Showing posts with label EPUB format. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EPUB format. Show all posts

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Pīnyīn Plus Expressions Now Intuitively Behave Like Light Switches 💡

light bulb


The integrated, interactive “flashcards” are what put the “Plus” in Pīnyīn Plus material. When one comes across a Pīnyīn expression in Pīnyīn Plus material that one would like to know more about, one can just tap/click on that Pīnyīn expression to shed some light on it by revealing a “flashcard” next to it showing its English meaning, Simplified character(s), Traditional character(s) (if they’re different), etc.


Before, though, to again hide the newly revealed “flashcard”, one had to tap/click on the “flashcard” itself—tapping/clicking again on its Pīnyīn expression did nothing, whereas one might intuitively expect that action to again hide the “flashcard” that had been revealed. Now, on all available Pīnyīn Plus resources, Pīnyīn expressions do indeed have this light switch-like behaviour that many may intuitively expect, of showing/hiding their associated “flashcards”. I do believe many will find that this is a good idea 💡!


(Tapping/clicking on a revealed “flashcard” itself will still hide it, like before.)


For more information on the Pīnyīn Plus format, check out the introductory information here.


The short link for a list of available Pīnyīn Plus resources is:

Monday, January 12, 2015

New Resource: Bible Teach Bk. (Pīnyīn, Scriptures, EPUB) Page

The content of the Bible Teach book Pīnyīn web pages, including the linked full text of all cited scriptures, is now available in EPUB format at this download page:

The download page and the EPUB file’s Introduction have information on the advantages of the EPUB format, and on why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own.


For now, the Bible Teach book Pīnyīn EPUB file, like the Bible Teach book Pīnyīn web pages, contains material covering up to the end of chapter 2. More material will gradually be added as time allows.


Note that:

  • The full text in Pīnyīn of all the cited scriptures is included in the above resource.
  • The above resource is mobile-friendly—the EPUB material is quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
  • The above resource contains links to and from the scriptures, footnotes, chapter headings, etc. to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
  • Like PDF files, EPUB files can be downloaded for offline viewing.
  • In common EPUB-reading apps like iBooks, EPUB files can be annotated, meaning that notes, highlighting, etc. can be added.
  • In common EPUB-reading apps like iBooks, the text size of the EPUB material can be adjusted to be quite large.
  • iBooks has an optional Night theme.
  • For your convenience, a short link is available for the above resource.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

New Typeface for Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn-English Material

After much research and consideration, I have decided to change the default typeface for the Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn-English material from Helvetica Neue/Arial to Gentium Basic. (Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, and “sans-serif” will be set as the fallback typefaces.)


Some reasons for this are:

  • While Helvetica Neue, Arial, etc. would be rendered using local font files (ones residing on the client device itself), the Gentium Basic font files will be served from a web server. This will help eliminate dependence on certain font files (and certain versions of those font files) being available on users’ devices.
  • Most modern web browsers now support this capability, making it workable for web users.
  • With the right programming code, EPUB files can also support included font files.
  • Gentium Basic’s licence allows for such usage for free, whereas the licences of Helvetica Neue, Arial, etc. do not.
  • Increased certainty about what font file will be used to render certain material makes it more certain that that material will be rendered properly on users’ devices—that certain things will line up properly, etc.
  • Helvetica Neue, Arial, etc. have a clean, neutral appearance that many like (Interestingly, “Helvetica” means “Swiss” in Latin.), but Gentium Basic should prove to be more readable. For example, it makes it easier to tell similar-looking characters apart from one another, such as “i”, “I”, and “l”.
  • The website of Gentium Basic’s designer has information that shows that he has thought and researched deeply about the design of diacritics, which is what Pīnyīn tone marks are. Indeed, the increased size and clarity of Gentium Basic’s Pīnyīn tone marks should especially help to make Pīnyīn text easier to read.
  • While Helvetica Neue, Arial, etc. can seem a little sterile, Gentium Basic has a more “artful”, yet friendly style. Hopefully this will make the Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn-English material even more appealing.

Some Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn-English material has already been converted to use the Gentium Basic typeface, and eventually more of it will be so converted.


Monday, February 03, 2014

New Resource: Good News Brochure (Pīnyīn, Scriptures EPUB) Page

The content of the Good News brochure Pīnyīn web pages, including the linked full text of all cited scriptures, is now available in EPUB format at this download page:

The download page and the EPUB file’s Introduction have information on the advantages of the EPUB format, and on why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own.


For now, the Good News brochure EPUB file, like the Good News brochure Pīnyīn web pages, contains material covering up to the end of Lesson 5. More material will gradually be added as time allows.


Friday, October 25, 2013

New Resource: Jehovah’s Will Brochure (Sidney Lau-English, Scriptures EPUB) Page

The content available so far on the Jehovah’s Will brochure Sidney Lau-English web pages is now available in EPUB format at this download page:

Here is an excerpt from the download page:

Introduction

The material in the EPUB file linked to below contains text from the Chinese Jehovah’s Will brochure, written in Sidney Lau romanization. It also includes English ruby text that has been bundled with the Sidney Lau romanization text that it shows the meaning of. Thus, this material provides us Cantonese-learners with assistance in the two language aspects we require in order to be able to discuss or study the Jehovah’s Will brochure with someone in Cantonese:

  1. The pronunciations of the Cantonese words used
    • These show us how to communicate the brochure’s message in Cantonese.
  2. The meanings of the Cantonese words used
    • These show us what is being communicated in Cantonese.

Advantages of the EPUB Format

Being in EPUB format allows this material to benefit from the advantages of this format, including:

  • Broad hardware and software support
  • Easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices
  • Offline use
    • Since EPUB files have been available from jw.org for a long time, many people in the Chinese field are now familiar with how to download EPUB files and use them offline.
  • Annotation (notes, highlighting, etc.) support
    • EPUB files can be easily annotated by users in apps such as iBooks, which runs on the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod touch, and now the Mac as well. There are also apps that annotate EPUB files on Windows, Android, etc.
  • Hyperlinking that is familiar and expected, and that thus will get used and benefitted from
    • Taking advantage of this, scripture references in the main text are links to the full text of the cited scriptures. There, links are provided for returning to the referring citations in the main text.
    • Links are also provided for “teleporting” from the table of contents to the chapter headings and back.
    • As well, links are provided as necessary for going to any footnotes, etc., and for returning from them to the main text.
  • Producibility with simpler, more accessible, more mobile tools
    • Whereas at this time Microsoft Word running on a desktop or laptop PC is needed to produce satisfactory 3-line material, this plain text-based Sidney Lau-English material can be satisfactorily partly produced with even an app running on a mobile device like an iPad.

New Resource: Jehovah’s Will Brochure (Pīnyīn-English, Scriptures EPUB) Page

The content available so far on the Jehovah’s Will brochure Pīnyīn-English web pages is now available in EPUB format at this download page:

Here is an excerpt from the download page:

Introduction

The material in the EPUB file linked to below contains text from the Chinese Jehovah’s Will brochure, written in Pīnyīn. It also includes English ruby text that has been bundled with the Pīnyīn text that it shows the meaning of. Thus, while making better use of limited display real estate on mobile devices and requiring less paper to print out compared to corresponding 3-line material, this material provides us Mandarin-learners with assistance in the two language aspects we require in order to be able to discuss or study the Jehovah’s Will brochure with someone in Mandarin:

  1. The pronunciations of the Mandarin words used
    • These show us how to communicate the brochure’s message in Mandarin.
  2. The meanings of the Mandarin words used
    • These show us what is being communicated in Mandarin.

Advantages of the EPUB Format

Being in EPUB format allows this material to benefit from the advantages of this format, including:

  • Broad hardware and software support
  • Easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices
  • Offline use
    • Since EPUB files have been available from jw.org for a long time, many people in the Chinese field are now familiar with how to download EPUB files and use them offline.
  • Annotation (notes, highlighting, etc.) support
    • EPUB files can be easily annotated by users in apps such as iBooks, which runs on the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod touch, and now the Mac as well. There are also apps that annotate EPUB files on Windows, Android, etc.
  • Hyperlinking that is familiar and expected, and that thus will get used and benefitted from
    • Taking advantage of this, scripture references in the main text are links to the full text of the cited scriptures. There, links are provided for returning to the referring citations in the main text.
    • Links are also provided for “teleporting” from the table of contents to the chapter headings and back.
    • As well, links are provided as necessary for going to any footnotes, etc., and for returning from them to the main text.
  • Producibility with simpler, more accessible, more mobile tools
    • Whereas at this time Microsoft Word running on a desktop or laptop PC is needed to produce satisfactory 3-line material, this plain text-based Pīnyīn-English material can be satisfactorily partly produced with even an app running on a mobile device like an iPad.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

New Resource: Jehovah’s Will Brochure (Pīnyīn, Scriptures EPUB) Page

The content of the Jehovah’s Will brochure Pīnyīn web pages is now available in EPUB format at this download page:

Here is an excerpt from the download page re the advantages of the EPUB format:

Advantages of the EPUB Format

Being in EPUB format allows this material to benefit from the advantages of this format, including:

  • Broad hardware and software support
  • Easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices
  • Offline use
    • Since EPUB files have been available from jw.org for a long time, many people in the Chinese field are now familiar with how to download EPUB files and use them offline.
  • Annotation (notes, highlighting, etc.) support
    • EPUB files can be easily annotated by users in apps such as iBooks, which runs on the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod touch, and which is also due to become available for the Mac soon. There are also apps that annotate EPUB files on Windows, Android, etc.
  • Hyperlinking that is familiar and expected, and that thus will get used and benefitted from
    • Taking advantage of this, scripture references in the main text are links to the full text of the cited scriptures. There, links are provided for returning to the referring citations in the main text.
    • Hyperlinks are also provided for “teleporting” from the table of contents to the chapter headings and back.
    • As well, hyperlinks are provided for going to footnotes and for returning from them to the main text.
  • Producibility with simpler, more accessible, more mobile tools
    • This Pīnyīn-only EPUB material, being less complex than 2-line and 3-line material, can be prepared more quickly and easily, with simpler, more accessible tools, even partly with an app running on a mobile device like an iPad, while still providing in a high-quality way the most important raison d’être (reason for being) of the 2-line and 3-line material.

iBooks Annotations 1

iBooks Annotations 2

EPUB annotation in iBooks