BARD Mobile

For the most part this app works well. However, there are a couple issues that I would like to see addressed. 1. Could we please, The System messages…. Is there any way the System message could be shown one time only or for those who wish it to be repeated maybe the introduction of a do not display again checkbox. Having to clear three or four instances of an System message can be pretty annoying. Especially, when all of the messages are the same. Keeping us updated is very much appreciated however. 2. Any way the most downloaded books section could be added to the main menu of the get books tab? That would be pretty cool.

Tried to use this app today for the first time in quite a while. Was attempting to do a search for a book title, however when I pressed the search button the only thing that came up was something that said empty list, the title of the book I was looking for did not appear. Nor did this work when I tried the other two options select author and select latest. I was unable to do a search under the main search field either, where it says title and author search. Something has happened to this app. Not sure what. The only way to find a book you want us to go into the recently added section of the app and scroll through everything that is there. This text way too much time. Checked with the library to make sure that the title and author of the book I was searching for was in their inventory and they confirmed that it was. So, apparently, someone has broken this part of the app that allows you to search. I hope in the next version this problem gets repaired. This was a very good app and very convenient for searching quickly through library of written material.

It is possible to use this app with voiceover. However, I frequently find that if I leave the app open for a while that when I come back to the app after doing something else I get the message that it failed to decode. I must then close the app and reopen it. If I have not set a bookmark, I get moved around somewhere in the book. I am also found a book that at a certain position, will crash the app and requires me to re-open it. Though less important, the search process is clunkier than necessary. It would be nice if the search edit field was close to the beginning of the get books tab. Finally, it would be nice if the wish list was optional, and you could download a book right away directly. I try to give an app developer feedback before writing a bad review. However, there is no feedback option in the app, and the Feedback option in the app support page how to captcha that I could not solve even after multiple tries.

The BARD service is a wonderful thing, and provides much-needed support for those of us with visual issues. There are so many ways but this app could be made better, smoother, and easier (especially for those of us who can’t see well, or not at all.) For an app in the genre, voiceover support is a must, and it would be nice if someone took the time to get feedback from users who require it. Much of the functionality is slow and cumbersome and does not need to be. Perhaps the Library of Congress would be willing to gather up some volunteers to test the app and make it better. It’s such a great service, it deserves a better app.

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When using dictate function it almost never spells words correctly. Ex: for Michael it substituted “Michale” And for Tower it substituted “Tower’”. The pages on the BARD website is way too cluttered for a blind person and VoiceOver to read through... it lists too many details and if what you want is at the bottom of the page Voice Over has to read everything above before you get there. If you do a general search it lists all the results with titles then authors then etc.... so it takes forever to find what you want. Then if you search by author you can only search by first letter of last name and not by name. Again, too much info to sift through. Suggestions:: There should be options to do refined searches such as being able to search by full author’s name. The Bookshare app is very compatible with VoiceOver and is easy to find out if they have a book you need /want. Would be great if BARD was set up like Bookshare as far as searching for books. The website seems like a sighted person put it together. If that is true please have a blind person who is familiar with technology to help redesign it. Fir a sighted person it wouldn’t be so hard to sort through.