Update the Logos Web App!
New Features in Notes
It has been a while since we have shipped a lot of changes. I am pleased to give an update on the progress we have made toward the new notes experience. I hope that you are pleased with the progress.
What’s new:
Sidebar (left panel)
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Added new facets: Type, Resource, and Language
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Type: Notes and highlights
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Resource: ESV, Word Biblical Commentary, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Christ and Culture Revisited, etc.
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Language: Headwords from Greek or Hebrew lexicons
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Updated facet order
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Added hamburger menu to open/collapse sidebar
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Sidebar can also be collapsed by dragging the list view to the left
Listview (center panel)
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Redesigned listview (i.e. we moved the editor to its own panel)
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Redesigned note cards
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Added blue selection indicator around selected note
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Anchors are more apparent
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Added note count to breadcrumb bar
Note Editor *NEW* (right panel)
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Added ability to open the editor from selecting an existing note or creating a new note
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Added an ‘X’ button to collapse the note editor
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Added kebab menu
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Added delete button
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Added ability to make a highlight a note (Select a highlight in the list view and then add text in the editor)
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Added full quotes/references
Other Improvements to Notes
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Panels are resizable
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Added “New Note” button
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Added new note drop-down menu
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New note
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Create a note on [reference, or selected text]
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Highlight [reference, or selected text]
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Default font size changed to 15px
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Added ability to edit a note from the context menu
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Made Notes a multi-instance panel
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Fixed mismatched timestamps of "created" and "modified" facets
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Fixed facet titles
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Backend support is in progress to migrate notes from the old notes system to the new (i.e. sync with desktop and mobile)
Other News:
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Fixed scaling bug with media player controls
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Font size preferences save with last interacted resource panel
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Fixed chapter character order in Hebrew Bibles
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Created courses.faithlife.com and redirected courses.logos.com
Soli Deo Gloria,
Jeromy Blomquist | Academic Program Manager | jeromy.blomquist@faithlife.com
Comments
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Thanks for the update, Jeromy!
I had tried out the "Access my course" button on the store's product pages, but it either seems to bring me to the home page (cards) or Bible + Commentary view.
Is that the correct intent, or should it open the courses tool to the correct plan?
Grateful for all the progress being made, and looking forward to these improvements coming to desktop and mobile platforms!
Thanks to FL for including Carta and a Hebrew audio bible in Logos 9!
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Petah,
The correct behavior would send you to the course tool with your available courses on the top. It should automatically default to this, but if you have changed your layout Faithlife Courses will remember. There may also be some additional things we need to work out when directing from logos.com.
Thank you for reporting!
-Jeromy
Soli Deo Gloria,
Jeromy Blomquist | Academic Program Manager | jeromy.blomquist@faithlife.com
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Thanks for the update! Great stuff!!
What triggers the "Language" facet? It's not visible and creating selection highlights does not cause the Language facet to show and there is no option to anchor a note to the headword in the right-click menu.
Creating a note without note text displays a small blank popup. Maybe should popup something like <<Empty note>>.
Under "Resource" facet. Abbreviated titles need a popup with full title.
Popup for numbers next to facet that show "N current/N Total" do not seem to be calculating correctly.
Facet list is getting long enough now to make a filter box desirable.
Will Dates always be show me everything from x til now? Or will there be other ranges? Show me what I wrote that is older than 1 year. Show me what I wrote last Jun-Jul. Don't know how desirable that would be; just throwing it out there. (Mainly because I was wondering about bulk operations.) Select certain facets, then select a subset of those notes to bulk add a tag, for example.
Changing layout to a different number of columns and then resizing the three sections of the note window goes wonky.
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Thanks for the feedback Randy!
Most of the things you pointed out we are aware of and have planned in the future (like tooltips for elipsized facets, facet search box, date labels, etc). There are still some polish needed, like the Langauge facet, somehow that got dropped when the update was shipped.
We are continuing to push forward!
-Jeromy
Soli Deo Gloria,
Jeromy Blomquist | Academic Program Manager | jeromy.blomquist@faithlife.com
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I haven't even bothered looking at notes on the web app since they don't sync with the others. So I have a question.
I know I can close the left most column (you're calling it "facets" strange name BTW) with the menu that looks like 3 vertical lines above it (you called it hamburger menu which is common name in mobile). However, the middle column. Will I be able to close or resize that. It's huge and is there I guess just to show me notes I have. But It takes up so much space that I'd like to dedicate to my notes while I'm editing them.
Also, will notes created in this Notes system be migrated to the new syncing version when it ships sometime in 2028? <g>
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin A. Purcell said:
However, the middle column. Will I be able to close or resize that
You can resize the middle column by dragging the right edge (you can also drag the column separator to the right of the "facets"
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I don't see myself test driving the web app every time there is an update to figure out how close it is to being usable as a legitimate alternative to the desktop app. What I would like to know is whether Faithlife has given itself a timeline to achieve this and will let us know when we are there.
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Francis said:
I don't see myself test driving the web app every time there is an update to figure out how close it is to being usable as a legitimate alternative to the desktop app. What I would like to know is whether Faithlife has given itself a timeline to achieve this and will let us know when we are there.
The hard part to that request, Francis, is that "legitimate alternative" is subjective. Personally, I find myself using both the web app and desktop app at different times and for different reasons.
Our focus right now is on notes (you can see some of that in our most recent release). We continue to listen to user feedback, and we share the desire to start syncing notes from the web app to other platforms; thus we have prioritized that work.
If there are other things that continue to prevent you from using the web app as you'd like, please continue providing that feedback and we will do our best to take that into account.
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Alan Palmer (Faithlife) said:
Our focus right now is on notes... and we share the desire to start syncing notes from the web app to other platforms; thus we have prioritized that work.
What is the plan for roll-out? This is the biggest change I believe I've seen since I started using Logos as far as potential impact, by far. I know many people have TONS of notes and I know that they are critically important to them. Just curious about how safe the roll-out will be. Not just bugs (there won't be any), but User expectations? Changes to workflow? Full feature parity with old system?
Will the new & old notes exists side-by-side for a while? Will there be a roll-back plan? An extended beta? Followed by an Opt-in for experienced forum members with lots of notes that don't normally beta?
I'm sure you've put a lot more thought in to the roll-out than I have and an answer isn't necessary right now. But this seems like a HUGE change, with a potentially HUGE impact. And I'm just worrying out lout. But also looking forward to seeing it evolve.
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Alan Palmer (Faithlife) said:
The hard part to that request, Francis, is that "legitimate alternative" is subjective.
Thanks, Alan, for your reply. I appreciate also that the current focus in development is on notes integration (and rightly so).
I can also appreciate that there will be differences between the web and desktop app that will be left to users' appreciation and preferences and perhaps this is what you mean by the "subjective" aspect of my question.
I would hope that we can define more objectively an answer as "when I can do with the web app what I can do with the desktop app without loss of functionality".
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Francis said:
perhaps this is what you mean by the "subjective"
Sorry if I wasn't clear. What I meant is that the statement "what I can do with the desktop app without loss of functionality" differs from person to person. It's a large tool steeped in years of features across many iterations and base package configurations. Our users are not singular in their use of all that the desktop application does for them.
I don't know if the two products will ever be at 100% full parity or if that is even a good goal to have. That said, we are doing our best to implement the most popular/useful features and making improvements to existing ones as we do.
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Alan Palmer (Faithlife) said:
I don't know if the two products will ever be at 100% full parity or if that is even a good goal to have.
What then is the intended use / goal for the web app? What's the "vision"?
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The center column can't be adjusted yet. The center column when showing notes is too big at the smallest size. The notes column is not big enough.
Also no answer on whether current web app notes will migrate to the new system when it's available. If they will be available, I'm more likely to use it. But I won't till I learn that or till they finish notes.
Any info on this question Alan Palmer?
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin A. Purcell said:
whether current web app notes will migrate to the new system when it's available
The web app notes are the new system. Eventually desktop/mobile will migrate to this.
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Alan Palmer said:Kevin A. Purcell said:
whether current web app notes will migrate to the new system when it's available
The web app notes are the new system. Eventually desktop/mobile will migrate to this.
I know that eventually all will run the same system of notes. What I want to hear from Faithlife employee is if the notes I add to the Web app will be preserved in the new system or will they go away? I will not use the Web app regularly until I get confirmation from FL.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin, yes they are stored in the new system and will remain there.
Once we migrate existing notes users will see both notes taken now on the web app as well as previous desktop/mobile notes.
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Alan Palmer (Faithlife) said:
Kevin, yes they are stored in the new system and will remain there.
Once we migrate existing notes users will see both notes taken now on the web app as well as previous desktop/mobile notes.
That's very good news.
[Y]
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Kevin A. Purcell said:
The center column can't be adjusted yet. The center column when showing notes is too big at the smallest size. The notes column is not big enough.
Quick update: you should be able to adjust the size of the center column now. There is also a fullscreen button for the editor.
-Seth
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Seth Copeland said:Kevin A. Purcell said:
The center column can't be adjusted yet. The center column when showing notes is too big at the smallest size. The notes column is not big enough.
Quick update: you should be able to adjust the size of the center column now. There is also a fullscreen button for the editor.
-Seth
Yes it is somewhat resizable, but it has limits. I tried to make it as small as I wanted, but it stops at a point and won't go any smaller. But i do like the full screen editor. Put this system in the apps and full software and I'm ready to use it. I know, I know, it's coming. Not soon enough for me.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Alan - I'm a little late to the ballgame with the web app, but my initial test drive is phenomenal. Good work on this. My only hang up is Notes. I have thousands of them and they are not showing up in the web app. I assume they do not natively sync? I emailed support and they said they do, but I don't see them.
Thank you for your time
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Faithlife is in the process of switching their notes system to a new system so the old system used in the mobile apps and the desktop software doesn't sync with the new system in the web app.
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Any idea on when those will sync?
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If anyone at FL knows they aren't telling anyone publicly
Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
Brushy Mountain Baptist Association0 -
Jason Benham said:
Alan - I'm a little late to the ballgame with the web app, but my initial test drive is phenomenal. Good work on this. My only hang up is Notes. I have thousands of them and they are not showing up in the web app. I assume they do not natively sync? I emailed support and they said they do, but I don't see them.
Thank you for your time
Thanks for the feedback, Jason.
We're just getting ready to start testing notes migration internally next week. If all goes well, we'll open up an alpha/beta testing opportunity for users to participate as well. We're still several months away from having version 1 of the new notes system ready to ship to all three platforms (desktop, web, and mobile), but they'll be an opportunity to start testing the system with your existing notes in the near future. If all goes well, I'd expect to have the beta open in the next 3 or 4 weeks.
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That's wonderful news. Love it! You guys are so proactive in bringing more value to your users. That's one of the things I love most about Logos. Will there be an announcement for beta users? I'm a walking beta test, so I love trying stuff out.
Thanks again.
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Jason Benham said:
That's wonderful news. Love it! You guys are so proactive in bringing more value to your users. That's one of the things I love most about Logos.
Thanks for the kind words, Jason.
Jason Benham said:Will there be an announcement for beta users? I'm a walking beta test, so I love trying stuff out.
Yes. We'll probably post something in the forums about the beta.
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Phil - is there a way to possibly export all of my Notes in bulk from the desktop version and import into the Web App? If so, from that point forward I would just start using the Web App and no longer the desktop version for future notes. Just thinking out loud.
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Jason Benham said:
Phil - is there a way to possibly export all of my Notes in bulk from the desktop version and import into the Web App? If so, from that point forward I would just start using the Web App and no longer the desktop version for future notes. Just thinking out loud.
We're getting close to opening up a private beta that will enable you to migrate your desktop/mobile notes over to the new notes system on the web. It'll also allow you to try the new notes system inside the desktop app. I hope to have an announcement about the beta opportunity later this month.
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well that's a fantastic way to start the new year! thanks so much
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Is there any news on an upcoming beta?
Hans
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