BibleWorks Updates Resources

BibleWorks has updated their website and now provides some helpful "Classroom Tips." They offer some helpful suggestions as well as some step-by-step instructions for working with the software. You can also sign up for a tips newsletter.

OCP = Online Critical Pseudepigrapha update

Excellent work continues to be done at the Online Critical Pseudepigrapha project. They just reported today a new critical edition of 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch. The full Syriac text along with the Greek and Latin fragments is presented with textual notes. (Get to the text via the home page link so that you retain the frames.) They also posted the first eclectic text of the Visions of Amram, an Aramaic work found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. They also report that their site is now fully Mac-friendly. To whet your interest, here is a list of texts posted on their site:
Texts with critical apparatus

• 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch (NEW edition)
• The Testament of Job
• 1 Enoch (In progress)
• Testament of Adam (In progress)
• Psalms of Solomon
• 4 Ezra

Texts without critical apparatus

• Testament of Abraham
• The Life of Adam and Eve
• Visions of Amram (NEW)
• The Letter of Aristeas
• Aristeas the Exegete
• Aristobulus
• Artapanus
• 3 (Greek Apocalypse of) Baruch
• 4 Baruch (Paraleipomena Ieremiou)
• Cleodemus Malchus
• Eldad and Modad
• Eupolemus
• The Apocryphon of Ezekiel
• Ezekiel the Tragedian
• Vision of Ezra (NEW)
• The History of the Rechabites (NEW edition)
• Jubilees
• The Lives of the Prophets
• Assumption of Moses (Testament of Moses) (NEW)
• 3 Maccabees
• 4 Maccabees
• Philo the Epic Poet
• Pseudo-Eupolemus
• Testament of Solomon
• Theodotus

BibleTech 2008 News

I'm happy to report that I've received notice that my proposal to be one of the speakers at BibleTech 2008 in Seattle in January has been accepted. I'll be reporting on some of my work with digital resources for biblical mapping. I'm working with Todd Bolen of The Master's College who is in Jerusalem and works on the BiblePlaces site. We are hoping to get an an 'article' out on the topic to be published at the SBL Forum. For more info/registration for BibleTech2008, check here.

Bible Versions Chart Help

When I say "Help," I'm indicating both that I could use some and that this may be of help to you. I've composed two charts--one for the Bible in general and one for the Psalter in particular--of the history of the versions. It is very approximate, but I'm hoping it gives some sense of the translational activity in antiquity. There certainly is plenty of room for debate on dates (and most developed over extended periods of time) and the relationships between the various versions, but if anyone sees something really wrong, please let me know. Thanks.

• History of Biblical Versions.pdf
• History of Versions of the Psalter.pdf

Logos Workspace and BW7

I've posted previously and in length about my Logos Workspace. Having followed the Logos newsgroups and the BibleWorks forums, I can add a few updates that have enhanced my use of both programs. (Click on the pic above to enlarge.)

• Rick Brannan had a fine post on making good use of the Exegetical Guide. You can now see that I've added it in the upper left corner of my workspace, and have linked it to my "Set A" texts which are my primary focus. As Rick notes, be sure to look at the Exegetical Guide "Properties" to customize it to your needs. It's a great way to have lots of information a click away.
• Adapting a suggestion on the BW7 forum, if you are also using BibleWorks 7 as I do and usually have both programs open, I now have also created an external link to my Logos NRSV, and since my NRSV is part of my "Set A," that also activates my Exegetical Guide.
• BTW, if you look at the BW7 screen shot, you will also see an external link to "Lookup in Logos Dictionaries." Lack of a good Bible dictionary is a weakness of BW7, but by defining a "Collection" of my favorite dictionaries and other resources in Logos, I can now click on an English word in BW7, and it will activate a search in Logos. It works well.
  
• I don't know about you, but the "tips" in Logos that pop up when hovering over a word in Greek or Hebrew texts really are not that helpful. Following a suggestion on the Logos newsgroup, I have instead set up the "Information Window" so that it is consistently available. You can see it located in the lower left corner of my Logos workspace. What you need to do is use Tools>Options>General>Interface and then uncheck the "Use Floating Information Window." Right click on a Greek or Hebrew word and open the "Display Information." Now resize that window and position it where you want it. Now use Tools>Options>BibleTools and go to Preferred Books. On the bottom half of the dialog, pick Greek or Hebrew and select the specific resource you want to use in the Information Window. (I can't find a way to get rid of all those pop up tips, but you can get rid of most of them by going to Tools>Options>Keylinking>Display. Choose the data type [and use the cues in the pop up tip to help you] and choose, "Do not display tip window.)
• Another thing to learn how to use are those linked sets of texts as I mentioned above and to use the "Search Target" option, especially in the search panes, to keep the number of open windows limited.

Bible Data Visualizations

A post on the PastorBlog brought to my attention a couple of interesting ways to visualize biblical data.

• One is the "Bible Word Locator" on the OpenBible.info site, the same people who have done such good work with Bible Geocoding. The Bible Word Locator charts out where specific words occur. You can look up more than one word at a time as my example shows.

• The other site, Many Eyes, has been around for a while, but I now see that biblical data has been included in their data sets. There are many ways to play around with the data and options for visualizing it, but you can do things like chart relative size of the books of the Bible.

or check out sets already created, like who gets mentioned with whom in the NT. You can adjust parameters so that you can see it as a treemap...
or as a zoomable network map.

Logos and Accordance Misc.

Rick Brannan has a new video on the the Logos Bible Software Blog on making good use of the "Exegetical Guide." It's mainly a matter of playing with the "Exegetical Guide" properties and linking it to the text being studied. I hadn't thought of using it in this way, but it looks great and also is a good way of keeping resources linked to a specific verse/text handy.

On the latest Biblical Studies Bulletin edited by Michael B Thompson there is a review of the new New International Greek Testament Commentary module for Accordance.

Syriac Tools and Resources

UPDATE 2008.07.03 - Instead of trying to keep this blog entry current, I have an updated version of these resources listed HERE. Please consult this page which supercedes the info below.

A compilation of stuff you need to work with the Syriac biblical texts.

FONTS
Some old TrueType fonts are still available at the SBL site (SPEdessa) and at Peshitta.org (Estrangelo). What you really want, however, are the Unicode Syriac fonts such as TITUS Cyberbit or the wonderful collection of Meltho OpenType, Syriac scripts at Beth Mardutho. If you want to see what the fonts look like, go to this gallery page. (This page indicates that Syriac is not supported by TITUS Cyberbit, but the latest version I have linked above does indeed include it.)

TYPING IN SYRIAC
Here's your best guide to getting your system set up for Syriac and registering the keyboards. For biblical text work, I recommend that you install the Syriac Phonetic keyboard. Do you forget where all the accent and such are located on the keyboard? Then try the free UniqTitus Keyboard layout addin for MS Word. It's Unicode compliant and works well for Greek, Hebrew, and transliteration.


TEXTS
The Peshitta is the primary text of interest for biblical scholars. (The linked Wikipedia article looks quite accurate and is worth checking.)
Old Testament

• A digital version of the Old Testament is available at the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon project (CAL). If you start at this page, you can invoke the Masoretic text, Targumim, and the Peshitta (be sure to check the "display Peshitta" box) all in parallel. Very nice! (Note, however, that for the Syriac to appear in a Syriac font, you need to be using IE7 or at least Firefox using an IE rendering.) Alternatively, you can start at this page and get the full Peshitta OT text (after a quick and free acceptance of terms). An outstanding feature of this display is that you can click on the verse number to get a full analysis of every word in the text. Be sure to select the viewing font (in the upper left corner; the Meltho-Unicode is recommended if you've installed the Meltho fonts listed above) before you select the text.
• Images of the Ceriani edition of Codex Ambrosiano of the Syriac Peshitta OT are available here.

New Testament

• For texts of the Peshitta NT, you can get them here or here (under Tools > Word Docs) as MS Word DOCS using the Estrangelo font from Peshitta.org listed above. (The files appear to be the same at both sites.) There are beautiful PDFs of the Peshitta NT available for download at the Beth Sapra project. Also a part of the Beth Sapra Library, you can download PDFs of Tetraeuangelium Sanctum (The Four Holy Gospels) by Philip Edward Pusey and George Henry Gwilliam, 1901. Read the notes on the page about this critical edition.
• The Four Gospels in Syriac Transcribed from the Sinaitic Palimpsest by Bensly, Harris, and Burkitt is available here.
• This page of Syriac NT resources has four versions of the Peshitta NT: ones using Serto, Estrangella, Unicode (Serto Batnan, but any of the Unicode Meltho fonts can be used), and a Romanized text version.
  
• Want some images of actual manuscripts? Try here or here (PDFs with image, transcription, translation) or here.

Other Syriac Texts

• [UPDATE: 2007.09.28] For other Syriac texts outside the Bible, be sure to check the Syriac Studies Reference Library sponsored by BYU and CUA. Also check the Thoughts on Antiquity blog, especially this listing of Catalogues of Syriac manuscripts online.
• [UPDATE 2007.11.30] There is now a Syriac wiki online: WikiSyr. The site is only in French, and there is not yet very much content, but it's structured for lots of well-organized entries.
  

ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS and INTERLINEARS
For English translations of the Peshitta, you have a number of options in the public domain.

• (George) Lamsa Bible Online - English Peshitta Translation (OT)
• (George) Lamsa Bible Online - English Peshitta Translation (NT)
• John Wesley Etheridge Translation of the Western Peshitto (NT) 1846-1849
  
• James Murdock Translation of the Western Peshitto (NT) 1852 (It is also available as download here and here.)
• The Bible Tool site offers an excellent parallel layout of the Murdock NT Translation and the NT Peshitta.
  
• An excellent tool for the Peshitta NT is at the Dukhrana site. Choose a text, choose a font, decide whether you want the vowels or not, and choose whether to include Etheridge's, Murdock's, and/or the KJV translation to appear alongside the Syriac text.
  
• Aramaic / English Peshitta Interlinear with translation by Paul Younan (Gospels and part of Acts completed) 2004 (Also available at the Peshitta.org site under Interlinear NT.)
  
• A modern translation of the "Aramaic Bible" by Vic Alexander
• The Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation by Janet M. Magiera (2006) - Selections online, but it comes complete with BibleWorks7.

LEXICONS and GRAMMARS

• Of course the standard lexicon for the Syriac is the Payne Smith Compendious Syriac Dictionary. It is available online for free here, and it is broken down by initial letter, but it is basically a collection of image files which makes it rather cumbersome to find a desired entry. You can, however, buy a "Syriac Lexicons" CD of the book as a PDF scan for only $18. I'm not sure if it is the same PDF collection, but an explicitly "searchable and bookmarked" edition of it is available for download for $45 here. If you want the original Latin volumes, the Internet Archive has it here for free. (BTW, if you do want a hardcopy, I want to commend Wipf & Stock for producing a paperback version priced at a mere $36. )
  
• An excellent online lexicon is available at the Dukhrana site. Lots of options for searching (English, Syriac, Lexeme, Root, Word ID), choice of fonts, and results allow for further research such as showing all inflected forms with analysis.
• Similarly, the Peshitta.org site (under Tools > Lexicon) offers a nice Lexicon / Concordance searchable by English, Word Number, Aramaic, Lexeme, or Root.
• There is a free, downloadable "Syriac Lexicon and Parser for the NT" based on the Kiraz' Sedra 3 data available on this page.
  
• The CAL site provides a lexicon, but it is somewhat more awkward to use.
• For a downloadable Syriac dictionary you can run independent of the web, use the Beth Mardutho one based on the SEDRA database.
• For a free, online grammar of "Assyrian Aramaic," this appears to be a very nice site.
• At the Beth Sapra Online Library, you can download PDFs of a bibliography, the 1906 The Elements of Syriac, and Eberhard Nestle's 1900 Syriac Grammar.
  

SYRIAC TEXTS in BIBLE SOFTWARE

• BibleWorks7 comes with the Aramaic New Testament (Peshitta), with the Etheridge (1849), Lewis (1896), Murdock (1851), Norton (1881), and Magiera (2005) English translations. The OT is not included, and the Syriac text is not analyzed or linked to any lexicon.
• Logos3 includes the Syriac Peshitta NT with Morphology along with editions of Codices Curetonianus and Sinaiticus in their Original Language, Silver, and Gold libraries. (The Peshitta NT can also be purchased separately for a list price of $19.95.) The Silver and Gold libraries (why not the Original Languages one??) also include the Analytical Lexicon of the Syriac NT. (Also available separately.) In Logos3, therefore, one can double click on any word in the Syriac text, and it will invoke the correct lexicon entry. There are not, however, any English translations available unless you buy the rather expensive ($179.95 list on pre-pub) Gorgias Press Syriac Collection which includes the Murdock translation along with 8 other books.
  
• Accordance for the MAC, like Logos3, offers the Syriac Peshitta NT with Morphology along with editions of Codices Curetonianus and Sinaiticus. (But unlike Logos3, it will cost you $100.) Murdock's translation is also included, but I can't find that any Syriac lexicon is.
• The NT Peshitta in Hebrew letters is available in the Online Bible.
  
• The Murdoch translation of Peshitta NT is available for e-Sword.
  

For Further Study

• The Aramaic Peshitta Bible Repository offers quite a bit of information and access to tools for studying the Aramaic NT.
  
• There are numerous resources at Peshitta.org Under the Introduction heading is background information and links to fonts. There are a number of articles, tools (links to a grammar [cached page], lexicon, font encoding, Word DOCS), an interlinear NT (Matthew-Acts), a forum, music, and more links.
  
• Also check out the Beith Morounoye site which provides a history of the Syriac language and lessons in Syriac along with other devotional resources.
• The Syriac Orthodox Church has helpful background information on the Syriac Bible and various editions and commentaries.
  
• Additionally, use this Google Books search link to find all the books with full views with Syriac in their titles. (The 29 hits that were returned on 2007.10.04 are mostly old grammars and catalogue listings, but there are some interesting texts and other reference works in the mix.)

More Web and Media Tools for Educators

This posting is somewhat off-topic, but I've previously posted here and here about various tools that I am playing around with as I seek to create effective online educational resources related to my courses in biblical studies. Specifically, I'm exploring various ways of integrating audio, video, screen captures, and PowerPoint to create learning experiences which can be shared online. (I'm also trying to do this with tools that are free.) As noted in those other posts, to do screen captures with audio overlay (e.g., to demonstrate how to Bible software), I've been using Windows Media Encoder or Wink.
In contrast to screen captures, if you have a PowerPoint show and want to integrate it with audio and/or video commentary, a great resources is Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint. It's free, rather versatile, and fairly straightforward to use. With this, as well as the other programs I'll mention, probably the biggest issue is simply getting the video and not making your files too huge. With Producer, you will need your own server space to upload your final project.
Alerted by observations on the UK Web Focus blog, you should also check out two other possibilities: Zentation and VCASMO. Both are free. I worked with VCASMO a bit, and it really is quite simple. Upload your PowerPoint, PDFs, images, music, or videos, and then you edit timing on a storyboard. You have a free 1Gb of space to use.

New Review of Libronix SESB v.2

David Instone-Brewer has just released his latest Tyndale Tech newsletter which features a lengthy and, for the most part, highly positive review of version 2 of the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible. (SESB) I agree with him that most English-language users will be content to save some money and get the reduced Logos edition. I also agree with his conclusion that the SESB is why he now is using both BibleWorks and Logos. It's a beautiful thing to have the critical apparatus so handy...
The only extra comment I would add is that there are ways to do New Testament (not OT, however, like the SESB offers) textual criticism in BibleWorks.

• Metzger's Textual Commentary is included in BW7 and linked to the text.
• Pasquale Amicarelli compiled a text criticism module (check the first entry in the thread; it says the link is dead, but it is actually valid) integrated with BW7 that draws upon all his work at laparola.net. It's great.
• Check out the other Textual Criticism modules posted at the BibleWorks blog. There are some great manuscript resources, but you will especially want to download Wieland Willker's Textual Commentary on the Gospels also compiled by Pasquale.

Some new tools

A couple new items:

• On the OliveTreeBlog, makers of Bible software for Palm and PPC, they are announcing that they are in beta of converting to Unicode. The Hebrew is first, and it looks great.
• Brandon Wason on the Novum Testamentum blog wrote about a new website called GreekBibleStudy.org. He didn't notice, but buried in the "Translate" section, it does indicate that the base Greek NT is Tischendorf's. I think it is a fascinating experiment in terms of its color-coding, its 'graduated' display linked to Mounce, its "Translate" page which would probably be quite helpful to beginners working on translating, its ability to link notes to one's translation, the easy way to print to PDF pages, and the capability to "Share" and form private or public study groups. Zhubert's site certainly has quite a few more options and tools, but this GreekBibleStudy.org appears helpful for beginners.

Library Management Tools

I'm trying to get myself, my library, and my notes organized, so I've been looking at a number of library management tools. There are a number of dedicated programs like Endnote for bibliographic work, and there are integrated programs like Orbis, Ibidem, and IbidPlus which are wonderful to use within the Nota Bene word processing program. (If you are a regular NB user, I'm guessing this is already a no-brainer choice.) For simply creating bibliographic entries in a variety of formats, there is OttoBib.
To organize your library, I've previously mentioned Amazon's YourMediaLibrary which is a helpful (especially if you buy a lot of stuff from Amazon) but limited organizer. LibraryThing is a much more versatile offering, and I like the way it looks and the social aspects of the site, but it really isn't intended to be a bibliographic tool. While free for 200 book listings, the cost ($10/yr or $25 lifetime) is not prohibitive either. Zach Hubert (of Zhubert > The Resurgence Greek Project fame) has recently released ShelfServant. It is similar to LibraryThing for cataloging, but it doesn't have quite as many extra features. What it does have, however, is an easy way to keep track of books you loan and a one-click export of all your bibliographic data to an Excel spreadsheet file. You could use this to add notes. ShelfServant is free for 100 books with minimal costs to expand your collection.
If you are trying to organize your notes beyond books alone, you are either going to want to use the Nota Bene products I described above, or I think you will want to use Zotero about which I recently blogged. I'm still learning all the things this program can do, but so far I'm more and more impressed at its capabilities and potentials. (I'm playing around with running it using the portable Firefox off a USB stick, so that I can have it wherever I happen to be working.)
Oh, to buy all those books you want, don't forget the "Book Burro" addin for Firefox I previously described!
Bottom line: If you use NotaBene, Orbis and Ibidem are the way to go. Otherwise, I think Zotero is going to be my tool of choice.
If you have other or favorite research management tools, let me know!

Migne's Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca

Need to find some Greek text out of Migne? Here are a few good places to check.

• The Religion and Technology site has a complete index of PG. (Just a list of volumes. No texts, though you can buy their DVDs.)
  
• In addition to loads of other online links (including PL) to books related to the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity, Mischa Hooker has compiled links to PG volumes available through Google Books. Note that the Google Books version of PG are PDF image files. (You can get "plain text," but you won't be able to read the Greek.)
• "Roads of Faith - Digital Patrology" is a site that is composed in Greek, but it has a very large collection of the PG volumes organized by periods or alphabetically by author. These are PDF files, but they are actual Unicode text. [UPDATE: 2008.07.06: The Roads of Faith site seems to regularly go offline. Try again later...]
• UPDATE 2008.07.06: As noted in the Kent (from Logos),Logos Bible Software recently announced work on the first twenty volumes of the Patrologia Cursus Completus, Series Graeca. At this time it is on prepub for $400, and as a Libronix doc, it will have the benefit of being cross-linked with other resources. (E.g., with English translations, but I don't think we should expect it to be morphologically tagged!) There is a nice description of the contents of these 20 volumes on the prepub page, and Rick Brannan provides a full table of contents here in PDF.
  

Zotero - New research management tool

In an earlier post, I noted some helpful online research tools. I just discovered Zotero which I think surpasses any other research management tools I have seen. It is a free, Firefox extension, but it has some astounding capabilities. You can take notes (both highlighting and sticky notes), export bibliographic data, and create links with online and local resources. Be sure to take the tour to see some of its present and projected capabilities. You will definitely want to check it out.

More biblical mapping stuff

The most recent (August 2007) Christian Computing Magazine provides a glowing review (18 exclamation points!) of Manna Bible Maps. The software is still basically a Win95 program and the current version 5.6 was released in 2001. Todd Bolen of BiblePlaces.com wrote a positive but much more critical review in 2005 that appears to remain accurate except that prices have been reduced. The new CCMag review (here's their earlier 2001 review) simply reflects that the program now can be downloaded and that a person can buy/download individual maps. It also states that "all of Manna’s maps have been recently redrawn to improve their appearance." I have not personally used the program, but I wanted to add it to the list of biblical mapping resources I am accumulating.

Biblical Language Tools on a PDA

There are a number of resources for doing biblical work on a PDA.

• e-Sword (for Windows) also has a nice Pocket e-Sword version. The program is free, and you can buy such Bible versions as HCSB, Message, NASB, NKJV, and NLT, but you can also get such free versions as ASV, CEV, ESV, Good News, KJV, and more. You can also get a Greek NT, the LXX (free!), and the Vulgate as well as many other language versions. There are also commentaries and dictionaries to buy or for free.
• In addition to Pocket e-Sword, I also use OliveTree BibleReader software on my Windows Mobile device. (A Dell Axim x51v, now sadly no longer in production.) The software is free, and it is available for a wide variety of devices including WinMobile, Palm, and phones. There is a wide selection of Bibles in original, English, and over 80 foreign languages. OliveTree has been very good about updating the software, and I started using it, because for a long time they were the only one to offer the NRSV. They do have free Greek NTs, but I bought and like the GRAMCORD Lite Greek NT. I also bought the Hebrew Masoretic text, and both the Greek and Hebrew are well implemented. BibleReader has become a platform for an incredible number of Bible study tools: dictionaries, handbooks, lexicons, commentaries, atlases, and other books. Be sure to check out the discounts for buying collections.
• Laridian and their PocketBible3 is another major player in this market and offers software and Bibles for a similarly wide variety of portable platforms. I have not used it, but it is similar to OliveTree in its kind of offerings.
• In a post on the BibleWorks Forum, I suggest another way of getting Bible software on a PDA. I really like using LogMeIn for a number of reasons (especially for remote control to troubleshoot problems on computers for others in my extended family), but it actually does allow me to run BibleWorks or Logos right on my PDA.
• The post mentioned in the previous bullet also generated a link to the free PocketScholar for Windows Mobile devices. (There is also an inexpensive "MiniFlash for PalmOS Devices.") It is basically a Greek/Hebrew vocabulary building program, but it works well.
  

Louw-Nida Lexicon in BibleWorks7 and Logos

As I've been using both BibleWorks7 and Logos, I've been thinking about the ways I utilize various tools in both. I just finished a rather lengthy review of how the Louw-Nida Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains is implemented in both programs. You can view it either as a MSWord DOC or as a web page. I post this in part to help those who might be trying to choose between either program, though in this case, neither has an overwhelming advantage over the other. I also post it as a way to encourage the developers of the programs to consider ways to improve future versions.
[UPDATED in light of comment by Vincent Setterholm]
Here's my bottom line:

PROS

BOTH BW7 and Logos

• Far easier to navigate than hardcopy volumes
  
• Interfaces essentially keep both volumes (the indices and the entries) open and available
• Links to cited biblical texts and other lexicons
  
• Ease of searching
  

BibleWorks7

• Closely connected to the biblical verse being viewed, references to Greek words and entries specifically citing that word appear in Resource Summary
  
• All references to a passage appear in Resource Summary
  
• Program automatically adjusts for typing in Greek for simple searches

Logos

• LN opens as a book within the program and helpfully reproduces the hardcopy’s layout including superscripts and footnotes
  
• Can search and gather all references to any word throughout the lexicon
  
• Has the English-Greek Index
  

CONS

BibleWorks7

• LN opens in separate window not completely integrated with rest of program
• Entries are a bit harder to read than in Logos
• Footnotes have all been stripped

Logos

• Need to switch keyboards to type in Greek
  

Web and media tools for educators

This is a bit off-topic for this blog, but I suspect that it might be of interest to some of you who would even be reading this blog.
Web Page/Site Tools
I have long used FrontPage for my web pages/sites, but lately I have been playing with a trial version of the program that is replacing it, the new Microsoft Expression Web. Where FrontPage tried to make web page/site creation easy, Expression tries to be helpful in dealing with CSS, XML, and data integration. It does a very nice job, and it is indeed much more powerful than FrontPage, but I also think it is much more difficult, especially for someone without much background and who simply wants to create simple and fast pages.
As an alternative, I just discovered eXe at www.exelearning.org. It is free, Open Source, and specifically designed "to assist teachers and academics in the publishing of web content without the need to become proficient in HTML or XML markup." It really is quite simple, partly because it really limits choices. I'll still use FrontPage, but I am going to use eXe to create quizzes and some other things (and then import into FrontPage).
[The only extra issue with eXe is that after creating the pages, you have to FTP them to a web site. I use the free SmartFTP which works great and is pretty much drag and drop.]
Bottom line: If someone wants to start doing web page stuff, Expression probably isn't the best choice. Either use FrontPage or try eXe.
Media Creation
Thanks for the many encouraging words about the OT in NT demo I posted. For that demo, I used PowerPoint and saved and posted it as a PowerPoint show. I linked out to short videos that I created using Windows Media Encoder (WME). Over on the BibleWorks blog, I posted this entry specifying the WME settings I had to figure out to make it work properly. Continuing in that thread, SCSaunders alerted me to Wink. This is really useful "tutorial and presentation creation software." It's free and quite easy to use and generates Flash (SWF) files. It works great for screen captures and appears best for start/stop, step-by-step directions. Adding audio works but makes for large files. It is quite easy, however, to add onscreen comments and cues after you have captured the screens. Try it out.

OT in NT Exercise demonstrating resources

I just finished an exercise I've created for a class I am teaching this fall on the OT in the NT. I use Matthew 4.4 and its citation of Deuteronomy 8.3 as a reason for helping students ask questions about the texts and discover the resources they need to use. In particular, I include six short videos that feature the use of BibleWorks7. (I hope to do a Logos version sometime...)
I think it is a pretty good demonstration of the kind of work one can do with Bible software, but it also is an attempt to show what is available online and to walk students through the process of accumulating information to make sense of a text and the history of its interpretations.
I posted the exercise as a PowerPoint show, but it includes all the links to the videos and a host of web sites. Here is the start page: OT in the NT Exercise - Matthew 4.4
If something is not working, or if you have other suggestions, I would appreciate hearing about it.

New Reference Search Tool

I just discovered Reference Search: Explicit Searches on Implicit References. This new search engine only works to search references to biblical/early Xn/rabbinic texts. (Check out the Reference List of works it is cataloging.) It will not direct to you online versions of those texts. It will find articles that mention that specific text. One can be as specific (i.e., a verse) or broad (i.e., a whole document) as one wants. The search engine also is so astute that if you are looking for, for example, Mark 6:34, it will also return hits that refer to Mark 6 in general or ones like Mark 6:32-35 that include that verse. (Note that you apparently must use a colon for the ch:verse designation.)
This search engine does not scan the whole web. It returned hits from such sites as: biblestudy.org; bible.org (including net.bible.org) jerusalemperspective.com; ccel.org; mindspring.com; ntgateway.com; crosswalk.com; usccb.org. A few others may be included, but those were the main ones I noticed.
You will definitely want to check it out.