About the Serious Need for Text Markup and Annotations Capability (and a couple other features) in t

William Baptiste SFO

May the Grace and Peace of Jesus be with all of you on the Logos Forums!

Despite my being a long-time Logos user and lover, and even a Logos iRep, if anyone remembers what that is (Independent Sales Representative), this is my first post anywhere, ever, as I have only just established an "Internet presence" or "Internet identity" (brotherunity), for such purposes. I figured I should use the occasion to make a very important suggestion to/request of Logos.

Logos technicians tell me that a Logos 4-compatible version of the Personal Book Builder Add-in (PBB) is expected to be released somewhere around August 2010.

This new version of the PBB should add Text-Markup and Annotations capability to PBB books. It is highly unusual that Logos’ "Advanced Technology for Eternal Truth" should produce books that have LESS functionality than print books – I can add text markup and annotations to my print edition books... 

I know that, personally, I do not really need this capability for those truly "personal" books which I wrote myself (free internet editions available at http://christian-unity-in-diversity.ourchur.ch/, by the way). However, one of the main reasons the PBB was made was so that public domain works not available in Logos could be added to one’s Logos Library for research purposes. Logos is so powerful that we Logos users generally prefer to use the Logos environment for our research whenever possible; the PBB allows us to add books to our Logos resource library that are not available in Logos (not even on Pre-Pub), including many books that will likely never be made into regular Logos books. For example, I have acquired a large number of .txt documents of: past and current documents of several governments pertaining to the life issues; some very interesting historical documents like the Joint Debates between Abraham Lincoln and Judge Stephen Douglas over slavery (which have may parallels to the current debates over abortion); comparative religion texts like the Koran, Hindu scriptures, and other documents which can be very useful in Christian research but will likely never be made into regular Logos books. The Personal Book Builder Add-in’s Manual indicates it was made not only for self-publication in Logos format but also for making Logos-usable editions of public domain works not otherwise available in Logos – but it is a serious deficiency to have research resources in one’s Logos Library that, unlike the rest of the library’s resources, and even unlike print editions, cannot be marked up and annotated. I here suggest, request, hope and pray that this serious deficiency will be rectified in the Logos 4 update of the PBB Add-in due this August!

In a similar vein, I must heartily request that the Logos iPhone Application, which is already supposed to "synchronize" with one’s computer installation of the full version of Logos, also be given highlight/text markup capability (if not annotations ability) which also synchronizes with one’s main computer. One of the major advantages of the Logos iPhone application is the ability to read from one’s Logos Library at times and places it would not otherwise be possible (while stuck in a line-up, for example). When I come across something good, something worth remembering, or something possibly useful for my research projects, I want to be able to find it again, and highlighting / marking text is about the best way to do that, even without the ability (at first?) to actually annotate (constricted by "find and poke" methods of typing on the small iPhone, one would want to limit iPhone annotations to very short notes anyway, so annotations capability is not near as useful as simple text markup capability).

Another extremely useful addition to the Logos iPhone Application would be the "Read Aloud" feature available in the full version of Logos 4, especially for those who, like me, commute a long time every day. It would certainly be fantastic to have my iPhone read to me from those many books I have not been able to get to (or from the Bible) while I am stuck in traffic anyway...

One last improvement that I suggest should be in the Logos 4 PBB update is the ability to easily make footnotes with pop-ups on mouse-over (including links embedded within footnotes), as in regular Logos books. The PBB manual says nothing about how to make footnotes, I called Logos Tech and nobody knew how to do it (they have still not gotten back to me weeks later), and links from the Forum indicate it is possible but tricky. As Logos is a scholar’s tool, and scholarly works are heavily footnoted, the Personal Book Builder Add-in should be able to handle footnotes easily.

As wonderful as Logos already is, these suggested improvements would truly be "Advanced Technology for Eternal Truth," which was the Logos motto back when I was a Logos iRep. I realize that not everything I suggest and request (and pray for!) here can happen overnight – this is perhaps my Logos "wish list," but I wanted to help ensure that these very important improvements to Logos Bible Software are being seriously considered and are soon "in the works." I am certain that many other Logos users would love to see these improvements as well.

May the LORD bless you all.