Have you ever shopped for a Bible and discovered just how difficult it is to find the right combination of features? You want a skinny Bible? You might have to squint your eyes. You want a Bible with large print and all the notes? How strong are your biceps? Want to read it at night? Better pick up a book light too!
None of these are issues when you own the YouVersion app. When you read your Bible in your YouVersion app, you have lots of ways to make it work just right for YOU! Maybe that's why it's called YOUversion?
Font Size and Shape. Most of these preferences can be set within the Settings menu, which we talked about yesterday. Here you can set the font (Sans, Serif, or Monospace), text size (from very small to very large.) I love how the text size is set by a slider rather than trying to guess a number. Setting the text size is a great blessing on many fronts. Do you have 20/20 vision and hate turning pages? You could read Philemon in only two pages on the smallest font setting. Or maybe you're on the top side of the eye chart. Set the font to the largest size and you see two just verses at a time - but you won't be squinting!
One note about using the slider for your font size. Usually you can see the fonts of the text change as you move the slider. However, when you get to the large and extra large font sizes, it looks like the font in your Bible isn't getting larger. Be patient. It may take your mobile device a little longer to process the larger fonts. Experiment with the fonts and find the smallest font you're comfortable with. Then move it up a notch. That should be about the right size. Remember - you can change this font size any time you want.
Show Notes... Or Not. Many versions have text notes available. These are not the extensive notes you may find in the Study Bibles. These are the textual notes from the committee responsibile for the final translation. For example, there will sometimes be a note about a particular word with an alternative that could have been used. You have the choice to show these notes within your Bible or not. Personally I love to see the notes. But some people find them distracting and would rather just read without having to stop to check the footnotes. It's YOUR choice. Check the box in the settings and the notes will show. Uncheck the box and the notes don't show.
Are you a rightie... or a leftie? Left handed people sometimes feel like the world has conspired against them. YouVersion is optimized for right-handed folks. However, if you are a leftie there is a box you can uncheck in the settings. It's called "Navigation." Now all those little menu options that used to be on the right hand of the screen magically show up on the left!
Low Lights or High Beams? You may choose whether you'd prefer to have black text on a white background or white text on a black background. Supposedly the latter is better in low light conditions. The next time you're reading your YouVersion Bible in bed after dark, you might want to check out the low light option. Not only do I like this setting, but I also turn down the brightness on my screen. I find there is much less eye strain this way.
Setup Your Account. You also have the option in the Settings menu to setup your YouVersion account. I wrote two days ago that you needed to do this when you downloaded the app onto your mobile device. This was incorrect and I have changed the original post. You have the choice of being a misanthropic hermit, who loves to read your YouVersion Bible by yourself with no one else ever knowing. OR you may choose to be the gregarious social butterfly and connect to other people with your YouVersion account. It's your choice! One more thing about social connections - if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, this would be the place in the menu to make network associations as well.
Manage Offline Versions. We will begin talking about all your choices of Bible versions tomorrow. There are 25 English versions and there are 44 different languages available. That combines to make a total of 144 choices! All of them are available to you whenever you are connected to the Internet. But what about the next time you're in the middle of Nowheresville... or on an airplane... or out of the country, and you want to read your YouVersion Bible? This is where you set one or more versions to be downloaded to your device so you always have the opportunity to read your Bible.
Next Post: Versions, Versions, and More Versions! Speaking of Bible versions, tomorrow we'll talk about some of the different options you have and how to know which one is right for you. Hmmm... this may take more than one post to cover. Stay tuned!
Do you have any special settings you find works well for you? Click on the comments below and share your ideas. I'd love to hear what's working for you... and so would our readers!
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