[jsword-devel] Bible Desktop Vision and Strategy

[Adam Thomas]

This is a great discussion, and one that we desperately needed to have
if we hope to move BibleDesktop forward. I agree, we are not going to
get 100% agreement on this list. The nature of Open Source projects is
diversity in every respect. Let's be careful to focus on important goals
as a group and not branch off too early.

If we could snap our fingers and have a completely redesigned
BibleDesktop application what would it need to do? Obviously, presenting
the Bible is a usable manner is priority one.

I agree that we should not approach the redesign with the attitude of
making this application the swiss army knife of Bible applications. The
users out of the box experience is crucial and their first impression
will be based on that experience alone. If they like what they see, they
may continue digging deeper and learn of the other features such as
powerful searching, extensibility, and customization.

I was taught that in the Web world you have approximately 5-15 seconds
to give a user what he/she wants or they will bounce to another site
that does. I don't claim to know the statistics for desktop
applications, but I have to imagine that some similar rule exists. We
need to make sure BibleDesktop impresses the user immediately with zero
configuration.

"Since neither the Kindle app nor the Kindle iPhone
is designed for reading the Bible, navigation can be frustrating."

So let's be the application that IS designed to handle Bible navigation
elegantly.

"The usability problem with non-linear content is
crucial because it indicates a deeper issue: Kindle's user experience
is dominated by the book metaphor."

Let's not be "dominated" by the book metaphor, let's simply provide it
as one way of presenting the Bible. I'll bet as a group we could come up
with at least 2 or 3 different ways that each of us read the Bible. When
I am doing my "Read the Bible in One Year" study plan I do read chapter
by chapter in a linear fashion. However, when I am in Bible Study trying
to rapidly look up scriptures, I am utilizing full-text searches,
bookmarks, and index lookups. Those are two modes that BibleDesktop
would need to satisfy my needs and I am positive that others on this
list could list different ways they use the Bible. Keep in mind those
modes have nothing to do with commentaries and other "fancy" features,
they are simply presentation or "workflow" modes of raw Bible content.

I think the electronic book idea is great. I like the idea of being able
to flip a page electronically and have a visual representation or my
relative location within a book. Sure PDFs use continuous navigation by
default and we can tell relative location by looking at the label that
says "page 11 of 44" to know where we are. However, many people like to
feel like they are reading a paper book and I am one of them. I can
assure you there are many more like me out there and is proven by the
number of people interested in electronic book format. I also have an
article from a recent IEEE magazine that discusses electronic books and
page flipping techniques. This further proves to me that someone out
there thinks it is worth doing, or at least researching.

We all have our ideas of what we want to see out of BibleDesktop as a
project. Many great ideas have been discussed on this list and I think
they are all worth investigating. However, emphasis must be placed on
the core of the application otherwise all the bells and whistles won't
make any difference.

Regards,
Adam


Jonathan Morgan wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 10:52 PM, Jonathan Morgan <jonmmorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> I'll just start by saying that I don't necessarily see the goals as
>> wrong, just that they may have minor problems or be over idealistic.
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 3:17 AM, DM Smith <dmsmith at crosswire.org> wrote:
>>     
>>> Here is a starting point for a new statement. Your feedback/input is very
>>> welcomed.
>>>
>>> Vision:
>>>   Users of Bible Desktop grow closer to God as they explore and study God's
>>> Word since can be tailored to be their favorite Bible application.
>>>       
>> Bear in mind that most users don't want to have to tailor an
>> application, and often won't at all.  Being configurable is nice, but
>> the default layout has to be good because that's what a lot of people
>> will judge and evaluate the software on.
>>
>>     
>>> Strategic goals: (Bridges the vision with user expectations of Bible
>>> Desktop)
>>>   Reliable - Everything works as expected, without bugs and without
>>> surprise.
>>>   Adaptable - The user is able to adapt Bible Desktop to their work flow.
>>>   Simple - Make each feature of Bible Desktop as simple as possible but no
>>> simpler. Each feature should be so obvious that it does not detract from
>>> God's Word.
>>>   Complete - Bible Desktop does everything a user could ever want in a Bible
>>> Application
>>>       
>> That is impossible (though there is nothing wrong in working towards
>> it).  It is my firm opinion after many years of software development
>> that software can only do everything you might want if you don't have
>> enough imagination.
>>
>>     
>>>   Extensible - If Bible Desktop doesn't do everything, it is simple for a
>>> developer to add the missing feature to Bible Desktop.
>>>
>>> Tactical: (How user expectations of Bible Desktop are achieved.)
>>>   Reliable
>>>       Reported bugs are responded to immediately, determining the earliest
>>> possible release in which they can be fixed.
>>>       Confusing features (i.e. surprising behavior) is dealt with as soon as
>>> possible. This may be indicative of a problem with the manual.
>>>       
>> But bear in mind that many (most?) will not read the manual.
>>
>>     
>>>   Adaptable
>>>      The user can choose which features are part of the desktop.
>>>      The user can choose the placement of those features on the desktop.
>>>   Simple
>>>      Simplify the reading of book content. The structure and organization of
>>> a book should not get in the way. Some kind of page flipping is suggested.
>>>       
>> I don't believe page flipping simplifies the reading of book content.
>> I could elaborate on that at length, but I don't think it necessary.
>>     
>
> For more on similar things to what drives my opinion of trying to
> exactly replicate the book in the hope that it will be more intuitive,
> read the following items and make of it what you will:
>
> http://www.openbible.info/blog/2009/03/how-to-get-the-esv-for-free-on-your-iphone-for-a-limited-time/
>
> Pertinent quote: "Since neither the Kindle app nor the Kindle iPhone
> is designed for reading the Bible, navigation can be frustrating."
>
> http://www.useit.com/alertbox/kindle-usability-review.html
>
> Pertinent quote: "The usability problem with non-linear content is
> crucial because it indicates a deeper issue: Kindle's user experience
> is dominated by the book metaphor. The idea that you'd want to start
> on a section's first page makes sense for a book because most are
> based on linear exposition. Unfortunately, this is untrue for many
> other content collections, including newspapers, magazines, and even
> some non-fiction books such as travel guides, encyclopedias, and
> cookbooks. "
>
> Jon
>
> _______________________________________________
> jsword-devel mailing list
> jsword-devel at crosswire.org
> http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/jsword-devel
>
>