Equipd 3.0 :: Coming Early 2014

This page contains a number of high-quality images, so please wait for it to load. The images are clickable if you want to see the larger version...

There has been a lot happen since the last update to Equipd:

iOS 7 has been released, which a high adoption rate, and substantial changes to iOS at a UI level and deeper
The new NWT 2013 Revised edition has been released
The official JW Library app was released
OS X Mavericks was released with a pretty much forced upgrade to Xcode 5, and no backwards compatibility with Xcode 4.6.3
The NWT 2013 was added to WOL combined with a change to the URL format for all Bible's, breaking the caching of Bible's in Equipd (Note: this issue was fixed in Equipd 2.7.0)

To describe these as turbulent times for Equipd would be an understatement, especially as while all these changes were happening in the background I was making my own drastic changes to Equipd - overhauling Equipd to take it to the next level ... version 3.0.

When can we expect 3.0 to be released?

Before discussing what has changed in Equipd - a big thank you to my users who have patiently waited for this next update. The wait is not quite over yet I am sorry. I have been working night and day (in between other responsibilities) to bring v3.0 to life, but the changes are quite substantial at every level. This is a challenging task, and combined with a need for thorough testing, I am not going to be able to release version 3.0 until early 2014.

And yes ... before I get flooded with questions about this, Equipd 3.0 is a free upgrade for existing users. It has been optimised for iOS 7. Equipd 2.7.1 was the last version to support iOS 5.X or iOS 6.X.

So ... what's new in Equipd 3.0?

Pretty much every aspect of Equipd has been re-thought and redesigned. Equipd 3.0 focusses on making it easier to cache, navigate, and work with the plethora of publications on WOL - focussing on a clean workflow jumping between the Bible and the publication you are studying. It features a completely different UI - bringing in much of the design guidelines from iOS 7 with a focus on getting hierarchical elements out of the way, and bringing content to the foreground. Equipd even has a new App Icon.

Some of the exciting enhancements include full-screen publication windows, the introduction of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines to Equipd, the complete NWT 2013 including the great content in the Introduction and Appendices, and much more.

And there are some really exciting changes for those working with the Chinese language. Equipd 3.0 introduces a totally new engine used to generate Pinyin, Zhuyin, and Sidney Lau - in both 2-line and 1-line format - on a word-by-word basis instead of the current character-based conversions.

More importantly, the changes to the UI structure, and to the code underneath, are paving the way to even more exciting features to be introduced in future updates.

Let's start with the overall design of Equipd 3.0, and then look at the changes in each major module of Equipd.

Introducing the new face of Equipd

What can I say? There are some similarities, but overall the UI has changed a lot.

The colour scheme adopts a lot of the principles from iOS 7. Get the hierarchical elements - the buttons, tabs, navigation etc - out of the way, and allow the user to focus on the content. The challenge with this is trying to keep the UI appealing, rather than all white and "stark". I am hoping that you will like the new Equipd theme as much as I do. It is definitely optimised for iOS 7. On iOS 6 it will look very similar to how it used to, with the strong black theme.

Equipd 3.0 introduces sliding panels from the left and right sides, and the ability to read the Bible full-screen, and to read Publications full-screen - and to quickly switch between them by tapping with two fingers. The workflow is quite different - and once you are used to it, I think you will like it a lot.

Let's have a sneak peak at some of the main screens in Equipd 3.0...

Note in these next two screens how you can slide your finger in from the left and show the Bibles - from here you can add new Bible translations and languages to your list, and toggle them on/off or re-order them. On the other side if you swipe your finger in from the right of the screen, you will see your scripture History, and your Favourite scriptures.

Back to the Main screen by clicking "Done" in the top/right of the Bible window. From here you can select different publication types - like Awake!, and then choose a specific magazine. You can pre-cache the magazines from this screen by clicking the download button - this will pre-cache the images as well...

From the full-screen publication window if you swipe in from the left side you will see the contents of the magazine/publication - and if you swipe from the right side you will see the History for the "Current" magazine, or "All" History across every publication you have been looking at, or you can view your "Favourite" publications....

When you are reading the article you can obviously click on a scripture to view it, but ... you can also tap with two fingers and toggle between the full-screen Bible window, and tap with two fingers again to switch back to the publication window. Easy!

So that's a quick look at some of the key screens and hopefully it gives you an idea of the workflow in Equipd 3.0.

Let's now look at some of the key modules in Equipd...

The Bible

The Bible module includes all the features it had before - but so much more...

The New World Translation in 120 Languages
The English NWT is available in both the Rbi8 1984 Edition, and the 2013 Revision
The Bible Book Outline's from the 2013 Edition are integrated with the Book buttons in the Navigation Scroller. The first tap on the Book name of course will select the book so that you can locate a scripture - but a second tap will open the Outline for that Book in a new window.
26 Alternate Bible Translations supported
Footnotes and Cross-References for both the English versions, and for several other languages
Bible Word Index Search is integrated for several languages
Additional Content from Rbi8, 2013 Revision and several other Rbi8 languages are integrated - this includes all Introductory Chapters, Appedices, Maps etc
Scripture Bookmarks have been to Favourites
Chinese Pinyin Bible based on the Chinese Simplified NWT for all users - in Pinyin only or 2-line format
Chinese Zhuyin Bible based on the Chinese Traditional NWT for all users - in Zhuyin only or 2-line format
Chinese Sidney Lau Bible based on the Chinese Traditional NWT for all users - in Sidney Lau only or 2-line format

Here are some screenshots of the new Bible in Single Language mode...

And here is a screenshot of what happens if you click the "Book" icon in the top/left of the toolbar...

And of course you can Annotate all this content as well! There is so much more to show here, but let's move on to the Library Publications...

The Library Publications

The Library Publications are now more complete than ever, caching and mirroring the content from WOL.

Easily cache entire publications, including images (if available on WOL), by tapping the download button.
Now includes the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. Please note that not all languages will include the magazines - I am adding support for more languages as I go. More on this later.
All Yearbooks included
The Insight Volumes are now broken down by letter, which makes it much quicker to load the topics. A quick search will help you find the topic you want even faster.
All Yearbooks, Books, Brochures and Tracts are now included for all languages
Publications can now be opened full-screen, as pictured in several screenshots above.
Easily switch chapters, go back to previously opened articles, or tap with two fingers to switch to the Bible window and back.
Save Publications you use frequently as Favourites. This makes it so much quicker to get access to such publications as Sing Praises, Bible Teach, Draw Close to Jehovah, Ministry School book, and the current Watchtower that we access on a daily/weekly basis.
If you are only browsing publications in one language (eg English only), then swiping left/right will move to the next/previous chapters in the publication. But if you are using multiple languages, then swiping left/right will switch the language of the current article you are considering.

The Briefcase

This module has not changed a lot - but expect a lot more focus around this in future updates. The main improvements come from the general changes in Equipd 3.0 such as the full-screen window. Also ... you can now easily save any already cached article from any publication straight into your Briefcase, without having to open WOL first.

Enhancements for Chinese Users

I have to say that this section brings me a lot of pleasure. I am really pleased to announce that Equipd 3.0 includes a number of key enhancements for all users of Equipd:

A new parsing engine that is dictionary based. i.e. it will detect entire words and group the characters and the words together, rather than the extremely limited character-by-character approach used in previous versions of Equipd
All users can now access a Pinyin Bible - and they can optionally toggle between a 2-Line or Pinyin-only format, Chinese Simplified characters
Support for Zhuyin in 2-line or Zhuyin-only format, based on the Chinese Traditional characters
Support for Sidney Lau in 2-line or single line format, based on the Chinese Traditional characters
Easily switch between 2-line and single line format where-ever you see the "2L" button
Scripture lookups work in the 2-line version, but not the single line version (yet)
You can select the Pinyin etc in the 2-line version and copy it. The single-line version is great for copying into your notes, especially from the Bible.
Tight integration with Pleco - works great with the latest Pleco 3.0 which even accepts Zhuyin

Here is a screenshot of the Bible Chapter window, with the Pinyin 2-line format, and Pinyin-only format...

And here are examples of the Zhuyin and Sidney Lau...

And more than that - the Pinyin is also used to display the publication and chapter names!

Summary

As mentioned, this is a major update. What you see on the surface is just a reflection of a lot of hard work done under the hoods. The new Equipd has a far more robust and flexible code-base, and will provide an firm platform to build on. I hope that this new version will benefit existing users, and allow them to be even more Equip'd for every good work. It has been a privilege working on a tool that is being appreciated and depended on by so many around the world, especially those serving in the foreign language field.

A big thank you once again for your patience in waiting for this update. I can't wait to release it once I have gone over it with a fine-tooth comb, and then given it to my beta testers to verify that it is ok to release to you all.

Until then...

Agape from New Zealand,

Matthew & Sonja