Toggling Zoom with a Custom Toolbar

| Tue, August 30, 2005 | Training

The Libronix Digital Library System is a very modular framework. The user interface is separate from the system internals. This modularity not only makes for a better application architecture, it allows us to deliver new features and user interface without changing the underlying system. (Below I am going to show you how to add a “Toggle Zoom” feature right now, without downloading anything.)

The Libronix DLS exposes its internal interfaces publicly, allowing external applications to control it. It also allows users to add their own functionality, either with an external programming language or with JavaScript inside custom toolbar commands.

The documentation for the scriptable object model is available as a free Libronix DLS compatible resource. The automation newsgroup is where you can ask questions about automating the Libronix DLS and get help from Logos programmers and other users.

I’m going to show you how to add a custom toolbar with a new command that toggles resource windows between their default zoom and 200% zoom. (This is really useful when you are projecting Logos Bible Software in a classroom, or even just leaning back to read.)

[Read more...]

Mouse Gestures

| Fri, August 26, 2005 | Training

It is always a pain to switch from keyboard to mouse and back. “Power users” tend to master the keyboard shortcuts of their favorite applications so that they can keep their hands in one place.

The keyboard is not as convenient as the mouse, though, for navigating a page full of hyperlinks. But when you are following lots of links it is a real pain to keep moving your mouse between the list of links and the back button, or moving your hand back to the keyboard to press “Alt-Left”.
Mouse gestures are a powerful shortcut that can cut your mouse travel without touching the keyboard.

In an open resource window, click and hold the right mouse button while dragging it just a short distance to the left and then releasing the button. This “gesture” executes the Go > Back command. (Assuming you have already followed a link or scrolled, so there is somewhere to go back to.) Right-click and drag to the right executes the Go > Forward command. Up moves to the previous article, down to the next. A “C” shape (left, down, right) toggles the contents pane.

I am not sure who invented mouse gestures, but we first saw them in Opera and Mozilla. These browsers support a long list of gestures, but I don’t often make an “M” shape to view the tags for a page, or “S” to view the source. I do use forward and back all the time and can’t imagine working without them.

I call mouse gestures a hidden feature because they don’t have any visible user interface and so most users never find them. But now you know. A complete list of the gestures supported in the Libronix DLS is in the Libronix DLS Help, under Appendixes > Gestures. Give them a try, and let us know if there are any other commands you would like to access through gestures.

One million pages later…

| Fri, August 19, 2005 | Misc.

APT Book Scanner from Kirtas TechnologiesLast year we took delivery of a robotic book scanner and set it to work in a seminary library. Today we have scanned more than one million pages from more than 3,000 titles.

Ultimately we would like to make all of these books available in the Libronix DLS format, but that represents a lot of keyboarding and tagging. (Automated optical character recognition can help, but is not accurate enough.)

So we are preparing a way to present the scanned page images. We are also putting some of them to use as source documents for the Community Pricing Program. The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul and the J. A. Broadus Preaching Collection are both being prepared from scans, and many other candidates are awaiting your bid.

It’s coming…

| Wed, August 17, 2005 | Misc.


(more details at www.MacBibleSoftware.com)

Logos icon stickers

| Fri, August 12, 2005 | Misc.

Now that we are building Logos Bible Software for the Mac we are buying more Macs. I think that it is pretty cool how Apple encloses a white logo sticker in their package and I have seen them around, on windows and doors and other places.

Our new logo combines a cross and a search icon, which gets to the heart of what our software is about: looking deeper into God’s Word.

So we ordered up a few thousand sheets with just the icon from our logo and we are including them in boxes and pre-pub shipments until we run out. They are vinyl with a removable adhesive, so feel free to stick them wherever you want.

World Factbook

| Fri, August 5, 2005 | Products

The World Factbook is compiled by the US CIA and is just what it sounds like: A bunch of facts about every country in the world. The book also features nice, clean maps of every country and digital versions of the country’s flag. World Factbook cover

Since we published the 1996 edition in Logos-compatible format the CIA has dramatically improved the free online edition, but I still find our edition useful. It brings up interesting data on any country-oriented search, and I use it to get background when I’m preparing to talk with someone from another country. It is also easier to run full-text searches against the Logos-compatible version.

Earlier this year we updated our ebook to the 2004 edition. With all the maps and flags it is a big download, but since we just reduced the price to “free”, it is a great value. Enjoy!

Hot Stuff Delivery

| Wed, August 3, 2005 | Misc.

The Logos Hot Sauce Museum, the developers’ 10 year collection of hot sauces from around the world, was decimated by last year’s fire next door and the attendant smoke damage to our offices. (We liked smoked peppers, but not when the smoke is from burning paint, carpet, etc.)

That’s just one more reason we were so happy to get a New Mexico Care Package from Logos user Bobby Martin.

Hot stuff is always welcome, though we recommend double-bagging the chili powder…

Bob Pritchett – Introduction

| Tue, August 2, 2005 | Misc.

I’m Bob Pritchett and I am one of the cofounders of Logos Bible Software, so I have been here since the very beginning.

I don’t write much code anymore (which is one reason the application is so solid now!) but I am still actively involved in the design of the Libronix Digital Library System and I do a lot of the research on new features and technologies.

My personal blog is at http://www.bobpritchett.com/blog, and you’ll find a number of Logos-related posts there over the past two years. Among my favorites are two from 2003:

And, of course, the start of our video tour:

I will try to get more video online here soon; let me know if there is something in particular you would like to see.

Welcome

| Fri, July 29, 2005 | Misc.

Welcome to the Logos Bible Software Blog!

A number of Logos employees have been maintaining their own blogs for the past few years, posting on subjects ranging from awful music to biblical Greek to injured toes, but we wanted to provide a single site where you could find all of our posts related to Logos Bible Software.

Look for an introductory post from each Logos employee who posts here, and be sure to check out their personal blogs, too.

Our goal is to make Logos more open and accessible and to improve our communication with you. Please join us in the process: ask questions, make suggestions, and tell us how we can serve you better.

Update: Read introductions from Logos bloggers Bob Pritchett, Rick Brannan, Eli Evans, Daniel Foster, and Phil Gons.