Wish - Announcing Hymn Numbers

[paulstokes]

One feature I would love to see is an option for automatically announcing Hymn Number when using ZW. The reason, and the idea:-

Reason
Some of our congregation have eyesight problems and need to have a large-print hymnbook / songbook in their hands. Of course, if we are trying to flow freely in worship it can mean interrupting songs to announce number, or upsetting / disenfranchising them because I forget.

Idea
The song database could contain an additional field for song numbers. This would need to be alphanumeric (in order to specify which book, as well as the number), or there would need to be a pair of fields (book+number). When a song goes live (or when vers 1 is displayed?) the number would be displayed rather like a nursery announcement - as a separate overlay, and would stay in position for, say 10 seconds. Neighbours could then help the visually imparied to locate the songs.

Would anyone else find this idea useful?

[chris_h62]

Hi Paul,

I can certainly see the benefits of this in the situation you describe. I think we have a similar system where those who find it hard to see use the hymn books.

However, I would definitely want to see this as an option that the user can decide to use or not depending on the inividual circumstances of the user/congregation.

Cheers,
Chris

[IanL]

Paul - why not have the Hymn and book details on the 1st line of the Hymn (separated from the 1st verse by a blank line)? It can then be displayed just prior to the Hymn being sung - then move straight on to the 1st verse.

Ian

[paulstokes]

Ian,
Thanks for the suggestion - it may well be worth pursuing as a readily-available solution (and tell the operator not to accidently display it when repeatin a song from the top).
Paul

[IanL]

Oooppps - forgot about that! I must say I find the ability to type in a verse number and jump to that one extremely useful in the new version - that might make it easier?

Ian

[paulstokes]

Well, after this evening's service someone came up to me to ask whether we could have the hymn numbers displayed (we were all over the place for songs, and had no ideas about numbers, so it was perfectly justifiable!). He'd been trying to help a partially-sighted lady find the word in the songbook, and wondered if there was any way we could have the numbers displayed in a little red box in the corner of the screen.

How's about a 15 second overlay in the bottom right corner, as an optional setting?

[ChrisClark]

If you try the Nursery Alert utility program that can be found at the bottom of the downloads page this will give you the ability to do this. It is an independent program from ZionWorx which adds to the complexity a little but it does work very nicely.

[paulstokes]

Chris,
I tried it yesterday evening after the request, but every time I tried to save the settings the program crashed with "Runtime Error '70'"

And, yes, it does add quite a bit to the complexity:
(1) put ZW song live
(2) Switch to Nursery Alert
(3) Click on the Preset to choose "Songbook" or "Mission Praise"
(4) Type in song number
(5) Click "Send Text"
(6) Click "Display Alert"
[(6a) Keep an eye on the screen to make sure the verse doesn't need changing yet]
(7) Hide alert after 15 seconds
(8) Switch back to ZW and continue with the song.

...and my operator has a mild learning disorder, which would make the sequence a challenge for him, never mind for me.

I suspect the alert is handy for less intense situations (assuming it doesn't crash), but for announcing song numbers I think something automatic would be a very helpful and welcome resource within the programme, and a way of serving those in our congregations with disabilities.

[ChrisClark]

I'm glad you were able to use it so simply

This is a feature we will be adding into ZionWorx but I was suggesting this as a potential work around until this happens.

[Williamting]

Paul,
Perhaps another alternative is to use quick note. The operator will flash the quick note before the hymn is sung. You can set up all the quick note before the service. In this way, the control can be very smooth.

In addition to the above, you can also include the hymn number in the copyright line and have it displayed at the bottom. The problem here is that the copyright information is small and you wanted the poor sighted congregation to see. So, the good sighted person next will have to help out. I hope the congregation with eyesight problem don't sit together.

[paulstokes]

For the time being I'm trying to insert an extra slide at the start of each song:-

==========
Songbook :: 96
==========

...and then on to the song itself. We'll see how it goes this weekend.