Nook Navigation with EPub Gospel Library
I just got a Nook for Fathers Day. I had been scouring B & N looking for a decent set of ebook LDS scriptures to use from there but to no avail. (unless I wanted to use the reformed LDS!) Then just today I found these epub versions here on this site and at least they are the LDS versions!! Grateful for that progress.
I don't want to sound like I am not happy with the new epub versions BUT while they are an improvement as far as content is concerned the navigation speed/flow is still quite poor.
1. They still suffer from effectively a single layer of navigation. You select the BOM and then select "go to" in the Nook navigation and then you have a choice of "page" or "chapter". If you pick chapter then you actually select from the various books ie. 1st, 2nd, 3rd Nephi etc.(not chapters). Then after you have picked a book from the chapter list you can again select "go to" and then "chapter" again. You would think you should be able to select the actual chapter but you can't. You are once again picking from the same books ie. Alma, Moroni etc. NOT chapters.
Once you have selected your book though the chapters are listed on the screen up top. It lists all the chapters of that particular book on the e-ink screen but then if you select the book Alma for example you have to press the down key on the touch screen 63 times to get to chapter 63. The e-ink screens are not fast to begin with. Tedious is an understatement.
As you can imagine after you have finally scrolled to chapter 63, the gospel doctrine class has been there, read it, discussed it, moved on, possibly even had the closing prayer! You get the point.
2. The second area that could be improved is the fact that after you scroll through a page or two so that you are reading say in the middle of a chapter, there is nothing on the page that lets you know whether you are in Alma vs Ether or chapter 24 vs 9 for example. All you can see is the verse number and the text.
I actually found a BOM version on B & N website (reformed LDS I believe) and they listed Book/chapter and then verse # before the text of each verse so you could tell where you were at as you scrolled page by page on the Nook. Uses up some space but you can at least stay oriented to where you are at within the scriptures.
3. The footnotes? Well I suspect that would be a serious challenge to incorporate on the Nook. Seems like the footnotes would have to be listed much like a chapter in order for them to be accessible AND usable. Something like 1 Nephi Ch. 1 Footnotes and then simply list them by verse..or something like that. That way you could at least get to them if you needed to reference them. Either that or put a hotlink to them within the text but navigating to that would prove cumbersome I think.
Sounds like I am not the first to discover some of these navigation issues. Lots of people asking questions and not alot of answers from anyone though which is not too encouraging.
I sincerely hope something can be done.
Challenges aside, I love reading the Scriptures/Gospel Library on the Nook before I go to bed. Very easy to read with just one hand while lying on my side/back in bed with pillows and covers in whatever position. No actual pages or big book to lift around and nice and easy on the eyes for longer periods of reading. As long as you are reading consecutively in a particular book I really love it.
As far as the Nook itself it seems since they lowered the prices on the Nook they were sold out/back ordered for a time--not sure the status at the moment but after I ordered I got an email saying sold out and wait a month but luckily they found some inventory and I got one. They must be selling pretty well which only means more LDS members will be getting them.
I think more and more people will be buying these as you can get one for just $149 now with Wi-Fi and unlimited free AT&T mobile hotspot access across the country. That is a whole lot less than an ipad and even and puny itouch for that matter. Anything Apple is not cheap.
I sure hope someone figures a way to add the additional layer of navigation to truly navigate to the actual chapters from the touchscreen at the bottom of the nook vs. scrolling 1 chapter at time. Very tedious.
That single step might make them usable in Gospel Doctrine class I think.
Anyone out there know if there is anything being done with the Nook?
It appears to ALMOST load it. . . I can see it in the background behind the error message but its obviously doing something that the nook doesn't like. 