The Fresh Look Bible is a KJV that’s formatted so that every genre is recognizable at a glance. The text is color-coded to help you understand the who, what, when, why, and where of every verse. Every book is displayed on a single page. The design is both simple and complex. You can read it as a paragraph KJV with formatting for the different genres of text, or you can dig into the special features for deeper study. It’s available as wall charts and as PDFs. In this review, I’m looking at the PDF editions of both the entire Bible and the individual book of Acts.
Fresh Look Bible provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
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This Bible is available at the publisher’s website
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Table of Contents
Video Review
PDF Files
The digital panoramas are downloaded as PDF files. The downloads include three different PDF files. The whole Bible is around 15MB. Individual books are around 5MB. Each has a different level of color-coding. Other than that, they’re the same. Since the files are PDFs, you can use them on different types of devices and you can add your own annotations and markings. The files included in the download for the entire Bible have different levels of color-coding, which presents the fonts in different colors. I’ll explain the color code in another section.
All Colors – includes every color for the most detailed study.
Essential Colors – includes the most prominent colors and topics.
Black Text – this one does not include color. It’s ideal for reading without distractions.
Files for individual books contain all three versions of the color codes in the same file.
Features and Formatting
They include the entire Bible with each book presented in sort-of short columns that sit next to each other horizontally. Each book includes a detailed introduction and symbols used in that book.
Verticle Outline Bars
These are major topics and subtopics. I think of them as specialized types of section headings. They’re printed to the left of the text and are color-coded.
Column Buttons
These are wide buttons at the bottom of each column that takes you to the beginning of the next column for each book.
Text Layout
The text is presented in a single-column, paragraph layout. The paragraphing fixes broken sentences. When the beginning of a verse continues from the previous sentence, the for word is in lower-case. All the text is formatted according to its literary genre. This includes poetry (marked according to type), letters, decrees, narrative, prophecy; major lists, complex lists, etc. Dialog is set apart from the text. The words of God are in small caps. Space is added between lines and paragraphs to divide the context. Numbers are displayed as numerals. Section headings are printed in very large text that’s easy to read when you’re viewing as a panorama. The text is divided into sections with subsections and displayed as a panorama.
Since it’s zoomable and displays on different screen sizes, the font can be any size you want. You can also view portions of multiple columns, but not all of a column without the text being too small to see. Most of the columns are long. The prose has around 16 words per line. All other formats have less. Verse numbers are small and light. They can be a touch difficult to find quickly.
The Psalms include several colored circles with letters in them at the beginning of each. These show the type of Psalm each one is. This is explained in the Overview of Psalms. Psalms with broken sentences, such as 98:8-9, are fixed. The beginning of 9 starts on the same line as the end of 8.
Letters and decrees are placed within boxes. Sometimes boxes are nested. They’re easy to see at a glance even when the text is zoom out.
Color Code
Many of the words are printed in specific colors. The color code identifies words that cover background details of the names of God, people, places, flora, fauna, amounts, time, etc. They answer Who, What, Where, When, and How Many. This helps to see the context and improves interpretation. The colors do contrast well. I prefer the black letter edition for reading. It does still have the different font weights. It provides a detailed explanation in the introduction to the Bible.
Overview
The overview includes an introduction, outline, color code, and special features.
Introduction – a short description of the book. It covers the key points.
Outline – a detailed outline with subheadings that create the headings in the text.
Color Code – this shows a key to the color code.
Special Features – this identifies any special features for the book and shows the symbols used.
Navigation
You can navigate with the typical PDF scrolling, or you can use the custom navigation links. There are three types of navigation built-in:
TOC – A table of contents close to the beginning of the file contains buttons for every book of the Bible. Clicking a button takes you to the beginning of a book.
Book Titles – Clicking a book’s title takes you back to the table of contents.
Column Links – The gray buttons at the bottom of each column takes you to the start of the next column within that book.
Since this is a panorama of every book of the Bible, the table of contents and the links back to the TOC are crucial and helpful for moving through the file.
Conclusion
The Fresh Look Bible in PDF form is an interesting presentation of the KJV. The files are not too large, so they don’t take much storage space. You can get in as the entire Bible or as individual books. It’s both simple and complex. You can use all the special formatting for study, or just ignore it for reading, It’s possible to preach and teach from it, but you’d want to get used to it first. The formatting sets the genres of text apart and still keeps it readable. If the colors become distracting, you can use the file with just the essential colors, or use the file without the color code. Some of the fonts are a touch on the light side, but I can still read them. Zooming in a little further helps a lot. If you’re not sure if this is the right KJV for your needs, I recommend purchasing a single book of the Bible to give it a try.
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This Bible is available at the publisher’s website
_________________________________________
Fresh Look Bible provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
This effort is genuinely impressive and it’s in my preferred translation. You did a good job explaining the what, where, and how of using this PDF Bible. If this is to be published as a physical Bible, I can’t wait to see a copy.
Since this is a PDF product, I imagine it would work on a touchscreen variant of a Chromebook with 360 degree hinges. Would I be correct?
Thanks Jerry! You are correct. It should work on anything that can display a PDF.