Frontends:Tyndale STEP

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The STEP Project (Scripture Tools for Every Person) aims to build a study tool for Christians around the world. The software will be available on-line as well as distributed to pastors in poorer countries who would usually not be able to afford commercial software.

Click the following link for the Developer's STEP technical home page.

Aim of the STEP project

The intention of the STEP project is to have a Bible study tool that will be available for a wide number of platforms:

  • multiple platforms: including off-line and online
  • multiple operating systems, including mobile OS

It is accepted that the mobile versions of the STEP project will access a web-based version, due to the variety of platforms and restrictions in development capabilities (for e.g. no Java platform on iPhones). A native Android application will also be built.

The motivation is to help believers who have limited access to the internet, by providing tools which can be distributed on flash memory, which are expandable online when access is available.

Intended features

The roadmap, features and bugs are in the Atlassian JIRA.

Data

The data produced by Tyndale House, Cambridge, UK will be the main driving factor of development of this front-end. This new project offers a lot of development opportunities:

  • developing in writing a web-based front-end to JSword;
  • working with Tyndale House to help them produce and publish their data; and
  • enhancing the main Sword and JSword engines to cope with the new types of datasets.

Range of features

The following features are just a sample list of the intended feature set:

  • History modules (including genealogies, timelines, articles, etc.)
  • Geography modules (maps, integration with Google Maps, Google Earth, overlay of historical maps)
  • Linguistics (interlinears, lexicons, parsing help)
  • Parallels (searching extra-Biblical literature from the same time & culture)
  • Translations (alternative transliterations, variants & manuscript evidence)
  • Modern publications (links to commentaries, journal articles and books)

Development of Datasets

  • Bibles - mainly PD versions with interlinear based on tagging
  • Dictionaries - merging and editing of PD dictionaries & encyclopaedias
  • Maps - 1:20,000 scale maps scanned for overlay with GoogleMaps; gazetteer with co-ordinates
  • Translations - analysis of differences in translations, and interpreting variant data
  • Modern literature - gaining copyright permissions; links to Bible refs; develop specialist search
  • Parallels - collecting parallel literature; create search by linguistic domains

Volunteers

If you are interested to become a volunteer, please visit the facebook page below, or contact the STEP team by email. You can also contact David Instone-Brewer via facebook.

References


External links

Historical Tyndale STEP blogs

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