Things I would change about verbum

Add bookmarking and tagging. I was very surprised that this was not available. This is so huge this broke the deal for me. I can't use bible app without this.

Swiping to next page is slow. Even when it's cached. This should be a setting the user controls. I don't care about the fancy animation. I want fast.

Sweeping to the next page causes the circle to show and loads. This is not necessary. Precache the entire bible if you have to. This should never happen. Page swipes should be instantaneous. I should be able to swipe add fast as my finger moves. I don't have time to wait around. I hope it doesn't require an Internet connection for this. But I do understand if it needs to fetch notes from the cloud.

Clicking on documents, then on a document results in an odd clumsy way to get back to scripture verses. In other words, the button that shows the page with all the buttons on it, one button per bible book, should always be visible and accessible, always. No matter where you are in the app. Clicking on a document puts you into "read" mode. So there's really no logical way to get back to the bible. At least I couldn't figure out how. The interface on this particular part needs work.

I will continue to use olive tree bible study app for the time being until these issues are resolved. There are a lot of things I do like about it though. But it can't handle my work flow yet.

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Comments

Unix

If You have clicked to download a book it is stored locally on the device and nothing is fetched from the cloud. You are recommended to download every resource You need instead of using "Download all" - users have experience problems as image-rich tools have downloaded to and filled up the memory of the device. I have Accordance and OliveTree as well but haven't even started using the latter and have extremely little in it - just items that were substantially cheaper than in Logos although a couple of the volumes have since been on a sale in Logos. I would not recommend OliveTree though but I understand that You like its mobile functionality:

I hope it doesn't require an Internet connection for this. But I do understand if it needs to fetch notes from the cloud.

Alex Renn

Todd,

I'd love some clarification on a few of your concerns. I think this may be primarily a training issue, but I may be confused about what you're requesting.

Add bookmarking and tagging. I was very surprised that this was not available. This is so huge this broke the deal for me. I can't use bible app without this.

The Verbum app features both bookmarking and note creation (is that what you mean by tagging?) If you're using tagging in a more traditional sense, please clarify what you're trying to do, and I can respond accordingly.

Swiping to next page is slow. Even when it's cached. This should be a setting the user controls. I don't care about the fancy animation. I want fast.

Sweeping to the next page causes the circle to show and loads. This is not necessary. Precache the entire bible if you have to. This should never happen. Page swipes should be instantaneous. I should be able to swipe add fast as my finger moves. I don't have time to wait around. I hope it doesn't require an Internet connection for this. But I do understand if it needs to fetch notes from the cloud.

As Unix mentioned, downloading them locally on your device will help.

Clicking on documents, then on a document results in an odd clumsy way to get back to scripture verses. In other words, the button that shows the page with all the buttons on it, one button per bible book, should always be visible and accessible, always. No matter where you are in the app. Clicking on a document puts you into "read" mode. So there's really no logical way to get back to the bible. At least I couldn't figure out how. The interface on this particular part needs work.

I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve here, but I'll make two comments that I think might help. First of all, if you locate a small semi-circle in the bottom right corner of your screen, you can tap and drag that up to create a split screen which will allow you to have notes open alongside the Bible.

Second, Verbum was built to handle all the texts of the Tradition. While this means it's especially important that we handle the Bible well, we wanted to prioritize the relevant tools for the resource you're using rather than assume that you wanted to jump back into the Bible. (If you're taking notes on the Catechism, selecting a book of the Bible is less relevant.)

I agree that it can be somewhat difficult to find the tools, but I would contend that that's because it can do so much. Here are a few training videos that may help with your workflow:

http://scripturestudysoftware.com/2014/03/26/learn-to-use-the-verbum-app-part-1/

http://scripturestudysoftware.com/2014/04/02/learn-to-use-the-verbum-app-part-2/

Let me know if you have any other questions, or if my interpretation of your concerns was incorrect.

One last question, did you skip the intro screens when you first opened the app? (This will help us improve the New User Experience.) The underlying question is: Do we need to improve the introduction or just be more assertive that it is worth paying attention to?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!