- Source: WORDsearch
- Source: Word search
WORDsearch Bible Software, based in Austin, Texas was one of the oldest and largest publishers of software and digital books specifically for Christian pastors, Bible teachers, and students. WORDsearch became part of the ministry of B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources of Nashville, but was sold to competitor Faithlife in 2020. After the announcement of the sale, it was announced that Wordsearch would be retired and transitioned to Logos Bible Software, with users receiving Logos for free. WORDsearch produced specialized study programs under the brands WORDsearch, QuickVerse, and myWSB and a compatible library of over 5,000 digital books on Windows, MacIntosh, iPad, Android, and web browsers. It was developed under the academic division of B&H Publishing.
Bible Software Products
WORDsearch 12 the company’s flagship Bible software brand running on Windows and Mac PCs, automates tasks in the process of Bible exegesis and hermeneutics. Key functions of WORDsearch include searching a user’s digital library by word, topic, or scripture reference, hyperlinking to related documents, and copying selected materials into a target document. WORDsearch users regard it highly for its speed and ease of use.
WORDsearch is frequently used by pastors for the creation of sermons, and teachers for preparation of cell group and Sunday School lessons. QuickVerse 10, is a discontinued variant of the WORDsearch program that reads the same digital books and features most of the same functions. The functional capabilities of QuickVerse 10 better suit the needs of lay Bible teachers. QuickVerse 10 offers a means for hundreds of thousands of past QuickVerse customers to continue using digital books acquired with older versions of QuickVerse. myWSB.com is a free, web browser-based Bible software program with a different functional approach, but nearly the same library of resources as WORDsearch and QuickVerse. WORDsearch Bible is a free mobile Bible software program available for iOS and Android. It offers a limited set of functions on nearly the same library of resources.
All of the Bible software versions connect to the same set of online ownership records so that a customer is able to acquire a digital book for one of the programs, and use it from any of the other programs, in nearly all cases at no additional charge. LifeWay eBooks can also be used with myWSB.com, as well as the same iOS and Android apps used by WORDsearch. Both LifeWay and WORDsearch customer IDs can be entered in the same programs. Reviewers found that WORDsearch is powerful enough to be useful for preachers.
It is one of About.com's top 10 bible programs. A free application called WORDsearch Starter is also available.
Bible Resources/Content
Those who are members of the WORDsearch family of Bible software are able to access a common library of over 5,000 digital books in 24 categories including Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries and encyclopedias, handbooks, word studies and more. The WORDsearch library has a notable concentration in expository preaching, with collections of works from authors including John MacArthur, Stephen Olford, John Phillips, J. Vernon McGee, Charles Spurgeon, John Stott, W. A. Criswell, Adrian Rogers, R. Kent Hughes, Maze Jackson, Robertson Nicoll, Alexander Maclaren, and Haddon Robinson.
A second area of strength in the WORDsearch library is counseling, with collections from authors June Hunt, Neil T. Anderson, James Dobson, Joni Eareckson Tada, Gary Chapman, and many others. Some notable works prized by Bible expositors and available from WORDsearch include The Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible, the Complete Biblical Library, and the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible.
Resources can be purchased in bundles or individually. Sometimes discounted. Hebrew, Greek and other languages are searchable. The Complete Biblical Library New Testament was favorably received. The original versions of WORDsearch used the STEP (rtf) format. WORDsearch acquired Epiphany Software in 2003 and changed it to Epiphany's CROSS (Christian Reference Open Software Standard) format which supports XML starting with Wordsearch 7.
History
WORDsearch was founded in 1987 by Dr. Jim Sneeringer and Dr. Cheryl Sneeringer; it was one of the earliest commercial examples of digital publishing in any domain. Jim and Cheryl earned PhDs in Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supervised by Dr. Fred Brooks, and became evangelical Christians partly through his witness. Their shared interest in Bible study, teaching, and computer software led Jim to create the WORDsearch program while on sabbatical from IBM (ROLM) Corporation.
The program became part of the product line of NavPress Software in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1989. In 1993, Dr. Jim Sneeringer and Randolph Beck of Austin acquired the assets of NavPress Software and continued to publish with that name. In July 2002, the publishers adopted WORDsearch as the corporate name. In July 2003, WORDsearch acquired the assets of Epiphany Software, Inc. of San Jose including the program and brand Bible Explorer. Andrew Cogan, the former president of Epiphany, joined as chief technical officer of WORDsearch. In April 2004, WORDsearch entered a licensing and publishing partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources to supply the Bible Explorer program, to be published under the brand Bible Navigator, as the exclusive Bible Software program of LifeWay.
In May 2011, WORDsearch agreed to acquire the assets of the QuickVerse® product line from Findex.com. QuickVerse was the largest selling Bible software program during the 1990s. In June 2011, all of the assets of WORDsearch were acquired by LifeWay. On September 18, 2020 it was announced that WORDSearch was sold to Faithlife and then the software would be retired.
References
External links
https://www.logos.com/wordsearch
https://www.mywsb.com
https://www.lifeway.com
https://www.bhpublishinggroup.com
A word search, word find, word seek, word sleuth or mystery word puzzle is a word game that consists of the letters of words placed in a grid, which usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The words may be placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Often a list of the hidden words is provided, but more challenging puzzles may not provide a list. Many word search puzzles have a theme to which all the hidden words are related such as food, animals, or colors. The puzzles have, like crosswords and arrowords, become very popular. Also in common with these latter puzzles, have had complete books and mobile applications devoted to them.
Strategies
A common strategy for finding all the words is to go through the puzzle left to right (or right to left) and look for the first letter of the word (if a word list is provided). After finding the letter, one should look at the eight surrounding letters to see whether the next letter of the word is there. One can then continue this method until the entire word is found.
Another strategy is to look for 'outstanding' letters within the word one is searching for (if a word list is provided). Since most word searches use capital letters, it is easiest to spot the letters that stand out from others. These letters include Q, J, X, and Z.
Lastly, the strategy of looking for double letters in the word being searched for (if a word list is provided) proves helpful, because it is easier to spot two identical letters side-by-side than to search for two different letters.
If a word list is not provided, a way to find words is to go row by row. First, all the horizontal rows should be read both backwards and forwards, then the vertical, and so on. Sometimes the puzzle itself will help. The puzzles generated by a computer tend to put words in patterns. Furthermore, the bigger the words and the more words, the easier they are to spot. In some computer-generated puzzles, if the person solving the puzzle sees one word, all they have to do to find more is to look in adjacent rows, columns, or diagonals. The puzzle might use every row, column, or diagonal—or just every other row, column, or diagonal.
History
The word search puzzle (also known as WordSeek, WordFind, WonderWord, etc.) was originally designed and published by Norman E. Gibat in the Selenby Digest on March 1, 1968, in Norman, Oklahoma, although the Spanish puzzle creator Pedro Ocón de Oro was publishing "Sopas de letras" (Spanish "Soup of Letters") before that date.There is a very likely possibility James Patrick Carr of Villa Grove, Illinois created this puzzle before 1968. Pat Carr had titled the puzzles "Slate R Straight" and was stolen by a copyright/patent company he sent the puzzle idea to. There is proof predating Gibats 1968 of PC's puzzles in Villa Grove High School sporting event brochures.
Selenby was a small want-ad digest distributed free at Safeway and other stores in the town. The original page size is 8.5 by 5.5 inches.
The puzzle was very popular locally and several more followed this original. Some teachers in the Norman schools asked for reprints to use in their classes. One teacher sent them around the country to various friends in other schools. Undoubtedly one of these scattered copies eventually led somebody to sell the idea to a syndicator.
Word search puzzles have been popular on the internet with Facebook games such as the 2013 Letters of Gold. Other digital and tabletop word search games include Boggle, Bookworm, Letterpress, Ruzzle, Wonderword, Wordament, WordSpot and Word Streak with Friends.
The mid-70s CBS game show "Now You See It" was a made-for-TV adaptation of a word search puzzle.
Secret messages
Sometimes secret messages are hidden in the word search. In one variation, the secret message is created by all the words that are written backwards in the puzzle. In another variation, the secret message is created by the letters that are not used in any word within the puzzle. This variation is more common in more difficult puzzles where most letters are used. Kappa Publishing is well known for this. Their Magazines are called "The Magazine with the Last Message" or other saying that is related.
Another type of word search puzzle contains a trivia question at the bottom. Like a traditional word search puzzle, words from a word list must be circled or crossed through in the puzzle. There is also one or more extra word or phrase hidden in the puzzle that is not in the word list. This word or phrase usually answers the trivia question at the bottom of the page.
Snaking puzzles
Some word search puzzles are snaking puzzles, in which the word is not a straight vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line, but "bends" at 90 degrees at any given letter. These are much more difficult than conventional puzzles. The difficulty level is further heightened when the next letter can be at 45 degrees, and using the same letter more than once is permitted, too. Snaking puzzles either hide words in a random fashion, or are designed to trace out a path in a definite shape, like a square, rectangle, horseshoe, or donut.
Teaching
Word search puzzles are often used in a teaching or classroom environment, especially in language and foreign language classrooms. Some teachers, particularly those specializing in English as a Second Language (ESL), use word search puzzles as an instructional tool. Other teachers use them as a recreational activity for students, instead. They also use them as April Fools' Day pranks where the word searches involve no words.
On a more advanced level, word searches are good ways to demonstrate the use of searching algorithms.
See also
Wordament
Word Puzzle
Word polygon
Crossword
Sudoku
References
External links
Word Clue for Word Finder
