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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 21
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mdbergmann
Inventory Germany Joined: Jun 12, 2008 Post Count: 637 Status: Offline |
Hmm, sorry. Works now. |
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chasm
Regular USA Joined: Aug 19, 2009 Post Count: 58 Status: Offline |
It is a publicly accessible link? It's still not working for me. ---------------------------------------- <this signature intentionally left blank> |
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mdbergmann
Inventory Germany Joined: Jun 12, 2008 Post Count: 637 Status: Offline |
Strange, it works if I click on it. Maybe the browser caches the old response? |
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chasm
Regular USA Joined: Aug 19, 2009 Post Count: 58 Status: Offline |
Guess that must've been it... I tried it in Chrome and it worked... too bad I didn't get to it before my Bible class, or I'd have had reports from "playtesting" by know.  ---------------------------------------- <this signature intentionally left blank> |
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chasm
Regular USA Joined: Aug 19, 2009 Post Count: 58 Status: Offline |
Playtesting over: - The right sidebar always opens by default, whether I have just launched the app, opened a new tab, or even switch tabs. - By default, all the Mod options are always unchecked on launch. This means I always have to turn on Jesus' Words in red text, for example. - There appears to be a blank line above and below the text display at all times. - By default, there are too many defaults. I mean this seriously: - I love that the basic GUI is becoming cleaner and less cluttered, but the under-the-hood mechanics could use a little of that too. I don't think it should be necessary to set defaults on every module's appearance. You open a module and set the font and size and other styles as you want. They stay the same for that module. That's it. It would be great if I could do that in the app GUI itself without having to open the prefs every time. An alternate approach would be to sync the styles to their pane in the workspace. My main module in the top left could be one style, my secondary version in the right half could be different if I wanted, and perhaps the commentary in the bottom could be something else. Perhaps there should be options to keep styles in sync or to stylize each module differently, but it would make more sense for the modules to "remember" their settings in a hidden way, and respond to user input in the GUI rather than in the preferences only. For the basic user (we all were that at one time), a program is more friendly when it just does what you want it to when you tell it so on the surface GUI. I look under the hood when my car isn't running quite right, or when I want to tinker. - Why not scrap the predefined list of font sizes altogether, and replace it with a simple horizontal slider? You could even put it in the lower right corner to match the layout of Finder, and it would make sense. No matter where you put it, a slider with a tiny "A" on one side and a much bigger "A" on the other side is pretty easy to figure out. :) Best of all, you can use that slider as a way to store a global preference for font size (just like the slider in Finder specifies the default icon size), and it would seem all the more intuitive. ---------------------------------------- <this signature intentionally left blank> ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by chasm at Apr 16, 2010 5:49:38 AM] |
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chasm
Regular USA Joined: Aug 19, 2009 Post Count: 58 Status: Offline |
I got reams of SQL errors, too cryptic to figure out at first that it didn't like the length of my post... so here's the rest ---- Other: - Since fullscreen blocks out the Mac menu bar, how about a small optional clock display in the top right corner? Just black text with the time. It would be so nice to see what time it is without leaving fullscreen. - Also, putting buttons to toggle the sidebars in fullscreen would be nice. They could even go in the floating HUD. There's plenty of room. - I would love to see use of the Strong's Concordance and other references better integrated into the MacSword experience. What I mean is that it seems very cluttered and unintuitive to have to make ALL the Strong's Numbers appear and fill up the window, or to open them into a floating inspector. Perhaps a "Reference Click" would be a good idea. It could be that you hold a modifier key and click the word, or hover over a word and type a hotkey, and the Strong's details or other reference material appears in a popup at the word, much like he built-in functionality of the Mac Dictionary when you hover the cursor over a word, type a command, and the definition appears. Or, PC converts could have a familiar option of clicking a helper icon (turning the cursor into a question mark), and clicking the word to see references and definitions on it in a popup. However the method, it would be a useful, if even an optional way of integrating reference materials with MacSword Bible study far superior to littering a screen with numbers or perpetually occupying it with an Inspector Pane. - To prevent clutter in such an interface (i.e. every single applicable reference appearing in that popup, for those who have lots of references), there should be a system to enable which references appear in such a popup, perhaps simply by having a preference setting so that the modules would be either checked or unchecked to determine if they appear. Alternately, the popup would by default display your default reference of choice, and you could click a plus sign (+) in the popup to add another reference, or a minus to remove one. You could also drag around the reference materials that appear in order of priority right in the popup. So if you want dictionary definitions, Strong's, Morphology, or commentary on the passage, you can get all that in a simple popup displaying the material of your choice. ----- Thanks for letting me try out this software. I look forward to the next installments. ---------------------------------------- <this signature intentionally left blank> ---------------------------------------- [Edit 2 times, last edit by chasm at Apr 16, 2010 5:51:36 AM] |
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mdbergmann
Inventory Germany Joined: Jun 12, 2008 Post Count: 637 Status: Offline |
I really appreciate your input. And you are right, too many options. The structures are already there to store module options per module but it's only used for font at this time. Obviously as you can see I'm not so much the HUI guy. :) I actually like doing backend work much better. But I'll try my best. Those right side bars are giving me headaches. :/ Working on an update... Manfred |
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chasm
Regular USA Joined: Aug 19, 2009 Post Count: 58 Status: Offline |
Initial thoughts on latest version (updated via Sparkle): - The fullscreen button is a nice addition, as are the buttons in the fullscreen HUD. I guess it's a matter of taste, but now I'm thinking of drawing mockups for more symmetrical appearance and a HUD-themed skin for the buttons in fullscreen. I may have more on that later. - The extension of font size range is noted, but I would still like to see a slider for that. If that were done, the font size menu could be replaced with a font menu, allowing for complete customization of any module's appearance without entering the prefs. - Grr, you right sidebar. Why don't you just behave yourself? :D ---------------------------------------- <this signature intentionally left blank> |
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Mikofox
Newbie Joined: Apr 19, 2010 Post Count: 6 Status: Offline |
Suggestion: I'd be very happy if simple selecting and highlighting of verses could be implemented, without creating a bookmark that needs to be titled or the highlight color chosen. I'm also in favor of adding a default highlight color option in Preferences to streamline creating bookmarks. And thanks for a great software! ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Mikofox at Apr 19, 2010 12:32:42 AM] |
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mdbergmann
Inventory Germany Joined: Jun 12, 2008 Post Count: 637 Status: Offline |
- The extension of font size range is noted, but I would still like to see a slider for that. If that were done, the font size menu could be replaced with a font menu, allowing for complete customization of any module's appearance without entering the prefs. Yeah, eventually there will be a slider or something which makes this easier. However this isn't a quick fix and needs some more time. And even for a slider you have to tell it in which range it should operate. Manfred ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by mdbergmann at Apr 19, 2010 1:35:21 AM] |
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