There have been official Pīnyīn PDFs for the Bible Teach book on jw.org, and unofficial letter/A4 size 3-line PDFs for it on 3lines.org, for a while now. Undoubtedly, many have benefitted greatly from these PDF files. However, the PDF format is rooted in the print world, with its fixed page sizes and line endings. As mobile devices became more and more common, it was found that the letter/A4 page size originally used for the 3-line PDFs made them quite hard to use on smaller mobile devices such as the iPhone, and it also made for smaller-than-intended text even on larger tablets like the iPad.
How common are mobile devices getting to be? One highly relevant indication is that visits to 3lines.org from mobile devices now outnumber visits to that site from desktops/laptops, and the way the trend is going, soon visits to 3lines.org from tablets alone will outnumber visits to that site from desktops/laptops:
Eventually, some 3-line PDFs that used A5 as their page size began to be produced, which usually worked satisfactorily on mobile devices. However, producing A5 versions of 3-line PDFs requires extra work from already-busy 3-line producers, so A5 versions have been produced for only some 3-line PDFs, and it seems that no A5 size 3-line PDFs have ever been made for the Bible Teach book. Even when they are available, A5 size 3-line PDFs present extra complexity to users who need to compare them to the letter/A4 PDFs and then choose which to use in their situation.
As well, the PDF format is not the native format of the web browser you would use to go to the download pages of the PDF files. Thus, while PDF files can be downloaded, and often even viewed, with a web browser, they still represent some added complexity for people looking for Chinese field resources on the web.
Another consideration is that while the PDF format allows for the use of links, PDF producers generally hardly ever put them in PDFs, and many users do not seem to expect or use them. However, links can provide great benefits when they are used, as they are in web and EPUB material, to quickly and easily get around in the material, look up cited scriptures, etc.
Now, some new unofficial resources have become available that make it quicker and easier than ever to use mobile devices, etc. to view carefully proofread Pīnyīn text for the Chinese Bible Teach book:
- Bible Teach Bk.
(Pīnyīn, Web, Scriptures)
(proofread, mobile-friendly,
device to landscape ▶ large print)
- Bible Teach Bk.
(Pīnyīn, Web, Scriptures, Night Theme)
(proofread, mobile-friendly,
black background, grey text,
device to landscape ▶ large print)
- (Short link: tiandi.info/bh)
Note that:
- The material in the above resources has been carefully rendered and proofread.
- The above resources are mobile-friendly—they are quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
- In the above resources, links are used extensively to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
- The linked full text in Pīnyīn of all the cited scriptures is included in the above resources.
- The Offline Viewing sections of the above resources explain how to view them offline. Of course, in addition to being downloadable and viewable offline, the web pages of the above web resources can also be printed out from your web browser.
- Turning mobile devices to landscape orientation causes the text in the above resources to become large-print text.
- For your convenience, a short link is available for the above resources.
Also, the introductions explain why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own.
Eventually, Pīnyīn-English web and Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn-English EPUB versions of the above resources should appear as well.
