Create a Bible Reference Navigation RCL for use in tc-create 2.0, etc.

[unfoldingword]

Create a Bible Reference Navigation RCL for use in tc-create 2.0, etc.

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@mvahowe
Here is the UI prototype which appears very numbers focused:

It seems the better way to handle this is showing the verses as strings (with same ID as in the USFM) rather than coercing to numbers. For example we show "1-2" in the case of a verse span. And if we treat the verses as a list we can retain the order that was in the USFM. I would approach chapters similarly.

[PhotoNomad0]

Notes from Zulip with helpful background info:

Mark Howe:
 
Bruce McLean said:

• Paragraphs seem to be more formatting tips.

Many translators would say the exact opposite, ie that the biblical narrative is structured in books, pericopes, sentences, phrases... and that chapter/verse is just decoration. I've heard translators say that they'd like to dispense with chapter/verse altogether (although of course, in practice, that's impossible to sell to Joe Christian).

I'm not suggesting navigation by paragraph but, eg, I think the list of verses needs to display verse ranges where there are verse ranges, and it probably needs to display out-of-order verses out of order. And, if we're tackling the deuterocanon (and maybe even if we're not) we need to contend with verses before chapters and the Greek Esther/Daniel problem (where Greek and Hebrew content get mixed up together depending on your tradition).

Mark Howe: The Paratext solution is to use the underlying "standard" versification and then do the letters and repeat chapters as \cp markup. But end users want to see the same chapter numbers/letters as their printed Bible. The problem here is that USFM was designed for typesetting, where chapters are just another block of text (or dropcap, or whatever). The need to say "what goes in Chapter X" or to provide navigation beyond flicking through the pages, is new in digital applications, and I don't think USFM has really caught up. USX 3 has chapter and verse milestones, but this just seems to make things even more confusing, especially as Paratext is a bit random about where it drops the end milestones.

Mark Howe: If you view source on YV (at least last time I looked), the chapters 3, B and 3 are something like 3, 3_1 and 3_2, which reflects the underlying Paratext USFM structure.

Mark Howe: But it feels to me like this is a typically "Bible Consultant" approach, ie it isn't very church (tradition) - centric.

Mark Howe: As I said somewhere above, it's possible that some of these problems can be solved by decree. eg "We don't support translation from the Septuagint"; "We assume a 39-book Hebrew OT" etc. I think that's ok as long as it's ok with your current and future user base, and as long as the list is explicit somewhere.