What is this?
Opensong is an open source lyric projection application. It is designed to be used by churches to manage lyrics, project songs, and print out chord sheets. You can find the project homepage at Opensong.org.What is this project?
Opensong has several limitations that currently limit its usefulness. It lacks many features found in more expensive software packages.I have started to reimplement Opensong in a different programming language, hoping to avoid many of the issues encountered in the current implementation, adding additional features and usability improvements as I see fit.
How can I get involved?
UsersOpensongJ isn't ready for users yet. We currently recommend Opensong or OpenLP. |
TestersAs the software is currently in development, I need advanced testers to find and document bugs.As the project is at an early stage, experience building and debugging Java application is a must. In a nutshell, experience doing the following things is really helpful:
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DevelopersAs many features are lacking, I welcome any code contributions to the project. I'd like if your code uses a similar coding style to the current code base, along with best practices for Java and production application development. The code is available from SVN at Sourceforge here. Before you begin working on any features, please coordinate with me via email (lee (AT) leecbaker.com) to ensure that we don't waste effort working on the same features! |
What is wrong with the current Opensong? (technical)
Opensong currently has the following limitations that I think will limit its current development trajectory:- Implementation language prevents some advanced features such as video backgrounds from being implemented. As RealBasic is currently used, features are limited to what RealBasic provides, which have proved sufficient for basic functionality at this point. However, I think this prevents Opensong from staying competitive with other packages.
- Implementation language has performance problems. If you run through the message boards, you can see many people having issues with performance, especially with slide transitions and at higher resolutions. Tweaks have helped with this issue, but I don't believe that it can be completely resolved in RealBasic.
- Implementation language limits the size of the developer community. Only a small number of people have experience with RealBasic, which limits the number of involved developers. Also, the developement environment costs a non-trivial amount of money, further limiting developers. This prevented me from initially contributing.
How much will be changed about OpenSong?
I don't plan to change very much. That may not sound reasonable given that I am attempting basically a complete rewrite. However, I am trying to reuse as much of the GUI design and as many concepts as possible in order to keep as much the same as possible. Much effort has gone into training users on the current OpenSong interface, into entering songs into the OpenSong format, and other non-code assets. While I will tweak the GUI as is necessary and beneficial, and work to maintain compatibility with existing operating concepts, file formats and such. I will be adding some features hopefully pretty early in development, though I don't intend for it to be a large focus:- Videos in presentations
- Video backgrounds for slides
- Use web page in a slide (possibly)
- Usability improvements
Feature comparison
While I don't believe that Opensong needs to reach feature parity with more expensive applications to be successful, a comparison is useful at least to identify obvious areas for improvement:| Feature | OpenSong (RB) | OpenSong (Java) | OpenLP | MediaShout | EasyWorship | Powerpoint / OpenOffice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free / GPL | Free / GPL | Free / GPL2 | $429 | $399 | $350 |
| Project song lyrics | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Project custom slides | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y! |
| Fetch song lyrics from Internet / CCLI | N | N | Y | Y? | Y? | N |
| Videos in presentation | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Custom background images | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Video backgrounds | N | Planned | N | Y | Y | N [1] |
| Dual monitor support | Y | In progress | ? | Y | Y | Y |
| Insert scripture | Y | Planned | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Print chord sheets | Y | Planned | N | N | Y? | N |
| Languages | 7 | English | 5 | ? | ? | Many |
| Bible translations | 250+ (download) | - | 2 KJV, ASV |
- | 24 free 40 available |
- |
Planned feature status (alpha 003)
| Feature | Implemented |
|---|---|
| File loading | Song and set only (no Bible file) |
| Presentation display | Yes |
| Video slide/background | Slide only |
| Slide formatting | No |
| File save | No |
| Song/set editors | In progress |
| Slide transitions | No |
| Printing | No |
| Guitar chords | No |