Hello all,
I just wanted to get your feedback on the following website, I've set up as a test here at BLO: http://www.bahai-library.com/browse0.php . I know that the design is very bare bones, but as you can see, you can change the appearance for the final result at least...
I hope we can in the future add search features, "next page/previous page"s, and user preferences, not to mention additional texts and additional content functionality.
I should also mention that the Bible only currently has books 1-3 loaded and the Arabic for the Aqdas is only pasted in for the first few paragraphs....I intend to add these later as time permits...
Brett
Feedback on website
I don't get this. What's the purpose of this site? To search for common terms or themes in the Bible, Qur'an, and Kitab-i-Aqdas? But you'd have translation problems between the multiple languages.
Anyway why these three? Is it meant to be expanded to other texts later? (One would think Baha'is would like to read the Bayan or the Book of the Resurrection of Names...)
Anyway why these three? Is it meant to be expanded to other texts later? (One would think Baha'is would like to read the Bayan or the Book of the Resurrection of Names...)
Yes, it is meant to be expanded to other texts later. Now that the underlying code is done, most texts shold be readily addable.
I started with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas given its importance, and I had already had a well-formatted version for the "Baha'i" Qur'an and "Baha'i" Bible. The latter two could also demonstrate the use and manipulation of a good number of columns.
The present features of the site include:
1) Allowing for browsing a customizable range of books/chapters/verses.
2) Allowing for customization regarding which columns are shown and in which order.
3) Allowing for customized formatting of text (e.g., if someone wanted to show someone an attractively formatted, old-style font of a specific range of verses or even transclude the page into their own HTML documents (or hopefully wiki pages if transclusion options can be improved in the Wikimedia software we are using)).
4) The Bible and Qur'án include options to view cross-reference information such as what Shoghi Effendi's translation of a given verse was, and provide citations and links to the Bahá'í sources which reference that verse in question.
5) Arabic text is to be progressively added for the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (and hopefully other works' originals too as possible) so that comparisons can be done. (I hope to integrate this in the future with an automated word-by-word translator (ideally with both the option for seeing Shoghi Effendi's translations of the words in the verse in question as well as the multiple meanings which the original might conjure, as an ordinary dictionary would have) as well as for research and even language learning.)
Future basic goals for this project include:
1) Adding search and sorting options.
2) Adding "continue to the next/previous page/section" options.
3) Adding as many texts as possible, including in the original language and any other languages for which assistants can step up to the plate.
4) Adding user preferences, recent and saved searches/browses, etc.
Future more sophisticated but not impossible goals include:
1) Integrating the texts with (another project by itself) a database including all the indexes of the Writings, so that one could choose to view the pages corresponding to a given index item, or, conversely, while viewing the pages, see the index entries relevant to those pages alongside the pages' text.
2) If our institutions are ok with this, integrating the site with collaborative wiki websites, so that one could view and edit pages dedicated to the verse in question (either as links to the wiki page, or the wiki pages' content and edit options transcluded into the view with the Writings so that one could view and even edit the data alongside the verses in question). These wiki sites could ideally not only be the publicly accessible ones, but allow fo private (client or server-side) wiki note-taking and goals an individual may wish to associate with a given verse and be able to access in a customizable ways (e.g., not just by verse, but by alphabetically listing all their notes or goals).
3) Adding auto-generated links (perhaps even customizable) to (esp. wiki) dictionaries, encyclopedias, Google searches, etc., using the words of the current verse as a base.
4) Doing automated word-counts and concordances for a book or range within, etc.
best wishes,
Brett
p.s. Sorry if this was more than you asked for...It was helpful to outline it though, in case it comes up again!
I started with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas given its importance, and I had already had a well-formatted version for the "Baha'i" Qur'an and "Baha'i" Bible. The latter two could also demonstrate the use and manipulation of a good number of columns.
The present features of the site include:
1) Allowing for browsing a customizable range of books/chapters/verses.
2) Allowing for customization regarding which columns are shown and in which order.
3) Allowing for customized formatting of text (e.g., if someone wanted to show someone an attractively formatted, old-style font of a specific range of verses or even transclude the page into their own HTML documents (or hopefully wiki pages if transclusion options can be improved in the Wikimedia software we are using)).
4) The Bible and Qur'án include options to view cross-reference information such as what Shoghi Effendi's translation of a given verse was, and provide citations and links to the Bahá'í sources which reference that verse in question.
5) Arabic text is to be progressively added for the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (and hopefully other works' originals too as possible) so that comparisons can be done. (I hope to integrate this in the future with an automated word-by-word translator (ideally with both the option for seeing Shoghi Effendi's translations of the words in the verse in question as well as the multiple meanings which the original might conjure, as an ordinary dictionary would have) as well as for research and even language learning.)
Future basic goals for this project include:
1) Adding search and sorting options.
2) Adding "continue to the next/previous page/section" options.
3) Adding as many texts as possible, including in the original language and any other languages for which assistants can step up to the plate.
4) Adding user preferences, recent and saved searches/browses, etc.
Future more sophisticated but not impossible goals include:
1) Integrating the texts with (another project by itself) a database including all the indexes of the Writings, so that one could choose to view the pages corresponding to a given index item, or, conversely, while viewing the pages, see the index entries relevant to those pages alongside the pages' text.
2) If our institutions are ok with this, integrating the site with collaborative wiki websites, so that one could view and edit pages dedicated to the verse in question (either as links to the wiki page, or the wiki pages' content and edit options transcluded into the view with the Writings so that one could view and even edit the data alongside the verses in question). These wiki sites could ideally not only be the publicly accessible ones, but allow fo private (client or server-side) wiki note-taking and goals an individual may wish to associate with a given verse and be able to access in a customizable ways (e.g., not just by verse, but by alphabetically listing all their notes or goals).
3) Adding auto-generated links (perhaps even customizable) to (esp. wiki) dictionaries, encyclopedias, Google searches, etc., using the words of the current verse as a base.
4) Doing automated word-counts and concordances for a book or range within, etc.
best wishes,
Brett
p.s. Sorry if this was more than you asked for...It was helpful to outline it though, in case it comes up again!
Oh, also possibly auto-linking to discussion forums, chats, etc. (as well as the wikis already mentioned...) relevant to the given book or even verse.
And, for a somewhat separate but related project, if we can get the wiki going again, creating an interface to automatically call up the index entries for the wiki page topic in question as well as links to, if not a framed whole page of, Google search results (of BLO, discussion forums, etc., or the whole web) for the topic in question, or even the corresponding Wikipedia or dictionary pages (to supplement the wiki data).
best wishes,
Brett
And, for a somewhat separate but related project, if we can get the wiki going again, creating an interface to automatically call up the index entries for the wiki page topic in question as well as links to, if not a framed whole page of, Google search results (of BLO, discussion forums, etc., or the whole web) for the topic in question, or even the corresponding Wikipedia or dictionary pages (to supplement the wiki data).
best wishes,
Brett
I should mention I might create a more basic version as well, such as without the right-hand column (the formatting options), as the formatting features might be confusing or distracting.
The left-hand column (for the main page of a given selected text) along with the verse ranges at the top of the main page of a given text or the most relevant. If the reuslts are still to cluttered for one's taste by too many columns of data, just go back and uncheck some of the fields before submitting the form again.
Brett
The left-hand column (for the main page of a given selected text) along with the verse ranges at the top of the main page of a given text or the most relevant. If the reuslts are still to cluttered for one's taste by too many columns of data, just go back and uncheck some of the fields before submitting the form again.
Brett