Dictionary of Early Judaism: Search by Entry?

[Abram K-J]

I haven't seen anything on the forums about this--is it not possible to search the Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism by Entry? Here is the drop-down menu I have (attached).

 

"Titles" gets me close, but I still have to go through 7 marks before getting to that actual Entry. I can't recall an Accordance module (esp. a dictionary) that didn't have "Entry" as an option. What am I missing?

[Anon]

Abram:

 

This dictionary is not just a dictionary. It has a selection at the beginning containing essays. You are correct: that most dictionaries contain an 'Entry' field. Consider, however, that this 'Dictionary' presents more than just entries. In other words, the nature of the resource prompted a different development decision. Hence, an 'Entry' in this resource is searchable under the 'Title' field.

Edited September 16, 2013 by James Tucker

[Abram K-J]

I'm not sure why essays at the front would preclude the decision to still have an Entry field. It's not just a dictionary, yes, but it is a dictionary (and titled as such). If I want to quickly go to entries that begin with "Temple," it takes some 40-50 marks using the "Title" field to get there. I understand I can just "look up" a word using the left sidebar navigation, but the behavior and usability of the tool (specifically, not having "Entry") just doesn't strike me as consistent with other such tools in Accordance.

 

I do appreciate the "Title" field, and this is not to criticize the developers' decision, but it is to say: Is it too late/complicated/expensive now for an update to go back and add an Entry search field? I'd be surprised if others didn't find that helpful, too, especially given how most people would use a resource like this (i.e., looking up by entry).

[Helen Brown]

You can open the Browser to T and click there, then use the down Mark arrow to get there quicker, in one more click. This is an unusual case, as Temple is used in so many Titles (57 hits). I think almost any other search would go straight to the entry.

[Rick Bennett]

To elaborate a little further, in most dictionaries we use a single field to encompass the main entry and any titles in the work (either titles used in the introductory material or subtitles of entries). This field is usually called Entry. In EDEJ it is called Titles, but it functions in the same exact way.

 

In EDEJ they use subtitles in entries a lot more than other dictionaries. This is the reason why you get more hits for temple than just the main entry (there are only 4 hits in the Titles of the introductory essays). We can possibly look into some ideas on how to make this a little more intuitive.