[jsword-devel] Next version of iPhone-ish site

[Jonathan Morgan]

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 11:21 AM, Greg Hellings <greg.hellings at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 7:01 PM, Jonathan Morgan <jonmmorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >
>  > On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 9:32 AM, Jonathan Morgan <jonmmorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >  > On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 7:47 PM, Greg Hellings <greg.hellings at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >  >  > I have continued working on the site between end-of-semester work and
>  >  >  >  exams and such.  Updates this round include:
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  >  --Better (read: existent) handling of improper keys entered manually
>  >  >
>  >  >  I can't get enter manually to work at all.  I get the message box
>  >  >  "Enter desired key" (I still prefer verse or reference) and then when
>  >  >  I type a reference nothing happens.
>
>  >From this and other things below, I take it you're using some flavor
>  of IE?  I just popped up my Windows side of things and saw how
>  atrocious the site looks in IE - my apologies.  It looks much better
>  in Safari.  I also cannot get the site to work quite properly in IE.
>  In Firefox at least you can get the text to show when clicking
>  through.  At this point, even the CSS contains some WebKit/Safari-only
>  things (like the button styling).  I'll take it that the flaw in the
>  display is because the text is appearing at a different level in the
>  z-axis, since the FF display of it in Windows leaves much to be
>  desired.  Safari for Windows and for Mac displays it fine.

No.  I'm using FF 2.0.0.12 on Windows.  As I say, for some reason it
wasn't displaying, and then when I tried it a few minutes later it did
display.

>  I just changed that use of the word "key" in my code now.  Thanks, I
>  had missed that instance of it.  Working in the code with the "key"
>  class so much, I keep forgetting that's not what we call a reference
>  in everyday parlance.

True.

>  >  >  >  --More elegant labels and timings of the "Back" button
>  >  >  >  --New landing site to give the OT/NT split (default module: ESV)
>  >  >
>  >  >  That is much better.
>
>  I agree - thank you for the suggestion.
>
>
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  >  >  --Intelligent messages to the user if there are no applicable options
>  >  >  >  (i.e. choosing "New Testament" from the LXX doesn't leave you in
>  >  >  >  never-never-land)
>  >  >  >  --Direct URL referencing with the following accepted (if not specified
>  >  >  >  the default module is ESV -- interpret the syntax of the following
>  >  >  >  lines similar to the syntax of GNU cli argument specifications, name,
>  >  >  >  anything in square brackets is optional, nested squares mean the
>  >  >  >  options are nested, and angle brackets indicate that the words in them
>  >  >  >  should be replaced by a value):
>  >  >  >  *#books[.<module>.[<testament>]]
>  >  >  >  *#chapters[.<module>[.<testament>]].<book>
>  >  >  >  *#testaments[.<module>]
>  >  >  >  *#verses[.<module>[[.<testament>]].<book>.<chapter>
>  >  >  >  *#modules-list
>  >  >  >  *#bymodule.<module>.<book>.<chapter[s> | [.<verse[s]>]
>  >  >  >  *#<book>.<chapter[[s]> | [.<verse[s]>]]
>  >  >  >  --Mostly supported Back & Forward buttons (the only place I know them
>  >  >  >  to not function atm is if you use the in-app button to go "Back" and I
>  >  >  >  know where to fix that, and just haven't yet).
>  >  >
>  >  >  What are the arrows on the sides of items in your list of things to
>  >  >  select intended to represent?  When I see them as a desktop user, I
>  >  >  assume they mean some kind of pop out menu (which they don't).
>
>  Those are native iPhone-style indicators of the iPhone's equivalent of
>  a pop-up submenu.  Since all the GUI controls on an iPhone tend to be
>  much bigger than even other mobile devices (since it's designed for
>  finger-tipping and they suggest not having controls smaller than
>  around 15-20 px per side), rather than having a submenu pop-up in
>  front of the screen, they place a little chevron like that on the
>  right-hand side of a list to indicate that selecting the item will
>  take you to a sub list.
>
>  Probably they should not be on the verse list, since that is taking
>  you to the actual data, and iPhone applications tend to only have that
>  to indicate a submenu, then the last submenu doesn't have them and
>  takes you to the data (an address book contact, the verse page, etc).
>  The page changeover should, optimally, be a slide-in effect from the
>  left to make it as much like a native application as possible, but
>  that level of appearance is my last priority.

Fair enough.

>  >  >  I still think that it is very easy to get lost navigating from
>  >  >  chapters to verses, since if I click on something like "3" in the
>  >  >  chapter view, I will get a view of verses that will appear almost
>  >  >  identical, and it is unclear that I have actually got anywhere (the
>  >  >  only thing that changes is the  top link to verses rather than
>  >  >  chapters).
>
>  I feel the same.  Might it be better to both drop the chevrons from
>  the right-hand side of the verse list, as well as add a little prefix
>  to each item (such as "Ch 1," "Ch 2," ... "vs 1," "vs 2")?  That way a
>  quick glance can see a list of Ch x or vs x and tell easily where we
>  are?

I think the prefix would be good.

Jon

>  >  >  I don't actually get any verse output, either by clicking through to
>  >  >  it or be entering a reference manually.  I just get a blue screen with
>  >  >  a header bar.
>  >
>  >  This does appear to work now.  I don't know what changed.
>
>  Neither do I, the only changes on my end between the e-mails were
>  myself refreshing my own browser to locate some of the difficulties in
>  the code.

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