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UI for notes


Ken Han

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As of 3/23/2011 these are the steps needed to take notes on a biblical text:

 

If there's no existing notes on a particular verse:

1. Click on the verse reference

2. Click "New Note" in the pop up window

3. Choose my notes file from My Notes panel (even when I have only 1 note file)

4. Then enter notes.

 

I think there ought to be way to set a default user notes file, so that no more than step #1 above is necessary to enter notes. The most common tasks should be quick and easy. In may practice I have never needed to use different note files. I can see some people might need them, and should be able to switch as necessary, perhaps from Settings panel or somewhere. But having to go through 4 steps each time I need to to take notes is cumbersome.

 

It's worse if there's already some notes on a particular verse:

1. Click on the verse reference

2. Choose between using the editor for "New Note" or "Existing Note."

-2a. When I choose "New Note" it takes me to an empty "My Notes" panel, where I can't do anything, not even create a new user notes file. The only thing I can do here is go back to the text pane by pressing "cancel."

-2b. When I choose "Existing Note" it takes me to "My Notes" pane where I have to choose my notes file, even though there is only one user notes file.

3. Choose my user note file.

4. Click to dismiss text formatting loss warning.

5. Then enter notes.

 

Again, even when there's existing notes on a verse, no more than step #1 above should be necessary to append/edit notes.

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As of 3/23/2011 these are the steps needed to take notes on a biblical text:

 

If there's no existing notes on a particular verse:

1. Click on the verse reference

2. Click "New Note" in the pop up window

3. Choose my notes file from My Notes panel (even when I have only 1 note file)

4. Then enter notes.

 

I think there ought to be way to set a default user notes file, so that no more than step #1 above is necessary to enter notes. The most common tasks should be quick and easy. In may practice I have never needed to use different note files. I can see some people might need them, and should be able to switch as necessary, perhaps from Settings panel or somewhere. But having to go through 4 steps each time I need to to take notes is cumbersome.

 

It's worse if there's already some notes on a particular verse:

1. Click on the verse reference

2. Choose between using the editor for "New Note" or "Existing Note."

-2a. When I choose "New Note" it takes me to an empty "My Notes" panel, where I can't do anything, not even create a new user notes file. The only thing I can do here is go back to the text pane by pressing "cancel."

-2b. When I choose "Existing Note" it takes me to "My Notes" pane where I have to choose my notes file, even though there is only one user notes file.

3. Choose my user note file.

4. Click to dismiss text formatting loss warning.

5. Then enter notes.

 

Again, even when there's existing notes on a verse, no more than step #1 above should be necessary to append/edit notes.

 

 

Ken,

 

I agree that most of your issues above are quite legitimate. Particularly the situations where there is only one note file (or no note file!) that meets the criteria of your choice. We can certainly do more to short circuit the steps in these cases.

 

However, in the general case of multiple user note files installed and a mixture of some notes files having an existing note for a verse reference and others not, I don't see an easier path that doesn't restrict the user's possible choices.

 

While the feature set is complete for the next release, I'll make sure we take a closer look at this for subsequent releases.

 

Thanks for the feedback,

 

Scott.

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Thanks Scott. I've always appreciated Accordance Team's willingness to listen to customer feedback.

 

Best to you, and although I haven't said so, congratulations on getting so much done for v.1. It's quite an accomplishment!

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Perhaps I have different settings in my preferences that effect my note-taking workflow (I'll attach a screenshot). I only use one set of user notes. All I ever have to do if I want to take notes on a verse is click anywhere in the verse and hit cmd-u. This opens an edit window. If I already have a note, it comes up in the window and I can edit/expand/delete, etc. If I don't already have a note, it opens with the verse reference and I can type in whatever I want.

 

My only issue with the note taking is the difficulty with incorporating original language text. Cut/paste is much more cumbersome than being able to type it in, but I am not aware of any keyboard shortcuts for Accordance that allow me to switch btwn Helena/Yehudit/Roman fonts. If I have a lot to type, I have found it much easier to type it in Mellel or another word processor and then paste it into the notes later.

 

post-29437-084404300 1300986229_thumb.png

 

Ah, I was not paying attention. I see this is in regard to the iOS. Sorry!

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Ken,

 

I agree that most of your issues above are quite legitimate. Particularly the situations where there is only one note file (or no note file!) that meets the criteria of your choice. We can certainly do more to short circuit the steps in these cases.

 

However, in the general case of multiple user note files installed and a mixture of some notes files having an existing note for a verse reference and others not, I don't see an easier path that doesn't restrict the user's possible choices.

 

While the feature set is complete for the next release, I'll make sure we take a closer look at this for subsequent releases.

 

Thanks for the feedback,

 

Scott.

 

Scott, I thought about a UI that would work for ME (i.e. your milage may vary). I wonder what you think of it.

1. When clicking the verse reference a default note set in the settings opens without any intervening steps. This takes care of the most common use for notes.

2. Then in that note panel one could perhaps enable a swipe motion or a toggle switch that switches the notes taking panel to alternate note files, if present. This would delay the decision making process of choosing the note file for most common note taking tasks, while still making it quick and easy enough for users who need to maintain other note files.

 

And while on the subject of notes, I only recently discovered that once the note panel opens, you can tap the brown bar above to show the verse you are taking notes on. What if, instead of this, clicking the verse reference in a text pane opens up a pop up panel above the text pane, but placed directly below the verse in question? I'm thinking of how Twitter for iPad handles the timeline when you write a new tweet, where an edit window shows up while showing the top few entries of the timeline. This would enable me to see a little bit more of the context of the verse as I took notes.

 

Another notes matter:

I'm curious what the reasons were for Accordance for OS X as well as iOS to make the notes pane read only by default. To edit the notes one has to either command-U on the desktop or go through the usual steps on iOS. Why not make the whole notes pane editable to begin with? Is this an OS limitation? Or what if, when a notes pane is opened in parallel to a text pane, each verse note is treated something like, again, an individual tweet in twitter timeline rather than one, long, contiguous file? And touching notes on one particular verse could instantly turn that into an editable panel. Just thinking out loud here. I spend so much time in Accordance everyday that I can't help but wish it to continue to evolve. Thanks for listening!

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  • 1 month later...

I second the request for a more efficient note taking method. Notes seem like such a cool feature, and the syncing is awesome. I would like to be able to edit notes in their panel, with out leaving the referencing text. It would be cool to add links also in the notes. Also I cant delete the Sample Notes, I deleted them from Accordance on the computer, but they keep on showing up on the iOS accordance. Thanks.

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