New Gospel Library

Discussions about the Notes and Journal tool on LDS.org. This includes the Study Toolbar as well as the scriptures and other content on LDS.org that is integrated with Notes and Journal.
mevans
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New Gospel Library

#1

Post by mevans »

Today, when I went to the scriptures from a talk I've been studying, I received a "Welcome To The New Gospel Library" message with a quick product tour. I don't know what I think of it yet, but it's exciting to see this make an official appearance. I'm guessing it's just on the scriptures right now, as the talk I opened has the old interface.
mevans
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Re: New Gospel Library

#2

Post by mevans »

Yesterday I tried the new gospel library and found that much of it didn't work yet. All I could do was highlight. Notes and tags didn't work, nor could I see my existing notes and tags. They had a switch to go back to "classic" mode, which I did for my study. They did have a feedback popup, too. Today I don't even have the option of trying out the new stuff. Maybe they're doing random testing?
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sbradshaw
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Re: New Gospel Library

#3

Post by sbradshaw »

The online version of Gospel Library is available at https://www.lds.org/languages/eng/lib. The toggle basically just lets you switch between the two different URLs.
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
mevans
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Re: New Gospel Library

#4

Post by mevans »

Thanks for the link. It came in handy this morning, since "classic mode" notes seem to be broken for me today.

Today it looks like I can now add notes, which wasn't working two days ago. Tags still don't work.

Since the feedback popup isn't there today, I'll leave some feedback here:

The side bar with references looks good.
  • Side bar notes: I like how my own notes are now mixed in with the regular footnotes. This might facilitate more spiritual discovery.
  • The notes on the side bar should scroll as I scroll the chapter so that the notes for what I'm reading stay with where I'm at in the chapter. Right now I have to scroll them separately. It might be tricky to get this done correctly, as I see potential for a sync to be annoying at times. Maybe there's a control to enable/disable sync between the two panes? Generally, I think I'd much prefer it if the panes stay in sync and it would be much more useful.
  • From the main screen, if you go to the Mark or Notes screens, there's no "back" arrow to get back to the main screen. Instead I have to click out of the window I'm in and then click the marked area again. It's a lot more clicks to get things done than in the "classic" mode. I understand you're probably trying to make things work better for people with touch screens, but several of us have mice or other pointing devices that are more precise than a finger. Don't forget about our usability. Many people with a touch device will be using an iOS/Android version of the Gospel Library anyway.
  • The scriptures show my existing "classic" highlights, but they aren't all incorporated into the right side bar. Sometimes they are shown and other times they are not. So the right side bar isn't properly picking up existing notes. Since classic mode is broken for me today, it's a little difficult to compare what's going on between the two.
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sbradshaw
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Re: New Gospel Library

#5

Post by sbradshaw »

Only annotations that include notes, tags, or links will show up in the sidebar – not plain highlights – which is by design. Is that what you're seeing in your last bullet point? Or are there annotations with notes, tags, or links that aren't showing up in the sidebar? Maybe one of the types of annotations isn't fully supported yet.

If you don't see the feedback popup again, you can try submitting feedback using the link at the bottom of LDS.org – though the feedback popup is probably more direct, if you see it again (I'm guessing they're watching feedback through the popup closely since it's new).
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
cawilson
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Re: New Gospel Library

#6

Post by cawilson »

Didn't want to hijack, but the feedback link isn't at the bottom of the scriptures subdomain anymore. I might suggest adding that back. I don't really have a suggestion on where to put it... maybe as a link at the bottom of the navigation pane on the left side?
I prefer scroll not being synced to notes, but I can understand that many, perhaps a majority, might prefer it, and I could probably deal with it (I do on mobile) if scroll did sync.
I agree that the notes window appears to be optimized for touch screens, which annoys me and my keyboard. Is there any way for the desktop version of the website to behave in a way more intuitive for desktop users?
And I can't figure out navigation back from the 'Notes' section. When I click on Notes from the https://lds.org/languages/eng/lib homepage, I am taken to https://www.lds.org/notes, and I don't see a way to navigate back out. I use the back button on my browser, but even that can take multiple tries. Has that simply not yet been integrated, yet?
Jimnan
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Re: New Gospel Library

#7

Post by Jimnan »

I will have to spend more time at it, but my immediate response is that I don't like it. One major thing I liked about the now termed "classic" version was that I felt I had all of the scriptures available to me with search tools at my ease and the ability to switch between books. If that ability is still there, I don't immediately see it.
Ktwitchell001
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Re: New Gospel Library

#8

Post by Ktwitchell001 »

I like the similarity between the Gospel Library App and the on-line version. A couple of other points I've put into feedback entries, but perhaps routing here is more visible.

- I don't see a way to order my notes within a Notebook the way I can in the LDS Library App. That would be helpful to have the same functionality on the web.

- There are times when I paste data into the title of Notebook, and it disappears. It was happening frequently two weeks ago.

- I would like to be able to place pointers to other notebooks inside of notebooks, to daisy chain them. It would allow me to build up larger topics through notebook usage, without having to duplicate material.
Ktwitchell001
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Re: New Gospel Library

#9

Post by Ktwitchell001 »

It would also be nice to be able to use different colored text in the headings and in the body of notes.
mevans
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Re: New Gospel Library

#10

Post by mevans »

Another feature I notice is missing on the new Gospel Library is the "search scriptures" search box that lets me type in a scripture reference and finds it. Instead, there's "search library," which I think may be the standard LDS search tool. I find that tool to be very frustrating. If I type in a scripture reference, it can never seem to find it. It finds all sorts of things _except_ the scripture reference I typed in. The "search scriptures" box on the "classic" site actually works.
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