Mobile Ministry Magazine

Its been a while since we have touched on Bible applications in detail, and mainly that has been (on my end) because it is quite hard to focus in on some kind of solution that appeals best to publishers, developers, and users. Everyone seems to have such a different perspective that it has felt a bit futile in terms of asking all to come together and actually build something of mutual benefit.

But in one of my readings this week, I came across an idea for doing such that fits better with the placement of MMM, as well as the abilities and resources of all those who would otherwise be involved. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Sender 11 for that excellent post - thanks a bunch. And I will also contribute some recent learning about project management methodologies as being the fuel to this line of thinking.

A Common Problem

The common problem is reading the Bible effectively. Pastors will tell you that simply getting people to read is hard; teachers will say getting people to comprehend is a major challenge; publishers will say that there are only a finite amount of ways a person will pay for a product; and readers just want to read without going though hoops.

A paper Bible seems almost idea. Choose the Bible from the shelf, open to the index, table of contents, or last bookmarked section and boom you are there.

Remembering the Book

Lets keep with that last piece about a simple book. An application should have as few entry points as possible: an index of all the terms, a table of contents for the major sections, and finally personal bookmarks. The first two should be built into the program, they should sit in a database that is optimized for speed then results, rather than results then speed.

Personal bookmarks, or notes, or annotations, or highlights, whatever you want to call them. This should be information that the program accesses, but it does not sit in the domain of the application only to use. It needs to be a common to the device format, yet contain the information needed to keep it linked to the application. This means that the program either needs to provide an API to a default notes application, or provide a notes application that is at least as sufficient as the default application, but does not remain proprietary so that one can only get to it by first going to the Bible app. It should store information in open formats, and be exportable to any format needed.

Then We Read

Now getting past that initial entry point, a person as found the book, has opened the book, and is now reading. Nothing else matters. Seriously. Nothing matters. They are in the Word to connect with God. The interface should allow that. There should be as few disruptions by the operating system, application chrome, and additional resources as possible.

Speaking of additional resources; I know that lots who visit here dig commentaries a lot. I get value out of them too. But they should sit as additions, not necessarily as separate entities. One should be able to click on a verse or verse number to gain access to additional resources that are contextual to what was just clicked. For example, clicking on a verse should show 'Get Map', 'Get Parallel Verses', and/or 'Read Commentary' in addition to a 'tag' and 'add note' function. Note, we are still just reading. The other stuff just comes out when we are in the mist of reading and want more.

Handling Multiple Books

This might come as a bit of dismay to some, but I see additional books as being something that should also be complimentary to the singular reading. Most people just read one Bible and then have maybe one additional source.

And that's speaking of those who'd read often. Keeping the program simple means that if there are additional books, that the option for getting to them should be noted on that inital screen with the Index, Bookmarks, and Table of Contents. Just something like, 'More Books' that opens a library would be sufficient. Give the user the option of seeing this either on that screen, or as an addition option on that tap verse item explained earlier. A simple 'View in Similar Book' note would work.

So What Am I Saying

Ignoring the formatting differences, pricing schemes, online or offline abilities, building the experience of reading the Bible simply transends any particular platform and just goes into a need. If one wants to build a Bible app that successfully takes that analogy of reading a book and then presents it simply, we have to think about how we read, and then from there make sure that the additional features don't get in the way.

If I could code something, I'd build according to what you just saw for the Internet Tablet. That's how confident that I am in this methodology of development being something of value beyond just our circles.

Labels: Bible, developer, software, web application, wireless application