BibleWorks 9 - Icons - Horrible Quality

[calvary]

For what it is worth, the icons were passed by a lot of people before release and they were universally liked. Also for what it is worth the buttons are commercially developed designs which we modified slightly in a few cases. I personally think they are a big improvement. You certainly have a right to dislike them. But I think the majority of our users will disagree and a few (like me) will find your sarcasm more than a little off-putting. We welcome suggestions and criticism when it is offered with a little Christ-like humility and an obvious desire to be helpful. Input that is lacking those qualities is still processed, but not taken very seriously.

Mike

Mike,

I certainly didn't take the poll seriously, as the tone was clearly mockery. I don't want to get into a flame war, but this poll was out of line and in no way contributes to a healthy discussion about things that people may find problematic with the product.

Hopefully it was meant to be a joke. If not, I say delete the thread.

Dave

[MBushell]

Mike,
Hopefully it was meant to be a joke. If not, I say delete the thread.

My first inclination was to delete it. I talked to Michael Tan and he said it would be better to just let it die so that is what we will do. We don't want to censor people unless it is absolutely necessary.
Thanks!
Mike

[calvary]

My first inclination was to delete it. I talked to Michael Tan and he said it would be better to just let it die so that is what we will do. We don't want to censor people unless it is absolutely necessary.
Thanks!
Mike

That's cool.

[johns]

We welcome suggestions and criticism when it is offered with a little Christ-like humility and an obvious desire to be helpful. Input that is lacking those qualities is still processed, but not taken very seriously.

This picture may help to visualize the process:



The new icons are an improvement. The old ones were too small and there were too many of them. I could never remember what any of them did so I simply did not use any of them.

John

[Adelphos]

I am pretty much a bells and whistles kind of guy and I have never been too impressed with the icons in BibleWorks. I never thought that they were ugly or anything like that, but just not up to par with the actual quality of the rest of the program.

While I don't have BW 9, I have view carefully the icons on the screen shots that come with version 9 and I think they are at the LEAST appropos for the quality of the program on this one, at LEAST as good as other commercially quality programs.

But I do think this entire thread should be deleted. It's not a matter of principle of censorship; it's a matter of good tastes. This poll has not a thread of good tastes whatsoever; it distracts from the overall board, and it only encourages other such adventures in the future.

[Eric]

I have always thought that the icons in Bibleworks previous to version 9 did not progress with the actual program itself. They were state of the art back in the day, but were not updated. This never concerned me because I would rather have the Company use their resources to focus on the program features than take resources to update icons. It appears to me that is exactly what they did. They focused on what really matters and they have succeeded in creating one of the best programs available.

Now that they have updated the icons with 9, I think they are substantially improved. Nevertheless, it seems very silly to me to focus attention on the icons as if they really mattered. It is such an insignificant part of what the program does.

The only reason I'm commenting is because I am very appreciative of the Bibleworks team, the product they produce, and the policies they stand by that make this product affordable to me. It saddens me to see this thread because, as silly as the the topic seems to me, it still must have an effect on the team.

For what it's worth, Bibleworks, I'm thrilled with the product and version 9, and I know that without your efforts and policies, I would not be able to have access to what you have made possible. THANK YOU!

[roshka]

Haha! The 1 vote "Christian software doesn't have to be as good of quality as what the world puts out." is actually mine and I am being a bit sarcastic.

I too was surprised by the quality of icons, considering that price of the software.

For many years I've been enjoying FREE e-Sword, and I'd say, that I wouldn't criticize ANYTHING in their program, since it is FREE. I respect the effort and I thank God that there are still people, willing to do non-profit things.

This software is NOT non-profit. And, in fact, there are plenty other things in the world, that are done by Christians or for Christians and yet at the same time are done for PROFIT.

One way to sell, is to make it look nice, decent, not cheapy-cheap, etc.

The worst way to sell is to charge a lot, then say: "Oh, but it is Christian!" and give you cheap-looking stuff. I don't but it. I'd say, if it is SOOOO Christian that you cannot handle constructive customer suggestions, then stop treating us as customers and give us software for free, as to brothers and sisters in Christ! Then we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, will gladly accept your charity and will stop criticizing anything you do for the Glory of the Lord.

Or is the text in the software is what we pay for it and your "quality" icons are a separate "charity" toward your customer? Is it how we to understand this?

If any of you do not see or understand that the icons are not good, I can explain why they are not good:

1) they are "pixelated"
2) the corners of the icons do not have a clean cut (white or other color background is showing)
3) some icons are truly much smaller then they appear in the program (hence the pixelation) - that shows that different icons were pulled into the program from different sources, e.g. someone just scrambles-rambles and "collected" this collection of icons
4) it is all especially pathetic, considering that there are MANY sites that provide absolutely FREE icons of amazing quality and not mismatched.

Someone, building this program, showed a real lack of care and a great deal of laziness and this is why some people who go to work EVERYDAY to earn this few hundreds of dollars find it especially offensive to pay such money to those who do not care to even come up with edible icons.

I happen to be in that category of offended by such lack of care, considering the price of software.

[ISalzman]

Roshka, you certainly have a right to your opinion. If you are not entirely thrilled with the new icons, that is your prerogative. But I would just encourage you to be gracious and charitable with your criticisms. Most of us, myself included, like the new icons and are very happy with them. A software application is much more than its icons. I can assure you that the BibleWorks people and staffers do very much care for their customers and their product. Theirs is a real labor of love and a ministry. The person who created the poll and included the one multiple choice option "Christian software doesn't need to be as good as the software of the world" was only being smart-alecky in suggesting that. That is not the philosophy of the BibleWorks people, I can promise you. They have invested their very lives in this software so that people can focus on the text of God's word. There is no holier enterprise than that.

[roshka]

Roshka, you certainly have a right to your opinion. If you are not entirely thrilled with the new icons, that is your prerogative. But I would just encourage you to be gracious and charitable with your criticisms. Most of us, myself included, like the new icons and are very happy with them. A software application is much more than its icons. I can assure you that the BibleWorks people and staffers do very much care for their customers and their product. Theirs is a real labor of love and a ministry. The person who created the poll and included the one multiple choice option "Christian software doesn't need to be as good as the software of the world" was only being smart-alecky in suggesting that. That is not the philosophy of the BibleWorks people, I can promise you. They have invested their very lives in this software so that people can focus on the text of God's word. There is no holier enterprise than that.

...The problem is that the philosophy here is: "You concentrate on the text and use this program in the dark of the night and all by yourself, so that no one else looks at your screen!" And I have a problem with it. Some people actually use "Christian" tools not just for their own self-bettering, at their own leisure and so no one sees the screen. If I had a friend at my home and I wanted to open up a program and show "from the Bible" the differences between their native translation (Russian) the Bible we all use (English translation) and what God actually said in the Original Texts, it would be pretty hard to do so and I would be pretty self-conscious.

Say no matter what, but even God Himself said that He looks in the heart but the man looks at the outwardly appearance, did He pay attention to this very difference so that we, who are supposed to be "fishers of men" just alltogether conveniently dismiss it?

Just like we do not go to church with a "beautiful" heart, but dresses like slobs, because it would be a "bad testimony" why would we advocate dressing a program beautiful "at core" with an ugly attire (its icons and interface)?

Well, admittedly, some Christians DO actually go to church, looking like slobs and SHAME on SUCH!!! You turn people away from Christ before they can recognize your inward beauty.

The ICONS are Christ's, and they are ugly! And as far as I am concerned it is a BAD testimony - why do you all "protect" and "shield" it???

I certainly PAY attention to the texts - the Bible says: Do everything as unto the Lord!

If it is a MINISTRY than the program should be FREE, since it is NOT FREE - it is for profit and a BUSINESS. BibleWorks is a business and not just a LABOR OF LOVE, do not try to portray things like what they are not.

It is NOT A BAD things to have a BUSINESS and to sell Christian stuff, but when you do - you need to respect customer wishes and not justify lame icons by saying "it is a labor of love" - ESPECIALLY if it IS, icons need to be better.

Yes, icons are not ALL of the program, there are many aspects to software development: content, programming, functionality, interface... This thread is discussion ONE of the aspects (interface) where the software is lacking and needs improvement. I can only agree to what's obvious and support the thread and hope to see improvement.

It is not the point at all that there's MORE to the program. The MORE to the program is being discussed in other threads.

In fact, I MYSELF found glitches in another aspect of software (functionality) and I had posted my comment on here: http://www.bibleworks.com/forums/sho...rom-BibleWorks

That shows and proves that I see MORE in the programs than just icons. But I also see icons and I want to close my eyes. However, I can't use the program with my eyes closed....

[ISalzman]

Roshka, for argument sake, I just did a count in this thread. Of the twelve different people who responded about the icons, only two out of twelve didn't like them (you are one of the two). Ten people were satisfied and happy with the new icons. I must say that you are in the extreme minority. I don't think the icons are an embarrassment at all. You do not need to be ashamed of showing the program with these icons to your non-Christian friends. The vast majority of people who have weighed in on these icons have found them to be beneficial and pleasing.