Wishlist for JW Library

[GWings]

I really wish there was a roadmap available for the JW Library app, because I'm sure it exists somewhere in Warwick 😉 Back in the days, there was a 'Coming soon' section on https://www.jw.org/en/online-help/jw-library/, but unfortunately that has also disappeared. The app is great, but I'm sure we all have some ideas.

 

My wishlist would be:

1) Synchronisation of notes/highlights and manually installed jwpub-files between devices (without having to manually export/import backups of course). Maybe the introduction of JW Cloud 😍, where if you login with your own account, all of your notes and manual publications would be downloaded to your device again.

2) Push notifications for news items, new publications, breaking news etc (adjustable to your own preferences)

3) A re-design of the home screen. I don't like the horizontal scrolling. It feels very cluttered to me. 

 

Which leaves me wondering: what features would be on your wishlist for JW Library? Don't think in terms of 'whats possible' or 'costs'. Just out of the box ideas...

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by GWings

[Dages]

I love your 1) and 2) ideas !

[Hinata]

I'm a simple man, and I ask one thing, and one thing only:

 

Make it open source.

 

[Br. Ice]

11 hours ago, GWings said:

what features would be on your wishlist for JW Library?

At the moment I have four things on my wishlist for JW Library:

1) The ability to widen the side panel, when you tap a note you have written it appears in a narrow window to the side. So, basically the ability to widen that window.

2) The ability to underline beside highlighting.

3) The ability to make words bold or italic in notes.

4) An undo button for when you make a mistake (like highlighting the whole article)

[felito]

highlighting, the notes in the side panel.😉

[GWings]

9 hours ago, Hinata said:

I'm a simple man, and I ask one thing, and one thing only:

 

Make it open source.

 

What would you do when it was open source?

[Hope]

I'd like to be able to create my own Toolbox.

[Hinata]

2 hours ago, GWings said:

What would you do when it was open source?

 

That’s a good question. 😂 Usually, I just look around the code and poke around and change stuff as I fit for FOSS projects — Fixing bugs, of course, improve stability and optimise the software. So I can’t say for sure.

 

About your primary question, I’ve thought about it for a while, I think I can write a few points.

 

1) The JW Library can be very slow and demanding for some machines. Which is why I personally still prefer to using WOL and Watchtower Library on DVD to research topics. (Ofc, I still use JWL, just not often.) I would try to optimise the app as much as I can. I even thought about of trying to create an entirely new version of the app — “JW Library Light” — that reduces the ability to a bare minimum. It would work completely in offline mode so you will have to import all publication from a jwpub file. I guess it could highlight paragraphs, too. But you know what? That’s just an EPUB reader. 😂

2) When I use JWL for Korean, the words are broken into two lines at weird places. For example, imagine the word ‘beautiful’ is broken into two line like ‘beau . . . tiful.’ This makes reading articles quite hard. In the web, this would happen because CSS property word-break is set to normal. A simple fix would be to set the word-break to keep-all for lang=ko elements.

 

4) Ability to “file share” downloaded publication. Currently, you can file share downloaded music and video through JWL directly, but not text publication. Why not?

 

3) More music and video player functionality. This is quite important. In addition to current repeat/stop functionality, it can also add pitch/speed control. Also, displaying SUBTITLES for videos. (Capital letters for additional emphasis.) Yes, subtitles for videos in JWL would be very welcomed. Also, in our congregation, there are many elderly publishers, who really do prefers having the subtitles on with big, legible fonts. (Speaking from experience.) The API already exists — so I wonder why it already isn’t implemented. In addition to this, what if also, when you are playing the vocal song music, the lyrics displayed? Nontheless, more functionality for video players would certainly be welcomed.

 

[ship]

I also love your 1) Synchronisation 😄

In addition, I have two things on my wishlist for JW Library:

1) Fulltext search of all downloaded publications. (Not only of current open publication)
2) Batch download of publications, videos and audio.

[Qapla]

4 hours ago, ship said:

Batch download of publications, videos and audio

[GWings]

5 hours ago, ship said:

I also love your 1) Synchronisation 😄

In addition, I have two things on my wishlist for JW Library:

1) Fulltext search of all downloaded publications. (Not only of current open publication)
2) Batch download of publications, videos and audio.

Oh yes I love your number 1 as well! Kind of like WOL works...

[trottigy]

It would be nice to have a Playlist for the audio and video section too.

 

Also, I'd love to have a JWLibrary widget. Let me set it to the daytext as an example.

Edited July 2, 2022 by trottigy

[GWings]

18 minutes ago, trottigy said:

It would be nice to have a Playlist for the audio and video section too.

 

Also, I'd love to have a JWLibrary widget. Let me set it to the daytext as an example.

I can't believe I forgot about the widget!!! I've been looking lately for a daily text app that provides widgets or a way to send push notifications with the daily text. But I haven't found anything I like... or built anything myself yet. So I agree, a widget would be really great!

[Hinata]

4 minutes ago, GWings said:

I can't believe I forgot about the widget!!! I've been looking lately for a daily text app that provides widgets or a way to send push notifications with the daily text. But I haven't found anything I like... or built anything myself yet. So I agree, a widget would be really great!

 

If anyone want to try making one, I guess using an epub file would be my first bet. It’s completely open unlike jwpub, which means you have complete access and freedom to work around with the file. You just need to make the app find right file — the file names are in form of 110<YEAR><MONTH-1>-split<DATE>.html — making it connect all the pieces and combining all together, not sure though.

 

[Donna]

Please can someone tell me where the video "Featured Bible Drama Trailer: Jehovah Guides Us in the Way of Peace" is located on the JWL app?

 

  I really need a video search button in this app!

[Hinata]

Just now, Donna said:

Please can someone tell me where the video "Featured Bible Drama Trailer: Jehovah Guides Us in the Way of Peace" is located on the JWL app?

 

  I really need a video search button in this app!

 

Feature Bible Drama Trailer: Jehovah Guides Us in the Way of Peace

https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share&wtlocale=E&lank=pub-jwb-089_11_VIDEO

 

I agree JWL search function lacks a lot — the JW.ORG search function is a little bit better, but WOL/WTL search function is the most superior of all.

 

[GWings]

7 minutes ago, Hinata said:

 

If anyone want to try making one, I guess using an epub file would be my first bet. It’s completely open unlike jwpub, which means you have complete access and freedom to work around with the file. You just need to make the app find right file — the file names are in form of 110<YEAR><MONTH-1>-split<DATE>.html — making it connect all the pieces and combining all together, not sure though.

 

Okay, maybe I should get back to my Swift course again.... You'll have the app with widgets in about two years 😉 

[Tony]

My wish list:

1. The Watchtower Publications Index available in the app

2. Improved search capabilities 

3. Highlighting on the study pane 

[Donna]

1 hour ago, Hinata said:

 

Feature Bible Drama Trailer: Jehovah Guides Us in the Way of Peace

https://www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share&wtlocale=E&lank=pub-jwb-089_11_VIDEO

 

I agree JWL search function lacks a lot — the JW.ORG search function is a little bit better, but WOL/WTL search function is the most superior of all.

Thanks. I meant where to find the video IN the app, not the link.

[Br. Ice]

17 minutes ago, Donna said:

Thanks. I meant where to find the video IN the app, not the link.

Go to LIBRARY > DRAMAS > EXTRA FEATURES 

[Tortuga]

9 minutes ago, Br. Ice said:

Go to LIBRARY > Video> DRAMAS > EXTRA FEATURES 

 

[Br. Ice]

4 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Go to LIBRARY > Video> DRAMAS > EXTRA FEATURES

🤦‍♂️ Thanks

Edited July 2, 2022 by Br. Ice

[Donna]

26 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

 

Thank you!

[James the Less]

I would like the ability to add images to notes and to bold, italicise, or underline notes in the study pane.

[GWings]

I read a lot of good ideas! I really hope more will be announced during the annual meeting this year. Let's hope so...