Dear Colleagues,
I have been using Scripture App for a few years now, and wonder if you would consider implementing a major feature that could revolutionize how Scripture App is being used in many projects around the world.
Personally, I work with three different languages and several dialects. Instead of hard-coding the language files into the App, either as link or embedded, it would be great if I could create one app for all my projects and then let the users choose which language files to use. This way I would only need to create and maintain one single App in the App- or Play store. If all language and audio files follow the same naming convention and were to be stored on one server, then this option would even have the potential to serve countless languages around the planet. This would solve one of the major headaches we often have, which is to maintain developer accounts on the play stores for multiple apps. Plus, it would address the issue I once ran into that a play store wouldn’t allow the same app twice if they appear too similar to each other.
… Or better yet, perhaps SIL could maintain an app in the stores which all translation teams could then use by simply adding their specific text and audio files to common database on one of our servers somewhere.
Those who would like a more customized app for their purposes could still go ahead and create their own, but I believe many others would be quite content with using a one-size-fits-all container app from the android or apple store.
Do any of these do what you’re looking for?
ScriptureEarth / https://scriptureearth.org/
Regarding your comment "If all … audio files follow the same naming convention…”, be aware that you should include a unique language name in the audio files. I’d been naming all files, eg. 01MAT01.mp3 and found that apps simply play the first file they find on the phone with the right name, even it’s a file that was downloaded from an app in a different language.
For what it’s worth, we, in Kalaam’s app building team, have been suggesting folks to adapt a similar audio file name structure to the paratext file names, but strongly suggest including “_” in it. IE: 01_GEN_01_ethnologue_code.mp3, 01_GEN_02_zom.mp3, …
40_MAT_01_ethnologue_code.mp3, 40_MAT_02_zom.mp3,…
Many don’t include the ethnologue code, but it’s extremely helpful when building a multi-book collection. Adding it to the file name after the book and chapter makes it much easier to locate missing files or see what’s out of place. If the “_” is not included, the book order is not what we expect because of the 1st, and 2nds, (and 3rd) books in our Bible.
Yes, we always use the ethnologue codes and underscore character. The point I was trying to make is that if I want an app for each of our three language projects, then I need to maintain three separate apps in the app stores for android and apple. What I am looking for is to have one single app that I can then use for multiple languages. I am aware of Bible.is and YouVersion, but I cannot get our audio into those apps as long as were are still in a phase where we keep making corrections and updating the recordings.
Dear Martin,
This is a nice idea, especially if the audience is online most of the time. Our languages are offline a lot, so we are making apps that have all the text and audio included. Once they have installed they are good to go.
Your idea actually is already functioning for IOS. Scripture Earth, has an ios app that allows you to select and download an IOS container of a single language. Then when this app is started that language appears. It can only handle one language currently, and the app Icon is not language specific. But this does seem to be what you are suggesting.
I think PWA apps may be a better solution. They are less maintenance since they can work on any device, and slightly more user friendly to install, although the user will still need specific steps to install. If you are not familiar with a PWA app here is one to check out.
Another way to streamline app publication is to use Kalaam. We send them updated text or audio, and they update the apps.
Roger Green
SIL Thailand