README

This README file contains important additional information that is designed to make this CD-ROM more user friendly for you.

INTRODUCTION

The Electronic Bible Society CD-ROM Volume 2 contains Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907, 1910, reproduced by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company) in ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] and Rich Text Format [*.RTF] files. These files are located in one of the four directories on this CD-ROM disk.

[1] The FONTS directory contains four (4) different scalable fonts to enable you to read the text. These public domain fonts are Arial, Times New Roman, Greek, and Hebrew. The fonts must be loaded into your word processor if you wish to maximize your capability of reading and printing the files completely and accurately.

[2] The SEARCH directory contains the Search Agent engine developed by Phantech Software, Inc. This Search Agent engine has been especially adapted by Phantech Software, Inc. for inclusion and free distribution with this Electronic Bible Society CD-ROM Volume. The Search Agent file is a "self-extracting" file that automatically installs itself onto your system. It has been thoroughly tested and should enable you to do basic searches through the various Rich Text Format [*.RTF], ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] files on this CD-ROM disk.

[3] The README directory contains the README file. It contains instructions and information prepared especially for you that is not available elsewhere.

[4] The SCHAFF_P directory contains the largest collection on this CD. It contains two sub-directories: [a] HCC-RTF and [b} HCC-TXT.

[a] The HCC-RTF sub-directory contains the complete 8-volume History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff in Rich Text Format [*.RTF] files. In addition to the complete text of each volume in the HCC-RFT sub-directory, as separate files [HCC_V01; HCC_V02; etc.]. A list of the Popes from Hcc_03 is also included as a separate item (3_POPES). Since the printed edition of the History of the Christian Church volumes used in this collection contain over 800 pages per volume, The Electronic Bible Society editorial staff decided to place each of the eight volumes in separate sub-sub-directories (Hcc_01; Hcc_02; etc.).

In each sub-sub-directory, a complete individual volume of Schaff's work appears in separate "introduction," "preface," "tables of contents," "chapter," etc. files. This allows users to have more-manageable file sizes with which to work. One case in point is in sub-sub-directory Hcc-V07, chapter 3 [7_ch03] (which contains 175 pages in the published volume). On this CD-ROM disk it is available in three different sizes: it is a "section" in the very large file [HCC_V07]; it is a separate "chapter" within the large file Hcc_07 [7_ch03]; and it is available in four smaller "segments" of the Hcc_07 file [7_ch03a; 7_ch03b, 7_ch03c; and 7_ch03d].

[b] The HCC-TXT sub directory contains the complete 8-volume History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff in ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] files. In addition to the complete text of each volume in the HCC-TXT sub-directory, as separate files (HCC_V01; HCC_V02; etc.). A list of the Popes from Hcc_03 is also included as a separate item (3_POPES). Since the printed edition of History of the Christian Church volumes in this collection contain over 800 pages per volume, The Electronic Bible Society editorial staff decided to place each of the eight volumes in separate sub-sub-directories [Hcc_01; Hcc_02; etc.].

In each sub-sub-directory, a complete individual volume of Schaff's work appears in separate "introduction," "preface," "tables of contents," "chapter," etc. files. This allows users to have more-manageable file sizes with which to work. One case in point is in sub-sub-directory Hcc-V07, chapter 3 [7_ch03] (which contains 175 pages in the published volume). On this CD-ROM disk it is available in three different sizes: it is a "section" in the very large file [HCC_V07]; it is a separate "chapter" within the large file Hcc_07 [7_ch03]; and it is available in four smaller "segments" of the Hcc_07 file [7_ch03a; 7_ch03b, 7_ch03c; and 7_ch03d].

VIEWING THE TEXT

For the best results, you should import the Rich Text Format [*.RTF], ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] file to be viewed into your favorite word processor. If you have Windows but no word processor, you may use Write (Windows 3.10 or 3.11) or Word Pad (Windows 95). If you do not have Windows installed, you may use some other DOS or Mac word processor.

If you use a DOS word processor, you must import the Rich Text Format [*.RTF], ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] file as a "Windows text" instead of as a "DOS text" if at all possible. The reason is that certain foreign language or accented characters throughout the texts may appear incorrectly in a "DOS text" file. In any case, the majority of the text is in "standard" English characters, so any word processing program may be used with excellent results. Be sure to look for files with the "*.RTF." or "*.TXT” extension in your individual word processing program.

When viewing ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] files, you will notice numerous little boxes [or question marks] where foreign language or special characters occur. These boxes [question marks] are actually "character place holders" to indicate the use of character (accents, italics, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, etc.) that cannot be retained as such when ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] files are stored. This could be exasperating to ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] users.

Due to the limitations of ASCII or Plain Text [*.TXT] files when used to preserve or restore special characters (accents, italics, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, etc.), the editorial staff of the Electronic Bible Society decided to place the complete text of Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, into Rich Text Format [*.RTF] as well as files. When appropriate fonts are loaded into your word processing program, Rich Text Format [*.RTF] files retain the format, layout, characters, etc., of the original document. In a work such as Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, this feature is quite helpful, since nearly 5,000 footnotes include discussions and other information in Greek, Hebrew, and other languages. The special fonts have been supplied to help maximize these features in the Rich Text Format [*.RTF] files.