Logos 9 Wishlist
What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
- What general themes or areas should we focus on?
- What bugs should we fix?
- What improvements should we make to existing features?
- What new features should we add?
- What new data sets should we build?
- What new books should we include?
Please specify desktop, mobile, and/or web, where appropriate.
What does your ideal Logos 9 upgrade look like? What would make Logos 9 an irresistible upgrade for you?
If different, what should we do to win the next generation of new users?
Please include links to forum threads, User Voice requests, etc. where applicable.
We've reviewed the User Voice feedback for desktop, mobile, and books, but I want to make sure that the priorities there are reflective of the current priorities of our forum community.
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback!
Comments
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Thanks for starting this thread, Phil! I'll probably add more details later, but in general I'd like to see most of the focus put into those areas that were considered/rumored/planned for L8, but didn't make the cut.
Workflows still need a lot of work before they're truly useful.
Notes need quite a bit of improvement/additions:
- additional facets, note types, and content types,
- info management or nested tags, etc.
- Add the ability to save "filter sets" for use in the resource VF menu.
- Add panel linking.
- Add chapter/pericope level filtering to Bible notes
Search builder...
Context menu:
- Move a labels into the info panel (and improve that).
- Add the ability to toggle sections on/off in settings.
- Add the ability to copy pointed and transliterated text directly.
Bug fixes:
- Fix morph charts!
- Fix scaling issues on macOS (there's LOTS of them!)
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Thanks for asking!
Here would be my top 10 desired new features/improvements:
- Images in notes / canvas / workflows (Desktop/Mobile)
- User tables in notes/ canvas / workflows (Desktop/Mobile)
- Visual annotation of text (like Accordance 13) (Desktop/Mobile)
- Full touch screen support (Desktop)
- PBBs in mobile (Mobile)
- Increase In speed (Desktop)
- Extra levels of indent in workflow hierarchy (Desktop/Mobile)
- Negotiations done with Zondervan et al to avoid the frustrating 'Not available in your country' (Web)
- Psalters resources (Resources)
- Ability to sync via webDAV or similar self-hosted servers rather than Logos Servers (Desktop/Mobile)
Thanks for listening.
Every blessing,
James
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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
what should we do to win the next generation of new users?
The younger purchasers have never been restricted to paper resources. They expect things to be available to them online in a complete, speedy, and intuitive manner. They have little patience for bugs and incomplete features. Make sure every feature is a complete, tidy, polished product.
Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
Links are a random sample going back at least 5 years of nagging and not all topics have had a search on the forums for a link ... maybe tomorrow.
- Make it easier to add data types/milestones so that Creeds, church documents, standard references always get data types so that Logos supports the referencing used in our resources. https://community.logos.com/forums/t/186910.aspx
- Resolve the issues in commentaries caused by using the same milestones for the bible translation and the commentary https://community.logos.com/forums/t/186271.aspx
- Make it very easy to change translations in a popup so that when a resource references a specific translation we can see that translation. https://community.logos.com/forums/t/120765.aspx
- Make it possible to view commentaries such as the AYB or Hermenia with translations, notes, commentary portions side by side SUGGESTION: The view of Bible Commentaries that would really enhance my experience
- Make more library traits visible and available for collections [request] Bradley: Please expose the 'traits' column in collections
- Add pseudepigrapha support to Factbook
- Complete a number of features that feel unfinished
- Additional entries in Bible People Visual Timeline - add Elijah, Ruth, Joseph and commit to adding two or three a year
- Continue to add to the Narrative Character Maps
- Add interactives for parables, promises, questions ... so we can see the full picture not just individual instances i.e. understand what we are looking at Interactive Tool for the Parables of the Bible
- Finish the documentation especially for Biblical Person, Place, Thing, Event ... Biblical Event Navigator DOCUMENTATION MISSING BUG: Biblical Event Navigator BUG: Missing documentation: Bible Outline Browser dataset BUG? Missing documentation: Parallel Gospel Reader . . .
- Fix the morphology charts so they actually work Bug:אֱלוֹהַּ and Morphology chart
- Add the n-tuple function to the concordance so that it actually provides new data SUGGESTION: Finish the Concordance tool
- Make clippings carry a complete citation Clippings and Footnotes
- Finish backlog of sermon tagging KYLE: New (to me) resource not tagged for sermons?
- Finish backlog of pericope tagging RESOLVED BUG: Deferred data updates ; consider adding pericopes as defined in commentaries; consider a new feature of pericopes in lectionaries
- Add more resources to outline feature - concentrating on commentaries with detailed outlines; make it possible for the individual to add items as they can with sermon labels Add Evangelical Commentary on the Bible to the Bible Outline Browser
- Improve performance of drop down pick lists A plea for speeding up the "select resource" drop down in search FRUSTRATED with Logos wasting my computer cycles
- Add the features that limit the usefulness of the Workflows - especially make them handle more than a single passage Sermon Workflow with multiple scriptural references Workflow Editor Improvements
- Add Saints support for Anglicans and Lutherans
- Add Protestant lectionary-based sermon support by a guide section linked to The Text This Week SUGGESTION: Logos 7 The Text This Week
- Add the Narrative Lectionary and the Season of Creation (Mainstream Protestant) Narrative Lectionary Season of Creation lectionary
- Build a sermon starter guide and modify the sermon editor to support the 80% of Christians who use a lectionary Suggestion: Homily Helpers Guide
- Make a noticeable dent in the Factbook duplicates
- Make noticeable progress on Timeline links
- Resolve issues arising from different levels of granularity on older and newer Church Father's works
- Add table capability to Notes - even if only copy & paste as in the old Notes Clippings and Footnotes
- Update the Canon comparison to include all the canons in recent publications
- Build additional resources of the Guide to his Life and Writings type and commit to a couple a year
- Allow prioritization by collection e.g. prioritize a particular translation for all resources tagged with a particular value
- Provide Canvas source documents for items FL generated on Canvas - serve as examples to those trying to become familiar with Canvas
- Continue work on Faithlife Assistant - which at the moment is a good idea stalled in the unfinished dump
- A simple way to report errors from anywhere rather than multiple places to look (help, documentation, wiki, forum) with no assurance FL is still looking there.
- Convert highly used shared resources into official resources - the online DSS file Dead Sea Scrolls Internet Links Index, the Bible studies files Index of Bible Studies, the commentary classifications Collection rules for sorting commentaries (updated for Logos 8 Base Packages). . .
- Make case frames available by verb
- Continue on search templates until there is at least as much capability as in the old catalogue style templates
- Add Talmudic rabbis to Factbook and tag the Talmuds by rabbi Logos reliance on a deprecated product - Freebase
- Add alternative Biblical names for Bible People giving the Greek (Vulgate) names and the Messianic Jewish names
- Clearly identify in the library resources that are single in print but split by language or resource type in Logos. Allow an option to collapse to a single resource instance in library & collection views.
- Allow the user to define a collection to be used as the default "All resources" (For years mine was titled "Basic Logos/Verbum Library") to keep a manageable working library without having to hide the more exotic resources.
- Expand the flash card function to allow creating decks for the definitions necessary to understand each of the FL datasets - sets must be sharable (or provided by FL) Flash cards for books
- Fix Prayer List - most notably so that entering an answer does not mark the prayer done ... my theology allows partial and step-wise answers.How do you use prayer lists?
- Add additional volumes to the Sacred Art series - especially icons and non-European art
- Be able to use a Passage List as the condition for a highlight SUGGESTIONS for Passage List/Visual Filters ... requested before, still waiting
- Be able to auto-build a milestone search from the context menu as well as the current datatype search BUG we've been trying to get acknowledged since Sept 1
- Add prebuilt catechism reading plans and confession of faith with commentaries reading plans
- Finish the maps and add the resource Zev Vilany: The Sacred Land (3 volumes) i.e. 1. Legends of Jerusalem 2. Legends of Judea and Samaria 3. Legends of Galilee, Jordon and Sinai Note this is the geographic equivalent to Legends of the Jews and is an essential background reference.
- Add Help cards to Verbum
- Identify the LST as Protestant or update it significantly
- Make morphological search documents shareable
- Split the Passage Analysis tool into multiple parts to make it easier to find the tools included in it
- Add the generation of a syntax tree diagram from the standard brackets notation to the Sentence diagrammer
- Add highlight/filter functions to footnotes
- Add a Church Father's interactive ... at a minimum all the Fathers in Migne, birth/location, death /location, titles, works ...
- Add a structures and forms dataset - parallels, chiasms, steps .... proclamation stories ... Visual Filters showing Literary Structure & Forms ???
- Add a Creeds and Confessions of Faith index dataset using the standard articles of the Nicene Creed as the starting point for organization. Catechisms might be tied in as a separate dimension. Note these documents should all be datatyped so I've come the full circle.
- Create an ongoing process for users, especially professors, to submit tables appropriate for interactive datasets, documents, and workflow as potential additions to the "official" Logos
In short, I want a package that feels finished for nearly all its functions - I don't like being reminded that I'm limited by decisions made in the DOS days, or that a cool idea was tried without serious thought as to how it is to be used, or that turned out to be a bigger project than expected so it sort of got dropped. With the exception of the LST, the most valuable recent additions to Logos have been in indexing and selection for guide sections. Make sure those always work at an optimum level.
For new features to highlight as "Logos 9's crown jewel":
- add a section to the Passage Guide that gathers the questions from the Bible Study (Sunday School style) resources available in Logos AND add a Bible Lesson option into an enhanced Sermon tool.Logos Lesson Builder under Windows 8 64-bit https://community.logos.com/forums/t/95316.aspx
- add support to the Liturgy of the Hours - Lutheran, Anglican, Orthodox, Catholic, Mennonite are the ones that come to my mind immediately
One way to make sure Logos feels complete:
- Go through Tate, W. Randolph. Handbook for Biblical Interpretation: An Essential Guide to Methods, Terms, and Concepts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012. to identify the major types of Bible Criticism
- For each of them, walk through the step required to apply that interpretative lens in Logos noting setup required by user (tagging, collections, labels ...)
- Note steps that put you at a procedural dead end when you ought to be able to click to see additional information or navigate to a reasonable next step.
- Put together a proposal of the modifications necessary to make applying the lens possible - and those necessary to make it work well.
- Group similar lens (types of Bible criticism) together and work to make Logos helpful for all approaches. My personal urgent need is reception history.
P.S. Uservoice has not reflected my priorities since the ability to redistribute votes was loss and I was told to take it up with UserVoice.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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Will it work on my windows 8.1 system?
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Probably for general interest:
1. Better prioritization (user friendly GUI, resource type specific, etc., probably others have many more implementation ideas)
2. Folders for the shortcuts in the top bar
***
These are mostly mine, or for a small special user base
1. User specific fonts. For example for the Latin interlinear, I would like to have a clearly different font for the Latin text line.
2. Hebrew audio (for the beginning, only a small part of the OT is needed)
Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11
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In Notes
- Headings in notes. Indispensable for long notes.
- Notes sometimes become inconsistent when inserting of changing text in Mac OS Catalina.
- Ability to change fonts easily: Changing Hebrew/Greek/English keyboards as in Search.
- Merge clippings and notes.
Sermon editor
- Make sermon editor or notes more robust for writing academic papers. Ability to link to resources
Search
- Make it easier to perform complex searches through a semi-graphical interface which insert AND, OR, BETWEEN, parenthesis etc.
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See this thread: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/186839.aspx
If you can’t pull this off, then any other request is pointless! It only means you’ll end up doing whatever you want anyway and you’re just asking this to “make believe” users they’re being taken into consideration when they’re really not.
Also add ability to put pictures in users notes.
Improve graphics. It’s been years EVERYBODY has been asking for this.
Improve drawing functionality.
And that’s it!
Thanks for the thread! At least one thing is within the realm of possibilities — L9 coming soon in the future.
DAL
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My #1 (and only) priority is: Make it faster for users with enormous libraries (20,000+ resources; I have 25,474 unhidden ones) and lots of collections (I have 221). Everywhere that being such a power library owner slows down the product needs to be sped up or I cannot use the product. It is such a painful experience for me these days that I'm simply not using it much anymore, even though I continue to buy books in the hope that maybe someday it will become usable again. I even tried buying a new ultra fast computer, and it was still unusable. (See here.) I deleted most of my Visual Filters, since someone told me that might be what's slowing things down. No appreciable improvement.
Some of those areas that are painfully slow are:
- populating dropdowns that have lists of collections, such as the Search In dropdown in a Search tab
- switching focus back to Logos after being in another Windows app for a while
- opening Logos when a Search tab or Guide was open in the last workspace you shut down with (which makes that Search or Guide start to run again, which is uninterruptible; it should not run again unless the user specifically requests it to run again)
- updating Library Catalog whenever you edit tags
[:(]
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Reuben Helmuth said:
Context menu:
- Move a labels into the info panel (and improve that).
If this is done, then the building of the search for the label has to also move - the ability to get a pre-built search argument for the label is critical.
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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Rosie Perera said:
Make it faster for users with enormous libraries (20,000+ resources; I have 25,474 unhidden ones) and lots of collections (I have 221). Everywhere that being such a power library owner slows down the product needs to be sped up or I cannot use the product.
I second everything Rosie said.
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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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What does your ideal Logos 9 upgrade look like? What would make Logos 9 an irresistible upgrade for you?
I appreciate that to sell upgrades to Logos 9 you need something new, but I don't think that's what Logos needs right now.
My focus would be on consolidating datasets and tools and improving existing features. Currently, there are so many diverse datasets it's hard to keep on top of them all, and most users don't benefit from them. There are also too many different ways to access the data: factbook, guides and workflows.
I'd favour an approach for beginning users where that would guide them through the process of choosing the right tool, something like this:
- What do you want to study today? (you'd enter the topic, lemma, person, thing, event, etc.)
- Do you want all the information at once or a step-by-step study? (guide/factbook or workflow)
- Is this for a devotional study / essay / sermon?
- How much time do you have?
Logos would then switch to the right workflow/guide and tailor the output accordingly (removing or minimising certain sections depending on the depth of study and time available).
I'd also like to see significant upgrades to the Workflow tool, which is brilliant already but could be so much better. Reuben is the cheerleader for Workflows, and I'm with him 100%. Being able to specify collections for the Commentary section is one very easy win that would make a big difference.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Leader-->Follower Link Sets please!. Will stop Bible jumping around when using arrow keys to switch between commentaries.
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Mark Barnes said:
I appreciate that to sell upgrades to Logos 9 you need something new, but I don't think that's what Logos needs right now.
Agreed!
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How about a Format Painter for Notes?
And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers (Mal 4:6a)
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There is no denying that L8 was a HUGE step up from L7 so L9 has some big boots to fill. I also recognise that you need something new to sell L9 on, but on the way please don't overlook the following.
First, I agree with everyone who has mentioned so far:
- Faster Logos! Faster start-up, faster search, faster visual filters, faster concordance build time!
- Easier search syntax and/or GUI search builder.
- Consolidate, update, improve datasets and documentation
- Better note support, Cf. Evernote web.
- Better note support. The new notes system is a great improvement there is still a way to go (tables, headings, images, markdown syntax support, etc.)
In addition, I would like to see the following things added to the list:
- Visual filter support on mobile and web
- Full Latin support for Bible word study guide.
- Latin Bible Sense support
- Morphology Chart updates on click/hover when in a linked set (same as Lexicons do)
- Latin support for Morphology charts
Where do I sign up to beta test? [:P]
Carpe verbum.
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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What bugs should we fix?
All of them.
I can not understand why Faithlife doesn't put a higher priority on fixing bugs. If an "update" breaks something, it should be fixed ASAP. For an example of a feature that was broken sometime during an update, see: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/177426.aspx Here we are almost a year later and it is still broken. Why?
I truly can't understand why it is ok to ignore functions that don't work correctly and then wonder if they should be fixed.
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Mark Barnes said:
I'd favour an approach for beginning users where that would guide them through the process of choosing the right tool, something like this:
- What do you want to study today? (you'd enter the topic, lemma, person, thing, event, etc.)
- Do you want all the information at once or a step-by-step study? (guide/factbook or workflow)
- Is this for a devotional study / essay / sermon?
- How much time do you have?
Logos would then switch to the right workflow/guide and tailor the output accordingly (removing or minimising certain sections depending on the depth of study and time available).
Also, I agree with Mark on the need to help beginners come to terms with Logos. With so many features, the beginner struggles in making significant progress unless much time is invested climbing the steep learning curve. For power users, the interface is great. And help for beginners to become power users is really welcome.
Yet, for some basic users who don't in the slightest aspire to ever being power users, the feature-filled interface is simply a stumbling block. I know some people who have given up using Logos because it is simply far too complex for them. Many people just can't cope with that level of complexity in 'any' software. They opt for free Bible software alternatives, not because they are better in terms of the features that they offer, but because they feel more able to simply use them without being overwhelmed (in that sense they are better for some users). And they lose out on access to the many resources that Logos has available, which their free software doesn't.
Logos has two great advantages, one being amazing functionality for Bible study, the other being a great library of resources. The interface is great for Bible study, but that same interface is a hindrance for those who simply want to read (or view) resources without mastering the complex software.
Can I suggest that Logos 9 add a feature that other software products have, by providing different interfaces for different users. For example, other software products have Basic vs Expert (Express vs Advanced, or Reader vs Study) interfaces. That would allow some users to feel comfortable and competent using Logos with a basic interface having a very limited set of features, rather than them feeling overwhelmed and giving up. (There might even be an argument for an intermediate interface too). Recent improvements have made the complex interface somewhat easier to use, but it is still not simple enough for many people I would suggest.
Imagine if Logos were as easy to use to just read theology resources as Kindle is for general books...
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1. A background process which would download and index new resources we purchase while Logos is not open. It would also be very helpful if it could handle Preparing library/Updating library catalog before Logos is launched, so we don't have to wait as long for housekeeping tasks to finish.
2. Improve the Notes UI, especially in my preferred 3-column view where controls get truncated, and the formatting ribbon wraps to four rows. (Even when the note is expanded to fill the whole panel, the ribbon still wraps to two rows.)
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3. Add missing functionality to the Courses tool which has been on the list of things to do for several years. One example is user-created courses. Another is how the courses tool was possibly intended to be a replacement for reading lists and (customizing) reading plans.
4. Make it easier for a non-power user like me to remember which of the many tools and features might be helpful in learning more about a topic, such as Kabbalah. Some users might start off with the Factbook, while others might search their library for resources about the topic, or post on the forums asking for book recommendations. I tend to pop out of Logos to search the store, but there's probably a way to do that in-app. I often forget that someone might have created a reading list. It would be nice if there was a guide which could do this... wait... is there a topic guide? Why, yes there is! But the Kabbalah topic seems to be lacking. It gives me 3 dictionary links, and a Factbook link. Most of the sections have no results. The Bookstore section shows 8 books, but none of them are specifically about Kabbalah. (I get very different results when searching the store directly for that term.) There's no section for Reading lists, so I've got to open that tool, but a Kabbalah list doesn't exist yet. I've never created a reading list. That link brings me out of Logos to the wiki, where I see I have to learn some markup. I go back to reading a Kabbalah book (on Kindle because it's not available yet in Logos).
I'm still at a loss as to where topical content like that should go, especially since we don't have a roadmap of planned features or improvements. A user-created course? A reading list?
5. FL had posted about adding Theology/Denomination tagging to library resources (so users wouldn't have to wait for helpful third-party collections to be updated). Can this be done for Logos 9?
6. Please provide a Hebrew audio bible. It's frustrating that the NT has Greek audio, yet the OT is still lacking Hebrew audio.
7. Dark mode, please. It's gotten lots of user-suggested support, and we still get posts requesting it. It would really help with eye strain not to have to read such a bright screen in the evening or early morning.
8. Carta. It's frustrating that it's available in two other bible study apps, but not in Logos. I would love to have access to the wealth of information that is in their resources, all within Logos.
Thanks to FL for including Carta and a Hebrew audio bible in Logos 9!
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One thing that I think would be good is the ability to make a visual filter off a syntatical search. For example: I'm learning Hebrew and a common construction is the Cognate Infinitive Absolute. I can easily make a syntax search to find those results, but it would be nice to be able to make that a Visual filter so I can see those results when reading an English translation. Also, it would be beneficial to be able to see visual filters on the mobile app.
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1. Android Text to Speech (Mobile). Discussion | Voice
I find it very helpful to be able to listen to a book while visually reading it. It is crucial for accessibility. And from what I know of my generation, they love to listen to books.
2. Improve Notes Panel Search (Desktop)
a. Search actual book highlight quotesb. Search query can filter/suggestion/select Notebooks (that way you don't need the notebooks search)
3. Headings in Notes (Like in Sermon Docs)
4. More Notes Improvements
a. Easy Notebook Creation (Example)
b. Filter Notes By Labels
c. Right Click (Open New Tab, Open Expanded, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Delete)
d. Check boxes in Notes (https://community.logos.com/forums/t/178862.aspx)
5. Reference Scanner Export (Discussion)
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Translation tool that I can read books in logos in other languages - and translate directly, similar to how some programs can do in the browser
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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
- Make it easier to do complex searching
- Make it faster
- Make it simpler
Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:What new books should we include?
Carta! Carta! Carta! Please make an effort to come to an agreement with Carta so that we can benefit from their amazing maps!
MJ. Smith said:Rosie Perera said:Make it faster for users with enormous libraries (20,000+ resources; I have 25,474 unhidden ones) and lots of collections (I have 221). Everywhere that being such a power library owner slows down the product needs to be sped up or I cannot use the product.
I second everything Rosie said.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I could say so much more but I'm trying to keep it simple just as I think Logos 9 should do.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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Here's my top 3 for Logos 9 (Desktop):
Speed Improvements - Logos needs to be much faster, especially on machines that are somewhat dated when it comes to specs. Other Bible Software companies have this figured out really well and it seems to work in their favor. At the end of the day, when it comes to L9, I would rather invest $3000 into my Logos library and not a new machine. If things stay as they are, then I'm likely going to need a new machine by the time L9 is scheduled to release.
Better Original Language Tools - Logos has made huge strides forward and bridged the gap between itself and other Bible Software companies in the last two releases. But, I think there needs to be a more focused a effort on making Logos a scholarly tool, especially when it comes to working with the original languages. I would like to see more MSS image integration, tools for Textual Criticism (maybe a TC guide), etc. This goes for Greek, Hebrew/Aramaic, and other early translation languages.
Easier Library Interaction/Discovery - With a Library of nearly 20,000 resources, it can get a bit overwhelming trying to find the right resource(s) for the job. I think L8 made massive leaps forward. But, I still struggle trying to sort through so many resources. Searching and using guides is helpful because I've tried to tag my resources as I've added them to my library. But, it's still a mess and I feel like I'm not getting the best use of my money most of the time.
I'll admit here that #1 and #2 have caused me serious consideration to leave the Logos ecosystem and invest in another. I havent made that commitment yet. But, I'm not interested in having to buy a new computer every other Logos release to keep up with its hardware demands.
I'll add more to the thread as I think of them.
-John
For book reviews and more visit sojotheo.com
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My Suggestions - thanks for asking! (8 was a great improvement over 7 and I look forward to even greater improvements in 9).
Notes Tool UI improvement
- Better formatting options.
- Simplify UI
- See MS OneNote below as an example.
- Unite Sermon Tool, Canvas, Clipping Tool, Notes & Highlights into 1 interface.
- Make Canvas easier to use and perhaps give it a live interface in Proclaim for teaching.
- Clipping Tool should copy bibliographic information to Word and other text tools.
Speed - faster is always better
- Populating dropdown lists.
- Faster startup times.
More robust keyboard shortcuts
- Everything that can be done with a mouse should have a shortcut key.
- Library is a good example the cmd L (mac) or ctrl L opens window or another instance of library.
- I would suggest the same for Default Bible, Notes tool and new note, Layouts, Factbook, Bible Word study, Copy current verse and/or current selection, etc.
Visual Filter
- For Bibles make the Visual Filter button have an on/off function like Multiple Resources and Interlinear buttons.
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A couple of related things that immediately come to mind are:
- Overhaul sentence diagramming
- BibleArc-like features for phrasing - it should be as easy and responsive as BibleArc is
Thanks,
Donnie
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Bruce Dunning said:Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
- Make it easier to do complex searching
- Make it faster
- Make it simpler
Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:What new books should we include?
Carta! Carta! Carta! Please make an effort to come to an agreement with Carta so that we can benefit from their amazing maps!
MJ. Smith said:Rosie Perera said:Make it faster for users with enormous libraries (20,000+ resources; I have 25,474 unhidden ones) and lots of collections (I have 221). Everywhere that being such a power library owner slows down the product needs to be sped up or I cannot use the product.
I second everything Rosie said.
Yes, yes, yes.
I could say so much more but I'm trying to keep it simple just as I think Logos 9 should do.
Three more yes's: yes, yes, yes.
I'm still on El Seven. I really don't need more software 'stuff' (but don't begrudge those who do). But I doubt L9 will do anything with search, after a decade now. Or speed, other than minor this and that. Or simpler. You still can't recommend it for 'normal' Christians.
I know, Bruce .... I'm supposed to be hopeful! But 10 years?
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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1. Make it simpler. One should not have to have a degree in computers or some type of certificate degree and attend or watch countless Morris or Mark videos or attend courses to operate the software of Logos 8 or 9.
2. Make it faster. I agree with previous statements that one should not have to spend thousands to buy the newest, fastest computer equipment to get decent operation of Logos every few years. The program shouldn't take so long to do searches or bog down because of having several windows open. The software simply needs to be redone to operate....
3. Make it capable of being running totally in offline mode, without the need of being connected to the internet what so ever. After all, when one buys a book and puts it in their library they own the book and have it at their disposal 100% of the time. Logos has gotten away from that. The only time I or anyone should have to connect to the internet is for program updates and purchase downloads. Not everyone has internet 100% of the time. Other software programs are not internet dependant and Logos (Faithlife) has forgotten that.
4. Make it cheaper, not everyone is a millionaire. Too often electronic books are cheaper elsewhere and in other programs. Yes, I know about the linking bit etc. But when I see the same books offered in other software programs for 1/3 or 1/2 the price of Logos ones or sometimes in Kindle for much cheaper it makes me wonder and ponder.... Why is it so expensive in Logos? Simply put... MAKE IT CHEAPER!!
BlueBird
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Reuben Helmuth said:Mark Barnes said:
I appreciate that to sell upgrades to Logos 9 you need something new, but I don't think that's what Logos needs right now.
Agreed!
Thirded. The quality of original language data should be scrupulously error-free and easily searchable, the datasets and research rabbit trails that branch out from that should be rigorously documented. Over the years, this point has been made several times already.
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Better maps!!!! I have been asking for this for YEARS!
And also add Carta resources!
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Release an external software which will tag and add all of the necessary embedding into PBB. Even if it's imperfect, it's still reduces the huge amount of work necessary. Let us use PBB in mobile. What might make it irresistible is for smaller price for feature sets, or itemization of feature sets allowing us to buy something we need specifically. Emphasis on the latter, because I imagine feature development is not cheap.
John 3:17 (ESV)
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.0 -
As Rosie and others mentioned: Speed for everything in the software and a way for indexing not to affect and slow down your whole computer!
And for the sake of everyone: Bring all CARTA resources to Logos! Seriously, it’s been almost a full decade since this thread was started: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/25757.aspx pretty much begging to bring CARTA and people willing to PAY YOU!
BUT...BUT, if you’re not going to bother to make improvements in the graphics department, then don’t even bother bringing CARTA over to Logos. Let the users wait another decade before desecrating CARTA’s graphics by lowering the quality of their images by putting them in the current platform!
DAL
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Bruce Dunning said:Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
- Make it easier to do complex searching
YES. I'd like to see a search wizard, where we can build searches based on all the available searching/data set options.
Bruce Dunning said:Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:What new books should we include?
Carta! Carta! Carta! Please make an effort to come to an agreement with Carta so that we can benefit from their amazing maps!
I really don't get why Carta isn't already in Logos. Adding this as new package for L9 would be a major milestone for Faithlife.
Myke Harbuck
Lead Pastor, www.ByronCity.Church
Adjunct Professor, Georgia Military College0 -
Roger G Black said:
4. Make it cheaper, not everyone is a millionaire. Too often electronic books are cheaper elsewhere and in other programs. Yes, I know about the linking bit etc. But when I see the same books offered in other software programs for 1/3 or 1/2 the price of Logos ones or sometimes in Kindle for much cheaper it makes me wonder and ponder.... Why is it so expensive in Logos? Simply put... MAKE IT CHEAPER!!
BlueBird
Emphasis on the expense. It's really a very, very hard to pass the barrier. It's extremely important despite the difficulty in doing so. Perhaps you could reward Publishers who are willing to play ball. If some publishers want to make sure others will not accept lower royalties, would you guys simply adopt a policy which says that you will not listen to attempts to limit Publisher competition? Also, what about customizable base packages?
John 3:17 (ESV)
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.0 -
Please improve the Sermon Editor, make it easy to move a block of scripture text or a quote from a book, add the functionality to edit the sermon on the Mobile App, this is the tool that I used the most as a pastor, and it feels so incomplete... thank you!
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Top priority: Fix missing caret when editing Notes on secondary monitor.
Finish adding the keyboard shortcuts for editing that were lost in L7 ==> L8:
- Ctrl+L Align Left
- Ctrl+E Center
- Ctrl+R Align Right
- Ctrl+J Justified
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DAL said:
BUT...BUT, if you’re not going to bother to make improvements in the graphics department, then don’t even bother bringing CARTA over to Logos. Let the users wait another decade before desecrating CARTA’s graphics by lowering the quality of their images by putting them in the current platform!
I think FL understands that the rest of us who haven’t been complaining about graphics quality want Carta in Logos sooner, rather than later.
Thanks to FL for including Carta and a Hebrew audio bible in Logos 9!
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I agree with what many others have said about improving features that already exist but have only been partially implemented or are in clear need of additional work. To add to the examples that have already been mentioned, there are still dictionaries and encyclopedias that have not been made compatible with Factbook.
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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
1. Touch/Pen interface - https://logos.uservoice.com/forums/42823-logos-bible-software-8/suggestions/619605-focus-on-tablet-and-touchscreen-features
2. Disappearing cursor on 2nd monitor - since this bug only appeared in the last update, I assume this will be fixed LONG BEFORE L9 comes out. - https://community.logos.com/forums/t/186319.aspx
Making Disciples! Logos Ecosystem = LogosMax on Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (Win11), Android app on tablet, FSB on iPhone & iPad mini, Proclaim (Proclaim Remote on Fire Tablet).
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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What general themes or areas should we focus on?
Polishing the features and functions available in Logos/Verbum 8.
Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:What bugs should we fix?
To ballpark it, half of the milestone references/parallel resource stuff in the Early Church Fathers references don't work properly. The leading offer is the Schaff collection.
Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:What new data sets should we build?
Not quite data sets per se, but please build proper milestones/data types for the following:
- Acta Apostolicae Sedis. See https://community.logos.com/forums/t/185328.aspx
- All of the official documents of the Catholic Church that you sell that currently lack them. Cf. https://community.logos.com/forums/t/186910.aspx
- Migne (PL & PG)
An in-house tool that allows for the easier creation and maintenance of data types would probably be a very good idea.
I'm also certain that some members of the Verbum-focused forum community (including me) would be happy to help with milestone tagging for documents of the Catholic Magisterium if that were to be helpful from FL's perspective in terms of getting that tagging done.
__
In general, I hope that Logos/Verbum 9 will be more polished in all respects than 8. I think that the best thing FL can do is to improve existing functionality, which means building out existing features, fixing bugs in existing features, fixing milestone issues in existing resources, and making the software faster in any and all possible aspects. I don't need my future Verbum 9 installation to be bigger... just better.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Desktop-
1. Speed - I bought a new machine ( fast processor, SSD Drive, loads of RAM) specifically to run Logos faster. It made little discernible difference. Even if I have no resources opening, it still takes 25 seconds or more to even get a screen. I have other behemoths - like the Adobe products to open very fast. I have never understood how the videos on the Logos website are lickety-split fast... Anyway, it is always my number one...
2. indexing - so SLOW... and it eats up the system forever....
3. Notes - well, I was one that beat the drum to get it. But, it is so complicated now, I am lost in its enormity and complexity.
4. Sermon Editor - not very Mobile friendly... really not friendly at all... I seldom use it without giving up.
5. I like Canvas. I think it could be better.
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Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:
What are the most important things we should solve for Logos 9?
- What general themes or areas should we focus on?
- What bugs should we fix?
- What improvements should we make to existing features?
- What new features should we add?
- What new data sets should we build?
- What new books should we include?
Please specify desktop, mobile, and/or web, where appropriate.
What does your ideal Logos 9 upgrade look like? What would make Logos 9 an irresistible upgrade for you?
If different, what should we do to win the next generation of new users?
Please include links to forum threads, User Voice requests, etc. where applicable.
We've reviewed the User Voice feedback for desktop, mobile, and books, but I want to make sure that the priorities there are reflective of the current priorities of our forum community.
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback!
First I use the desktop almost all the time. I have checked out the web app and pleased with it, but don't use it because I use the desktop. The only thing I use the Mobile app for is simply to read a book when I am out. No in-depth study happens on Mobile, only the desktop.
For Logos 8 you came up with the Theology guide and have been working to make it better since. For Logos 9 you should try to figure out church history and there's 2000 years to tap into. Every time you ask my number one complaint is speed. I have learned to expect Logos Bible software to be slow. There was a great improvement with Logos 8, but it's still a very slow program compared to other programs on my system. There were a lot of resources added to Faithlife since Logos 8 launched. Some of those resources would entice people to upgrade to Logos 9. I have been pleased with Logos 8 Ultimate and most likely will acquire the Logos 9 Ultimate, but my library is getting bigger and soon I will stop building it and only need the new features. Logos 9 already is irresistible to me, but Logos 10 probably not.
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Focus on touchscreen features
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PetahChristian said:DAL said:
BUT...BUT, if you’re not going to bother to make improvements in the graphics department, then don’t even bother bringing CARTA over to Logos. Let the users wait another decade before desecrating CARTA’s graphics by lowering the quality of their images by putting them in the current platform!
I think FL understands that the rest of us who haven’t been complaining about graphics quality want Carta in Logos sooner, rather than later.
But lucky for you, knowing FL, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon 😉
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Thanks for asking!
The following is for desktop:
1. Better reading experience. This program is all about reading, so I think there should be more to customize the reading experience. For example, I want to be able to set a font for a specific resource, having different resources use different fonts. I also want to be able to set a custom background for resources - more than just the standard colors. I want to be able to set an image for the background. I'd use images of different kinds of paper. Think about it: Hebrew and Greek resources displayed on old parchment. Bibles and such displayed on photographs of old textured papers. That's one of the things I miss about print books - how each is visually unique. Give us a way to customize that and I think that would really be cool.
2. Better F8 drawing mode. Basically, I want something that is easy to use, and can function like Piper's Look at the Book. I use a Surface pro with a Pen, and I want to be able to just draw. I don't want to drag and drop things like in canvas.
3. Better Sermon Editor. Make it more robust, with features similar to Word.
4. Ways organize our documents (I'm thinking of sermons here) into file folders, grouping things together.
That's all on the top of my head for now. I'll post again if I come up with more.
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Already adding stuff: The ability to save a specific combination of Visual Filters into a present that we can quickly activate, rather than having to check and uncheck specific items.
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- PDF & EPUB Reader
- A resizable parallel resource set window (the drop down)... kinda like the library. The current one is sooo small, you can barely see the the list and the covers. Please this is important. We need parallel resource set window to be WAAAY bigger.
- Notes needs to retain the capabilities from the previous version. This current one is cumbersome. The previous one was simpler and makes more sense. Searching inside the notes isn't even possible. Terrible.
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1. Speed
2. Speed
3. Speed
4. Maps
5. Spit & polish most-used features that never got finished.
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1. Dark mode: the ability to change the entire interface to dark mode with white lettering (like what can already be done on the mobile app...there it is called low light)
2. Better touch screen support
3. A favorites panel that is more user friendly
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- Make the control bar much more useful and powerful; minimize mouse clicks, per https://community.logos.com/forums/t/177804.aspx
- Drag/drop of selected text/images. https://community.logos.com/forums/p/177922/1028666.aspx (among others)
- Make new tab behavior into a library search. https://community.logos.com/forums/p/186122/1074311.aspx
- Broaden Logos' offerings to make it more attractive to academics in religious/historical studies and related fields (not just Evangelicals, Catholics, etc.) with things like Carta, the works of Robert Alter, historical works of McGrath, and others.
- SPEED! I've got a new top-of-the-line laptop, blazing 1Tb SSD, 6-core processor, plenty of RAM and good CPU... and Logos hasn't changed much from my 6-yr old laptop.
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected."- G.K. Chesterton
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I'm not sure why people are still complaining about speed. I invested in an i9, 32GB RAM, fast video card and a PCI-e drive with lots of room and it rocks Logos.
I was wondering about the possibility of making the interface variable in size. I love making the print size very readable, but the interface cannot be made larger that I know of and it's sometimes a challenge to read things that are bit smallish. This might be a bear to do, but some of us older folks would appreciate it.
The mind of man is the mill of God, not to grind chaff, but wheat. Thomas Manton | Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are shallow. Richard Baxter
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