Severe Accessibility (Vision) and other problems with 4.0.0.38

I have sent feedback to the developers and hope they have a helpful response, but checking if anyone can help me revert to the previous version for the following problems:

1. No font choice now--I have visual impairments where I need a lot of contrast and since there is now no choice of fonts, I see much decreased contrast on the text fonts and have trouble reading anything. I MUST revert to the previous version or I will not e able to use the app--which I depend on heavily as I can change font size for the visual impairment I have--which I cannot do with printed scriptures. HELPPPP_!

2. Footnotes not available to view along with text (at bottom) on portrait view of smartphone. Again--really depend on this where JST notes show different translation

3. Fewer choices of annotation options and more difficulty implementing.

4. Android WIDGET shows such large text that only 1 or 2 lines of bookmarks show--previous version either had a choice of font size or reduced according to widget size so that it was small enough to see several lines of bookmarks.

QUESTION--How is it possible to get a previous version so that I can use the app?

I actually have the older Gospel Library app on an Android Tablet (different version of Android 4.4.2) than what is on my Android Smartphone (6.0.1). Is it possible to find all the files in the older tablet version under, I think, org.lds.ldssa.* and transfer them to the equivalent location on the 6.0.1 replacing the newer version by simply replacing the files? Or would the developers hopefully just send me a link to the previous version?

Also, does anyone know how to disable updates to the app once I have found a way to revert it? I thought I found where I could do that and can't find it anymore.

Thanks!

bookwalk wrote:does anyone know how to disable updates to the app once I have found a way to revert it? I thought I found where I could do that and can't find it anymore.

Go into the Play Store. Locate the app in question, and go it the "details". (Not just listing the app in a list, but where it shows the details about the app.) You should be able to find a 3 dot or 3 line icon that indicates a menu option. Open that. Uncheck "Auto-update".

bookwalk wrote:QUESTION--How is it possible to get a previous version so that I can use the app?

The last download before 4.0 is here: https://tech.lds.org/dl/android/org.lds ... 60913-1723

...you will need to be able to side-load.

bookwalk wrote:2. Footnotes not available to view along with text (at bottom) on portrait view of smartphone

In landscape mode on a phone (or in portrait or landscape on a tablet), you can pin the sidebar open so you can see the main content and the related content at the same time. (Improvements for scrolling related content with the main content are coming soon.) This doesn't completely solve your problem (seeing main content and related content in portrait mode), but is a workaround.

bookwalk wrote:3. Fewer choices of annotation options and more difficulty implementing.

Which annotation options are you missing? A few things have been moved around, but all of the annotation options should still be there.

sbradshaw wrote: Which annotation options are you missing? A few things have been moved around, but all of the annotation options should still be there.

Probably talking about how only the last five styles for highlights show instead of giving all the highlight options in one place. Now to use more than just five highlight options you have to go into the palate (which drops down vertically blocking text instead of giving a nice horizontal bar).

This is one of the biggest reasons I hate this new version. That and the tray really are a poor implementation of where the old app did wonderfully.

Thank you all for your responses. I was able to get the old version installed and am so happy!!!! I can SEE the text. When you all get to be 70+ and have various vision and other disabilities due to age, you will really appreciate the little things. I use this apps several times a day, in teaching, etc so the text was very important.

To avoid the update, however, if I go into Play Store--if I click on the app, which says Update, I am afraid it will start updating, which I do not want to do. I think I found a settings tool in Android where I disabled updates, or maybe somewhere else in Playstore, but before I click on the App title in Play store (which says update), can you guarantee it won't start updating?

I don't have the 4.0 now, but I recall when I tried to "pin" the footnotes, it covered up the original scriptural text and in portrait mode which I prefer, it just didn't let me see both the text and footnote and was not adjustable as the old system is.

My husband is fine (he has no visual problems) with his full size Ipad update, but with just a smartphone, I really needed the font choices, old footnote system and the Widget to show smaller text and more of the bookmarks I had.

Obviously you all put in a lot of time and effort to updates, but quite honestly, I think this should have stayed in beta longer. I regret I did not have the time to do a beta version or I would have spoken up long ago.

Thanks again for the help getting the old version and how to stop the updates.

bookwalk wrote:To avoid the update, however, if I go into Play Store--if I click on the app, which says Update, I am afraid it will start updating, which I do not want to do. I think I found a settings tool in Android where I disabled updates, or maybe somewhere else in Playstore, but before I click on the App title in Play store (which says update), can you guarantee it won't start updating?

If you are seeing a list of apps, you can click on "Gospel Library" and it will take you to the next screen. It may say "Update" in the lower right corner, but clicking it won't cause it to update.

However, if you are in a full-screen display of the app, where you can see the number of downloads, what's new, etc - do NOT click on update. Instead, you want to click on the "3-dot" icon in the upper right. That will expose a new option "Auto-update". Make sure that's unchecked.

If you go into the Play Store > Settings and uncheck the option for auto-update, that will disable auto-update for ALL apps. You probably don't want to do that.

I have had to install GL 3 because GL 4 will not work on my Alcatel phone with Android 6.0 However each time I uninstall GL4 and install GL3 the app updates later to GL4 and again I am not able to access the Gospel Library.
I tried to find the option marked Auto-update but it doesn't exist. Click on the "3 dot" icon which is on the bottom right hand corner. The only options are:
Custom Collections, Catalog Options, Settings, Help.
There is no option in Settings regarding updates etc. I really need to stop GL3 updating to GL4 so I can use the Gospel Library. This issue is also affecting two other Church members who have Samsung tablets with Android 6 and can only use Gospel Library 3.
Hope someone can help.

johnhb wrote:I tried to find the option marked Auto-update but it doesn't exist. Click on the "3 dot" icon which is on the bottom right hand corner. The only options are:
Custom Collections, Catalog Options, Settings, Help.

It's the 3-dot icon in the google play store, not in the GL app. So before you uninstall v4, go to the play store, find the app (under My Apps, or something like that), click the dots there and turn off auto-update. You may even need to turn it off as a setting in general, not just for this app - in the play store app, under settings, is an option for "Auto-update apps" - you want that to be set to "Do not auto-update apps". Then you can install v3 and it shouldn't update.

Liz

Thanks, Liz, but on my Alcatel phone the only thing I get if I select Play Store is the webpage where I can see GL4 to install. No 3 dots anywhere. I'll live in hope that GL4 will be updated to work on Android 6.0.1

Here's a screen showing the play store entry for GL 4. Tapping on the three box icon should show "Auto-update" checkbox - uncheck it. (I couldn't get a screenshot while the option was showing.) If that's not available or isn't working, you may need to turn off auto-updates in general, in the play store, tap the three bar icon at the top left and go to Settings: Tap "Settings" and then tap on "Auto-Update apps", which will bring up a dialog, where you can choose not to auto-update any apps: Handling updates can then be a pain because you'll have to choose them one by one (or set the others to auto-update but leave GL4 to NOT auto-update).

If none of that works, I'm clueless.

Help I was doing fine with the pre-4.0 GL and then it stopped adding recent Ensign issues. That's so sad. Why don't we have a choice or can't they at least return to the font choices to increase readability contrast and return to 3.0 footnotes?

I was able to read the content in the pre-4.0 Android Gospel LIbrary and then they stopped allowing the Church magazines to update and download. It seems there are no plans to repair the readability and so those of us with impaired vision of the lack of contrast have no choice for studying the Ensign and Scriptures. Is there a way for someone to pick up the 3.0 version and "fix" or rewrite it to allow it to download the Church magazines?

If you look at the Dec 25 Issue of Church News and a picture of the new 4.0, it is extremely misleading and deceptive. See image attached. There is no way that any of the LDS Content will ever look like that picture![img][img][/img][/img]

How do you read content in other apps? Most apps don't have any font options. Gospel Library for iOS hasn't ever allowed fonts to be switched (at least, not for several years if it ever did) and readability has never come up as an issue.

sbradshaw wrote:How do you read content in other apps? Most apps don't have any font options. Gospel Library for iOS hasn't ever allowed fonts to be switched (at least, not for several years if it ever did) and readability has never come up as an issue.

The previous version of GL allowed you to choose a **sans serif** font. The new one does not. The request is not about picking your font as in, "I wanna format this in MS Comic." It's about being able to choose a **sans serif** font option.

Since you asked about other apps, here we go:
* GMail & the "Email" app - sans serif
* Skype - ditto
* Merriam-Webster dictionary app - ditto
* Camera app - all settings (the only text) are sans serif
* LDS Tools - sans serif
* Amazon Kindle - probably the closest to GL in terms of being explicitly for reading long passages of text - guess what, I have font options out the ying yang, as they say
* Deseret Bookshelf - sans serif
* Citation Index - ditto
* Calendar - ditto
* Contacts - ditto
* texting app - ditto
* text in the Phone app - ditto
* Play Store - sans serif
* Price Compare app - sans serif
* ColorNote - ditto
* Instagram - ditto
* Twitter - ditto

ETA: Just to make that perfectly clear, every single app I opened, **no exception** was using a sans serif font. EVERY ONE OF THEM.

Exactly how many do you need? Cuz I got more and more. It is easier, especially for old eyes, to read a sans serif font *on screen*. Everyone seems to know it, but the branding folks for the Church have overridden this and said tough luck.

With the website, I can use Firefox and the Stylish add-on to overrule the branding folk, but I don't have a way to do that with GL.

PS: The same research that says sans serif is easier on screen, says serif is easier in print. So the branding folks' desire to have print and on-screen use the same font, is contrary to what research says is best, so maybe they oughta get over that desire.

Liz

lmcguire,

You may want to pick up a Windows 10 device for your gospel studies, at least while the Android guys play catch-up with their old app. On Gospel Library for Windows 10 beta, for example, you're able to select any font installed on your device (our previous version offered a few fonts, with a handful of both sans serif and serif fonts). Additionally, both our older app and our beta add in a font called OpenDyslexic, a font designed to make it easier for people with dyslexia to read in the app. We'd love any feedback you have for us as the beta goes on, too. I've seen lots of your posts here and think your contributions could help us have a well-polished, user-friendly app when we leave beta.

I personally feel sans serif fonts are easier to read in print and on the screen and prefer sans serif fonts like Segoe and Calibri where I can get them.

ToManyLetters wrote:lmcguire,

You may want to pick up a Windows 10 device for your gospel studies, at least while the Android guys play catch-up with their old app. On Gospel Library for Windows 10 beta, for example, you're able to select any font installed on your device (our previous version offered a few fonts, with a handful of both sans serif and serif fonts). Additionally, both our older app and our beta add in a font called OpenDyslexic, a font designed to make it easier for people with dyslexia to read in the app. We'd love any feedback you have for us as the beta goes on, too. I've seen lots of your posts here and think your contributions could help us have a well-polished, user-friendly app when we leave beta.

I personally feel sans serif fonts are easier to read in print and on the screen and prefer sans serif fonts like Segoe and Calibri where I can get them.

I can't begin to justify that expense. And I have no reason to believe GL for Windows 10 will be better overall to justify switching all my hardware. Further, the phone isn't mine, it's my employer's, so while I can use it for whatever I want, I don't get to choose the phone itself.

But if it's true that there are font options on other OSs (like there used to be on Android), then the "branding" argument just flew out the window and there's no good reason not to bring back a sans serif option for Android.

Thanks, though, for trying to help me find a solution. I may go hunt for font-override apps for Android.

I too can't believe the San serif font option is gone now. It is more difficult for me to read the scriptures on my phone now. I know they are trying to make it look like the classic physical scriptures but screens just don't read well without San serif fonts. I'm a software engineer myself and I work on Mobile apps and web apps. San serif fonts are a must for screen readability.

I'm wanting sans serif also. Serifs clutter the screen a lot and are distracting from comprehension.

Absolutely, says serif option, please!

We discovered to day on my Husband's surface computer how we can change the font to the dyslexia font. We love that. Will it be coming to the Apple version soon???

bookwalk wrote:
1. No font choice now--I have visual impairments where I need a lot of contrast and since there is now no choice of fonts, I see much decreased contrast on the text fonts and have trouble reading anything. I MUST revert to the previous version or I will not e able to use the app--which I depend on heavily as I can change font size for the visual impairment I have--which I cannot do with printed scriptures. HELPPPP_!

I agree. I have a brain injury now and live with vision problems. Having the option to Change the font to a more accessible one like Ariel or OpenDyslexia would help significantly. I tire reading easily and am just grateful that everything is available in text to speech... but the automated voice takes a long time to get used to...I am still not used to it.

Having the option to change the font to one of the free fonts recognized by the braille institute would be fabulous!

https://www.perkinselearning.org/techno ... sabilities

Thank you!