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Anchoring ID to highlighted word, the way it used to be


Michel Gilbert

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Hi,

 

In other posts I praised Acc iOS as the best program/app for rapid reading of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles. In fact, that's the main reason I bought an iPad - for the one tap and hold, and the Instant Details window that was anchored to its word.

 

I downloaded 2.0, and I am shocked to see that the ID window is not anchored to the word anymore. Now it appears at the top or bottom of the page. I don't know how this looks on an iPhone, but on an iPad Air it is a long way away from the word, and detracts considerably from rapid reading.

 

Could you please add an option to anchor the ID window to the word, the way it used to be, and the way it still is with click and hold in the desktop?

 

Regards,

 

Michel

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HI Michel,

 

This was probably one of the most discussed (debated?) changes in 2.0. With the addition of the iOS Edit Menu (that gives the option for highlight, note, define, etc) it posed a problem for where to place ID if it was to continue to be 'anchored' to the word. One option was to place a 'Details' button in the Edit Menu that would then bring up ID in the previous 1.x method. But that would not be very "Instant" if it required two taps, so that was vetoed quickly. Stacking it on top of or below the Edit Menu didn't make sense either. Arranging all the Edit menu options inside the ID popover wasn't an option. And placing both the Edit menu and ID above/below the word (depending on the location of the word) would end up obstructing a lot of the context of where the word occurs. 

 

The option we implemented seemed to be the best solution, and a detached Details type popover is consistent with the UX of other reading apps. After testing this for several months I've become accustomed to it, and we hope users will adapt to working with it in time as well.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

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I bought an iPad for one purpose - the tap and hold/anchored ID window. 

 

Why couldn't it be an option? I would rather have it and deal with the other problems myself.

 

Otherwise, is there a way to revert to the product I bought in the first place?

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I bought an iPad for one purpose - the tap and hold/anchored ID window. 

 

Why couldn't it be an option? I would rather have it and deal with the other problems myself.

 

Otherwise, is there a way to revert to the product I bought in the first place?

 

I think I addressed in detail why this is not an option at present. All I can say at this point is that we will monitor feedback on the current implementation and discuss it further. There's no way we could have known someone would buy an iPad for this feature alone, and feel as strongly as you do about it. 

 

The only way to revert to the previous rev is to restore from a backup that has the prev rev; this is by Apple's design.

 

Thanks again for the feedback.

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Hi Rick,

 

Well, here is some more feedback.

 

What you addressed was how you arrived at one solution, without options. I don't understand the problem of a pop-up window "obstructing a lot of the context of where the word occurs." I would deal with that problem by closing the window.

 

You said, "There's no way we could have known someone would buy an iPad for this feature alone, and feel as strongly as you do about it."

 

Neither could I have known that a great product could change so quickly, and that I would be forced to get used to it. It actually sounds like Windows 8 - you are forcing me to change the way I read - the very way you programmed, I approved of, and have gotten wonderfully used to.

 

And yes, I am an unsatisfied customer at this point. No point in trying to hide it.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

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Options add complexity of both implementation and maintenance. I'm not really satisfied with what we came up with either and I'm sure we will continue to refine it. But adding two or more ways to do the same thing is not the path forward in my opinion.

Edited by Scott Knapp
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I am sorry you are unsatisfied. As mentioned, we will continue to monitor feedback among our entire userbase and discuss options.

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Though it's true that now the iOS edit menu has to be taken into account for the positioning of the ID window, I think that putting the ID window too far from the word was too extreme a solution. Perhaps mainly the iPhone users were taken into consideration regarding this aspect, since with the iPhone screen size this distance between the word and the ID window is not too noticeable: but with the iPad this takes on a different dimension, and what we now get is an excess of 'context' which in the end is also an obstruction for our personal study.

And maybe a problem with waiting for noticeable feedback among the users is that there are just comparably a few of us who use this app with an iPad, so there won't possibly be a quorum for voicing out this specific issue.

Thanks.

Edited by Anthony Sepulveda
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Anthony,

 

I just checked and about 47% of the Accordance Mobile users last month were using iPads. 

 

Mike

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Thanks for the info. :) I hope many of these are also active forum users, and that they tend to use the ID window a lot for their reading and studies, and see how it goes for them with this new version.

 

I think the potential distraction can be better noticed with the use of text-heavy tools in the iPad (quite different from how the Mac/Win version responds to a click-and-hold):

post-32492-0-05311300-1426951802_thumb.png

Edited by Anthony Sepulveda
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I also don't like the way the instant details can jump between the top and bottom. The problem I see is that it forces a person to search around the screen to find the instant details. I thought I would comment, though as mentioned it isn't an easy issue to deal with.

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I can't understand why Edit menu can't stay at the top of the selected word and ID at the bottom? In those cases when I select something close to the bottom of the screen, both could be displayed above the selected word. First Edit menu, then ID.

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The Instant Details window at the bottom makes sense on my iPhone. It is a little unintuitive on iPad, but not a deal breaker personally. Thanks for the work on 2.0

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  • 1 month later...

Hi everyone,

 

In fairness I tried to get used to the new ID box, but I haven't been able to. I still find it very counter intuitive, in fact, the very opposite of what I would expect.

 

When I need to look up something about a word, I expect ID to be anchored to it, so I could keep reading at the same eye level. Conversely, when I need to edit the text, e.g., highlighting, copying, making a note, etc., I expect that my eye level will be interrupted, and that I will have to focus on different parts of the screen.

 

So, I would still prefer ID to be anchored to the word, and the edit/productivity menu to appear as a vertical bar to the left or right, or as a horizontal bar at the bottom. Adobe Acrobat, GoodReader, and Pdf Expert have menus like this, and I think most find them very intuitive.

 

This has become a deal breaker for me, and I've reluctantly reverted to a competitor for reading using remote desktop software. I still hope that you will make it the way it was, sort of like Windows 8 putting the Start button back.

 

I can't stress enough the importance of rapid reading and near fluency. Then all of the tools in Accordance become even more accessible and powerful, especially the syntax databases.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

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Hi michel,

 

I hadnt noticed this as i use the ipad 2 in landscape mode 95% of the time and the distance is much reduced. an option you may want to try, though i accept its not your preferred way of working.

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Hi,

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I experimented with landscape mode early on and came to the same conclusion. The faster you can read, the less time you want to spend looking up or down for some word detail.

 

I love the Accordance desktop version. In my opinion, the ID feature from 1.7 combined with the new features in 2.0 would make Acc the best desktop/mobile biblical software package. But as it is, I have to mix and match Acc and its competitors for desktop research and mobile reading.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

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