[mobile-devel] Thoughts regarding future And Bible enhancements

[Martin Denham]

I have started thinking about the next enhancements to And Bible and would
like to give people a chance to comment.  The items in the first list I have
been thinking about and am probably ready to implement.  Please comment if
you have any thoughts or opinions regarding implementation or regarding
items you would like to see or not see in And Bible.  Items in the second
list I would like to implement but am not yet ready.  Items in the last list
I have no plans yet to implement.  People seem to like the recently added
grid navigation and that was pushed through because of comments from this
group:

*Possibly Next Release*

*Speech*
*I have spent too long thinking about how best to do this.*
Aim: Allow multiple sequential or diverse chapters to be queued for speech.
 Alternative 1: Simple enhancement so that if Speech button is pressed on a
chapter not being spoken the chapter is added to the speech for queue.  If
Speech is pressed on a chapter just requested to be spoken then all speech
is aborted.
Possibility to allow fewer presses by moving the Speech button to the first
screen of menu buttons but which button to remove and how to know if user
can/does use Speech.
Alternative 2: Show Speech Dialog when Speech button is pressed but this
would involve a lot more button presses.
Alternative 3: Add stateful Speak button beside Quick Link buttons (at top)
in Portrait mode (more room) if selected in Settings.  The Speak/Silent
button would switch between the several states Speak, 2 Chapters, 4
Chapters, Book, Silent.
My vote: I prefer Alternative 3 or possibly Alternative 1 because I feel a
dialog just to add a chapter is overkill and could frustrate users.

*Allow Xiphos Module Download*
Include modules from Xiphos in download list.  Is there a Master List we can
use?  If not I just plan to merge the Xiphos list with the CrossWire list.
I also need to add a Refresh List button.

*TSK Links*
Requested by a couple of users.

*Bad XML Toleration*
The optimised page loading does not have JSword's bad xml structure
toleration for books like WEB.  I plan to try falling back on JSword if the
optimised technique fails.

*Strong's List of Ref use*
Use Lucene index to display a list of all  verses containing a certain
Strong's ref

*Remove Create Index Button*
Does anybody use it?

*RTL Page Header Tidy Up*
I have considered separating out chapter, verse, book, module into different
components to prevent bidi problems and improve layout for rtl languages
(Hebrew).  Separate components would also allow us to switch everything
around

*Small Changes*
More wait cursors e.g. when searching.
Formatting of text needs more consistency and tidying.
Splash screen needs better layout.
Large screen Tablets can't scroll to last verse.
Nav to Verse or Chapter Setting to optionally 3rd level to Navigation

*Later Release*
These are things I would like to do but not yet.
*
*
*Improve Formatting*
Important and ongoing.  I have really focussed on ESV but need to look at
others more closely.
*
*
*Fancy Header*
It could be prettier but it needs to be small.  The Android Twitter ui is
supposed to be a good model but the Toolbar there is very wide.  Also some
have suggested allowing full page viewing but I am not sure.

*Navigation*
I don't like putting my fingers all over the screen I am reading but
thumbwheels are not so common now so maybe: touch right/left edge to go
forward back a chapter, touch bottom corner to scroll down.

*Gen Book Module Support*
Support CrossWire book modules
*
*
*Book Speaker*
I really like the TTS and would like to use it with Books

*Chinese Search*
I had to disable this a few releases ago but I have no visibility of the
number of Chinese users of And Bible so don't know the priority.

*Reading Plan*
I did not know how many people use a reading plan until recently.

*Twitter & Facebook Integration*
Maybe somebody would like to contribute the code*.  **I am not even on
Twitter.*

*Hide Document Facility*
For documents you want on your mobile but don't use often or for non
directly used docs like Strongs.

*Better Localisation Support*
Localisations merit a dedicated resource to organise, support, check, ...
 Possibly integrate with Translations LaunchPad.

*More Inter Document Links*
*Faster Start Up*
*Tabbed Document selector*
*Pictures & Maps*

*No Plans yet*

Flexible verse selection
Enhance/fix TTS suppport for non built-in versions like SVOX
EverNote integration
Personal Commentary

Regards
Martin
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