LONGSTANDING BUG: Navigation in Bibles

Donnie Hale
Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036
edited November 21 in English Forum

To my recollection, since the earliest mobile apps were released, where the app takes you when you navigate to a specific verse in a Bible has seemed to be random, best I can tell. Rather than the selected verse being at the top of the screen (since that's where you want to start), it can be anywhere on the screen. And frequently it's near the very bottom of the screen - or even not actually on that screen at all, you have to advance a page to see the verse. This happens in all the Bibles I regularly use in the mobile apps: ESV, NASB, NIV, NA28, CSB.

The main way I experience this is when I tap on the content icon and the verse picker comes up. I navigate to a verse, e.g. 1 John 2:19, and the app takes me to that verse. But the verse begins on the very last visible line of the screen. So I only see 5 words from v19. To see the rest of the verse and the subsequent verses I have to advance a page.

The other way I experience this on a regular basis is with my daily reading plan. I do all my daily reading on my iPad. In the app I go to the home screen and tap the reading plan card to take me to the first passage for the day. Here are 3 recent examples of the passage for that day and where I end up:

Jude 1. Note in this screenshot you can actually see the round indicator telling you where the app *thinks* the verse you've navigated to begins. The "Today" bar is at the very bottom of the screen. No verses from Jude are actually visible.

Psalm 143. Again, no verses from Psalm 143 are visible.

Psalm 146. Again, only the end of Psalm 145 is visible - no verses from Psalm 146.

I know the mobile app is a completely different app on a completely different platform than the desktop application(s). But when I navigate to a specific Bible verse in the desktop app, that verse is always at the top of the pane. The mobile app(s) should behave similarly.

Is there any way the mobile app(s) can be enhanced (really, "corrected") to have more sane navigation behavior.

(Current main mobile device: iPad Pro 10.9, iOS 12.4.1, Logos Bible App version 8.9.0 - though as I stated, this behavior has existed going back to 2011 I'd say)

Thanks,

Donnie

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Comments

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,414 ✭✭✭

    ... this behavior has existed going back to 2011 I'd say

    Yes, but you do have to admit some irony. The desktop still has verse-follow struggles (L7 ... after 10 years, I doubt they've noticed, for L8).

    And yes, displaying the page before has been a lovable feature for Logos Mobile. Just yesterday, for me.

    Then, there's Ben's 'touch the arrow' target practice (also another lovable feature).

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • Donnie Hale
    Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036

    Bump.

    Denise's always-inscrutable replies are appreciated... [:D]

    But I'd like a response from someone at FL. Thanks,

    Donnie

  • T-Bone
    T-Bone Member Posts: 61

    Bump.

    Denise's always-inscrutable replies are appreciated... Big Smile

    But I'd like a response from someone at FL. Thanks,

    Donnie

    The mobile reading plan implementation is severely broken. Dozens of cases already exist and I don't expect any of them to be fixed in the next few years but that's just my opinion.

  • Donnie Hale
    Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036

    The mobile reading plan implementation is severely broken. Dozens of cases already exist and I don't expect any of them to be fixed in the next few years but that's just my opinion.

    As I pointed out in my original post, it's not just a problem with reading plans. Normal Bible navigation results in the same problem.

    -Donnie

  • Nick Steffen
    Nick Steffen Member Posts: 673 ✭✭✭
  • T-Bone
    T-Bone Member Posts: 61

    The mobile reading plan implementation is severely broken. Dozens of cases already exist and I don't expect any of them to be fixed in the next few years but that's just my opinion.

    As I pointed out in my original post, it's not just a problem with reading plans. Normal Bible navigation results in the same problem.

    -Donnie

    Ok, just add on another few years. No argument here.
  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,414 ✭✭✭

    Ok, just add on another few years. No argument here.

    T-Bone, now you're on-board. Did the mobile-devs ask for 'fixes'? No, they did not. They asked for new neato things. Think neato. Not boring 'find a Bible verse in a Bible'. Or 'read' books a little at a time. Or figure where you're at. Or mark where you left off. Not neato.

    I like your contributions.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • T-Bone
    T-Bone Member Posts: 61

    Ok, just add on another few years. No argument here.

    T-Bone, now you're on-board. Did the mobile-devs ask for 'fixes'? No, they did not. They asked for new neato things. Think neato. Not boring 'find a Bible verse in a Bible'. Or 'read' books a little at a time. Or figure where you're at. Or mark where you left off. Not neato.

    I like your contributions.

    Denise, everything you've stated in your above response is false. I will never be "on-board" with those who pretend to know the facts but do not. You know, false prophets and such. 

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,414 ✭✭✭

    Denise, everything you've stated in your above response is false.

    Well, I hope so!  But there is so much irony in a company that for years, made their money on 'books'. But like Nebuchadnezzar, saw the writing on the wall. The Big-A, and a declining market. But through it all, could never spend money on just 'reading' books. Yes, searching. Tagging. Planning. Pretty covers too, with the best 'look' and the best markup.

    Yesterday, I returned to a book I was 'reading' on Logos ios. I couldn't tell where I was. I laughed.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • Donnie Hale
    Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036

    Bump.

    (Daniel Di Bartolo at) FL - would you mind replying to the issues I've raised?

    Thanks again,

    Donnie

  • Donnie Hale
    Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036

    Another bump.

    (Daniel Di Bartolo at) FL - would you mind replying to the issues I've raised?

    Thanks again,

    Donnie

  • Daniel Di Bartolo
    Daniel Di Bartolo Member, Logos Employee Posts: 326

    We are planning to address this navigation issue at some point this year. 

  • Donnie Hale
    Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036

    We are planning to address this navigation issue at some point this year. 

    [Y]

    Thanks for the reply,

    Donnie

  • Doc B
    Doc B Member Posts: 3,543 ✭✭✭

    Donnie,

    In my experience, if you change the mobile app from page to scroll, this issue is less of a problem, but nonetheless it still happens. At a minimum, it's easier to scroll up a few lines than have to jump back and forth on pages (one of the reasons ebooks are supposed to be better than paper books).

    But then, the scroll feature brings on its own set of issues...

    Eating a steady diet of government cheese, and living in a van down by the river.

  • Donnie Hale
    Donnie Hale Member Posts: 2,036

    In my experience, if you change the mobile app from page to scroll, this issue is less of a problem, but nonetheless it still happens.

    Thanks, Doc. I really dislike the scrolling view. I often use two-finger drag to adjust the specific location of the page, but I just want to tap the margin to advance the page.

    -Donnie

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,414 ✭✭✭

    At a minimum, it's easier to scroll up a few lines than have to jump back and forth on pages

    At least for me, my books are more footnotes than 'regular' text. I feel like the authors add cake to their frosting. So, paging is it. And turning back a page to re-catch-the-drift means 2 more page turns, since the software looses it's place.  I don't know the developers' system, but it looks like how they chunk the text, and then buffer it. When Bibles don't line up, they take a pass. Seems.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.