A Review by Charles Lott
An updated version of the Online Bible, which was released recently, includes some nice features, most of which are covered in a “What’s New” file. The file can be accessed from the application’s Help menu. A notable improvement in this update is the inclusion of the original Luther translation in German. Earlier versions of the Bible had offered only a 1912 revision of the original. Several additional changes have been made to eliminate bugs that plagued previous versions.
Although there are still a few bugs remaining, these are either minor inconveniences or restricted to very specialized situations.
For example, one annoying problem that can crop up when installing version 8.10 from the Deluxe CD can occur for users who have unlock codes for locked versions. You will not be able to use these codes until you download the program module, version 8.10.04, from the Online Bible web site. Once you have installed this module, you will be able to apply your unlock codes.
One other problem associated with printing from Arabic translations is dealt with in the “What’s New” file, which includes instructions for effective work-arounds.
One minor inconvenience for visually impaired users may be that the introductory screen is not affected by color choices under Options. Therefore, if you’re using a black screen, you will need to highlight the entire screen in order to read the contents of this introductory screen. This does not seem to me to be a serious inconvenience, however, since most users will not want to read that particular screen more than once. Furthermore, if you use screen-reading software, the introductory screen can be read easily by both JFW and Window-Eyes.
Overall, this new version carries on the outstanding tradition which has made the Online Bible the best example of Bible software. Moreover, this is the only Bible application I have seen which offers such an abundance of Bible versions, in English and many other languages, along with study aids and tools for Christian education, and also provides automatic interface with JAWS for Windows and Window-Eyes.
I give the Online Bible, Version 8.10, five stars! It is available for $59.99 from http://www.onlinebible.org.