The Proverb Engine
Hi, folks —how is everybody doing?
I’m sorry for not updating much during the last few months. We have been (the developers) working hard on Pencil Bible 3.0. 😎
Christian (from Margelo) has been working long days for over three months, building a brand new graphics engine for Pencil Bible. Why a new graphics engine, Erin? Well, the current engine is old and slow and does not accommodate all the features we want to add to make PB the best note-taking Bible App in the world. I also want to continually innovate and make things feel “nicer/simpler” for the users.
So, back to Christian‘s work— he has finally finished the important parts. Matt is working hard now to install this engine (which I named the Proverb Engine). Do you like the name I chose? 👍🏻
I have been testing a basic version of this engine on a simple test Bible app. The speed and performance are fantastic, no matter how many annotations are on a page. The new engine also makes creating new tools very easy.
Over the last few months, the vital part was getting the engine done and ready for installation. ✅
New tools already working are a pencil, pressure pen, cut tool, resize, annotation resize, move, cut and paste, and a better-working do/undo function.
As I type this newsletter, Christian is busy fine-tuning some things and sorting out some bugs. His last significant effort is going into the ZOOM function. This will allow pinch-to-zoom and also resize to any device. This means you can use Pencil Bible on any device of any size. This will help us move Pencil Bible to Android as well.
New Design ( Yes!)
In addition to this, Pepperplane (the company that designed the Pencil Bible) is working on a re-design. Impatiently — I have been waiting two years to do the re-design.
The way we approach the re-design is not necessarily the right way. Ideally, a big project would involve first working on branding and feel and then redesigning the app. We are working more from the inside out, focusing on the core interactions and feel of the reading screen.
Update: Ultimately, we decided to get the feel (fonts, colour and style) standardized. So we are working from the outside in now. 😂
My vision for Pencil Bible’s “design” is to maximise & simplify the Bible Text for Distraction-Free Reading and Note-Taking, using all available space as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Some screenshots below show the concepts we have been working on until recently.
NKJV
The translation of the New King James Version is almost done, but the developer who handles the translations went AWOL. I’m sorry about this. I know many folks are looking forward to and have patiently waited for the NKJV.
We are looking for a new developer to help out in the meantime. I’m actively looking to hire a full-time developer and have identified a great recruiting company for finding suitable candidates.
We should have the NKJV version ready before the end of September or October. 🤞
Launch date?
I wish I could say when the launch of 3.0 will be—we are working very hard to finish the project. Software is much like building a house. It feels like it’s almost done after the foundation & structure have been completed, but the finishing touches and features always take up the most time. We will initially launch without the new design (but with the latest tools, features and performance updates).
I do hope to launch before the end of September! Trust me — it will be worth it.
It’s going to be epic. #goosebumps
Thanks for your continued patience and support.
Warm regards
Erin
