Great Additions to The Gospel Library
The latest edition of the Gospel Library (5.4.0) for iOS and Android has some exciting additions and improvements. The screenshots below are from an iPhone but are identical for Android.
In the Note Editor, undo and redo buttons have been added, which is a welcome addition. The bold, italics formats are now complete with the addition of underlining.
But there is more. It is now possible to indent and outdent a list, and text can be aligned left, center, right, and justified.
Another helpful feature is the ability to add a horizontal line and inserting a timestamp. The horizontal line will help in creating sub-divisions in a note, while the timestamp is useful when a note is updated, or a section is added.
Something that has always been available but has never discussed is using emoticons in Notes. An emoticon can convey nuances and can affect emotions, and they are fun to use. Tap on the smiley face that is to the left of the Space Bar and select the emoticon of your choice.
The list is extensive, so to see all of the formatting options on an iPhone in the portrait mode, slide the formatting bar to the left to see the remaining options. If you view the phone in the landscape mode, the entire bar can be seen.
The iPad in portrait and landscape mode shows all of the formatting options.
There has also been a massive increase in the maximum characters in a note. Up to now, the limit has been approximately 23k. This number was never an official limit, but a few years ago, through some of my contacts, I was given the above number. To be able to put 23k characters in perspective, I did a character count on a few conference talks and found they average 16-17k. Now the new limit of 500k characters can allow us to go crazy. This may seem extreme, but I have had incidents where I have copied and pasted an article that exceeded the previous limit forcing me to cut the material into sections.
Now for the most biggest news. The Note Editor now has hyperlinks. I am super excited to have hyperlinks now officially supported.
For several years I have pasted links from outside sources in my Library notes, and they worked (most of the time). But they were messy, long and not very attractive, and the biggest problem was while scrolling down a note, I would unintentionally touch the link and find myself outside of the Library, requiring me to jump back to the app. Now with hyperlinks, no mess, no fuss, no accidentally activating the link, and the link lowell, cool.
Some improvements also show up in the Search function. Search suggestions now appear based on where you are located in the Library. Here is an example:
- Go to Scriptures/Book of Mormon.
- Tap the Search icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Type in the search field "faith" (without the quotes)
- Tap the search suggestion "Find 'faith' in Book of Mormon."
- Here are the results
The “Find on Page” feature has been simplified. Now tapping on the option goes directly to the page instead of loading results in the search panel. The final improvement is the date modified shows for notes on the Notes tab in search results.
Another nice touch is a general search for any related notes that appears in results; the date modified will show under the title.
Excellent addition to the Conference talks is topic tags are added to the bottom of the talk. While a great addition, I wish they were at the top of the talk.
These topics are the same that are in the “Topics” column in the General Conference library.
The final improvement is in the Doctrine & Covenants. Links to Revelation in Context have been added to the sidebar. The link icon is the same as used for the recently added photos and video links.
All in all, the update is a welcomed addition. The Gospel Library continues to grow and provide a productive environment to study the scriptures.