We’ve updated PocketBible to fix an annoying little problem on iPhone 4 in which what we call the “launch options” screen is displayed when you re-start PocketBible after the OS has dumped it from memory while it was idle. While we were in there, we added a couple little features:
iPhone and iPad Features
- Added an option to enable/disable the use of colored buttons in the Bk/Ch/Vs verse selection forms to indicate sections of the Bible. Some people really hated what one of you called the “funky button colors” so we gave you the option to use a very un-funky gray for all the buttons.
- Added an option to set margins and line leading for single- and multiple-pane screen configurations. Some people wanted to see more text on the screen in the single-pane mode. This lets you do that. While we were at it we gave you the option of setting margins and leading in the multiple-pane view, too.
- Fixed a bug in which the temporary highlighting of the linked-to verse could disappear after synchronization with our server, removing or updating books, or coming out of the suspended state (iOS 4).
iPhone-only Features
- Added “Split Screen” to Context menu. It’s a little more convenient there than going to Menu, Settings, Open Panes, and choosing “2″.
- Fixed a bug that caused the launch options form to sometimes be displayed when coming out of the “suspended” state.
The next update won’t have any new features in it per se, but gives us the ability to sell our “collections” on the App Store and sets us up for in-app purchasing of books.
Jane: It is not presently possible to list bookmarks, highlights, notes, or search results in anything but biblical order. Consider bookmarking the first verse, then put a link to the next verse in the note for that verse. When you get to the second verse, put a link to the third verse in the note for the second verse.
Laura: Who says we’re not “creating programming” for Android? Certainly not us. See this article for details on our Android development plans.
And just to put your comment in perspective: The latest numbers I’ve seen indicate Apple has sold about 3 million iPhone 4 devices since its release less than a month ago. There are about 6 million Android devices of ALL flavors in use today. It’s easy to be “fastest growing” when you’re #4 (Behind Blackberry, Apple, and Microsoft).
Any comment on being able to leave the same note on multiple verses as mentioned above?
I can also email you to talk about this more if you would prefer.
Kaleb: That’s not a very common suggestion, to be honest. It’s unlikely we’ll add that feature. Similarly, we probably won’t make it so you can bookmark a passage as opposed to a verse. As I’m typing this I can think of use cases for each of those features so I don’t want to close and lock the door on the idea but rather just let you know it’s definitely not on the top of the list.
Feel free to email me anytime about anything.
Mickey: Sorry I didn’t respond to your comment about adding colors. I don’t always reply to suggestions and we don’t comment on what we may or may not do in the future, so while I read it, I didn’t respond.
What you’ll find is that we take a very utilitarian approach to our programs. We don’t get bogged down in features that are purely eye candy. So, for example, when you choose to open a Bible in PocketBible, you choose from a standard iPhone “table view” (i.e. a list). It doesn’t look like a bookshelf with little books on it, in your choice of shelf types (“pine”, “oak”, “cherry”, “metal”, “plastic”, “invisible force field”, etc.).
This is not to say that we never do anything fancy — just that it’s not high on our priority list. You’ll note that both our PocketBible for Windows and PocketBible for Windows Mobile allow you to choose background colors for the text windows. So it’s safe to say that we might do something like that in the future in PocketBible for iPhone/iPad.
One of the problems with colored backgrounds is that our books are full of images that expect the background to be white. When you put those images on a colored background they look funny. We can’t make the backgrounds of those images transparent because not all our platforms support it. And the effort to rebuild all of our books to put new images in them would be significant and wouldn’t result in any revenue to support it.
So… suggestion noted (it’s already on the suggestion list). Sorry I didn’t comment on it earlier.
Thanks Craig!
Craig, any chance we might be able to highlight just one word in the verse instead of the whole or nothing? The would help a lot when adding a note on a specific word.
Jack, it’s on the suggestion list. Thanks.
Gday Craig – sorry for the delay.
The slow iPad speed is mainly due to the amount of books I think as I really don’t have that many bookmarks / notes (a few hundred at most I think). I don’t have any highlights.
Is there any plan to change the search pane format / size?
I only get the iPhone reset warning very occasionally now – I think only when I have restarted my phone – thanks!
Adam there’s no plan to change the search pane beyond the three format options you have now, nor the expanded/contracted sizes.
Hi guys, Loving the app but I would like to suggest a few ideas (sorry of someone has already suggested them).
1) It would great if you search just the current book as well as the predefined selections. It would be even cooler if you could create your own ‘ranges’ of books.
2) I notice that the there 8 buttons at the bottom in landscape mode and only 6 in portrait mode. I like the Bookmark mark button but don’t always want to turn the display sideways (picky, I know!). Which leads me to suggest is it possible to allow user-defined choice of buttons on the screen as per the iPod Music app where the ‘edit’ option allows you to configure the buttons to your preference?
3)When you in a book and press the ‘goto’ button you are taken right back to the whole Bible choice. Sometimes I only want to go to another chapter but the previous chapter, next chapter taps take too long, especially if you’re at Is 6 and want to go to Is 66! Would it be possible to, say, highlight the current book so that the Go button takes you straight to the chapter screen without having to reselect the book again?
I hope this is not too much to digest but I think that this app is worthy of such enhancements because it does so much already.
Cheers,
Steve.
You can search any range of books, chapters and verses you’d like. Just enter the range manually instead of choosing a predefined range. See the extensive built-in help for details.
Thanks for the other suggestions.