BW Switchers—We want to hear from you!

[Michel Gilbert]

Sorry to sound like an idiot (1 Tim. 5:25!), but what exactly is a "live click"? Thanks for helping me to be more intelligent!

 

 

DC

 

Don, no need to be so apologetic. It is in beta and hasn't been released yet. It will be soon. You will love it.

 

Edit: Not sure if this is exactly true, "It was developed specifically for BW users, but regular Acc users are loving it too."

Edited June 15, 2018 by Michel Gilbert

[Donald Cobb]

Don, no need to be so apologetic. It is in beta and hasn't been released yet. It will be soon. You will love it.

 

Edit: Not sure if this is exactly true, "It was developed specifically for BW users, but regular Acc users are loving it too."

 

 

Whew, I'm relieved. I'll be looking forward to it. Thanks Michel!

 

DC

[Joel Brown]

12.2.7 is live

[TYA]

I have been, and continue to be a BibleWorks user (along with other platforms).  Overall, I feel extremely blessed to be using Accordance.  I had always peeked at the Accordance  website to compare what was available, but I had no idea I would be using it this soon.  Here are some things I really appreciate.

 

- The Crossgrade offer for BW users is super-generous.  I literally lost sleep when I saw this door open for me to begin using Accordance.  I was initially motivated primarily by...

 

- Large (and arguably larger) library of resources compared to BW.  Accordance' large, and growing library made me realize that, if BW never offered these things, I might need to end up using Accordance one day.  (And here I am!)

 

Examples include Judean corpus material (Qumran, Dead Sea, DSS Bible), Peshitta Tanakh tagged, more targum translations (and more morphological tagging in them than BW has); now the Carasik Commentators' Bible, JPS Torah Commentary, and other Jewish resources.  Some of these didn't even exist when I started with Accordance 6 weeks ago--or at least, not that I knew of (e.g. Genesis volume to Commentators' Bible).

 

- "Live Click" search which draws from *all* kinds of modules.  (You've won my heart right there).  I love to be able to find all information from one single place.

 

- Searches find more results in lexicons than BW.  I don't consider myself an expert with BW, but I like how Accordance finds both Hebrew and Aramaic entry data for lexicon searches.  I tested this out significantly against BW, and only the main entry for a given word is found in the latter.  Accordance finds both the main entry, and often occurrences of the word in other entries.  Awesome!

 

- The ability to have open multiple tabs, to save work sessions intact, and if (as has happened for me on my PC), Accordance crashes, I can boot it right back up from where I left off.  Nice!  All of these make Accordance a pleasure, and BW essentially had none of them--at least not to the same degree.

 

- Smooth, attractive interface, offering more options for aesthetic customization.  (As one other person said, not the most important thing, but if you stare at the computer screen for hours on end, this gains in value).

 

- SUPER helpful Support.  I cannot overstate this.  From the first moment I called Accordance, to dozens of emails exchanged with Support, and 100+ posts later in the forums, I have never felt so satisfied by the help and support of a Bible software company.

 

As for the cons, you've all seen my 100+ posts (generated in just 6 weeks).  That has to be some kind of a record

 

- I've expressed my share of frustration over some of the search processes in Accordance (but I believe I'm being heard, which is great).  I really want a reliable letter search that will find *exactly* the string of characters I type, or also allow me to add wildcards for both character and word.

 

BW has this universally for all Bible texts (in addition to other powerful and quick search options); and I can't see myself doing without it.  I should be able to get exactly what I want when I choose to do a "literal" search.

 

- Overall, I still favor BW's tagging over Accordance.  BW doesn't tag prefixes and suffixes as separate words (and I still don't know why Accordance would want to do this), and so I can mouse over the word in BW and get *all* the information in one quick, efficient place.

 

In Accordance, when I mouse over a Hebrew word I have to double-check to see if the tagging is taking into account the prefix and suffix, which means that I have to glance to, and away from the word, multiple times.  I'd rather the whole word (i.e. unit) be treated in one place, including prefix, suffix, "vav" conjunction, etc.).

 

BW also includes accent information in the tagging (a feature that can be toggled on or off), which Accordance doesn't do currently.  And I simply like the popup window for tagging in BW better.  It's faster, because it doesn't slowly fade away like the "Instant Details" window, which often gets "stuck" on the screen until I wave the mouse around and click elsewhere.

 

BW's "browse window" allows for an unlimited number of Bible versions to be viewed and arranged *with* the tagging info available.  While I like Workspaces in Accordance, they only hold so many versions (12-14 for me), and I can only make so many of them.  Thus, BW currently makes lexical analysis across many versions several times faster for me.

 

And there are other things I think BW still does better, such as popup window with multiple preset versions.  And more verse references are popup-able in BW, including search result lists, which allows me to analyze large numbers of search results faster.

 

But I don't want to go on and on, because I sense that Accordance may be addressing some of these items anyway.  I'd rather make this post about all the things I'm grateful for in Accordance.  Way to go!

Edited September 17, 2018 by TYA

[Timothy Jenney]

Here are some quick suggestions:

 

1. Enclose all your string (letter) searches with double quotes.I believe that will solve 90% of your search issues.

2. Most long-term Accordance users keep an Instant Details window open at the bottom of the Workspace. We recommend the floating (or popup) ID windows only for those with really small monitors.

3. Our tagging system is pretty well embedded in our DNA. I imagine we'd get a lot of push back if we changed it after so many years. Including accent information (in Hebrew, I presume) is an interesting idea, though.

4. Suggest you experiment with the recycle button to preserve your current search when you want to search for something else. It will open your search in a new Tab, preserving the previous search in the old Tab.
5. We are planning to add several new features for BW switchers as we move forward, so try to be patient with us in the meantime. Meanwhile, feedback like yours is helpful. Thank you.

[TYA]

I should add that I could have mentioned several other things that I appreciate about Accordance, such as the recent updates made primarily for BibleWorks users.  That in itself shows the innovation and care of this company.  And I believe the list of good things will continue to grow as I learn more about Accordance.

 

Dr. J.: thank you for the suggestions, and they are all appreciated.  Just a reminder, my issues with the Hebrew search already take into account the use of quotation marks.  The issues are much more complex, and my request for a "truer" literal / letter search was agreeable to others like D. (Daniel), Matt Christian, and Fabian (see those other posts).

 

As for Instant Details, I'm the small monitor guy you were referring to, so I don't have room to keep it up all the time.  I simply suggest making an option for instant disappear, or cut the fade time in half.  And I like what you said in #3, #4, and #5.  Thanks again.

Edited September 18, 2018 by TYA

[Timothy Jenney]

You're very welcome, TYA! (I don't know your real name, nor your affiliation, though I am curious about both...)

 

Thank you for the complements. Sorry about your small monitor. I know some of our users use a second monitor just for Instant Details, detaching the pane, moving it there, then expanding it to full the entire monitor.

 

As to the floating Instant Details, I found it too slow for me, too. I turned that preference off and turned on Show popover on click and hold (Preferences>Instant Details>Instant Details Display). I prefer it, as parsing appears instantly when I press Option/Alt and click a word. ID then disappears instantly when I click elsewhere. (Cntl-click for other information, like lexical definitions.) Try this setting and see if you like it any better.

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi,

 

As a follow up, Accordance has become my main Bible research tool. I really enjoy the desktop version with Live Click. BW and Logos have been relegated to readers, along with Kindle - BW for rapid reading with my user lexicon (which I used Acc to help create with lexical and syntax searches), and Logos for reading resources not available in Acc.

 

The thing I miss the most is right justification of Hebrew in Live Click and in the notes. If or when that comes to Accordance, then I can depart in peace.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[TYA]

As to the floating Instant Details, I found it too slow for me, too. I turned that preference off and turned on Show popover on click and hold (Preferences>Instant Details>Instant Details Display). I prefer it, as parsing appears instantly when I press Option/Alt and click a word. ID then disappears instantly when I click elsewhere. (Cntl-click for other information, like lexical definitions.) Try this setting and see if you like it any better.

 

Thanks Dr. J.  It is indeed another option, and great to have.  On my PC I press "Ctrl" + "Alt" over the word, and get the permanent popup (until I click elsewhere).  I do like having this functionality, and have already been using it.  However, I don't think it solves the issue, because I still prefer the speed and instant parsing without having to press three keys over each word.  This brings me back to the original suggestions / request: simply to make it fade faster, or even not "fade" but instantly disappear.

Edited September 21, 2018 by TYA

[TYA]

Here's something I want to say "Thank you" for in Accordance:

 

I like how I can highlight the Hebrew phrase יְפַת־תֹּאַר וִיפַת מַרְאֶה in Gen 29:17 (Rachel was "beautiful in form, and attractive") and quickly select a lexeme search in Accordance, and find both Gen 29:17 and Gen 39:6 (i.e. the same phrase, except the former is conjugated in the feminine gender for Rachel, while the latter is conjugated in the masculine gender for Joseph).

 

Essentially, Accordance is allowing me to dump multiple words into the search at one time, and it is searching for just the lexeme of each word.  Contrastly, I can copy the same phrase into the search, and then do an inflected search, which will find only that particular gender-conjugated phrase.

 

Presently in BibleWorks, I'm not aware of any way to as quickly accomplish both kinds of searches.  I know that I can manually enter (or copy and paste) lexemes into the search bar, but I like Accordance' ability to just copy the whole phrase quickly into the search, and have Accordance break it apart.  Thanks for this great functionality!

Edited December 4, 2018 by TYA