[sword-devel] File formats; update status

[Kahunapule Michael P. Johnson]

Latest revision of WEB & WEBME: 9 August 2004
WEB web sites: http://eBible.org/web/, http://WEBible.org/, http://WorldEnglishBible.org
WEBME web sites: http://eBible.org/hnv/, http://hnvbible.org/, http://eBible.org/webme/

So far, the "master" copy of the World English Bible has been in "General Bible Format" -- a text format that I invented a long time ago for this purpose. (It is documented at http://eBible.org/bible/gbf.htm, if you are interested.) I have programs that convert from GBF into a variety of file formats, some of which I maintain on the web sites listed above (as well as for 4 other translations of the Holy Bible). In the not-too-distant future, I would like to shift the master copy of the World English Bible to either USFM or an XML format that can be losslessly and automatically converted to and from USFM. The reason I'm doing this is to be able to share Bible formatters and converters with the Bible translators who are using USFM or a format very close to USFM, mostly for minority languages. In the process of making that shift, I'll have to rewrite many of the converters that I now have for GBF. Before I start that process, I would like to know which Bible file formats that are offered on our web sites above that you actually use now, or would like to use. That will help me prioritize the format conversion writing process. Which formats are most important to you, and why?

Also, I would like to know what you would think if I stopped posting some formats on the above web sites, but instead provided a converter program that could produce the "missing" formats. Would that be acceptable? If so, what operating system would you like to run the converter on?