) I could deal with manual "download all" (even for a year).

3) Interesting - cuz my untagged stuff is most certainly not "recent" - so maybe they should have rethunk that label.... (And holy cow, could they not give us a collapsed option to save scrolling time?! We used to have options to view collapsed / expanded. Holy cow. I click one to look at it, then go back to the list, and I'm back at the top. Ack. Ugh. There's no way to click on one of my tag / note things in the "Related Content" pane and have it emphasize the corresponding highlight in the text, so there's no way to tell which item in the "Related Content" pane goes with which highlight - the "Related Content" pane no longer shows the color of the highlight. I am _so_ going back. This whole "Related Content" thing stinks (sorry guys, but it's useless to me now). I also can't pin it in portrait - annoying, but tolerable if not for the rest.

I truly appreciate all the info you are providing, and I really am very grateful for the Gospel Library app, and I hope they are able to restore the old footnote functionality, but in the meantime, I'm going back to the tool that let me actually study.
lmcguire
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Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#24

Post by lmcguire »

In my experience, any app that does a major revision change (first number in the revision numbering) does this.
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sbradshaw
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Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#25

Post by sbradshaw »

lmcguire wrote:
sbradshaw wrote:This will be fully functioning in the next release (4.1). I think we were able to get it in for Android 6 and 7 devices, but auto scrolling for older devices is still in progress.
Good to know, but it my experience, that means the feature might be available next Christmas.
Release history would definitely suggest that, but never fear – you can expect a patch release with minor changes and bug fixes sometime in January. :) I expect that auto scrolling on all devices will make it in by then.
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
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sbradshaw
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Re: Where are the color marking options?

#26

Post by sbradshaw »

zoomiest wrote:Where are the color marking options, when I tag a scripture?
When you select/highlight text, the annotation bar appears at the top of the screen. The "A" icon in the annotation bar has a dropdown to choose styles. The dropdown shows recent styles, or you can click the palette icon to see all styles.
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
HarveyJM
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Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#27

Post by HarveyJM »

hi there,

i just migrated to 4.0 and all my notes and stuff came over but my footnotes didnt. is there anyway to get them to sync from the old version to this one?

cheers
lmcguire
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Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#28

Post by lmcguire »

HarveyJM wrote:hi there,

i just migrated to 4.0 and all my notes and stuff came over but my footnotes didnt. is there anyway to get them to sync from the old version to this one?

cheers
Harvey,

It's called "Related Content" now, and you can open the pane by either tapping on a word that's got a footnote, or using the menu button and choosing "Related Content". To pin the pane open, and have it not covering the main content, you have to be in landscape mode, then the "Related Content" pane has it's own menu with a "pin" option.

If no words are showing footnotes, it could be that in the "Settings" you've got Hide Footnotes or Hide Annotations on.

FWIW,

Liz
peter.robison
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Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#29

Post by peter.robison »

The listen feature no longer lists text-to-speech as an option. Anyone figured out a way to use text-to-speech to listen to content, or has that feature been completely removed? If so, that's a real loss, I used it a lot when driving in areas without mobile data coverage or trying to limit mobile data consumption.
stullv
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Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:39 am

Re: Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

#30

Post by stullv »

I just downloaded the Book of Mormon audio to my Android device because when my library was automatically updated all my audio that was in the android/data/org.lds.ldsa/files/1/media file is now gone. (So is the directory). We're does this version store the audio files when you download it. I can not find them. I saw the download occur but they don't show up in recent downloads or any place else I have looked.?
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