Simple Navigation Enhancements

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.
rmrichesjr
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#11

Post by rmrichesjr »

Kathryn wrote: 2) In order to reach my spot in the Book of Mormon each day, I have to drill down through four levels. I can think of a couple of different ways to redesign this--one might be using flyout menus (similar to the main navigation on lds.org). Or the current design could even be simplified: List each book, and directly under one one line (or two if necessary), put the links to all the chapters.
Kathryn
If each day's starting spot is the spot where you were studying at or near the end of the previous day's study, what would be wrong with setting a bookmark the previous day and then just going to the bookmark the next day? That would at least get the text version to the same chapter.
russellhltn
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#12

Post by russellhltn »

The unit admins can add links to the front page - as long as they go to church sites. I've added a link to the local temple, the local Institute of Religion, Gospel Library and LDS catalog. I noticed that someone has added "Serving in the Church".
edwardlalone
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#13

Post by edwardlalone »

RussellHltn wrote:The unit admins can add links to the front page - as long as they go to church sites. I've added a link to the local temple, the local Institute of Religion, Gospel Library and LDS catalog. I noticed that someone has added "Serving in the Church".
I am aware that links to the official church websites can be added but that isn't what I am suggesting needs to be done. I am suggesting that it be standard across the Stake and Ward sites to be able to navigate to the scriptures from the left-hand or top menu. If the Ward or Stake does provide a link on the main page than it is convenient if you scroll down and click on it but I have noticed that the majority of links listed mean nothing to me. For example there are links to mormon.org, lds.org, providentliving.org, josephsmith.net, and familysearch.org. While these are convenient to many to have on the Ward sites it really doesn't affect my internet navigation habits.

Even if there were a link to the scriptures among these it is unlikely that I would even click on it due to its location as I skip over the link sections of websites and tend to navigate to the menus and on sites I visit routinely I scroll the page where I know there are likely to be changes and skip over the rest. I could not tell you what links if any are on my Ward's site but I can tell you what is available on the left-hand and top menu and I can tell you what events are listed in the event's section of the site. Also, after checking the site again the links on my Ward's site are located at the bottom center of the page and this is an area that I will rarely scroll. Ironically, I use the site almost every day and yet I was not even aware of what links were provided and after looking at the links I can see why. It is just as easy for me to type mormon.org in the address bar than to scroll to the bottom of the page and this is true of typing in scriptures.lds.org too. I am far more likely to just type in the address before I waste time scrolling to the bottom of a page just to click on a link. With an embedded link to the scriptures as a part of the site it would be convenient to go directly to the scriptures from any part of the site. This is true of other parts of the Church's website. For example, while reading the Ensign online I cannot simply navigate to the scriptures and then back. Which should require only one click forward and then one click of the back button. I could easily scroll from the current Ensign to D&C 88:124 and back to the same Ensign article in a matter of two to three minutes where now I average 4 to 10 minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot of time when taken by itself but it literally adds up to hours of time spent navigating instead of time studying. I think it is really important that we can find the scriptures easily. A member or non-member should be able to get to the scriptures easily instead of through a myriad of navigations. Currently, unless you know what the URL is to the scriptures you cannot get to them except from the main page of the Church's site and I think that the Tech people need to seriously reconsider this.
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mkmurray
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#14

Post by mkmurray »

This isn't a solution, but I think it could help...

Here is a link to a document posted not too long ago about the "schema" of Scripture URL's. It's pretty interesting and I like seeing it organized so logically. It would make creating links to certain passages easy to automate.

http://beta.tech.lds.org/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=79
rmrichesjr
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#15

Post by rmrichesjr »

Edward Lalone wrote:... For example, while reading the Ensign online I cannot simply navigate to the scriptures and then back. Which should require only one click forward and then one click of the back button. I could easily scroll from the current Ensign to D&C 88:124 and back to the same Ensign article in a matter of two to three minutes where now I average 4 to 10 minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot of time when taken by itself but it literally adds up to hours of time spent navigating instead of time studying. ...
Have you considered using tabbed browsing or multiple browser windows to help with toggling back and forth between the Ensign and the scriptures? If that worked for you, you could save a ton of time. Hope that helps.
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mkmurray
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#16

Post by mkmurray »

rmrichesjr wrote:Have you considered using tabbed browsing or multiple browser windows to help with toggling back and forth between the Ensign and the scriptures? If that worked for you, you could save a ton of time. Hope that helps.
Yes, IE7 and FireFox have this capability. Just click a link with the scroll wheel and it's off and running in a new tab. And Ctrl+Tab will switch between tabs, much like Alt+Tab does between applications (Windows only?).
edwardlalone
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#17

Post by edwardlalone »

rmrichesjr wrote:Have you considered using tabbed browsing or multiple browser windows to help with toggling back and forth between the Ensign and the scriptures? If that worked for you, you could save a ton of time. Hope that helps.

I routinely use multiple tabs and windows when browsing the internet and it does not decrease the amount of time required. When I use my version of Internet Explorer I open tabs and when I don't have access to a new version of Internet Explorer I prefer to use Firefox because it allows me to use both tabs and windows. This does help to some extent by allowing me to open a new window but it still does not allow me to right click and to open a new tab from any part of the Church website and get to the scriptures instead I add an additional step by opening a new browser or tab and I would still have to type in the full URL. If I am doing a lot of this I will generally have already cut the address to the scriptures but it would be much easier if I could just click a link and go to the scriptures where I click it to open it in the same window, a new browser or a tab. Forunately for me I already use you suggestion about toggling back and forth.
edwardlalone
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#18

Post by edwardlalone »

mkmurray wrote:Yes, IE7 and FireFox have this capability. Just click a link with the scroll wheel and it's off and running in a new tab. And Ctrl+Tab will switch between tabs, much like Alt+Tab does between applications (Windows only?).

Because I can type so fast and am good at navigating the internet this extra step is not to bothersome but it does not decrease the amount of time I spend doing these tasks instead it increases the amount of time by how long it takes me to open a new window or tab and then type in the address. I even have my own start page with links to my favorites and a list of websites that I access and I keep it open at all times so I can tab between my personalized page while browsing. This helps by having ready links to the more frequent websites I visit yet it is interesting that I have to use my own website to navigate the Church's website especially when it comes to accessing the scriptures.
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mkmurray
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#19

Post by mkmurray »

Edward Lalone wrote:Because I can type so fast and am good at navigating the internet this extra step is not to bothersome but it does not decrease the amount of time I spend doing these tasks instead it increases the amount of time by how long it takes me to open a new window or tab and then type in the address. I even have my own start page with links to my favorites and a list of websites that I access and I keep it open at all times so I can tab between my personalized page while browsing. This helps by having ready links to the more frequent websites I visit yet it is interesting that I have to use my own website to navigate the Church's website especially when it comes to accessing the scriptures.
I don't type links in for new tab or window; Middle click the link for open in new tab. Whalaa! Most times you can right click a link and open in new window too.
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