feature request stuff (was: Re:[sword-devel] Unicode fonts on Win95/98/98SE/Me)

[Chris Little]

> One very nice use of software that is done by OLB is that they have
> from their early DOS releases made parallel displays of Bible verses
> possible.  Often it is informative for readers of even good
> translations who wish to dig deeper to see what compromises have been
> made in different translations. Most of us understand that thoughts
> exist first, and in order to describe those thoughts we take words and
> arrange them in a suitable order so that the receiver of our speech
> can understand our thought.  Unfortunately the small nuances of
> language are often lost in translation.  
> 
> I also understand that Logos in its latest Libronix release has
> ability to make parallel display with an add-on module.

Yeah, I'm not sure why Logos decided to make this an addon rather than a
built-in feature.  It's pretty simple to implement, and I think the
BibleCS prototype can probably do it.  BibleTime definitely can, and
GnomeSword has an interlinear view.  The way that the Bible & commentary
panes in BibleCS display the same verse is an illustration of the how
Sword uses one key to drive multiple modules.

Anyway... I'll add your suggestion to the feature request list on
sourceforge.  And assign it to Troy. ;)

 
> I do not see that Logos has incorporated the wanted and wished for
> ability for people to integrate their own works, and index them, and
> make them available as a Logos Book.  This is something which is
> possible with OLB.  Logos only offers the ability to incorporate small
> notes.

I don't think that was planned for Logos.  It would kind of ruin their
business model.  Consider the Early Church Fathers series they gave to
CCEL--if people could turn it into a user-made Logos book, they'd never
sell another copy of that text.

Hermeneutika on the other hand, only makes one version of BibleWorks. 
You buy their whole library for one price, and that's that.  So it makes
sense for them to have released tools for user-made material.  It can
only enhance their product or increase sales, without cutting into
profit.  I'm looking forward to the day that I can justfy upgrading to
BibleWorks 5, because I'd really like to see what they do in the way of
content creation tools for users.

What kinds of features would you guys like to see in content creation
tools?  Do you want basic converters that take a file in a set format
(like verse-per-line with or without prepended verse references)?  Or
interactive text-editing tools like a word processor?  Thoughts &
suggestions are welcome and encouraged.

--Chris