More Versatile Reference Side of Card

patebner

Could you make the editing options on the reference side of the card more versatile like the passage side? - Line breaks, bold, underline, italics, etc. Maybe just change the topic field to a field just like the passage field?

Why? I personally like to use things like the First Letter Method with line breaks, on the opposite side from the passage. Also I make topical cards that contain more than one non-contiguous verse from different books and have multiple corresponding references on different lines.

Thank you for the consideration.

support

Thanks for laying this out with concrete examples — I like both study ideas, and I spent real time working through what it would take.

The snag is that the reference side isn't just a label the app displays — the app reads it. It parses the reference to sort your list in Bible order, to fetch the text and power Open in Bible, to read it aloud in hands-free review, and to match your card against shared collections. So the moment it becomes free-form formatted text, each of those has to decide what to do with it — and I keep hitting questions that don't have a good answer:

Your verse list. The list is built around one short reference per card — a single line, and each row's height is calculated in advance so the list can scroll smoothly through thousands of verses. A multi-line reference has nowhere to go there: the extra lines get cut off with a "…", and any formatting marks would just show up as literal * and # characters. So the place you'd see these references most is exactly where they can't be shown.
Sorting. A topical card with, say, references from Romans, Isaiah and John — where does it sit when the list is in Bible order? Wherever I put it, it's "wrong" against two of its three verses.
Reading it aloud / Open in Bible. These need one clean reference. Given three on separate lines, which one does the app speak, and which one does it open? Any choice is arbitrary.

None of these sink it on their own, but together they turn a small-sounding change into a pile of judgement calls where every option has a real cost — which usually tells me the reference field isn't the right place to solve it.

The good news is the passage side already does everything you're describing, and it's the side that's meant to stay flexible. For a topical card, you can put all the verses and their references right in the passage, with your own line breaks and First-Letter formatting, and use the topic/title field as the card's short label. That gives you the multi-verse, multi-reference layout you're after today — without giving up sorting, audio and fetch on the reference.

Happy to walk through setting one up that way if it'd help — and if the passage-side approach falls short for how you study, tell me exactly where and I'll keep thinking.

patebner

Thanks for the consideration. I have some multiverse cards already. I've experimented with putting the references in the reference field, or putting them in the topic field. I've also played with spacing between the references to get them to line up on separate lines. For example:

God Loves You

John 3:16, Luke 19:10, Romans 5:8, Galatians 1:4, 1 John 4:10

Passage field:

John 3:16
| [16] For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish
but have eternal life.

Luke 19:10
| [10] For the Son of Man
came to seek
and to save the lost.

Romans 5:8
| [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.

Galatians 1:4
| ...Jesus Christ,
[4] who gave himself for our sins
to rescue us from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father,...

1 John 4:10
| [10] This is love:
not that we loved God,
but that he loved us
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

patebner

I also have some cards where I've experimented with the first letters in the reference field, or the topic field. And I've also experimented with spaces to get phrases on separate lines. For example:

2 Chronicles 7:14

(imp, wacbmn, whtap asmf atftww, tIwhfh, aIwfts awhtl.)

[14] if my people,
who are called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and I will forgive their sin
and will heal their land.

patebner

Software has many advantages over paper, but paper may have a few? There's an immediacy and flexibility about paper. Maybe the bigger picture is I'm trying to get the best of both worlds.

Speaking of flexibility, I have another account where I'm experimenting with using the cards for prayer cards with people's names, etc. in the reference field, and prayer needs in the passage field. It's convenient having several of your spiritual disciplines contained in one app.

You've developed a nice product.

patebner

Maybe you answered this already,

Could another field get added to the face/front of the card that doesn't get read or sorted or acted on in any way but displaying, that is just an open-ended user field that formats like the passage field on the back?

support

Have you tried adding a note? It's accessible from the flashcard front by 1 tap.

patebner

Great suggestion.