Our Mission

Listen to this Book

Concerning blesstype & KJV

This is the story of a simple, but bold idea: To make the KJV Bible as easily read as possible for free, with a large print, utilising the latest developments in online typography and a fantastic user experience for whatever device its readers would choose to use. Thus, me and my dear wife embarked on a quest to provide such a service, as a side-project in our free time. Simple as that.

For extra details on the project, I encourage you to read on. If you simply want to begin reading the Bible, just click here ›

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Conception of the idea

It all started somewhere back in time, when I was having a philosophical discussion about ethics; a number of the people present had a firm stance on their religious ideals, and I remember challenging them — acting like a modern-age Socrates — about the simplest idea: Have you ever actually read the Bible?

This came as quite a shock to them, because indeed — they haven’t. They knew the context of course and had embraced its core teachings, but never actually read the book from start to finish. Thus, an evening well spent, my “supporters” applauding me on the way I manoeuvred through the conversation and delivering the final blow to my opponents. However, a thought lingered from that moment onwards, and stayed with me for quite some time. I, haven’t read the Bible…

From a technical point of view, we’re talking about the most famous book on the face of Earth. Many will argue on it being a masterpiece of literature and expression, while literally billions pray, live and believe on its scriptures. Why haven’t I read it then, and also rely on certain passages, tales from elders, scholars and priests, movies and TV series? If I have to be fair on the book, I must read it. As such, my journey begun.

— I soon, found myself crying in digital tears

George Liapis

I will use the tl;dr approach for this one (too long; didn’t read), so as not to tire the dear reader. Everything found on print medium (Books, Tomes) were either too cumbersome, had too small print (i.e. bad typography), or both. I am a man of the computer and smartphone age who appears to appreciate good design by profession, so I immediately looked for online solutions — but soon, found myself crying in digital tears; everything, even the largest websites on the Bible, had such an unfriendly experience and typography, that made the — already Herculean — task of reading a book of more than 600,000 words, simply impossible. I was displeased, to say the least.

One fine day, my task became quite clear. After discussing it briefly with Christina (my wife) and witnessing her enthusiasm on the project, I soon devised a plan of action, started my research on typefaces plus all the dozens other details and elements that make a website, a website; and as a result, blesstype.com was born. As I am composing this article, she is uploading the individuals books from KJV Bible and in a matter of moments, everybody worldwide will be able not only to read the Bible, but to enjoy reading it. Myself, included.

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Why the King James Version (KJV)?

In the beginning, we only had the opportunity to offer one version of the Bible — and in one language. As such, we turned to our online investigative skills to find out which is the most famous Bible version available in English, with a free copyright. Every single research, clearly pointed out: King James Version (or as it’s also widely known as, KJV), is the one we should begin with — and sports the public domain status, which means that is copyright-free in the United States.

Let’s also back this up with the science of Statistics. One of the most recognised and accurate websites on the matter is Statista.com, whose research illustrates that in the United States during 2017-18, the KJV was the most preferred version of the Bible — by far. To further support this, we included the following graph:

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What’s to follow?

Quite a lot, actually. From a technical point of view, we still have tons of work to do so as to offer the unparalleled user experience we dream of. We also know that, although KJV is the widest known version, readers request the Bible in all its individual versions — and in many languages.

Moreover, we are both Digital Consultants, which means that we’ll never rest till this is properly done and we are eager to share every single detail of our process and our progress; do stay tuned for more articles on the matter. Key topics will range from “which WordPress hosting provider is the best for a project like this” and “what was the design process”, to “our exact research on Typography“, or “how we used Trello to project-plan an idea like this”. Plus a myriad others.

In the end, we have one mission: To make the Bible easily readable, for everyone. More to follow, soon.

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