[bt-devel] BibleTime Mobile

[Benjamin Misja]

Hi Gary, 

Download, installation, adding more modules, reading and search all worked 
with no problems for me! I have an HTC One S with Android 4.1. 

Here are a few impressions: 
1. Adding new modules was straightforward because I'm familiar with BibleTime 
(i.e. I know what "Bookshelf manager" refers to) and Android (i.e. I know that 
the three dots mean "context menu" or "options"). 

If you want to make it a little easier for newbies to get more modules, you 
may want to consider renaming "Bookshelf manager" to something like "Manage 
installed works". 

Also, I was slightly confused in the bookshelf manager because there is no 
distinction between "installed" and "selected". Some resources where already 
"checked" (maybe I had installed them through AndBible or Bibletime Mini?), 
and when I selected others to be installed, they were equally "checked", but 
in this case, I had to confirm their download and installation. 

2. I personally would like to see you do more with the home screen. So far, it 
JUST lets you do a search. To just read a passage, you have to use the menu. 
My first impression of this empty home screen was that maybe the installation 
hadn't worked perfectly. 

What if you either
* just opened a Bible to Gen 1, right beneath the search bar, or
* offered several options such as 
** search
** open a passage or installed work
** manage your installed works? 

This would present all options neatly and not give the impression that what 
the app wants you to do is just search your bible. :-) 

3. A word about indexing. The first thing the app lets you do right now is 
search. Well, after you enter a search term, the app will ask to index your 
bible first. Users may not like this. What if a standard Bible, e.g. the ESV, 
were just indexed in the background at first launch? Indexing is something 
which many users may not understand, and search is a feature they will expect 
to "just work". 

Ben Misja

Am Sonntag, 25. Mai 2014, 21:29:00 schrieb Gary Holmlund:
> I have been working on a alternate frontend for BibleTime that works
> well on Android phones and tablets. It is called BibleTime Mobile. Some
> features are:
> 
>   * Open Bible, Book, Commentary, Cult, Daily Devotional, and Glossary
>     windows
>   * Scroll through the entire document continuously.
>   * You can open multiple windows and set the window arrangement mode to
>     either single, tabbed, or splitting the view horizontally,
>     vertically, or both.
>   * Adjust the font size of user interface text while looking at UI
>     elements as they change.
>   * Adjust the font size of document text while looking at at the document.
>   * Install works from any of several internet sources.
>   * Saves state of windows when you quit and restores them when starting.
>   * Search multiple works at once.
>   * Internationalization is ready but no translations have been done.
> 
> I would like to get some feedback about it. If you have a android phone
> or tablet version 3.0 or higher, it should run. I have done all my
> testing with a Nexus 5 phone and Nexus 7 tablet with android version 4.4.
> 
> To install it:
> 1. Change your Settings, Security, Unknown Sources to allow unknown sources.
> 2. Download the apk file from
> http://sourcearchives.com/bt/bibletimemobile.apk
> 3. Using a file explorer, select the bibletimemobile.apk file. It should
> ask if you want to install. Say yes.
> 
> Once you run it you will need to download some documents (works). Part
> of what I want feedback about is how easy it is to figure out what to
> do, so I won't give any details about that now.
> 
> If you do try it, I would like your feedback, good or bad. Just reply to
> this email.
> 
> Gary Holmlund