Option to Toggle Infographics on Home Page On/Off
As far as I can tell, this is impossible without hiding every single resource in my library with infographics, at least if I want much of anything on my Home page (e.g., CCP, Pre-Pub deals, blog updates, etc.). I would really rather not hide those image resources, but it would be nice to have less clutter on the Home page. (I use Verbum/Logos 5.)
My research on the forums tells me that displaying infographics was a feature added (back) into Logos 4, and this is a good thing. But would someone allow us to switch it off if/when we want to? I would greatly appreciate it, and it doesn't seem like the toggle option would be a difficult feature to add.
Thanks!
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Since I can't edit this post, I'll just note here that by "infographics" should be understood "infographics and pictures". They really make my Home page much more chaotic than necessary.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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I wish.
But it's part and parcel of Logos Knows Best. Devs always know what a user REALLY needs since they're rarely users.
And so, using Logos is a process of not using Logos features as much as possible (and ending up not buying books, which I suppose is thanks to Logos, so maybe Logos DOES Know Best ... the competition is generally cheaper).
Another poster was frustrated with how long it takes Logos to simply get a Bible passage along with one more resource summary (both of which can't be turned off, unless you turn on something else that's equally obnoxious).
So this morning I clicked on the Homepage (one of many Logos features to be avoided), and clocked how long it took. 5 secs to read their files with a high-speed computer. It's amazing to truly appreciate the inefficiency of the programming. What could the dev be doing for 5 secs on a high speed computer?? Playing tic-tac-toe?
The book of course was a papyri with the exact same text as earlier ones that it took 5 secs to find. I don't remember the Bible text, since I'm studying the Bible somewhere else and don't need another rabbit trail to get caught up in (the Bible IS interesting).
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Actually, I like Logos, both the company and the product. Having thus far spent hundreds of dollars, I anticipate spending hundreds or even thousands more in the next several years, and the limit has more to do with my projected budget than their offerings.
I just figure that, since they have fora for feedback, and they evidently do read the threads (although they don't always reply), I'd give them some friendly feedback about a particular aspect of the Verbum/Logos5 Home page.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Not me .... I've spent over $15K (which is peanuts compared to some forum members), and Logos forcing users to do what other software developers routinely make optional, is tiresome (and not terribly intelligent).
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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I'm sorry we don't have the fine-grained control to turn off the resource images separately.
Logos used to have incredibly fine-grained control, but we found it made the software intimidating, confusing, and more susceptible to subtle bugs.
So now we try to find a middle ground, offering defaults that meet most user's needs, and controls that are widely used or requested. (Even so, our internal stats tell us that few people modify the defaults, and then it's usually in all/nothing ways. People turn off the Home Page, or leave it on -- they're less likely to change individual settings on the page.)
I know that this sometimes frustrates people who want fine-grained control over everything, and I'm sorry for that. Keep making suggestions, though, and we'll keep considering them -- especially if others join in. But if it's one person who wants one specific thing, we're less likely to add a new configuration setting that will need to be maintained, documented, tested, etc.
-- Bob
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That's quite fair and I especially appreciate your very quick response. [:)] Be assured that this happy customer remains a happy customer, even though in this instance you didn't tell him what he wanted to read.
As a post-script, before I even looked on the forums to see whether it had come up, I checked for a 'hidden' command setting to toggle the pictures (like Set Verbum to Yes/No); if you were to eventually implement the toggle option, I would suggest that as the best way to do it, given your concerns.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Bob Pritchett said:
our internal stats tell us that few people modify the defaults, and then it's usually in all/nothing ways.
Bob, thank you for your reply,
I believe this approach is flawed simply because you make assumptions first and then get data to "back it up". It is possible that many users GIVE UP given lack of fine grain control and turn the whole thing off, giving you a false impression that "defaults ... meet most users' need."
Bob Pritchett said:we found it made the software intimidating, confusing, and more susceptible to subtle bugs
subtle bugs occur when you add too many new features at the same time. I think by now the Home page bugs are pretty much ironed out. If you add 1 new "fine-grain" control to Home Page in the next release, it won't be either intimidating, confusing nor susceptible to subtle bugs - any bugs would be obvious!
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toughski said:Bob Pritchett said:
our internal stats tell us that few people modify the defaults, and then it's usually in all/nothing ways.
Bob, thank you for your reply,
I believe this approach is flawed simply because you make assumptions first and then get data to "back it up". It is possible that many users GIVE UP given lack of fine grain control and turn the whole thing off, giving you a false impression that "defaults ... meet most users' need."
Bob Pritchett said:we found it made the software intimidating, confusing, and more susceptible to subtle bugs
subtle bugs occur when you add too many new features at the same time. I think by now the Home page bugs are pretty much ironed out. If you add 1 new "fine-grain" control to Home Page in the next release, it won't be either intimidating, confusing nor susceptible to subtle bugs - any bugs would be obvious!
I don't trust user statistics as a true measure as their is rightly the option to turn off reporting of them. I have no issue with the infographics / pictures but s agree this should be a use choice - and I don't see it as intimidating or confusing - source of bugs potentially - but that is part of dealing with software - if you expect it to be completely bug free then you have the wrong expectation - the team at logos do a great job supported by beta testers in ironing out as many issues as possible and when major issues slip through they ate very responsive in fixing them.
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Disciple of Christ (doc) said:
I don't trust user statistics as a true measure as their is rightly the option to turn off reporting of them. I have no issue with the infographics / pictures but s agree this should be a use choice - and I don't see it as intimidating or confusing - source of bugs potentially - but that is part of dealing with software - if you expect it to be completely bug free then you have the wrong expectation - the team at logos do a great job supported by beta testers in ironing out as many issues as possible and when major issues slip through they ate very responsive in fixing them.
I wouldn't be surprised if the number of users who turn off reporting information is fairly small, although, in all fairness, that number is probably disproportionately composed of people who would appreciate more precise controls. It's probably also true that some number of people disable the Home page because they don't like one or more of the unchangeable default settings. Nonetheless, these two numbers combined may well be quite small. I don't rightly know.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Yep. Those other nutty developers just don't get it, putting in all those 'options'. Actually the previous rationale from Bob was support calls. Expensivo.
But I DO agree, 'options' confuses the developers. The one I was whining about above, actually took some strange thinking on the part of the Logos devs. It would have been more 'simple' to just use on/off ('binary' in dev-talk you know). But as Bradley explained, they didn't want to allow the user to view blank space. Truly fearful to contemplate.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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toughski said:
. If you add 1 new "fine-grain" control to Home Page in the next release, it won't be either intimidating, confusing nor susceptible to subtle bugs - any bugs would be obvious!
Quite true ... but it's not high on my priority list at least not as high as making multiple lectionaries work, adding the reading cycle to the home page, adding scripture references to the prayer list ...
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Yes. Definitely agree.
Multiple lectionaries, reading cycle on the home page, and scripture references in prayer lists are definitely more needed. Each of these would benefit a sizable chunk of the Logos customer mix.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Denise said:
Multiple lectionaries, reading cycle on the home page, and scripture references in prayer lists are definitely more needed.
They're also probably each a lot more work to make, to test, and to maintain than a toggle switch setting, which is why I felt comfortable asking for a feature that wouldn't be as popular as many of the others on forumers' wishlists.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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