Please give clear descriptions of big changes in the release notes
Thank you for a great app! But when you make updates, especially where a new function replaces or changes previous ones, especially longstanding ones, please clarify this in the release notes.
This observation is coming from several points.
One, several recent forum discussions regarding the changes to highlights. Nothing about these changes was mentioned in the latest release notes (at least from 31.0.0 through 32.0.1). The new location for highlight management in the popup tab upon a selection barely rises high enough on my iPhone to see, and since I had no idea it was even there and had no reason to look for it, I didn't even notice it until someone in a forum thread casually mentioned it after he had found it by playing around in the app.
Two, I recently went to type in a verse reference in a Bible reference box only to find I had to hunt and peck through the verse selector tabs to get there. I have no idea when this feature was removed, as it is not in any release note or wiki that I can find, but I seem to recall being able to type in a reference until only recently. I have no idea why this feature was removed, as I can type in a verse reference much faster than searching and tapping through colored tabs three levels down, especially in the Psalms. The verse finder feature is useful, so both are great to have. But why remove the ability to type in a verse and not tell anybody? Did I miss the memo?
Third, I recently spent three or four hours creating a verse list for someone on a topic, only to find I could not copy, share, or otherwise do anything useful with the verse list in the mobile app or the web app. I had to wait until later when I could get to my desktop in order to share or even copy the verses to share. The ability to use verse lists in that way has apparently never been a feature in the mobile app or web app, but I only just discovered the limitation, which added to the above impressions.
I greatly appreciate the app, and I understand what it takes to build and maintain it. Like many others I depend on it in many ways. But as such we are all very busy and don't have time to hunt through forums or wiki or discover all the hidden Easter eggs after an update. Please don't assume that we will "get" all the changes, especially big ones and especially when a longstanding function is suddenly replaced or changed.
I cannot find the above changes in the release notes, forum posts, or even the wiki page. Perhaps that is an oversight, or perhaps I am still missing something somewhere. But, apparently, I am not alone, as it prompted other people as well to create several forum threads and suggestion posts.
The changes to the highlights, by the way, are actually very useful, now that I kind of know what happened and how they operate in a new subsection which even displays all the layers of overlapping highlights. Bravo! But information about them would have been very helpful.
Thank you again for all your hard work. Hopefully, we can all stay on the same page together.
Blessings!
Comments
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Two, I recently went to type in a verse reference in a Bible reference box only to find I had to hunt and peck through the verse selector tabs to get there. I have no idea when this feature was removed, as it is not in any release note or wiki that I can find, but I seem to recall being able to type in a reference until only recently. I have no idea why this feature was removed, as I can type in a verse reference much faster than searching and tapping through colored tabs three levels down, especially in the Psalms. The verse finder feature is useful, so both are great to have. But why remove the ability to type in a verse and not tell anybody? Did I miss the memo?
Not commenting on your release notes suggestion but wanted to let you know this feature is still here - but now accessed by tapping the search icon at the top of the panel containing the Bible.
Tap the icon, enter the reference in the search box and you should get what you are looking for.
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Thank you for that, Graham! That thrills me to see. I had seen a couple of other people discussing the function's "absence" on a suggestion request asking for it to be restored. Hopefully, they will find as well that it was moved and not removed. Blessings!
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Hi Kevin, thank you for your detailed feedback. This is very helpful for us as we work through all of the recent feedback regarding highlights.
Nothing about these changes was mentioned in the latest release notes (at least from 31.0.0 through 32.0.1).
We made an announcement, albeit subtle, about these changes in the first v32 beta release note and in the v32 stable release note under the New section, as well as making a post in the Mobile Beta Forum when these new gestures were released to beta. That being said, we didn't anticipate these new touch gestures to create such an issue with highlighting interactions specifically. This scenario has sparked conversation internally about how we can better anticipate user feedback and communicate changes when larger changes are released. We have already improved our processes to avoid situations like this one arising in the future.
I recently went to type in a verse reference in a Bible reference box only to find I had to hunt and peck through the verse selector tabs to get there.
Graham is correct in saying that this ability has been moved to the Search icon in the top toolbar. Additionally, we have a case created to implement the ability to manually type in a verse reference when tapping on the verse reference box.
Again, thank you for taking the time to let us know your experience, so that we can be better!
Ali Pope | Logos Desktop and Mobile Program Manager
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Thank you, Ali! I think most issues would be resolved if you don't forget the many of us who don't have the time or even desire to work with beta versions or search out all the changes and updates. The new highlight function is great as long as you know how it has been moved and improved from what we've been doing for several years.
Please don't forget the many, average people who don't understand what beta and stable even refer to, though I personally do.
Please don't forget the many of us who look for one central bullet point location to inform us of what changes have been made, which is usually just the App Store (or similar) version update information.
Though many are not, I am aware of such pages as https://wiki.logos.com/Logos_Release_Notes for the desktop app. And I have found the one for mobile like https://wiki.logos.com/iOS_Release_Notes, although the latter is much messier than the former and, again, is confusing for people unfamiliar with versions which don't even apply to their current version. The first time I looked at it, I wasn't sure it wasn't just for beta testers because it's all grouped together. The latest stable releases really need their own page, in my opinion.
The forums have thousands of posts, which makes it difficult and time consuming to navigate and search to see if someone else has already reported an issue you have, so it's easier just to clutter it further with a new post.
I have been a user since the Libronix days and still don't have time to watch many Morris Proctor (and later) videos, though they're great when I can.
It would be of great help, I think, for the average busy user if you could just have one central location for whatever the latest updates and changes are that is clear, complete, and not cluttered with other information besides what we need to know to use the current version we have just received. Then the other pages are wonderful if we have the time, desire, and even need to follow the history of how it got there.
I hope this is helpful. Thank you all for your tireless efforts. Blessings!
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