News & Announcements
February 16, 2008 - Website orientation and direction I was originally planning on this site to be a resource center for e-Sword and the Pocket PC. But since most of my work is in books (not commentaries, Bibles, nor dictionaries), I have discovered a rather difficult problem. In my humble opinion, e-Sword basically bailed out on the Topic modules. The one principle advantage of using e-Sword for reading books over say, Microsoft Word DOC, RTF, Mobile native format, or PDF, was the ability to see a tool tip popup of a verse reference. The disadvantage of e-Sword is the structure, i.e. you have to use e-Sword's navigation system which is debatable if it is any better at all. You lose the ability to make link jumps with the document or to another document. PDF files allow this in the Mobile version. The Pocket PC version of e-Sword is basically a note taking thing with the same disadvantage of a straight Word Doc, you cannot see it and something else on the same screen.
That being the case, I have abandoned any book files for the PocketPC e-Sword. These are basically RTF files and nothing more. In my HP iPAQ, I could not get the reformatting to work correctly (i.e. you have to scroll horizontally ON EVERY SINGLE LINE to read it). Likewise I had problems converting my files to RTF and WORD DOC format (i.e. there is some kind of conversion process in bringing them into the Mobile environment, and that left the files in a state of partial conversion, and after a certain part the file was blank). Some larger files simply won't open.
So after experimenting with a lot of stuff and keeping an eye on the Palm possibly, I have decided that the best format is to go back to straight PDF. I have Adobe Acrobat 5 (they are in version 7 or 9 or something now). But I found that the reformatting wouldn't work all that great with Adobe Distiller either (actually something screwed it up on my PC and I cannot get it to work again, so I am waiting on that until I reformat the hard disk, which is on my to do list immediately after a root canal and cleaning my computer closet and backing up all my old floppy archives, right.).
Anyway, so the decision I made was to go with PDF made through OpenOffice which is a one click move. I note that making a table of contents in the file, OpenOffice also makes valid jumps to the book chapters through the table of contents. All of that beats Acrobat because I had to do that by hand in each finished pdf file.
I tried to make a master guide file with a master list of all works and that just didn't work (OpenOffice or Word format and then make a PDF out of it). So I went back to something simpler, HTML.
So the site we are putting together will be PDF book files (1 per book) which will have a set of HTML front files. These HTML files will have two links on them, so that if you download the PDF to your PDA, then it can be opened and read locally, or if you have an Internet connection open, you can download the file directly from my website to your PDA. I see the advantage in this of not having to change any of this for use on the Palm.
Another issue which is bothering me is that perhaps this entire PocketPC Bible religious book website is simply not necessary. I already have a regular library which is extensive, and I am thinking more of just putting this PDF files which are optimized for the PPC on it, and leaving it at that. This website would be for installing e-Sword on a Pocket PC, and not much else. I am wanting to redo all my regular library files (almost 2000) so that you can read them on the PocketPC. I also am reading my website on my PDA and I see the need for serious junk removal from my pages. A minimalist mindset is necessary for a PocketPC to read these pages nicely. So either I have to duplicate my website (at 6 Gigabytes stuff on my site that is not economically wise or desired), and I don't see much need for "commercials" or pretty navigation features when the utility of being available on a PDA exists.
Another issue that I am working on is searching for files based on a topic, for example doctrine of salvation. My Library pages have these divisions, and I am wanting to incorporate a numbering system into the file name so that once you download the file to you PDA you can search. For example I use the number 34 for my page on salvation, so a book by Pink's "Fourfold Salvation" would be named "Pink-Fourfould_Salvation(34).pdf". That way you can search all files for "(34) and find a listing of them that way. Like I say, I am thinking to redo my Library because it has gotten poorly "unsynced", I have added a lot of books without putting links to them anyplace except by author last name.
Also I am want to make a PDF of the Bible (KJV and Spanish) so that people can navigate, read, and do minor search functions without having to install e-Sword on the PocketPC (which I found rather convoluted to do, but possible).
Right now I am using the PDA and making the directory structure (HTML files), and I am seeing how useful this is.
As a personal evaluation note. I have found that the best use of e-Sword on my PDA is for daily Bible reading more than anything else. The bible search features is there in a pinch, but who wants to use a PDA for serious Bible study like preparing a sermon or Sunday School lesson? Nobody. Get real. I envision my Pocket PC basically as useful for finding a Bible text that I cannot remember the reference for, and basically consulting rather that writing (creation) of material. The goofy thing just is not that good for daily or regular use as a laptop. I have an infrared keyboard for my HP iPaq by the way, which is almost as good as a PC. The other principle use I find for the Pocket PC is for reading books. My Adobe Acrobat reader remembers the page where you were the last time you opened the file. That is great for reading a book and getting back to the same place to continue even though it is 2 weeks later. I would note that my PocketPC goes with me away from the house when I have to chauffer my family around to something, and I get a few free minutes (normally wasted) e.g. sitting in the doctor's office waiting room. I actually get a tremendous amount read in these otherwise wasted times.
If you have other normal and regular uses for your PDA, please write me and inform me, so that I can think about incorporating stuff using those concepts.
December 2007 - This website for the Pocket PC e-Sword and Bible study, started.