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June 4, 2011

What you’ve been saying about the new Bible Gateway

It’s been just a few days since the New Bible Gateway went live. We’re happy to report that the response has been wonderful! It’s a pleasure to finally be able to show off what we’ve been diligently working on these past months. We also want to point out which features people are liking and make sure you know how to use them too!

@phil_creighton tweeted about the parallel translation feature:

Fantastic site revamp. The parallel translations will be an invaluable tool for me. Thank you!

C.M. wrote about it—and some of the other page options—on the Bible Gateway page on Facebook:

I just love the new BibleGateway! The parallel version option is so good, red letter option etc. I can’t wait to really dig in! Thank you for making this new site more study intensive. It’s very inspiring.

Our development team worked hard to integrate parallel Bible reading into Bible passage pages. This blog post gives step by step instructions on how to read more than one Bible in parallel.

@JanMorton tweeted about a subtle but helpful change: the alphabetization of our version list:

The new site is wonderful! I especially love the alphabetical list of the versions. Thank you & God Bless you mightily!

As we added more and more translations over the years, the version list had gotten a bit cluttered. Alphabetization makes it much easier to find the correct version quickly.

Stacey wrote on the Bible Gateway Facebook page about how helpful the printer-friendly pages have been for her:

I love bible gateway and am blind. I love the new printer friendly page. It works nicely with my speech software.

Our printer-friendly and mobile-friendly pages have been around for a while, but both have undergone updates on the new Bible Gateway. To get to them, click on the little printer and mobile icons, both located in the top right of any page on Bible Gateway.

Again, we sincerely appreciate all of the friendly emails, tweets and Facebook comments you’ve been sending our way! Please feel free to contact us if you notice anything awry or would just like to say thanks.

June 3, 2011

New Poll: Which part of the Bible have you been reading the most lately?

Our last poll, “Which major prophet do you most identify with?” resulted in over 1200 responses, thanks to everybody who voted! Most of you settled on Isaiah (40%), with Daniel coming in at second (29%), followed closely with Jeremiah at third (25%) and only a few of you (6%) of you voted for Ezekiel:

Which major prophet do you most identify with?

Isaiah (40%, 500 Votes)
Daniel (29%, 360 Votes)
Jeremiah (25%, 311 Votes)
Ezekiel (6%, 89 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,260

This week we’re wondering, which part of the Bible have you been reading the most lately?

Which part of the Bible have you been reading the most lately?

  • The New Testament (43%, 504 Votes)
  • The Old Testament (30%, 349 Votes)
  • Equal parts of both (27%, 316 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,168

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Andy Rau
June 2, 2011

Rachel Barach interview: Bible Gateway’s past and future, reading the Bible on the social web, and more

What does the popularity of online Bible sites like Bible Gateway tell us about how people relate to Scripture today? How has social media affected the way we approach Scripture?

These are some of the questions posed to Bible Gateway’s general manager Rachel Barach by pastor and author Mel Lawrenz in a two-part audio interview. (Lawrenz is the author of the Everything New devotional and the creative director of Brook Network.) Rachel talks about Bible Gateway’s humble origins as a student’s project, reflects on what she’s learned since joining Bible Gateway last year, and offers her thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of bringing the Bible online.

You can listen to the interview here:

We hope this provides a bit of insight into the vision behind Bible Gateway, and gives you some food for thought on the topic of the Bible and current internet trends. Thanks to Mel Lawrenz for his thoughtful questions, and to Rachel for sharing her thoughts!

Andy Rau
June 1, 2011

The new Bible Gateway is here!

Have you visited the new Bible Gateway yet? The new site launched this morning, and so far the feedback has been great. We invite you to try it out (here’s an overview of the major new features and improvements you’ll find) and let us know what you think. Most of these improvements are drawn directly from Bible Gateway visitor feedback we’ve received over the years.

This update has been a long time coming and we’re thrilled to see it online at last. We hope the new site will make it easier than ever to read and explore God’s Word.

Andy Rau
May 31, 2011

The new Bible Gateway arrives tomorrow!

The new Bible Gateway, launching on June 1.

The new Bible Gateway website goes live tomorrow morning, June 1! When you visit Bible Gateway tomorrow morning, you’ll find a new interface and a host of improved features.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked at length about what you’ll find on the new and improved Bible Gateway. And it’s not too late to get a sneak peak at the new Bible Gateway at the fully-functional preview site.

We’re excited about the new launch; it represents many months of work, and takes into account years’ worth of feedback from Bible Gateway visitors. We’ve worked hard to make improvements without disrupting or overhauling the features you’ve come to rely on. See you tomorrow at the new Bible Gateway!

Andy Rau
May 31, 2011

Share Bible verses with your Facebook friends from Bible Gateway

Have you ever wished there was a simple way to share Bible verses with friends while you’re visiting Bible Gateway? We’ve listened to your suggestions, and at the new Bible Gateway, we’ve made it easy to share Bible passages through Facebook, Twitter, and email. Here’s how to do it.

First, go to the new Bible Gateway preview site.

Right from the homepage, you can share the Verse of the Day—just look for these Facebook, Twitter, and Email buttons in the top right corner of the Verse of the Day box:

We’ve tried to place these icons everywhere on Bible Gateway where there’s content that lends itself to sharing. These icons appear on all Bible verse and passage pages (for example, see them on the passage page for John 3:16), as well as on individual devotional pages.

Clicking on one of these buttons opens a window in which you can share the verse on Facebook, Twitter, or email respectively:

If you’ve never shared content like this through Facebook or Twitter, the sharing application (ShareThis) will ask you to log in to your social network and grant permission to integrate with your account. Once you’ve done so, just review the verse, customize the message as you wish, and press Share to send it along to your friends!

Note that you aren’t limited to sharing on Facebook or Twitter; you can also share through other social networks like LinkedIn, Yahoo, and others by clicking on the appropriate icon at the bottom of the window. You can even send your message to more than one social network by simply selecting more than one social network icon.

That’s it! We hope you find this useful the next time you stumble across a timely Bible verse that you want to share with someone who could use a bit of Scriptural encouragement or insight.

Andy Rau
May 26, 2011

How to use a Bible reading plan on Bible Gateway

Have you ever read the Bible all the way through, from beginning to end? It’s a major reading commitment, but one that is well worth the effort. But given the Bible’s length and the difficulty of some of its passage, what’s the best way to start reading the Bible?

A Bible reading plan is a reading schedule that help readers persevere by breaking the Bible text down into short daily readings. Bible Gateway has a collection of Bible reading plans available online—here’s how to use Bible Gateway’s reading plans.

First, visit the new Bible Gateway preview site.

Look at the navigation menu on the left side of the site for the Reading Plans link:

Clicking that link brings you to the Reading Plans page, where you can choose a Bible reading plan in the version and style of your choice. (If you plan to return here each day to do your reading, we recommend bookmarking the Reading Plans page in your web browser for easy access.)

Use the drop-down menus to select the Bible reading plan you want, and the Bible version you’d like to use for the reading:

The Reading Plan drop-down lets you choose from the several (as of this writing, seven) different reading plans available on Bible Gateway. Each of these reading plans walks you through the Bible, but each is organized in a unique way. One begins at the beginning of the Bible and marches straight through to the end; another combines a short Old and New Testament reading together for each day’s reading; and one guides you through only the New Testament. You can read a full description of each plan by clicking the About reading plans link.

The Version drop-down lets you select from any of the dozens of Bibles in Bible Gateway’s library. Your daily reading will appear in the version and language of your choice.

When you’ve selected a reading plan and a Bible version, press Go and you’ll be taken to the current day’s reading. Here’s an example reading plan page for May 26.

You can subscribe to a reading plan via RSS through the RSS button on the right side of the page. In addition, you can navigate forward or back through the reading plan schedule by using the calendar in the top right:

(Note: most reading plans begin at the beginning of the calendar year, January 1. If you start a reading plan later in the year, you’ll begin reading at whatever point the reading plan has reached at the date you start. For now, the only way to go back and start with the January 1 reading is to use the calendar to skip back to the beginning of the year.)

Many people prefer to receive their daily Bible reading as an email. To have a daily reading from a Bible reading plan emailed to you each day, visit the Reading Plan page, scroll down, and select the reading plan you’d like to receive. (Currently only a few reading plans are available via email, but we hope to add more in the future.)

That’s it! If you’ve never read through the entirety of the Bible, we hope this makes the prospect less daunting.

Andy Rau
May 26, 2011

Answers to your questions about the new Bible Gateway

Since we announced the upcoming launch of the new Bible Gateway site, we’ve received a number of questions from Bible Gateway users about the transition to the new site. Here are some frequently-asked questions about the new Bible Gateway, with accompanying answers:

What’s different at the new site?

A lot has changed, but in almost every case, we’ve worked to improve existing features rather than overhaul them. Here’s a rundown of the most important changes:

As you browse the new site, you’ll notice many other small improvements as well, but this list accounts for most of the major ones. One of our key goals in making these changes has been to preserve, whenever possible, Bible Gateway features that you’ve come to know and love—so we hope you’ll find the improvements helpful, but not disruptive to your use of Bible Gateway.

Where will the new site be located?

On June 1, www.biblegateway.com will update to the new site and design; the Bible Gateway URL isn’t going to change. Until then, you can preview the new site at new.biblegateway.com.

Will the old Bible Gateway site be available after June 1?

The old Bible Gateway site will continue to be available for a while after June 1, and you’ll be able to switch back to it if you desire. We’ve worked to preserve as much as possible of the familiar Bible Gateway features, so we don’t think you’ll see a need to use the old site. But if you do come across a feature that’s missing in the new site, please let us know!

Will I need to log in or create an account to use the new site?

No, the new site requires no account creation or login to use. If you created a Bible Gateway account in order to access the early beta of the new Bible Gateway, you can set that aside for now, as it is no longer necessary. If we add user accounts to Bible Gateway in the future, we’ll be sure to provide plenty of advance notice and explanation.

My website links to Bible Gateway, or to Bible passages on Bible Gateway. Will those links continue to work?

Yes, hyperlinks to verses and passages on Bible Gateway will continue to work. You won’t need to make any changes to your existing links; they’ll be automatically redirected to the appropriate place on the new site.

You keep asking for feedback—how do I get in touch with you?

Up until the June 1 launch, if you have feedback about the preview site, you can let us know by clicking on the Share your feedback link at the very top of new.biblegateway.com.

However, for general Bible Gateway support questions and issues, we invite you to visit our new Bible Gateway support site, where you can browse a large library of frequently-asked questions about everything from technical problems to Bible version requests. You can submit a question or report a problem by clicking Submit a Request at the top of the support site.

I’m subscribed to one or more email newsletters or reading plans at Bible Gateway. Will those be affected by the new site launch?

No, your email subscriptions will be unaffected—you’ll continue to receive emails without interruption, and can still subscribe or unsubscribe to any of the email newsletters as in the past.

Andy Rau
May 25, 2011

Your response to our question: Why read the New Testament in Greek?

Last month, when we announced the addition of the SBL Greek New Testament to our library of online Bibles, we invited you, dear Bible Gateway users, to tell us your answer to the following question: Why would you recommend reading the New Testament in the original Greek?

We were thrilled to receive many excellent responses; thanks to everyone who wrote in! Here are two of the thoughtful answers sent in by Bible Gateway users. First up is Edwin:

When we read an English translation of the scriptures, there is a “veil” over the text. This veil is the cultural reinterpretation that translators by necessity must undertake. This is compounded by the number of different popular translations that are available. My experience leading Bible studies is that when faced with the task of harmonising say the NIV, ESV NASB etc., many Christians conclude they can’t come to a clear understanding of the meaning. This places the burden of interpretation on the study leader, the “specialist,” if they are able. Reading in the original language removes this “veil,” so we are forced to interpret the text in context of the original culture. I’m not saying everyone has to learn Koine Greek and Hebrew, but those who can, and who hold teaching roles, should if at all possible.

And Marilyn talks about the pay-off at the end of all the hard work:

It takes a tremendous amount of time and strength of commitment to learn koine Greek, but it is worth every bit of it. If you can read the original Greek New Testament, you will not have to wonder about what it “really says in the original.” You will not have to read a text through a curtain of political correctness or a translator’s bias. If you are not very skilled, you will still have the thrill of knowing you are reading the true text of Scripture or at least the closest thing to it.

Many people who wrote in echoed these observations that reading the Bible in its original languages lets you go deeper into the text. While it’s certainly not necessary to understand the original Greek to appreciate and study the New Testament—praise God for the long tradition of Bible translators he’s provided over the centuries!—reading the original language can highlight nuances in the text that are sometimes lost, or diluted, in translation.

Learning a Biblical language is a big challenge and not for everyone. But even if you’ve never studied a word of Hebrew or Greek and have no intention of doing so, it’s fun to see Scripture in the ancient languages—for instance, take a look at John 3 in the NIV alongside the Greek. Maybe you’ll be inspired to pick up a textbook or talk to a pastor or seminary professor about learning Greek!

Thanks again to Edwin, Marilyn, and everyone else who took the time to share their thoughts with us!

Andy Rau
May 24, 2011

How to read devotionals on Bible Gateway

Ever wished that there were devotionals to read on Bible Gateway in addition to the Bible texts? Over the last year, we’ve added devotional content to Bible Gateway for the first time—but most of it has been in the form of email newsletters and devotionals. Is there a way to read that devotional content on the Bible Gateway website itself?

At the new Bible Gateway site, the answer is “Yes!” We’ve made some of our most popular devotional content available to browse and read on the new Bible Gateway. Here’s how to access it.

First, visit the preview of the new Bible Gateway at new.biblegateway.com.

Look for a new Devotionals item in the menu on the left side of the site:

Clicking Devotionals brings you to the Devotionals page, where you can see a list of the devotional content that’s available to read online. (Currently, these are All the Men of the Bible, All the Women of the Bible, and Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening; we plan to add more in the future.) Click on the devotional you want to read, and you’ll be taken to the current day’s reading (or week’s reading, in the case of weekly devotionals). You can read past devotionals (or future ones) by using the calendar in the upper right:

You can also easily share a particular devotional with your friends using the Facebook, Twitter, and Email sharing buttons next to the devotional’s title:

(If you haven’t noticed, we’ve added similar sharing buttons throughout the new Bible Gateway site—for instance, at the Verse of the Day and on individual Bible passage pages. Bible Gateway visitors have long requested an easy way to share verses and other content with friends, and we’ve tried to make that as easy as possible on the new site.)

You may have noticed that not all of our email devotionals are available to read online on the Devotionals page. Some of the devotionals provided by Bible Gateway partners are archived on our partners’ websites rather than on Bible Gateway, so to browse past archives of (for instance) the Girlfriends in God Devotional or Encouragement for Today, you’ll want to visit the Girlfriends in God and Encouragement for Today websites respectively.

We hope this makes it easy to access encouraging, inspirational devotional content alongside your Scripture reading at Bible Gateway. As with all of the features on the new Bible Gateway site, we encourage you to try it out at new.biblegateway.com and let us know what you think using the feedback link at the top of the site.

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    The Bible Gateway Blog features the latest news, announcements, and reflections from Bible Gateway. We hope what you find here will add to your understanding of and appreciation for the Bible.