Cross References and a Desktop Component
Hi Folks,
This is by far the best Bible App I have purchased in the iTunes store - I went through about $200 worth (all the major ones from Mantis, Bible, etc.) and this is the Fastest, easiest and most intuitive to use - thus far.
Two requests:
1 - Cross References: Is there a way to create a cross reference icon? Such that when I click on the "Cross Reference" Icon, I will be able to add / delete / modify cross references (as well as a short ability to add a comment next to the cross referenced scripture)?
2 - Desktop Component: Is there a way to get all my data on my desktop - so I can add all my Notes, Cross References, Bookmarks, etc. and then sync it up with the iPhone? This is so I don't have to manually enter in everything, rather use my desktop to copy & paste my stuff into the iPhone.
I really enjoy using this app! God Speed,
-Jose'
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Thank you for the kinds words
Thank you for the kinds words and encouragement! We have worked very hard on the applications, and while they're not perfect, we are striving to make them better every day.
Concerning your request, I don't know if it's exactly what you're looking for, but there is already a way to create bookmarks for each verse, but due to the amount of email and posts I've seen concerning it, it's not the most intuitive way of adding them. For the currently released version, you just slowly double-tap on the text for a verse and you will be prompted to either create a bookmark or create a note for that verse.
Note: While we don't like to comment on future features, I will say the next version has a more standard way of creating bookmarks/notes in addition to double-tapping the text.
When you create a bookmark for a verse, there isn't an icon that appears however. The reason for the lack of an icon is because you can have an unlimited number of bookmarks all pointing to the same verse (as far as we're aware, we're the only application which allows you to have multiple bookmarks for the same verse). For example, you may have bookmarks for personal study that point to verses and then you may also have bookmarks for sermons/lessons, etc. that also point to those same verses. If it appears a lot of users want an additional bookmark icon, we could add it and then show all of the places where it's bookmarked from.
However, if you create a note for a verse, an icon will appear. You can toggle between the icon and the actual note text by tapping on the icon or note itself.
As for the desktop component piece, while it would be useful, we currently don't have any plans on implementing a separate Mac/Windows application - that may change however as the software matures.
Thanks for replying so fast -
Thanks for replying so fast - I appreciate it.
As far as the bookmarks - I understand that they work - and I do use them - they do work well - I do link many to many - it's great.
Maybe I should try to explain the Cross-Reference another way:
- Say I want to tie the following three scriptures together:
-- John 2:18-21, 2 Cor 5:1, 2 Cor 6:16
I want to "Link" the word: "temple and house", thus, in my bible, I do this:
John 2:18-21 (on the side of the page):
- temple: 2Cor 5:1 (house) , 2Cor 6:16 (temple)
-- temple note: For us today, this is a spiritual condition in a natural body
In 2 Cor 5:1 (on the side of the page):
- house: John 2:18-21 (temple), 2Cor 6:16 (temple), Psa 27:1-6 (temple)
-- house note: God want's us to be a temple of His Spirit
In 2 Cor 6:16 (on the side of the page):
- temple: John 2:18-21 (house), 2Cor 5:1 (house), Psa 27:1-6 (temple)
- temple note: God want's us to be the temple of His Spirit
,....
Another option is to have the "Bookmarks" be "editable" - so I could add a link in the actual bookmark. That would solve the issue at hand and I could then simply create a "Cross References" Folder, add scriptures to it, modify them to point to other scriptures, and be all set.
I hope this is not to confusing.
Thanks again and God Speed,
-Jose'
Perfect description! A
Perfect description! A couple of clarification questions however.
After each referenced verse you have a word in parentheses - is that some tag you want to be able to define for each referenced verse?
Would the tag always be a word from the referencing verse or could it be any word?
Would you want to be able to specify a note for each referenced verse or just a single note for all of the references for that verse?
Thanks and hopefully some
Thanks and hopefully some clarification for you.
For each reference, I would like to be able to add a "word or phrase" of my choosing that will reference the verse.
The tag could be any word / phrase - since sometimes I reference a few words in the bible to multiple cross-references.
I would also like to be able to specify a note for the references for the verse as well.
This allows me to be able to "see" what specific words / phrases mean (to me).
Thanks again for your hard work.
This sounds a lot like what
This sounds a lot like what the current LDS scriptures have with regards to the cross references. For a given verse certain words in that verse will have letters beside them. You can then look down in the cross reference section for that verse and letter and see any definitions, explanations and verses that may apply.
I think what the person is asking for is a way to add your own "links" or "cross references" to a word in a given verse or at least to the verse in general. That "link" would then take them to another book/chapter/verse accordingly. With that being said however, as in his example, a verse could have multiple "links".
I would like to see this taken one step back and allow you to add a "reference" (versus a "cross reference" which implies that the reference will take you somewhere else).
As in the LDS version of the scriptures, some "references" for a given verse can include one or more:
1. References to other sources (or "links").
2. Text. This text could be a definition of a word, a historical fact, or any thing for that matter.
It would be nice if "notes" could extended perhaps to include:
A. "links" or "cross references" to other scriptures.
B. Allow multiple notes per verse.
C. Or simply just some text.
To continue ...
Then what would be nice is if you could give "links" or "cross references" "names" or "tags" and allow searching. Therefore if one did a search for "temple", not only would it bring up all references in that book for the word "temple", but also all "links" or "cross references" that have the "name" or "tag" with the word temple in it too.
So the "link" could be:
See John 1:1
Which when clicked on would take you to John 1:1.
Or the link could be:
See John 1:1 for other temple references
Again, which when clicked on would take you to John 1:1.
When the word "temple" is searched for, John 1:1 may not have the word temple in it, but the "reference" would pop up in the search for the word "temple".
Perhaps in the "search" configuration there would be a check box stating "Search references too?"
Did I make any sense?
This should keep you busy for a while ...
To me it sounds great. I did
To me it sounds great.
I did not want to mention the "search" part - as I felt it was to much to ask for - I am glad you did :-D.
I've been holding off on
I've been holding off on implementing any sort of cross reference feature in hopes that I get permission from the LDS church to add its copyrighted content to the LDS Books application because I don't want to have to implement the same feature twice.
As a side note, I talked with them again yesterday and their legal team is still not giving anyone permission to distribute copyrighted content on the iPhone yet.
If something doesn't happen on the LDS side in the next while, I'll just plow on ahead and implement cross references in the hopes that it will be compatible with the LDS cross references down the road.
When cross references is added, I'll strive to make it as generic and flexible as possible which should allow you to do most, if not all, of what you've requested.
I commend your honesty; there
I commend your honesty; there are other scriptures apps that already have implemented cross references. On the other hand, waiting for the Church to play technology catch up could be a dead-end road. After all, they still don't even have a site search button on their website, even after they presented it as a prime concern in a .ppt presentation in 2002. They get lots of user feedback that they know is important but somehow are slow to implement such recommendations. I mean the Church no disrespect, but this shows up in many of their technological endeavors (including the Church employment specialist tracking system, which will still only work in IE on Windows!).
These features are ALL the things I was asking for in my earlier post: personal linking, Church cross references, and searchable topics lists. I imagine that you already have anchors created for each scripture, so making a way to create personal links (i.e., cross references) shouldn't be too difficult (all you do is highlight some text and make it linkable to an already-created anchor).
Again, I LOVE being able to annotate my scriptures and this is the best app for that, but even the free apps (read: The Scriptures) have now implemented fully the Church's cross-references.
Actually, even if you did get
Actually, even if you did get the rights to roll out the LDS cross references, it would be great if it could be complimented with user defined cross references as well. Either way, with or without the LDS cross references, this would be a very handy feature.
Another feature that would be very useful would be the ability to create our own scripture lists, in essence creating our own personal topical guide. In addition to being able to compile scripture links for certain topics to have for the long term, this would be INFINITELY handy in giving talks and lessons.
Imagine being able to compile the list of scriptures for each lesson or talk, and just going down the list, reading and discussing the scripture, then returning to the list to read the next in sequence.
Also, any plans for a port to Android?
For the foreseeable future, only AT&T will carry the iPhone, but every major U.S. carrier is planning to roll out an Android phone.
Using the bookmark folders
Using the bookmark folders you can already create a list of scriptures. To do that you'd just create a bookmark folder for a talk, lesson, etc., and add bookmarks to it for the verses you want in it.
To traverse through the list of scriptures in the folder, you'd pick the first bookmark in the bookmark folder and then you'd use the up/down arrows at the bottom of the screen (while viewing the chapter) to advance to the next or previous bookmarks in that folder.
As for Android, there are no plans to port it. The application would essentially need to be completely rewritten for it - and we can't even keep up with the feature requests for this version :)