PocketBible 3 Update

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://blog.laridian.com/?p=46">http://blog.laridian.com/?p=46</a><br /><br />Laridian has released an updated version of PocketBible 3 that adds a few new features. One of the most welcome additions is a horizontal scroll bar, when necessary, to search results. Often the verse returned would scroll off the right side of the screen and the actual search terms wouldn't be shown in the search result window. Now, a horizontal bar will appear allowing you to briefly scan the whole verse to see if it is what you wanted.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2006/20061126-pb3update.gif" /><br /><br />With more and more people installing additional translations and dictionaries, Laridian has added the ability to set your preferred Greek and Hebrew dictionaries. This is useful if you install either the either the <a href="http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/LBKKJVEC03.asp?order_platform=ce&ring=apwzwtzws">King James Version with the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance</a> or the <a href="http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/LBKNASEC03.asp?order_platform=ce?ref=apwzwtzws">New American Standard with Strong's Exhaustive Concordance</a> but would rather default to the more detailed dictionaries like the Complete Word Study available for the <a href="http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/LBKCWSDOT03.asp?order_platform=ce&ring=apwzwtzws">Old Testament (Hebrew)</a> or <a href="http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/LBKCWSDNT03.asp?order_platform=ce&ring=apwzwtzws">New Testament (Greek)</a>. The update is free to all current PocketBible 3 owners.

[Paul Martin]

Guess I should be reading the blog. I've wanted that scrolling feature since the search results no longer wrap to the window (actually, I liked that better, but oh well; with progress comes...)

[T-Will]

I wonder if there are any plans to update the Smartphone version to optimize it to work better with Smartphones that have full keyboards?

[Ed Hansberry]

I wonder if there are any plans to update the Smartphone version to optimize it to work better with Smartphones that have full keyboards?

http://blog.laridian.com/?p=12

[bvkeen]

Nice update. I coincidentally updated it over the weekend - just happened to go to their site and to do some redownloads and saw the update.

[Brad Adrian]

And, while we're on the topic of Laridian downloads...

I've got to give them credit for creating a system that helps me make sure I've got the latest versions and am grabbing the correct files. Their download page is really great.

[azhiker]

I wish they would do a few other things to upgrade their software.

I want as much space as possible devoted to the Bible. They use the bottom of the page for the Edit and View menu, but the rest of that area is unused. Why can't they add the Book status and even frequent used icons there? That would save a lot of space.

I like to know what translation I am using, but the book status bar shows the book abbreviation and then all that wasted space across the screen. At least they should have a tap and hold to close like they do with the "find" window.

How about a small ribbon color coded bookmark across the side of the page like MS Reader uses? That would be so much nicer to tap through favorite passages!

One last thing, the reading plan is great, but if you ahve to reload your reading plan starts all over again. I wish there was some way of saving your current progress when you have to reload the software after a hard reset.

[Ed Hansberry]

One last thing, the reading plan is great, but if you ahve to reload your reading plan starts all over again. I wish there was some way of saving your current progress when you have to reload the software after a hard reset.
In ver 3, that is stored in your Laridian Data.db file, which you should preserve since it is sync'd to your PC via ActiveSync.

[paschott]

One last thing, the reading plan is great, but if you ahve to reload your reading plan starts all over again. I wish there was some way of saving your current progress when you have to reload the software after a hard reset.
In ver 3, that is stored in your Laridian Data.db file, which you should preserve since it is sync'd to your PC via ActiveSync.

That's definitely a downside to using an Exchange Server and wireless ActiveSync. I don't tend to hook my WM device up to my PC nearly as often as I used to.

[crairdin]

I want as much space as possible devoted to the Bible. They use the bottom of the page for the Edit and View menu, but the rest of that area is unused. Why can't they add the Book status and even frequent used icons there? That would save a lot of space.


On Windows Mobile 5 devices the Edit and View menus are located above the softkeys and there is no extra space. If we moved buttons or status into that space they would be inaccessible on the new Win Mobile 5 devices. Rather than creating two versions of the program with two interfaces, we went with the solution that works on the new version of the devices and figure as time goes on the old devices will be replaced so it won't be an issue.


I like to know what translation I am using, but the book status bar shows the book abbreviation and then all that wasted space across the screen. At least they should have a tap and hold to close like they do with the "find" window.


The book status bar shows the abbreviation of the book and your current location. In a Bible, this is very brief and it does appear like space is wasted. But in a reference book these are usually very long and the more space available the easier it is to tell where you are. You can close the book status bar with View > Options.

How about a small ribbon color coded bookmark across the side of the page like MS Reader uses? That would be so much nicer to tap through favorite passages!

Instead of using bookmarks for bookmarks, use highlight colors.


One last thing, the reading plan is great, but if you ahve to reload your reading plan starts all over again. I wish there was some way of saving your current progress when you have to reload the software after a hard reset.

You should always back up your Laridian Data.db file, which contains your notes, bookmarks, highlights, and reading plan progress. After a hard reset you can restore it and everything comes back the way it was.

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc.

[paschott]

Craig,
Not sure if you can talk about this or not, but are there any plans to associate a category with the bookmark colors? That would definitely make the system more useful for me as I tend to forget what I've used for a bookmark color in the past and generally just choose a color that seems to fit whatever mood I'm in or whatever I think might be best at the time.
As for the backup of the Laridian data files, I know I've been hit by that before. I get the backup but it doesn't always get restored correctly for some reason. I probably need to be a little more active about it after hard-resetting my device.

Great products by the company. I'm always interested in what you come out with, even if it doesn't fit my budget at the time. :(

-Peter

[crairdin]

We've talked about giving you the ability to associate colors with bookmark categories. I don't know if it would be the case that every verse you bookmark would get highlighted in a particular color, or if we'd just give you the option to choose the "faith color" instead of "yellow" when you highlight.

One of the issues is that these are features which are very seldom used by most users. It makes it hard to come up with the "right" way of doing something as there's no concensus. By giving you a capability like highlighting and sitting back and waiting a bit, we start to get a clearer picture of what people might like.

Thanks for the input.

Craig

[paschott]

My thought on this was to associate the color with a category, perhaps overlaying the name of the color with the category name. That way, I'm not searching for a bookmark category &amp; color. I know that I can choose to highlight a verse and select either a color or a "named" color. I could then pull that up by the highlight later because search would give me the ability to look for either bookmarks (which don't have to be highlighted) or a color (perhaps something I thought was especially pertinent and wanted my attention drawn to it each time).

I guess my thought is that if I'm bookmarking, I'm probably doing such in preparation for a lesson or perhaps to tag everything associated with a lesson (that's actually not a bad idea now that I think of it). When I highlight, I'll tend to do that while reading and come across a promise or a command or an attribute of God that really speaks to me at the time.

I have actually been avoiding the highlighting right now just because I don't have a system in place to associate a color with a specific topic/category. Without something concrete for me to use, it's just a bunch of pretty colors. Happily, I've never had this apply to my entire Bible. :)

-Peter Schott