Laridian Adds NIV Study Bible Notes

[Brad Adrian]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/LBKNIVSBN01.asp?order_platform=ce' target='_blank'>http://www.laridiansales.com/order/...der_platform=ce</a><br /><br /></div>You probably know that several of us on the Thoughts Team use the <a href="http://www.laridian.com/ce/default.asp">Laridian Pocket Bible</a> and its various modules and translations. One thing that many Pocket Bible users have been asking and waiting for is the New International Version (NIV) Study Bible Notes. Well, the wait is over!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/adrian/nivsbn.gif" /><br /><br /><i>"[With the NIV Study Bible Notes] you'll enjoy convenient access to over 20,000 of the Zondervan NIV Study Bible's Gold Medallion Award-winning study notes—recently updated and expanded to reflect the most current conservative Bible scholarship. These notes place at your fingertips a treasury of commentary from today's top evangelical scholars. The NIV Study Bible Notes cover more than two-thirds of the verses in the Bible."</i><br /><br />The 21,381 comments...<br /><br />• Explain important words and concepts <br />• Interpret "difficult verses"<br />• Draw parallels between specific people and events <br />• Describe historical and textual contexts of passages <br />• Demonstrate how one passages sheds light on another<br /><br />I've been using the paper-based version of the NIV Study Bible for over twelve years, and the thing that (to me) makes it different from other study guides is that it helps set the CONTEXT of the various passages. It does this through helpful notes about what was happening in the "background" of a passage or era, or by explaining terminology. For a more thorough description of what the focus of this guide is, there's plenty of help on the Laridian site. <br /><br />This is an add-on for the NIV translation, but if you already own the NIV translation from Laridian, you can get the <a href="https://laridiansales.com/order/basket.asp?order_platform=ce">new Study Notes</a> for only $14.99. If you don't own the NIV yet, you can get it and the Study Notes for $29.99. [<b>Note</b>: If you're already a Pocket Bible user, you need to download the (free) updates to Pocket Bible and the NIV translation before you can use the new Study Notes.]

[pivaska]

Are we not allowed to discuss this either? Ref: the locked "Are there any Christians here?" topic. Or is this one of the grey (gray) areas? In any case I am a Christian and use E-Sword for my bible reading and reference. I tried this one but I kept getting hit with a hefty cost factor.

[Brad Adrian]

Are we not allowed to discuss this either?
You can discuss anything you like here (within reason). In the past we've had some threads get a little heated when a few people started discussing religion directly, which tends to get things off-topic.

This thread is about Bible software, so I appreciate your comments and thoughts about the products you've used.

[maximum360]

This is a great addition. I've been using Bible Knowledge Commentary which has been good so far (though there are some points that I disagree with but it's not often).

I've had the hard copy and used it for many years at home so this is a welcomed addition. The more resources, the better. I do have some other Laridian programs as well that I rarely use.

[Palmguy]

I'll have to try this out...I use a "hard copy" NIV study Bible right now, and I've been looking for a good NIV version with study notes. Thanks Brad!

[T-Will]

Thank God they finally came out with this! :D Needless to say I bought it last night when I got the email.

I've just got one question though, is there a way to view PocketBible in split screen where the Study Notes will automatically follow whichever verse you're on? Or do I manually have to page through or use the table of contents to go to the correct verse in the Study Notes?

[drrichard]

I want to add the NIV study notes to my already purchased NIV Bible. How do I get the discounted price? I've looked everywhere and can't figure out how? Special code number?

[cab124]

I've just got one question though, is there a way to view PocketBible in split screen where the Study Notes will automatically follow whichever verse you're on? Or do I manually have to page through or use the table of contents to go to the correct verse in the Study Notes?

Set the Bible to the verse you want to study, tap inside the Bible portion of the screen to make the Bible active, then go to the View menu and select Synchronize. This should cause the study notes portion of the screen jump to the notes that pertain to the selected verse. I don't think there is a way to force the study notes to continually stay in sync as you move around the Bible, but this approach is better than nothing!

Does anyone have a problem with the task switcher switching to PocketBible? Once I launch PocketBible, I can usually use the task switcher to switch to it once or twice, then it just begins to hang when I try to switch to it. At that point it takes a soft reset to get things rolling again. I usually end up reseting my 2215 4 or 5 times per day because of this. Pretty annoying.

[Brad Adrian]

I want to add the NIV study notes to my already purchased NIV Bible. How do I get the discounted price? I've looked everywhere and can't figure out how? Special code number?
What discounted price? When I go to the Laridian site, I see $14.99 for the Study Notes alone and $29.99 for the Notes and NIV Bible. Is that not the price you're seeing?

[Brad Adrian]

...where the Study Notes will automatically follow whichever verse you're on?
That's one feature I would really like to see: some kind of auto-scroll so as one book is scrolled the other would follow. It'd be kinda tough, since some reference tools don't have entries for each verse and since some entries are very long, but I would think it's possible.

[RobertCF]

First, is there any chance that it works with translations other than NIV? I have Laridian's NAS, which I love---Laridian, you are awesome. The reason I ask is related to my second question. I'd rather not purchase another translation if it's not necessary. I've often heard the NIV referred to as the "Nearly Inspired Version" :lol: , if you get my drift. No offense meant for those who like that version. It's just that there are now versions that are so "liberal" that they make it look like the Word says something it really doesn't---and I'm trying to be careful (I'm not saying the NIV is--I know it's been around awhile).

[socrates63]

I want to add the NIV study notes to my already purchased NIV Bible. How do I get the discounted price? I've looked everywhere and can't figure out how? Special code number?
What discounted price? When I go to the Laridian site, I see $14.99 for the Study Notes alone and $29.99 for the Notes and NIV Bible. Is that not the price you're seeing?
Laridian provided a 20% discount code in the announcement email. It's at the very bottom of the email in the postscript (very easy to miss if you only glossed over the mail). If you didn't receive the email and you're registered user, you should contact Laridian.

[drrichard]

Thanks for the help, Brad.

[Brad Adrian]

First, is there any chance that it works with translations other than NIV?
I really don't think so, especially since the text is Zondervan's NIV Study Notes Bible and the notes are specifially written to that translation. They've taken the Study Notes Bible and provided two linked documents: the NIV Bible and the Study Notes.

And, it's challenging enough to keep these threads about Bibles from diverging into arguments, so let's try not to criticize things that may be very important to some people, like specific translations.

[pivaska]

Is the NIV study notes the only study notes or commentary that you use? On my PPC I have 9 commentaries and use study notes. These were free with the program that I use. I usually read the NASV but bounce around with several different bibles using the comparison feature.

[crairdin]

I'm going to reply to several here at once so hang in there.

If you're already a Pocket Bible user, you need to download the (free) upgrades to Pocket Bible and the NIV translation before you can use the new Study Notes.

The NIV Study Bible consists of a special version of the NIV that contains the cross-references, subject headings, and parallel passage headings, and another book that contains the NIV Study Bible Notes and book introductions.

If you already own the NIV, you should re-download the NIV AFTER you purchase the NIV Study Bible. When we see that you own the Study Bible Notes we automatically update your NIV in your download account so that you get the special version with the cross-refs etc.

If you DO NOT own the NIV, then you'll be purchasing the NIV with Study Bible Notes for $29.99. You'll find TWO things to download -- the NIV Cross-Reference Edition and the NIV Study Bible Notes.

In either case you should also download the latest PocketBible, which will be in your download account. As always, there's no need to re-purchase the PocketBible program -- the updates are free and are always in your download account. (Updates are free; upgrades are not. If we add significant new features we reserve the right to charge something for it.)

I tried this one but I kept getting hit with a hefty cost factor

Where'd you find the NIV, NAS Exhaustive Concordance, IVP New Testament Commentaries, Bible Knowledge Commentary, and NIV Study Bible for less than what we sell them for? Or are you still using 19th century reference works with a free Bible reader? ;-)

is there a way to view PocketBible in split screen where the Study Notes will automatically follow whichever verse you're on? Or do I manually have to page through or use the table of contents to go to the correct verse in the Study Notes?

Someone else gave the details of using View | Two Books to split the screen.

Because we use the Microsoft HTML viewer to display our books, we don't know where you're scrolling within each chapter. That is, if you go to John 3:16, we know where you are and could sync the notes to that verse. But when you scroll down to verse 20, Microsoft doesn't tell us that you've moved so we have no way of knowing what you're looking at. That's why we've never been able to do the "live" scrolling tied to the verse you're looking at.

So synchronizing is an "action" not a "mode". Go to the verse you're interested and do View | Synchronize to find the notes for that verse.

I want to add the NIV study notes to my already purchased NIV Bible. How do I get the discounted price? I've looked everywhere and can't figure out how? Special code number?

Contact [email protected] for help. If you own PocketBible, even if you don't own the NIV, you're eligible for a discount. (Owning the demo version doesn't count.)

First, is there any chance that it works with translations other than NIV?

The NIV Study Bible will work with any Bible. What you'll be missing is the cross-references, which are in the special NIV you get when you purchase the $29.99 NIV+Study Bible Notes package. Also, the notes use the wording of the NIV, which of course may not match your Bible.

Hope this helps. I'll try to watch this thread for a while and answer questions. We're excited about having the NIV Study Bible Notes. One of our people here said, 'After working with the NIV Study Bible, I don't know why we're even bothering publishing other reference works -- there's so much here!'. Zondervan sells an electronic edition for Windows but they've never licensed it to anyone else for any other platform. Plus, even their Windows version doesn't use the latest text that their print version does -- we do.

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc.

[andykemp]

First, is there any chance that it works with translations other than NIV?
I really don't think so, especially since the text is Zondervan's NIV Study Notes Bible and the notes are specifially written to that translation. They've taken the Study Notes Bible and provided two linked documents: the NIV Bible and the Study Notes.

There website indicates that you can use them without the NIV.

"The NIV Study Bible Notes and materials are the perfect companion to the New International Version of the Bible but will work with any of your PocketBible Bible translations (each sold separately)."

Product Information (http://www.laridiansales.com/order/productpages/LBKNIVSBN01.asp?order_platform=ce)

Andy

[bvkeen]

I just installed the updated Bible Program and NIV Bible and the new NIV notes and I am impressed with each. I had not been using Pocket Bible because its fonts were fuzzy on my WM2003SE-based e800 (VGA display with WM2003 Second Edition), but decided to give a try again. Although the fonts were fuzzy, I applied a Tweaks2k "VGA fix" to it, and the fonts are great, and are very clear.

I'm glad I'm able to use this program again and really appreciate having the detailed notes provided in NIV notes segment.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Hope this helps.

Yup, certainly does. :D

I'll try to watch this thread for a while and answer questions.

Good to have you doing so Crairdin.

I for one plan to buy the NIV Study Bible Notes very soon. I currently have the Message, the NIV and the Life Aplication Bible for PocketBible.

Could you tell us when you plan to update the core PocketBible program with a few more features? Things like VGA mode suport, a better layout for working in VGA mode, a better verse picker (i.e. so when you click on a Book, you get only the actual chapters present, so you don't just have the manual 0-9 key pad entry. Also when you click on a chapter you only get the actual verses present), better formatting, a button to toggle between single and dual book mode etc.

It's been a while since the last update and it would be good for the best to get better. :wink:

[crairdin]

Could you tell us when you plan to update the core PocketBible program with a few more features? Things like VGA mode suport, a better layout for working in VGA mode, a better verse picker (i.e. so when you click on a Book, you get only the actual chapters present, so you don't just have the manual 0-9 key pad entry. Also when you click on a chapter you only get the actual verses present), better formatting, a button to toggle between single and dual book mode etc.

There's always a new version in the works, but we don't talk about them.

VGA support got pushed into the next major version. Other WM2003SE enhancements are in the latest version, like square-screen and rotation.

Your description of a better verse picker would be useful for going to random verses and making sure you couldn't pick an illegal one. But for general use where you know where you're going, just writing in "Jn3.16" is pretty fast and easy. We may do something different but we need better motivation than making it so you can poke random numbers and not end up at a non-existant verse. :-)

What do you mean by "better formatting"?

Thanks for the suggestions.

Craig

[Jonathon Watkins]

There's always a new version in the works, but we don't talk about them.

Fair enough. :) I look forward to hearing about a new release as soon as it is done.

VGA support got pushed into the next major version. Other WM2003SE enhancements are in the latest version, like square-screen and rotation.

Sounds good. Having two books side by side in landscape mode would be great! :D

Your description of a better verse picker would be useful for going to random verses and making sure you couldn't pick an illegal one. But for general use where you know where you're going, just writing in "Jn3.16" is pretty fast and easy. We may do something different but we need better motivation than making it so you can poke random numbers and not end up at a non-existant verse. :-)

It's also less screen taps to navigate there. Once in the search screen, it takes nine taps to navigate to Psalm 139:14 You click on 'Clear', 'Psalms', '1', '3', '9', ':', '1', '3', 'ok'. If you had a Book, Chapter, Verse system, it would be three taps. You would click on 'Psalms', '139', '13'. It's a much more intuitive system. Perhaps adding a toggle mode so users could chose to navigate to a verse the current way, or via a 'direct verse picking' method would be usefull?

Having a full screen of search results, with a few surrounding words to give context to the search results would also be useful. Another minor thing would be to include a better search function, with the previously selected verses being automatically cleared when you overtype, rather than having to hit he 'clear' button.

What do you mean by "better formatting"?

Well, I notice that on quite a few verses I get formatting like this in Ecclesiastes:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/2419/Ecls.jpg
Long areas of 'broken' sentences, with a lot of white space, followed by tightly packed verses. That does not look right and is harder to read.

E.g. the Psalms etc are not as readable as they could be:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/2419/Psalm.jpg

I have to reduce the font size down to fir enough on screen. There's quite a lot of scrolling involved with generous white space above and below individual lines like that. It's just that overall the formatting seems a bit…. random I suppose. I use the NIV and Message and the formatting is similar on both of them.

Just a few thoughts really. I use PocketBible a fair bit and would really like to see a few more enhancements to see it becoming even more usable. Cheers. 8)

[T-Will]

Yeah I wouldn't mind a verse-picker similar to the one used in Pocket e-Sword (http://www.e-sword.net/pocketpc/).

Also it would be awesome if some of the menu functions could be added to the button bar, for example, it would be nice to have a button to "synchronize" instead of having to go to the View menu each time. Is there any way to allow the user to customize which buttons are on the button bar?

[tregnier]

Craig wrote...Someone else gave the details of using View | Two Books to split the screen.

Because we use the Microsoft HTML viewer to display our books, we don't know where you're scrolling within each chapter. That is, if you go to John 3:16, we know where you are and could sync the notes to that verse. But when you scroll down to verse 20, Microsoft doesn't tell us that you've moved so we have no way of knowing what you're looking at. That's why we've never been able to do the "live" scrolling tied to the verse you're looking at.


If you have the two books open on the split screen, after synchronizing books you can tap one of the two screens to make it active. Then use the down scroll to move through the verses 'til you get where you want. You can then work your way through verses on both screens as you desire by tapping the screens to change which one is active. This is much easier than to constantly use a search/find command, as long as you're in a relatively small section...perhaps a chapter.

[Brad Adrian]

There website indicates that you can use them without the NIV.
Yep, Craig says that it will work, but without the cross-referencing.

[Ed Hansberry]

First, is there any chance that it works with translations other than NIV?
It will sync, but as Brad said, there are other enhancements to the NIV from Laridian that give both books a richer experience when used together than if you use it with another translation.

[socrates63]

There's always a new version in the works, but we don't talk about them.
Oh, please, oh please, oh please include the ability to change background and font colors in the next release.

Black text on white background is great on paper but on a backlit device, it's not necessarily the best color combination (especially reading in the dark).

[Brad Adrian]

...it's not necessarily the best color combination...
Interesting. I wonder if anybody's seen any specific research or data about what the best color combinations are.

[pivaska]

Someone mentioned the use of older versions of the bible with a free bible reader. E-Sword uses the following free versions:
\
American Standard Version
Contemporary English Version
Douay-Rheims Bible (w/ Deuterocanon)
English Standard Version
GOD'S WORD
Good News Translation
International Standard Version (New Testament)
King James Version
King James Version (w/ Strong's Numbers)
Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
Modern King James Version
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language

You can also purchase any of the Lockman Foundations bibles/study notes and have them integrated with E-sword.

There are also 26 different language versions, 7 Greek versions, the Latin Vulgate, 9 commentaries, 7 dictionaries and 3 devotionals. These of course are all free. I still do have a copy of the NASV which I had purchased in .lit format but when I need to I have my commentaries open and since it is an easy look up feature I can go to them for references.[/quote]

[tanalasta]

Almost all of the popular translations can be accessed on the internet at http://bible.gospelcom.net/

Well, it's been a long time waiting for Laridian to get the NIV study bible notes. I have the hard-copy of this bible and it is certainly worth considering. I remember purchasing the Life Application Laridian notes a while back and this also comes highly recommended (there's a review up on PPCT somewhere!)

Interesting. I wonder if anybody's seen any specific research or data about what the best color combinations are.

I find soft blue/green pastel colours tends to be most pleasing on the eye. Similarly, most of my colleagues highlight in green as they heard that it stresses the eye the least. I personally use yellow as it's the only colour I like that does not obscure photocopies. You may find that turning the backlight brightness "down" may stress the eye less in a dark environment.

As for text, deep dark black would be my preference. It doesn't look right in any other colour.

[ironguy]

Since we're doing the synchronize with two books open, wouldn't it be nice to have a synch icon in the toolbar? In fact, a customizable toolbar would be superior. Id also like to see a book drop down list icon. Tap the icon and a list of books pops up. Tap and it switches to the tapped book.

An icon for two books would be awesome too. I sense that a lot of people are using notes with their PBs, so some of these icons would go a long way to enhancing usability.

[Brad Adrian]

In fact, a customizable toolbar would be superior.
Great idea. To me, Calligrapher has the best example of a wonderfully customizable toolbar.

[T-Will]

Since we're doing the synchronize with two books open, wouldn't it be nice to have a synch icon in the toolbar? In fact, a customizable toolbar would be superior. Id also like to see a book drop down list icon. Tap the icon and a list of books pops up. Tap and it switches to the tapped book.

An icon for two books would be awesome too. I sense that a lot of people are using notes with their PBs, so some of these icons would go a long way to enhancing usability.

Yeah that's what I was talking about a couple pages back...that would be awesome to have a customizable toolbar!

Another thing I hadn't noticed right away is that the NIV version now has the section headings, very cool!

And the extensive cross-referencing links are awesome, they make it so easy to check a cross-reference then get back to the verse you were reading!

[Ed Hansberry]

Since we're doing the synchronize with two books open, wouldn't it be nice to have a synch icon in the toolbar? In fact, a customizable toolbar would be superior. Id also like to see a book drop down list icon. Tap the icon and a list of books pops up. Tap and it switches to the tapped book.

An icon for two books would be awesome too. I sense that a lot of people are using notes with their PBs, so some of these icons would go a long way to enhancing usability.

Concepts I came up with years ago.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/tabs.jpg
Tabs for commonly used books - notice the sync icon.


http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/dualscreennormal.jpg

Normal two book view - notice slight change in upper right of each book.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/dualscreenmax.jpg

Temporarily "zoom" in on one book.

[Brad Adrian]

Concepts I came up with years ago.

Those are mock-ups, right?

[Ed Hansberry]

Yup. Just my private wish list.

[T-Will]

How about having the ability to move the two-book view divider giving you the ability to see more of one book or the other.

[crairdin]

Once in the search screen, it takes nine taps to navigate to Psalm 139:14

I just write "Ps139.14" in the "Block Recognizer" and I'm there while you'd be waiting for the list of chapters to load. :-)

This comes up from time to time so we're not ignoring the suggestion.

Well, I notice that on quite a few verses I get formatting like this in Ecclesiastes

You're looking at poetry. It's formatted like that on purpose. Flip the switch in View > Options to view it indented and it will look more like poetry. We turn that switch off because it doesn't look good on a narrow screen.

Is there any way to allow the user to customize which buttons are on the button bar?

No. Good suggestion, though, and that's a good button to have there. Future versions may make this point moot, though.

Black text on white background is great on paper but on a backlit device, it's not necessarily the best color combination (especially reading in the dark).

Turn down the brightness. Works great. :-)

Good suggestion, though.

Well, it's been a long time waiting for Laridian to get the NIV study bible notes.

And we've been waiting a long time for a license from Zondervan.

How about having the ability to move the two-book view divider giving you the ability to see more of one book or the other.

That actually works on the old Handheld PC devices. I'm not sure why it got disabled in the Pocket PC builds.

Craig

[tanalasta]

I'm still waiting for the ability to highlight my pocketpc bible! 8)

MS reader lets you do it but using that is slow and horrible. (I was stupid enough to buy the NIV for MS reader before I got Laridian's version).

I remember another Laridian / Pocketbible suggestion thread on PPCT and it'd be great if we could have some awesome updates in the near future.

[GadgetMan]

I remember another Laridian / Pocketbible suggestion thread on PPCT and it'd be great if we could have some awesome updates in the near future.

Especially when you realize that the current second generation (2.x) of PocketBible has been around for over FOUR years now. That's an enormous amount of time to wait for the next major release. Must be a new world record in Pocket PC software category :)

Cheers,

[crairdin]

Especially when you realize that the current second generation (2.x) of PocketBible has been around for over FOUR years now. That's an enormous amount of time to wait for the next major release.

There have been 22 updates to PocketBible over the last four years; 25 if you go all the way back to the 2.0 release in April 2000. Let's just take a journey over the last four years to see what features we've implemented for free, and what else we've been doing ...

Free new features (not counting bug fixes):

* Added support for commentaries
* Enhanced wildcard searching, such as [PS]aul to match Paul or Saul (quicker and more accurate than ?aul)
* Backup notes and bookmarks to a file that can be saved or moved to another device.
* Support for Strongs numbers, including the ability to search for an English word only when translated from a certain Greek/Hebrew word (love:g26); only when NOT translated from a certain word (love:-g26); only when not translated as a certain English word (-love:g26)
* Ignore accents in searches (searching for fiancee finds fianc&eacute;e)
* Add recent verses to the Go To dialog to make many Go To operations quicker and easier
* Compatibility with new releases of CE devices, including all the Microsoft bugs introduced with each release, including HPC 2000 and the various Pocket PC releases.
* Instant Find works for words in search results
* Support for landscape displays
* Support for square displays

That's almost enough for a paid update right there. What else were we doing...

* Added support for landscape and square displays to DailyReader
* Wrote the Memorize! program
* Released at least 11 new Bibles AMP, ASV, DNT, ESV, MSG, NASEC, NIV (Xrefs), RSV, TNIV, WEB, YLT.
* Released Naves Topical Bible, New Unger's Bible Handbook, NIV Study Bible Notes, IVP Commentary series, Robertson's Word Pictures, Complete Word Study NT Dictionary, etc. etc. etc.
* Released The Daily Walk, Experiencing God, and several other devotionals.

And that's just the Pocket PC stuff... remember we also do Palm software. And up until a year ago we had only one full-time programmer.

I admit there are features it would be nice to have in PocketBible. But let's not forget that few other programs have some of the features we have... ClearType, extremely powerful searching, HTML user notes, ability to view HTML and text files, and categorized bookmarks all come to mind. And nobody else has the breadth of contemporary content you can get for PocketBible. And our prices are actually less than our closest competitors.

This business is all about content. You can pretty much count on us going years between major reader updates, but only weeks between new content releases. If you haven't taken a close look at the content we offer you need to visit the site again. The Complete Word Study NT Dictionary, for example, when combined with the KJV/Strongs New Testament that ships with it, is a great reference work. Robertson's Word Pictures in the NT (6-volumes) is also a fantastic work. Not to mention the comprehensive NIV Study Bible Notes and cross-references You won't find those anywhere else for your PDA, but you complain that you can't change the text color in PocketBible. :cry: :)

We don't talk about what we're doing for the future, but let me just say the version of PocketBible I was using in church this morning is significantly different than the one you guys all use. It's not going to ship in the immediate future, primarily because it's going to require us to update DailyReader and Memorize! at the same time and we have limited resources with which to pull this all off.

In the meantime you can expect to see a steady release of new Bibles and reference books. And look for big things happening on the Palm side, too.

I appreciate the fact that you all challenge us to keep doing better. I hope this helps put it in perspective.

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc.

[GadgetMan]

Craig,

We all appreciate the contents (bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, etc.) you made available for PocketBible. I should know as I own almost all of them and have been buying/using your software and contents since version 1.0. I do realize and appreciate the amount of work you and your company had to put into releasing these materials.

However, over last year I read a lot of comments on various Internet forums from users who are longing for a new version of PocketBible itself. There is no denying that it needs a major overhaul to make managing the ever growing contents better and quicker. Today, with the memory cards available almost for peanuts, most users have the space to install several bibles and other contents at the same time. This is big change since four years ago, when PocketBible 2.0 was relased. PocketBible simply is not as user friendly and convenient in managing, displaying, comparing and switching between all those various e-books as it could be.

Sure it would be nice to add higlights, customizable toolbar and other such features, but these will not make PocketBible less cumbersome to use. What I am looking for in the next major release is a way to handle my 16+ Laridian e-books faster, easier, better.

The other most important improvement would be VGA support, as I am switching to a VGA device (iPaq hx4700) as soon as it hits the stores.

As to the contents itself, I would love to see the New Jerusalem Bible (incl. comments) added to your offerings.

In summary, you have a great product (both reader and contents for it) and I am looking forward to enjoying PocketBible 3.0, whenever it comes out :D

Regards,

[Ed Hansberry]

I appreciate the fact that you all challenge us to keep doing better. I hope this helps put it in perspective.
You are right - it is about content and I'd rather have a larger library than a few more bells and whistles. However, it is the amount of content that has brought to light one shortcoming in the PB interface that some of us would really like updated.

When I hit the "Book" icon to switch books, I am greeted with:

AMP
ASV
BKC
CWS_NT
DNT
HSCB
IVPNTC
KJV
KVJECNT
LAB
...and so on for two screens with 31 items, some of them my own "books." Some of my "books" aren't even Pocket Bible books, like OYCB and TGS - which are Daily Reader books.

It would be nice to have something to help get this all organized. Tabs for translations, commentaries, dictionaries, Daily Reader, User created, etc. Or even just better descriptions. This morning in bible class we were reading various translations of 2Tim 2:15 and the problems the translation "rightly dividing the word of truth" in the KJV and how some have taken that to mean the old/new testaments when it means nothing of the sort.

So, I'm trying to get the Greek behind that and it took me a minute to find the CWN_NT book. I couldn't remember the letters for it and after messing around in RWP and NASGK for a minute or so I knew that wasn't where I wanted to be.

If it had been in a dictionary tab or simply said "Compete Word Study" in the listing, it might have been easier.

So, again, content over new gee-wizz features, but the impressive amount of content has made the method for selecting a book a bit cumbersome when you have several books loaded. :D

Oh yeah, we want highlighting. :wink:

[crairdin]

the impressive amount of content has made the method for selecting a book a bit cumbersome... Oh yeah, we want highlighting.

Yeah, I wish I could ship you this version that I'm using. :-(

Craig

[Ed Hansberry]

Yeah, I wish I could ship you this version that I'm using. :-(
8O

Craig - you own the company. Who's permission do you need? :wink: :lol:

[crairdin]

Craig - you own the company. Who's permission do you need? :wink: :lol:

Actually I'm one of several owners.

[GadgetMan]

Craig,

How about letting us beta test it, then? I have no problem signing NDA and I have extensive experience in beta testing Pocket PC software.

Cheers,

[crairdin]

How about letting us beta test it, then? I have no problem signing NDA and I have extensive experience in beta testing Pocket PC software.

So far we're not having any trouble finding bugs. :-)

Craig

[Hau Wei]

Just purchased the NIV Study Notes and I certainly think it's great! I have a hardcopy of the Zondervan NIV Study Bible and has help me heaps in learning the Word of God! Now I can finally carry the same Bible I have with me in my Pocket PC! Thanks for the great job Laridian!

The PocketBible software is certainly one of it's kind with the broad range of content available...it would be nice to see some new features in upcoming versions of PocketBible soon. Would certainly grab it once it hits the market! :D

Some features I would certainly love to see:
1. Full screen display of verses, perhaps with a tiny icon bar with navigation and book chooser
2. Faster way to choose verses as mentioned in earlier posts
3. Highlighting verses and copy it right off
4. Live syncing of notes and verses. I know it's not easy as you mentioned before

These are some of the features I would love to see and keep up the good work there!

[Ryan Joseph]

I used Laridian Bible software for a long time and loved it, but then my church switched to the ESV translation and, at the time, Laridian didn't have an ESV program. So I got BibleReader from Olive Tree (http://www.olivetree.com/handheld/WinCE/WinCEBible.html). It's an ESV translation and allows screen color changes, highlighting, multiple windows, etc. Very nice. :mrgreen:

[Jonathon Watkins]

the impressive amount of content has made the method for selecting a book a bit cumbersome... Oh yeah, we want highlighting.

Yeah, I wish I could ship you this version that I'm using. :-(


Does it support VGA by any chance Craig? I am using a Dell X50v and using the standard settings, Pocket Bible does not look good. Pixel quadding and clear-type are not pretty on a VGA screen. :?

I took a few screenshots, but for some reason the VGA standard resolutions shots would only output at 320x240,making this screenshot a lot more flattering than it is on my screen:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/2419/SE_VGA.jpg

Switching to true VGA with SE_VGA, things were much better. The text was crisp and clear, the buttons were small and out of the way. It is really usefully to have so much text on the screen and I find the small size still easy to read, though PocketBible's text options make finding a good text size easy.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/2419/VGA%20Portrait.jpg

However, this is how I find myself using PocketBible during bible studies:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/2419/VGA%20Landscape.jpg

Two version of the Bible in landscape works really well as you can have a large amount of text displayed on each screen. Now if only there was some way of locking the scrollbars together so both screens scrolled synchronously..... :wink: Having the ability to stack both taskbars on one level would also free up more valuable vertical screen space.

I only go into true VGA mode for Pocket IE and PocketBible, but it would be good to know that we will soon be able to use a W2003SE optimized version of PocketBible. I am looking forward to the updated version of PocketBible and hope to put it to good use in the near future.

[crairdin]

The next major update to PocketBible will support VGA screens.

It also will abandon the Microsoft HTML control, which makes text look bad on the new screens.

It will probably abandon scrollbars in favor of gesture-based navigation in order to gain maximum screen space.

That's as much as I'll say at this point. No announced ship date yet but don't expect to get it for Christmas. :-)

Craig

[Jonathon Watkins]

The next major update to PocketBible will support VGA screens.

It also will abandon the Microsoft HTML control, which makes text look bad on the new screens.

It will probably abandon scrollbars in favor of gesture-based navigation in order to gain maximum screen space.

That's as much as I'll say at this point. No announced ship date yet but don't expect to get it for Christmas. :-)

Thank you very much for those details. Intriguing. I will be patient and look forward to see what you guys come up with. 8)

[Brad Adrian]

That's as much as I'll say at this point. No announced ship date yet but don't expect to get it for Christmas.

I don't think anybody can complain about your timelines, Craig. You've always delivered top-quality products, with very timely updates.

[Ed Hansberry]

It also will abandon the Microsoft HTML control, which makes text look bad on the new screens.
Awesome. Hopefully that will fix the glitch when clicking on a hyperlink that is right at the top edge of the screen causing it to not go exactly where it is supposed to. It often goes to the target then mysteriously pages up/down a few times. :confused totally: Moving the hyperlink down some before clicking it resolves that.

[Lex]

...Where'd you find the NIV, NAS Exhaustive Concordance, IVP New Testament Commentaries, Bible Knowledge Commentary, and NIV Study Bible for less than what we sell them for? Or are you still using 19th century reference works with a free Bible reader? ;-) ...

Craig Rairdin
President
Laridian, Inc. Well, may the competition spur development. There may be lots of modern resources for Laridian's old reader but I've deleted it and gone with e-Sword for ease of use, highlighting, faster verse finding, parallel display option, 'tap and go to' cross-references, the versions I want, and garsh, it's all free.

[crairdin]

e-Sword ... it's all free.

From the e-sword Web site:

If this ministry blesses you, are you willing to join me in it? Less than 1% of the people who download e-Sword return to say "thanks" and donate. It is through donations that e-Sword is continuing to be enhanced and remains on the Internet as a free resource for people all over the world.

It's only free to people who have no sense of responsibility and respect for the work Rick puts into it. This is how he supports his family. He may have lower per-download revenue than other Bible software companies, but the product isn't free. You're pretty happy with it. I think you should contribute to its costs.

Craig

[Lex]

e-Sword ... it's all free.

It's only free to people who have no sense of responsibility and respect for the work Rick puts into it... I think you should contribute to its costs.

Craig Nice attitude. I already did.

[crairdin]

I'm glad you appreciate the attitude with which this was posted. We try to respect our competition. I find in the long run that's better than the alternative. We may lose a customer here or there to a competitor we've spoken well of, but everyone is happier.

I mistakenly assumed you hadn't paid for the product. You said it was free, so it seemed like you were saying you hadn't paid anything for it. No harm intended: I was encouraging you to do what it turns out you'd already done but didn't tell me about.

Craig