Gospel Library 4.0 for Android

[cbradford]

Is there a way to display the footnotes on the same screen as the main screen as in the previous edition? It was super useful to see the footnotes on the same screen instead on having them hidden on the side.

Also, the ability to move the bookmark by dragging it has gone away. Please tell me it will be brought back.

[sbradshaw]

Is there a way to display the footnotes on the same screen as the main screen as in the previous edition? It was super useful to see the footnotes on the same screen instead on having them hidden on the side.

Yes, on a phone in landscape mode, or on a tablet in portrait or landscape mode, you can pin the sidebar open. The sidebar was moved to the side to allow displaying more dynamic content – some design compromising was required.

Also, the ability to move the bookmark by dragging it has gone away. Please tell me it will be brought back.

This will probably be brought back at some point; however, it's not on the near-term roadmap. It's not a feature that was used very often because most users weren't moving a bookmark within a chapter – instead, they tended to move them between chapters. That, combined with the complexity of the interaction (for programming) and the tight deadline, required the feature to not be ported over for now.

If you updated bookmarks using the bookmarks menu before, you will probably notice that updating a bookmark is done using the bookmark's contextual menu instead of long-holding like it used to be. This allowed long-holding for dragging and reordering the bookmarks (which wasn't possible before).

[sbradshaw]

Another feature I forgot to mention in the first post that I'm interested to see people's thoughts on – the main developer put a lot of work into an intelligent search suggestions feature to quickly jump to a chapter or verse. Try hitting the search button and type, for example "n37", "tg faith", or "oct". In addition to chapters and verses, book titles and notebook titles also show up in the suggestions. This works in other languages as well. I think this is a killer feature for quick lookup!

[russellhltn]

How do I get Handbook 1 to show up? I updated GL. I look at settings and see my account listed. It's done a sync. But I don't see Handbook 1 where I'd expect to see it (next to Handbook 2 under Leadership). I do have access to Handbook 1 via the Help Center on lds.org using the same LDS Account.

I updated my old phone running 4.4 and that went well. I waited for everything to download before diving in. Since that worked, I uninstalled/reinstalled my current phone (7.1.1). All is well. I have Handbook 1.

[cbradford]

This will probably be brought back at some point; however, it's not on the near-term roadmap. It's not a feature that was used very often because most users weren't moving a bookmark within a chapter – instead, they tended to move them between chapters. That, combined with the complexity of the interaction (for programming) and the tight deadline, required the feature to not be ported over for now.

I would say most people to whom I have questioned about this used the feature regularly. My young family reads together daily, but we only read a few versus at a time because of the age of my children. As far as I can tell, because this feature has been removed, it is now impossible to easily bookmark the end verses of a chapter. So now we will likely go back to a printed copy of the scriptures and use a sticky note to mark our progress. Absurd (I know, first world problems ). If there is another way to bookmark a verse, particularly at the end of a chapter, I would love to know about it.

[lmcguire]

Gospel Library 4.0 for Android is now live on the Google Play store.

Here are some of the changes:
* Redesigned related content sidebar for easier viewing of footnotes.
* Redesigned “Notes” experience (Notebooks, Tags, Recent).

Even with the new "Related Content" pinned, it does not scroll with content like the old footnote pane used to. For this reason alone, I will be side loading the previous version. If they never fix this, I won't upgrade to the new version until forced to. Maybe some people only look occasionally at footnotes, but I have them open all the time when reading and always watch for language notes, JST links (always read them), explanations, and similar content over there. Having to scroll both windows separately is asking too much, IMO.

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?

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.

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.

Beyond that, it's beautiful, the other new features are great. But the footnotes not auto-scrolling is a deal-breaker for me.

I've sent feedback about the footnote issue and the inability to view all highlights. I know it's futile to send feedback about the font issue, branding is more important to them - they've said that already in regards to the website.

Liz

[lajackson]

The icon disappeared off my home page, but didn't not reappear. I had to manually add it.

For the Gospel Library app (but not others) this is standard. The home page icon always goes away. That has become one of the ways I know GL has updated. It happens for every update, large or small.

[sbradshaw]

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.

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.

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).

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...

[sbradshaw]

The icon disappeared off my home page, but didn't not reappear. I had to manually add it.

For the Gospel Library app (but not others) this is standard. The home page icon always goes away. That has become one of the ways I know GL has updated. It happens for every update, large or small.

I've heard reports of LDS Tools doing this as well. If anyone knows how to fix this, it'd be helpful.

[lajackson]

For the Gospel Library app (but not others) this is standard. The home page icon always goes away. That has become one of the ways I know GL has updated. It happens for every update, large or small.

I've heard reports of LDS Tools doing this as well. If anyone knows how to fix this, it'd be helpful.

True. In fact, it is only Gospel Library and LDS Tools that do it among my admittedly small set of apps.

I do not think there is anything you can do about it. I think the provider has to include the step(s) to replace the home page icon. I do not know what it takes to program it. Some of my updating apps never move the icon. Others stick it up in a corner somewhere and I have to find it and move it back where I wanted it on the home page. Then GL and LDS T just drop it.

I happened to be on the home page with the GL icon when the app finished updating and watched the icon go away. Oh yeah, I remembered. Have to go get that one again, which I did immediately.