New Feature Poll - Version 3.0

[intuitas]

Hi Christian et al,

I can understand the priority given by the voting and I think this reflects the way in which (at least those who have voted) use the software ie. the ability to increase the range of and modify the format of content is paramount. Those issues (including video backgrounds which we would never use) are more important to current users who will (of necessity) be using Powerpoint to support slideshow presentation.
On the other hand I am glad to see that you are still considering Impress to help the project become independent of Microsoft (at least for anything other than the operating system. I think this item will become important in extanding the user base of Zionworx now that Impress has dual monitor support and as Open Office gains popularity.

Thanks for your continued wonderful work.
God Bless

Paul

[wnp]

No doubt you have already chosen an approach to the extra formatting, but one thing which would be extremely useful would be the option of embedding HTML. No doubt this could be done by using either the IE or Gecko engines in some embedded form.

Wolf

[ray goodwin]

Hi
It would be nice to be able to change chorus words to italics
also
Numerical entry for songs in data file as well as alph

Hope you will consider this please

Thanks

Ray Goodwin

[akharvie]

Great to see integrated bible on v 2.6, and it would be great to have NIV as that's the version we use - obviously there are copyright issues here but advice on how to purchase a suitable NIV would be helpful. We are not computer buffs/programmers/experts of any kind and love ZionWorx because it is intuitive and simple. We were able to persuade the church that projection was a good idea as we could start very simply - with my laptop and ZionWorx - as we would never otherwise have got a budget for technology. We do have a modest budget now which is great!

Would be nice to see the possibility of playing video direct through Zionworx

Incidentally our church computer is not connected to the internet, so direct connection to biblegateway.com isnt possible

For those who feel that Office is too expensive, you can get a charities licence for very very much less than the shop price from Citnexus.

[York Pilson]

Kate,
I was in the same situation as you, with no budget for software when we started projecting. I agree as to the ease of use, and even turned down an offer of commercial software later when money became available. If you have a Wi-fi hotspot in the area, you can take your laptop and connect to BibleGateway there. As a test, I just logged on and pulled up the book of Jude (one of our currrent Bible studies). It is then possible to copy the text and import it. There is a limitation to what can be downloaded on copyrighted material, but it should cover most readings. If you are a liturgical congregation, you can find the readings for the three year cycle and get as many as you can stand in one sitting. How is that for an excuse for whiling away the afternoon sitting around a coffee shop?
God bless,
York Pilson

[akharvie]

This is looking better and better - no wi-fi hotspots around here I'm afraid, but I usually prepare at home where I have an internet connection, and I am able to import the Bible passage here, which saves a lot of time. I do have the electronic version of the NIV which I usually put into PowerPoint at home.
Good stuff folks! love Kate

[AliBy]

More song formatting options e.g. italicised chorus etc. .....

There are significant benefits to NOT having this additional features, which should not be forgotten ..

My concern for this feature group is that it will require some additional tagging or grouping of paragraphs (= training and extra time getting new songs into the database)

One of the things that set ZionWorx appart from other mainline packages is that there is no manual intervention required, except typing in the words or pasting ALL the text into one block, as the program breaks the song screens up based on paragraphs, font sizes and screen margins.

If we go this way then it becomes laborious and adds effort to training and instruction and even time when you want to get a song up and running in the shortest of pre-emptive times made available ...

I will be sorry if we loose the simplicity of the interface for adding songs to the database.

[Christian]

Fear not AliBy...
We will make sure that any new feature like this is added in an unobtrusive way.

[LexLuthor]

I really ask you to reconsider your priorities regarding all this fancy video/dvd support.
There is plenty free movieplayer software out there and frankly I can't remember the last time I watched a DVD in church.
Zionworx 3.0 is overdue so you should not overreach yourself with adding more and more multimedia features that are barely used.

What's urgently needed is a decent search bar for bible verses, because thats what people need to use in 100% of all church services.
Also before adding video backgrounds it would be much more useful to have at least some basic formatting options for the song texts.

[Gabe]

I beg of you to implent intergrated videoplayback. It's desperately needed at least here. We try to use VLC player but it just doesn't work that well when trying to play dvd'sand such where you have to choose subitles and song and such. Plus the feature to play the videos on the second monitor is not functioning properly. I think that it would help make the transitions smoother, so yeah, I hope you add it soon.

Thanks for the program and God bless you!

//Gabriel B.

[pilgrim]

I've only been using Zionworx for a few months - my greatest need is to incorporate support for Impress (OpenOffice) in the same way you have for Powerpoint. I use OpenOffice for everything else and can't justify the cost of buying a full version of Powerpoint.

Some of the other ideas on this thread are useful too - italicising choruses for one

And will Zionworx load to Linux? DH (dear husband) has been given a netbook which runs Linux Linpus and OpenOffice, it would be so much easier to take that with me on a Sunday!

[davepartridge]

Just to let you know that a copy of PowerPoint doesn't necessarily cost that much these days. You can buy Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student which lets you install Word/Excel/PowerPoint onto three computers, and it can be had for under 60 quid (from places like eBuyer and Amazon).

[pilgrim]

Thanks! Do you not need evidence of being a student?

[davepartridge]

No you don't - with old versions of Office you used to have to, but now it's a package designed for Home or Student so they don't require proof. I know we all moan at Microsoft but I actually think that's a pretty reasonable price.

[pilgrim]

Thanks! I'll investigate ...