Reading View: Improve paging view and minimized toolbar logic

I buy a lot of books on Logos and Faithlife but actually reading them on the mobile app doesn't work well like a normal eBook reading app would. I know logos is first and foremost a research focused app and not an eBook app, but with so many great resources in our Logos libraries, the reading function has a lot of room for improvement. I'm sure you know this, but I would love to see that aspect of the app function get some upgrades.

I have read that the iOS app has some more functionality that the Android and web apps don't and that you're working on it, which is great, but I have several Android devices and Chrome devices and it's frustrating that it's not a good experience to read a book on them compared to even basic open source eBook readers.

Here's some issues I consistently have: Tapping the center often doesn't bring up the menu bar at the bottom, especially in side scroll setting. In the Android app on a Chromebook you can't swipe up from the bottom because it brings up the app shelf in ChromeOS when in full screen mode in the app, so you can't get to the app bottom menu ribbon.
Side Scrolling or page flipping for reading often doesn't work correctly or just locks up entirely. When in tablet mode (on an Android tablet and on a detachable Chromebook running an ARM based CPU (Lenovo Duet 5)) Page flipping mode basically leaves the app inoperable, not flipping pages at all most of the time and leaving you unable to bring up the bottom menu.

Maybe for your developers and for functionality focus of the apps it would make more sense to develop a lightweight purpose built eBook reader app that drops the research functionalities of the other apps. Most of the time I can overlook the shortcomings but in some cases you can't. For instance I bought the digital copy of "The Action Bible" for my kids through Faithlife, which is a comic book style Bible, but because of the apps of limitations it is almost unusable for them. You can't easily flip pages horizontally and each page image is treated weirdly like a individual image element making zooming on dialog very clunky.

The subpar experience in just basic eBook reading deters me from using all my Logos resources more frequently when it's such a more pleasant experience to read eBooks on Kindle, Google Play, or my local library eBook apps. That's a shame considering all the money I've spent on Logos and all the fantastic books I've accumulated.

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Comments

Ali Pope

@Matthew O'Mealey Thank you for your feedback. We value your commitment to improving Logos. A couple things:

1. You can bring the bottom toolbar back by tapping the top minimized title bar. This is possible in both scroll view and paging view.

2. We are aware of the paging issue on Android and are working to improve it.

Thank you for your patience!

Matthew O'Mealey

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1335048#Comment_1335048

@Ali Pope Thanks for the reply and suggestions. Tapping the title bar does work, not sure how I missed that, is it in an official intro or instruction to the app? It still can be finicky on a ChromeOS tablet though.

With ChromeOS being such a practical affordable option, and so many students these days being introduced to ChromeOS in school systems it would be a good idea to improve on that platform. Most Tech analysts point out that it will be a major player in the near future (and already has become one). I appreciate it for it's easy of use just jumping into quick work and the low cost of entry, plus a lot of devices are being made at a much higher quality for the price, such as my Lenovo Duet 5. Best of all it's a full blown Chrome browser, which iOS and Android can't replicate yet, and since so much of our work these days is with web and cloud programs, it's really a more practical device being able to play well with mobile and web applications.

Platform sidebar aside, I appreciate the response and help, and hope to see some big app updates in the near future.

Let me know if there would be app specific testing and use cases that need more eyes on them and I would be willing to pitch in.

Ali Pope

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1335048#Comment_1335048

@Matthew O'Mealey Thank you for your feedback!
You can join our mobile app beta testing via this link: https://community.logos.com/forums/p/192146/1108338.aspx#1108338
You can see an explanation of the new text selection logic here: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/211680.aspx
Hope this is helpful!

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