WordLinks Help
The
SpiritAndTruth.org
WordLinks provides a framework
within which various Bible Study sources ("books") are linked together for
parallel viewing and convenient navigation using cross-references. It
provides a "live" viewing experience with or without an active internet
connection--and can be run completely stand-alone when
downloaded
to your local computer.
Starting in the upper left and moving clockwise,
controls shown on the diagram above are described below. Some
hints and tips concerning how to use the Bible Study
framework are also included.
- Spirit And Truth Home - Exits Bible Study and returns to the
home page.
- Install Greek and Hebrew Fonts - allows installation of Greek
and Hebrew fonts for viewing Greek and Hebrew characters.
- WordLinks Help - Displays this help file in a separate window.
- Add Viewing Column - Each time this button is pressed, an
additional column is added with a new study aid. The new column
opens using the next available study aid which is not yet in use.
After the new study aid is added, you can use the Choose Study
Aid control to change the contents to another study aid.
- Remove Viewing Column - Removes one column providing
additional viewing space for the remaining study aids.
- Choose Study Aid - Changes the contents of a column to
contain the selected study aid. If the current study aid is open at a
previous topic or address, then the new study aid opens to the
same topic or address. (Not all study aids support topical
look-up so when changing from a topical study aid to a non-topical
study aid, the previous topic has no effect.) The same study aid
can be viewed in multiple locked columns to allow different
sections of the study aid to be simultaneously viewed. When a new
study aid is selected, the history list is preserved allowing
navigation to previous addresses and topics within the newly
selected study aid.
- Lock Position - Check or uncheck this box in
order to lock this column at its current position. When unchecked
(the default setting), this column is linked to movements initiated
by other columns. When checked (locked), this column is
not affected by movements initiated by other columns and
remains at its current location. When locked, the column still
responds to movements by its own navigation controls, but
ignores movement commands from other columns.
- Go to Selected Address - Press this button to go to the
selected address or topic. (This is generally not needed since
choosing the verse or typing in an address or topic will automatically
do this. But this button can be helpful when changing only the book
or chapter using the Select Book, Chapter, Verse control.
- Go Back to Previous Location - Each book supports its own
independent location history. As you move in the book, each
location is placed into a history list. Press this button to move
backwards in the history list to previously visited addresses or
topics.
- Go Forward to Previous Location - Reverses the effects of the
Go Back to Previous Location button to return
from previous locations back toward the most recent location.
- Move to Previous/Next Book, Chapter, Verse - Moves the current
study aid to the previous or next book, chapter, or verse.
Other unlocked study aids follow to the same location.
- Type Address or Topic - Type in a topic or Bible address of
interest. Abbreviations are supported. For example, all of the following
are valid ways to specify John 3:1 "J 3" "Jn 3 1" "John 3 1"
"Jn 3.1" "Jn.3.1". Topics may also be specified (for books which
support topical indexing). If the exact topic cannot be found, the
closest matching topic is used instead. Press [ENTER] or the
"Go" button after typing in the address or topic in order to go the
location.
- Cross reference addresses - Some study aids contain addresses or
topics which can be looked up in other study aids. For example,
the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge shown here lists related
passages for John 3:16. Clicking on an underlined address moves other
linked study aids (such as a Bible) to that location.
The first click moves the other unlocked study aids while
the originating study aid remains stationary. A second
click on the same address causes the originating study aid to follow
the other columns to the same address.
- Index - Opens an index for the book. Generally, the index is
independent of WordLinks and provided by the producer of
the book for use in a stand-alone situation where no linking framework is
present. Generally, it is more efficient to go to a location by using the
Enter Address or Topic or Select Book, Chapter, Verse
controls.
- Help for Study Aid - Unlike the WordLinks Help button,
this button opens help which is specific to the study aid currently
shown in the column.
- Select Book, Chapter, Verse - Unlike the Type Address or
Topic field -- which requires manually typing an address or
topic, this control allows selection of Bible addresses using
drop-down menus. Simply click on the down-arrow button to the
right of each entry field and choose the book, chapter, and verse
of interest. User-beware! It is possible to choose a
chapter/verse combination which is invalid for the chosen book in
which case attempts to go to the address may be ignored.
Buttons Within Study Aids
The following buttons appear within each chapter of most study
aids to facilitate moving through the text. They operate slightly
differently than within the navigator.
Click on this button to get help (this file.)
Clicking on this button takes you to the previous chapter.
Clicking on this button takes you to the next chapter.
Each column within WordLinks contains a study aid which can be
viewed in parallel with other study aids in other columns. (We use the phrase
study aid to avoid confusion with the term book which has special
meaning in the context of a Biblical study aid.)
The number of columns can be changed (using the "plus" and "minus" buttons
shown below) and each of the viewing columns can contain any of the available
study aids. Several different columns can be open to the same study aid
if desired--allowing you to read different locations within the same study aid.
Columns are normally linked to one another. That is, movement within
one column causes parallel movement in other columns to the same Bible
address or topic. This allows columns to be read like a parallel Bible.
Underlined entries in any column can be clicked on with the mouse in order to
take other columns to the designated topic or Bible address. This can be very
convenient and allows cross-references in one study aid (say the
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or International Standard
Bible Encyclopedia to be viewed in another study aid (such as one or more
Bibles).
The following example illustrates some of the capabilities of WordLinks.
- The left-hand column contains the
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE). The user typed "fire"
into the topic entry control resulting in the ISBE displaying information
concerning fire.
- The ISBE article concerning "fire" contains several cross-references.
The user clicked on the cross-reference for Isa 14:15 which caused the
other column containing the
King James Version Bible with Strong's Numbers (KJV) to display
Isaiah 24:15.
- Small dots mark words in the KJV for which the original Hebrew or Greek
words can be seen. The user clicked on the dot following "fires" in the verse
which displayed the
Strong's Dictionary entry for the Strong's Hebrew word #217 (h217).
- Notice the status line at the bottom of the viewer. It provides a hint
about how Bible address cross-references work. The first time you click on an
address, all other unlocked columns move to the address. If you want
the column containing the Bible address to follow to the same location, then
click a second time on the same address. Two consecutive clicks
on the address cause the refering column to follow the other columns to the
address. (Topics operate differently. When clicking on a topic which is not a
Bible address, all unlocked columns and the referring column move on the
first click.)
This is but one simple example of how WordLinks can be used. Depending
upon your display size and screen resolution, you can view up to 8 columns
simultaneously--each containing any of the available study aids. Clicking on
cross-references which are Bible addresses cause all study aids which are
indexed by verse (such as Bibles) to move to that verse. Clicking on
cross-references which are topics cause all study aids which are
indexed by topic (such as dictionaries and encyclopedias) to move to the
topic.
There are times when you will want one or more of the columns to remain
stationary when other columns move to a cross-reference.
In that case, you can check the
locked control (see below). When locked, that particular column does not
follow other columns. (It is still possible to click on cross-references
within a locked column to move the other columns. In addition,
topics and addresses entered within the column's own navigation controls will
move the column, even when locked. But the column will not follow outside
influences.)
Study Aids
- Spirit And Truth WordLinks
Contains basic set of bible study tools, including: KJV Bible with BDB-Thayer's Lexicons and Naves Topical Bible. Required in order to use other modules. All other modules below are optional.
- ASV Bible
The American Standard Version of 1901
- KJ2000 Bible
King James 2000 Version of the Bible
- MKJV Bible
Modern King James Version of the Bible
.
- NASB Bible
New American Standard Version of the Bible. NOTE: The NASB appears on our website by permission
of the Lockman Foundation but is not available for download due to licensing
restrictions.
- LITV Bible
Literal Version of the Bible
.
- Spanish Bible
The Reina-Valera Bible
- WEB Bible
The World English Bible
- YLT Bible
Young's Literal Translation of the Bible
- Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries
Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary. WordLinks already contains Hebrew and Greek Lexicons which are in some ways superior to this module. Nevertheless, this module may be of interest to some.
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge is like the center column of a cross-reference bible on steroids! It contains over 500,000 cross-references between passages on related topics within the Bible. Highly recommended!
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia is an excellent conservative encyclopedia of the Bible. This is the 1939 edition which is now in the public domain. Highly recommended!
- Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
The shorter version of Matthew Henry's Commentary
- CrossLinks Topical Index
The CrossLinks Topical Index is a combined cross-reference and topical index of the Bible. It is a work-in-progress by SpiritAndTruth.org.
- Bible Searching
Provides the necessary files to allow searching Bible texts for combinations of words and phrases.
The following tips may make using WordLinks more enjoyable.
- Enable Browser Cache
Make sure that caching is enabled for your web browser. This allows the
web browser to keep frequently accessed files on your local computer
which speeds up operation. The first time you access new information,
it is loaded (either from the internet or from your hard drive) which can be
somewhat slow--depending upon the speed of your internet connection or
hard drive. Thereafter, returning to the same information (book, chapter,
verse) is much faster since the web browser retrieves the information
from the local cache rather than rereading it from the internet or
hard drive.
- Download WordLinks to your Computer
By downloading
WordLinks to your computer hard drive, operation is much
faster. This is especially important if you plan on
using the search capabilities.
- Use Fewer Columns or Lock Columns
When navigating to new addresses within a set of linked books,
performance goes down as additional frames are added. Consider reducing
the number of columns or locking some of the books.
- Books with Smaller Files are Faster
Certain books break up their contents into a large number of small
files. For instance, the KJV Bible and
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
store each chapter of each book
in a separate file. This greatly increases the speed with which
a given Bible address can be loaded by the web browser. Other bibles,
may contain an entire book of the Bible in each file.
Workspaces
WordLinks has a very limited notion of workspaces.
Workspaces typically define the preferences of a particular user. Each time the
a program supporting workspaces is started, it begins operation using the
preferred settings specified by the user.
Currently, WordLinks uses a cookie to store information about the
number of columns in use, the study aid selected in each column, the location
within the study aid most recently accessed, and whether the column is locked.
This information is used to restore the state of WordLinks, as closely
as possible, to where it was when last used. However, at this time,
there is no
provision for saving different workspace settings for different users.
Startup Parameters
WordLinks is typically launched by clicking on the "Bible Study" link
from the main SpiritAndTruth.org webpage. However, it can also be launched
directly. When running WordLinks via the web, the home location is
http://www/SpiritAndTruth.org/study/index.htm.
When launched directly (using the above URL), you may also specify additional
startup parameters which specify the number of columns, the study aids to open
in each column, and the locations to seek within each study aid. For example:
NOTE: Depending upon your browser, startup parameters may only work
when WordLinks is accessed over a website (using http://...) and
may not work properly when accessed as a local file.
WordLinks is implemented using Javascript which runs entirely on the
local computer. No website server scripts are used. This provides several key
advantages over static HTML or server-side scripting:
- Dynamic Linking
Unlike static HTML, javascript allows a single cross-reference within
an HTML document to be delivered to different secondary locations depending
upon which study aids are in use. A single cross-reference URL can result
in multiple documents within different frames all moving in response. This
would be nearly impossible to achieve with static HTML or would require an
enormous number of documents (one for each possible combination of
cross-reference source and destination).
Dynamic linking is achieved by using javascript URLs of the form
href="JAVASCRIPT:X('target')" where target is a topic
or Bible address. A javascript function called X() then searches the
window (frame) hierarchy looking for a linker associated with a parent
window. If it finds one, it delivers the target to the linker and
the linker operates the parallel Bible Viewing framework to move as many
study aids as are open (and unlocked) to the specified location.
The result is HTML source files which are somewhat larger than would
otherwise be necessary (due to the length of "JAVASCRIPT:X()" for
every URL), but highly flexible and very powerful.
- Efficiency
Dynamic linking (cross-referencing) using client-side javascript is
much more responsive than the typical
query<-->response interaction between a local machine and a server.
- No Internet Required
Since all dynamic aspects of operation are handled by client-side
javascript, the study tools on the website can be
downloaded
to your own machine or copied onto a CDROM and the Bible
Viewer remains fully-functional when run on a local computer
without any internet connection.
WordLinks is in the public domain and may be copied and distributed
as specified in the
license.
Please send corrections to:
contact@SpiritAndTruth.org
www.SpiritAndTruth.org