Printing Compared Texts

[jwritebol]

Is there any way to print the Text Comparisons that I pull up? I have tried several times (even to copy and paste it to Word) and get no luck.

 

Also, in my humble opinion, it would be beneficial to compare more than two texts with each other. This is especially critical for the exegetical process where most people will compare more than just two translations to one another. I'd like to see that opened up for more than two translations at one time.

 

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Helen Brown]

The printing of the compare highlights (and regular highlighting) will be enabled in the soon upcoming version 7.2.

 

Your other point is much more complicated. We looked at it, but it raised a fundamental issue of how to mark the differences between text A, and text B, and text C. Even if B and C are both compared to A, how do you mark A to show a difference between one or other, or both of the other texts? We felt it was much cleaner to just compare two texts. You can always compare another pair in another window.

[Joe Weaks]

From those of us who specialize in source criticism in the synoptic gospels, the parallel conundrum exists. (When comparing Matthew Mark and Luke, how do you mark comparisons that also highlight similarities and don't bias towards particular dependencies.)

It is indeed difficult and the decisions enter into the realm of increased subjectivity.

[Robb B]

For those readers of the forum who have seen Logos' compare versions feature, which compares multiple versions at the same time, I'd like to point out that in Logos you have to choose a "base version" against which all the others are compared. So you are still only getting two versions compared at the same time, even though it might look like you can compare four or more versions simultaneously. As Helen pointed out, you can achieve this same effect and more by using multiple windows and the compare texts feature in Accordance.

 

I would further argue that Accordance's implementation of Compare Texts is superior to Logos' because the differences are noted within each text rather than in only one text. The texts are also much more readable in Accordance when using Compare Texts because instead of inserting words it inserts vertical lines, highlights, &c. that don't disrupt the flow of the text. You can always print a list of the text differences or open another window listing them for reference if you want to see a side-by-side comparison of the actual word/phrase differences.

 

Overall, I think Accordance has the best solution for comparing texts, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to enhance this feature in versions to come. I use this feature on a regular basis, and having compared it to the competition, prefer this solution over others I have seen.

[jwritebol]

Thanks for your help. I definitely see your point in why the comparisons are the way they are. Good answers as well compared to Logos stuff.

 

I had to print a comparison of seven English translations for a seminary class and was a bit bummed that I had to find a friend with the Logos stuff to do it, but the logic behind Accordances choice here makes more sense to me. Now I will eagerly await 7.2 so I can print those things out!