Lightly Salted Software

Writing for the web is very different to writing for print. Most visitors to your site have tired eyes. They will have come in via Google and will give your page about 10 seconds (if you are lucky) while they skim for keywords related to topics they are interested in. If you are lucky, they won’t press the Back button.

Read the first 2 or 3 articles at http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting [by Jacob Neilson, the web usability guru].

My top tips for writing are

• Use short sentences and paragraphs
• Use small words
• Prefer bulleted lists rather than long comma separated phrases
• Write your first draft. Count the words. Aim to reduce the word count by 1/2
• Create a clear document structure (mind maps help)
• Make meaningful link text: never use the phrase “click here”
• Relevant pictures and illustrations help a lot (and can save 1000 words!)
• Use plain formatting: just the standard html heading and paragraph tags. Extra formatting distracts.
• Say it once and only once! Some people suggest the inverted pyramid style of writing used by newspapers. I think it takes too long to read and you get sick of the repetition.

Bible Radio is a ministry of Rhema Broadcasting Group. It is a 24/7 radio and web streaming broadcast of the spoken Bible from Genesis to Revelation. You can listen to the stream at www.bibleradio.co.nz.

Bible Radio is not currently on air nationwide. You can hear it in the Waikato on 576AM, Invercargill on 1026AM, Mosgiel 88.6FM and Dunedin 107.3FM. The first two frequencies are normal full power licensed radio stations. The last two are “Low Power FM”, which are lower power broadcasts covering a smaller area and not subject to the usual licensing restrictions.

Palmerston North does not currently have access to Bible Radio. But it is surprisingly easy to make it available. Three things are needed: some transmission equipment, a spare frequency in the Low Power FM band, and a site for the transmitter.

The Manawatu Low Power FM (LPFM) convener has suggested that the 103.7FM frequency may be available for us to use. The equipment will cost approximately $2500. I have raised $1000 already and will seek further funding from the community once we have a site available.

Current needs for the project are

• A site for the transmitter. The higher the better. Low Power FM is line of sight, with an approximate radius of 5km. This is a useful size as with the right location we can cover a significant percentage of the city. Running costs should be minimal: the equivalent of leaving a couple of PCs running.
• Another $1500 to pay for the equipment

The e100 Bible Reading Challenge [www.e100nz.org.nz] picks the top 100 “must read” sections of scripture and organises them into logical sequence. There is a nationwide release in April 2010, though promotion started late 2009 with national roadshows, a web site and advertising material.

Thanks to Stephen Opie of the Bible Society, we have recently released an iPhone app containing

• The full text of the e100 bible readings in several versions (WEB, ASV, KJV with more coming soon)
• The full text of “The Essential 100″ book: a commentary / devotional guide through the 100 verses
• Tools to track your progress through the material.

Thanks to Apple for approving the app in a record 5 days for v1.0 and 3 days for v1.1 (we started early after rumours of a 3 month backlog)

Buy the App

Photos / screen shots below.