LogosNext V6 Feedback (Closed Beta)

The work on the UI is brilliant - it's clean, attractive and the animations for the menus coming in look smooth and smart, while remaining fast enough that they don't get in the way.

The tab system is obviously the most exciting development, and it's incredible. You can quickly compare multiple resources, preserve your location while following links etc - it's a great feature. I will say that if you're viewing a resource with the swiping mode rather than scrolling mode, it's a tad counterintuitive that you need to use two fingers to swipe (one finger changes tabs) - I think that would make more sense if you swapped the one-finger/two finger interactions.

I don't find myself using the atlas often in the existing app, but when the vector maps roll out, I expect to view them more often, and when that happens, I'll definitely want the option of viewing them full-screen (especially when using a phone-screen) so I hope that gets added as an option for a new tab rather than just a pop-over.

I do find myself missing the "swipe up" interaction on a verse, but if that gets lost in a new approach to interaction, I can understand that, and it's not hard to get the same thing through the menu system - it's also slightly less important given that I won't need to repeat the interaction as often (given the multiple tab situation).

Other than that, any feedback for now would be aimed at desired features (better offline support for interlinear resources, better display for search results, open any image full-screen etc), but that's presumably not the kind of feedback you're after in this thread.

My main thoughts are that this is a really positive development. Exciting, well thought through and well-implemented. Love it!

Sorry for my ignorance! What is LogosNext?

Glad to see the nice work that has been done on this new version.  Here are some initial thoughts:

• While the library icon (on the bottom) is great for quickly opening a resource in a new tab, it would still be nice to tap on the book name at the top of the window to change the resource of the current tab (already at the desired reference)
• Could you clarify the functionality of the Logos icon button at the bottom center of the window.  I initially though it was a quick link to the first tab in the list, but that doesn't seem to hold true in all cases.
• In the tab view, it would be nice to have a button to close all tabs without having to swipe-close each one.
• also in the tab view, if would be nice to have a second view option that just lists the resource and reference of the tab, allowing for quicker jumping between multiple tabs by listing many open tabs on the screen at once.
• Very much like the new popout main menu on the right side, as well as the drop down resource menu.
• It would also be nice on the Book-Chapter-Verse selection screen to have a button labeled "open in new tab" that could be pressed before selecting the verse.  This would be nice in a situation whenever you are asked to turn to a different passage, but you would like to preserve your current tab (location).

Really excited to see this initial work so far.  nice job team.

I'm loving it so far!

Great things:

• Tabbed browsing is great! Genius. I can see myself using this a lot. I will probably have a Greek+English 2 panel tab, Hebrew+English 2 panel tab, and then whatever books etc I'm reading.
• I love how easy it is to switch tabs. 
• I love the ability to sync tabs. 

Suggestions

• I agree that 1 finger swipe to change tabs and 2 fingers to change page is counter intuitive. Not a deal breaker but took me a while to figure out - originally I thought it was a bug. 
• I would like the ability to have some tabs use 'scrolling view' and some tabs use 'page turning'. It seems at the moment that changing the view settings on 1 tab affects them all. I can see the advantage of that, and think that should be default. Otherwise it will be chaos. But what about an option in that "View Settings" pane that says 'Settings affect this tab only'?    Here's my use case: I use page turning when I read books. But when I am looking at original languages with English in the 2nd pane, I prefer scrolling. It is annoying to have to keep changing the view options. 
• Still really keen for offline word lookup for original languages (Daniel we've chatted about this in the past so I don't think I need to explain what I mean here?)

BUGS:

• When changing view options, turning on scrolling causes the open tab to freeze.
• Turning off scrolling when holding iPad horizontally makes the margins really narrow (turning iPad vertical then back to horizontal fixes).

Love your work guys. Feels like a great direction to be heading!

When would V6 come out?

I’d love to get in on the beta as well! Excited!

Hmm... sometimes to check what mode I'm in, I try swiping with one finger. I think this will be disorientating. I think consistency = user friendly ... But... up to you guys!

More than that I care about Quick and offline lookup of Greek and Hebrew words. That is the real deal breaker / point of differentiation between logos and Accompetitor. With one long press in the Accompetitor app, I have the word parsed, glossed, and the lexicon entry opened. Instantly and offline. That's something Logos really could use!!

Daniel Di Bartolo said:

You need to be invited to join the LogosNext Beta.

I requested an invite, but haven't had one yet. I'd be glad to participate, though.

Hello all, 

I've been playing with the LogosNext app and I wanted to say—awesome job! It's fresh and exciting but also easy to use!

A couple of thoughts:

1. Like everyone else is saying, page turning should be a one finger swipe and changing tabs should be a two finger swipe. 

2. I love how clean the pages are now, but there should be a header option so you know which resource is open and where you are. Maybe the resource's short name and chapter/verse? As I was changing tabs to different commentaries I couldn't tell which commentary was which.  See mockup below. 

3. You can't link a Text Comparison tab to the other tabs. That would be a nice feature! 

4. I noticed that something that is broken in the non-beta app got fixed (which is great!). When previewing a cross reference in the ESV, LORD (for Yahweh in the OT) now says "LORD" instead of "Lord" (Adonai) which has been misleading. Glad to see this fixed in LogosNext. 

5. Lastly (and not super important), I wish more fonts were available. Even just a sans-serif option would be welcomed. That being said, I do love the default font. 

Awesome job, team. Thanks for all you do! 

[CRASH] Tapping the first item in a clipping document briefly opens the Edit dialog and then crashes.

Do you want the reports here limited to what is listed in the App Description, What to look for, section?

I really love the direction and new aesthetic. I didn't think I'd like tabs on mobile, but WOW! Really nice work.

I'm doing this at work so, just a few quick observations:

• Text Compare: Typing a verse in ref box or selecting a ref from the picker goes somewhere random.
• Can't read the Last Read toast notification; colors are wrong. Also, tapping on it opens a new tab???
• How do you delete a Prayer List?
• Not a new problem: When you go offline with a non-local resource open in a tab, you can scroll through to blank space. Putting an Offline marker on there would be a nice reminder to the user that this is expected. Another option would be to allow caching entire resources as they are opened, however you'd have to be respectful of Data Rates for cell users.
• Atlas: Is that a place holder? Where's the new fast maps from the web platform?

Some of this may be me getting acclimated to a different way of navigation, but these are a few impressions:

• I keep reaching to top right for the tab manager. Like Safari & Chrome. I also keep trying to pinch the screen to get to the tab manager.
• I'm not crazy about the order of menu items. The most often used tasks should be nearer the top. I appreciate and approve of wanting the Store more upfront (is it going to be used on iOS?), but it pushed more useful items down the list. Have you considered putting just the icons on a single row at the top, next to the Done buttton? [Menu] [Store] [Settings] [Help] Done.
• The Back button confuses me. It's enabled when there is nowhere to go back to. I understand that there is a useful history displayed (long press), but it's just wrong that it's enabled,I can tap it and it does nothing.

Daniel Di Bartolo said:

Phil Miller said:

Could you clarify the functionality of the Logos icon button at the bottom center of the window.

It's "the Bible" button. A common complaint we here about the current app is that it's difficult to make your way back to the Bible. That button with 1.) Open your preferred Bible in a new tab (if it isn't open) OR 2.) Open the last used instance of your preferred Bible.

Thank You!!!

alabama24 said:

"Tabs" isn't really the right word... "desktops" comes closer, but isn't quite right either. 

Workspace?

Nope, nope! You're locked in now! 

How do you find the slider on a new tab?

Graham Criddle said:

Kenneth Neighoff said:

How do you find the slider on a new tab?

There currently isn't one, not sure if one is planned

Not sure what you mean? If it's the slider for the top/bottom windows (is that the right word?), then open tab view and press the two boxes in the top right corner to display the slider.

Apologies if I've misunderstood.

James McAdams said:

Graham Criddle said:

Kenneth Neighoff said:

How do you find the slider on a new tab?

There currently isn't one, not sure if one is planned

Not sure what you mean? If it's the slider for the top/bottom windows (is that the right word?), then open tab view and press the two boxes in the top right corner to display the slider.

Apologies if I've misunderstood.

thanks James. That is what I was looking for.  

Definately not that easy to find.

Before I give my first impressions, I'll just say that I'm delighted that there's a multi-tabbed interface. I've been wanting that for a long, long time (without realising it!). It answers a lot of my frustrations. That said…

My first 15 minutes with the app were frustrating to say the least. I encountered the following issues:

1. I couldn't get rid of the split screen by dragging it to the bottom, as I had been used to. I worked out much later it was on the tabs page, but I see no reason why it can't be draggable too.
2. Whilst trying to get rid of the split screen, I kept highlighting text accidentally. The current version of the app only highlights if you swipe horizontally, whilst the new version also highlights when you swipe vertically. I actually prefer to allow vertical highlighting, but it needs to be less sensitive.
3. The app allowed me to use it before my library had downloaded, but it was a frustrating experience. My Bible version was wrong, and I couldn't change it to my preferred version (presumably because my preferred version hadn't been added to the library). It would have been better if I'd been made to wait.
4. I got two crashes. I'll add the logs once I've synced to iTunes.
5. The library very frequently jumped to the top when I scrolled down. It made it almost impossible to choose resources below the fold. It's calmed down now, but was very annoying for at least 10 minutes.
6. On the tabs page, the tap targets for new tab and link (at the bottom) are too small for my fingers. I have to tap slightly off the screen to get them to work.
7. Because the UI only comes up when you scroll down (not if you scroll up), it's hard to get the UI to appear when you're at the beginning of the resource.
8. When you're at the first tab, and swipe right you get the rubber-band effect. But I think the background outside the tab should be dark grey, not white.
9. The animation when you tap the blue button gives the appearance you're going one tab to the left/right, regardless of how many tabs there actually are. I would prefer a more realistic animation.
10. I really like the idea of the blue button, but I don't think the icon is right. It feels like tapping the Logos logo should take you to the home page, not your Bible. I'd prefer a simple Bible icon (perhaps the cover of your preferred Bible, or a standard cover with the short title, such as NIV)
11. I'd like an option to keep the existing apps ability to keep the current resource/location always onscreen.
12. I miss not being able to see how far through a book I am. A slider, or percentage would be useful.

To end with a positive, I absolutely love how quick it is to move to a different tab (although I think we'd be better off calling these 'panels'). That answers my #1 frustration with the existing app. The library also seems much more responsive. That answers my #2 frustration.

When reading a resource, some of the text on the top and bottom of screen is hidden by the toolbars. It feels a little tedious to have to tap the screen to remove the top and bottom bars in order to see all the text, and then tap again to restore the toolbars to navigate. It is a nice feature to be able to get rid of the toolbars and use the entire screen if desired. Could the text be required to be displayed within the toolbars when the toolbars are visible?

Is there a way to be invited still or is it limited in who can be sent an invite? Thanks!

I'm not sure if the topic guide is trying to tell me something, but every time I type in a search for "Gluttony", it changes it to "Love" and gives me the results for that.

It seems to do the same regardless of what topic I search for. Really odd.