How to send a Contact Us message

All the Universalis apps and programs now have a command called “Contact Us”. This is a good way of getting in touch with us, because it creates an email which automatically contains a lot of useful information – such as which version you are using, what calendar and language settings you have, and what page you are looking at.

Updating apps and programs

Depending what Universalis app or program you are using, it may update itself automatically when a new version comes out. Here are all the details, with instructions for manual updating.

The chant marks in the psalms

From time to time people ask about the stars * and daggers † which appear in the psalms and canticles. They always appear in the Latin, and in the English you can turn them on and off.

The stars and daggers are marks to guide the chanting of the psalms and canticles. Especially when you are own, you don’t need to worry about conforming to them, but they can be a helpful guide.

Universalis on Linux

There are versions for the downloadable Universalis program for Windows and for Mac, but there is no specific version for Linux. However, some people have reported success in using the Windows download on Linux (see the earlier blog posts from 2009 and 2012). Here is another report from a user, which includes some specific instructions:

June 2021 newsletter

Welcome to another Newsletter. It marks the 25th anniversary of Universalis!

April 2021 newsletter

Happy Easter! He is risen indeed, alleluia!

The Easter Alleluia

As the last newsletter promised, we have been trying out a new feature for Easter this year.

March 2021 newsletter

The Easter Alleluia

We are trying out a new feature for Easter this year.

Technical: avoiding dark mode on the Mac

Mac OS has a ‘dark mode’, in which text is light on a dark background, taking us back to the 1980s and the era of VDUs. The Universalis app and program for the Mac now obey the dark mode and if you select it in the system settings, the text in Universalis will be light on a dark background.

It appears that some people want to have Mac OS in dark mode but still have Universalis displaying dark text on a light background. This is rather an unexpected requirement, but Mac OS does allow this to happen. Here are the instructions.

How to try Universalis

People often encourage their friends to get Universalis, which is a good thing and kind to both the friends and us.

If you have a friend who is interested but isn’t quite sure, and would like to try Universalis out before buying anything, here is some advice for you to pass on:

February 2021 newsletter

Happy New Year! It is still all right to say this, since there hasn’t been a Universalis newsletter since before Christmas.

It has mostly been steady progress without anything spectacular, but here are some points worth reporting.

The Laudate app

There is an app called Laudate, which people sometimes think is ours. It isn’t. We get occasional emails that complain about (or praise) what “we” are doing, and where it turns out, eventually, that “we” doesn’t mean Universalis at all. So this blog post is intended to remove the confusion.

The Epiphany again

Some people get into a terrible flap after the Epiphany, and six years out of seven they write to us to say that we have got the readings wrong. So this post really ought to appear every year.

In religious parts of the world the Epiphany is celebrated when it always has been: on the 6th of January, when good children get presents from the Kings. In more commercial parts of the world the Epiphany is moved to the Sunday after New Year’s Day, so that the Twelve Days of Christmas become the Eight Days or the Fourteen Days.

The reason for all the panic is that a day such as Friday 8 January 2021 has different readings depending on where you are. In religious countries (including England and Wales) it is 8 January, the second day after the Epiphany. In commercial countries (including Scotland and the USA) it is Friday after Epiphany Sunday, the fifth day after the Epiphany.