Pocket PC Offices Information / Demo Page

www.pcoffices.org The Pocket PC Offices A Ministry of CommonPrayer.org	Information about the Pocket PC Offices
	General Info Demonstration Answers to Some Questions Hardware/Software Requirements	Ordering
	General Information The Pocket PC Offices is a collection of HTML files which allow the user to access the 1928 Book of Common Prayer Daily Offices of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, as well as the Occasional Offices of The Litany, The Penitential Office, Family Prayer, Visitation of the Sick, and The Psalter. The Hourly Offices (Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline) based on various Anglican resources are also included. The files are organized in a manner that allows the propers for a given day and office to be seen in parallel with the office. There is no viewer program or executable file used to display the PC Offices; instead, the user's default browser program is used. The daily propers are normally accessed through a one-year day-by-day calendar. The files for the calendar must be changed when a new year begins. Utility programs are included to handle this change, and future calendar updates files will be available for download by registered users. Resource pages are also included with the PC Offices which link directly to the propers for each Calendar day of the liturgical year and all Holy Days to allow "year-independent" access to the propers.

Demonstration
The Pocket PC Offices is essentially the same as the Windows/Mac PC based edition. A demonstration version of the Windows/Mac PC Offices can be accessed below to provide a sample of the software operation. The demo version is identical to the original release of the actual software, but has been abridged; only a portion of the calendar year will link to propers, and some other features are not included. Since the screen resolution used by the Pocket PC Offices (240 x 320) is much lower than that of PC displays (most often 1024 x 768) the demo version uses only part of the PC display, leaving a large amount of "white space", and making the fonts seem very small. Also, please note that the browser included on your Pocket PC device may display some information differently than your PC's browser. This is generally most noticeable in the Calendar displays. The exact differences will vary depending on your device and browser (whose revision level also changes with your operating system; Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Windows CE 5, etc.)
Click for Demonstration

Answers to Some Questions
Please click the following link: Questions???

Hardware / Operating System / Software Requirements
Pocket PC Device:
The Pocket PC Offices operates by using the browser on your Pocket PC Device to display HTML files with items from the BCP, daily readings, etc. There are many brands and versions of PPC Devices, and the browsers included with them (generally Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile) are not all the same. For example, even though a Sprint SmartPhone and Dell Axim both run Windows Mobile 5.0 (which incorporates Internet Explorer) the HTML "frames" function is included on the Axim, but not the SmartPhone. And the version of Internet Explorer which comes with Windows Mobile 5.0 does not support all the aspects of the "frames" function, while the version of IE in Windows Mobile 6.0 does offer complete support. The result of these variations is that display of the Pocket PC Offices on some PPC devices may not work as intended.

Since ensuring compatibility with a given PPC Device requires testing using that device (which must, of course, be purchased) it's not feasible for CommonPrayer.org to do such testing. Instead, we have attempted to provide a basic guideline regarding the Operating System used on PPC Devices to determine if display will be acceptable. An HTML "frames" compliant browser is necessary, and in general, PPC Devices running Microsoft Pocket PC 2000/Windows CE 3 or newer will provide this. However, as noted above, the Operating System on some PPC Devices is customized, and fails to meet the minimum standard.

If you aren't sure if your PPC Device is compatibile, please send an e-mail to CommonPrayer.org with your device's Manufacturer, Model, and Operating System (usually found using the "About" feature) prior to making a purchase, and we will attempt to determine whether or not the Pocket PC Offices will work on your device. CommonPrayer.org will offer a partial refund (Original Purchase price less shipping and materials costs) to customers whose PPC Device has a browser which does not support HTML "frames" - but such this offer will only be extended to those who contacted us regarding compatibility BEFORE making a purchase.

If you have a Pocket PC Device whose browser is NOT compatible with the Pocket PC Offices, there is another option available to allow you to use the Pocket PC Offices on your device. There are add-in browsers available for PPC Devices which provide full support of HTML "frames", as well as allowing smaller font sizes and rotation of the display to make the ratio of height/width similar to that of a PC. One of these, "Opera Mobile V8.60u2 for Pocket PC", has been tested with the Pocket PC Offices and provided good results. Versions of Opera are available for many devices, including SmartPhones. Another browser, "Skyfire", is available as a free download for SmartPhones; it has received good reviews, but has not been tested with the Pocket PC Offices.

The Pocket PC Offices has been tested with Pocket PC's such as the Dell Axim x50v/x51v, and the iPaq 5400 series. No specific processor or brand is required; screen resolution and browser capability are the most important factors. The Pocket PC Offices is best viewed with a minimum screen resolution of 480x640. It has been formatted to provide reduced-quality results on lower resolutions to 240x320; less than that is not supported. (Note - Calendar displays are not formatted well at resolutions lower than 480x640).

At least 8MB of free Pocket PC device memory is needed for installation.

Installation Computer (PC):
For Windows-based PC installation, a computer with a version of Windows capable of running Microsoft ActiveSync 3.x or newer (ActiveSync 4.5 is recommended) is satisfactory for the Pocket PC Offices. (This generally means Windows 98 & newer.) At least 20MB of free space is required on the hard drive.

For Mac-based PC installation, operating system will vary based on the requirements of the interface for the specific Pocket PC device being used. The installer program only supports back to OS 8.1, so the Pocket PC Offices will not install on systems running versions of OS older than that. Any Mac-based computer systems capable of transferring .CAB files to Pocket PC devices is satisfactory for the Pocket PC Offices. At least 20MB of free space on the Mac hard drive is needed for installation.

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