Format improvements?

[Donald Cobb]

Hi all, 

 

I've been enjoying Accordance and the UI, especially in reading texts. There are a couple things, though, that I would like to suggest in reaction to a couple minor frustrations as I work with it. Would it be possible to implement the following, in the next iteration:

 

1) have the possibility of justifying texts (in texts and tools), rather than have everything indented to the left (except for Hebrew texts, of course). I'm surprised this hasn't been suggested more often. For a program that doubles as a reader, this would seem almost a necessity.

 

2) make a distinction in space options between paragraphs and chapters. Especially when reading Biblical texts (BHS or NA, etc.), it's frustrating visually to have no difference between the two. I would like to be able to keep the paragraphs together except when it comes to the end of a chapter. It's helpful to know that, as in printed books, there is a chapter break and that I don't just run into the next paragraph. Of course, I know that paragraphs are secondary in Ancient texts, but there's no difference here, in principle, between a printed book and an electronic one.

 

3) make it possible to modify the height of a paragraph break. As it is, it's "one size fits all." But if it's too much for you (and it's much more than in any printed book), there's nothing you can do about it.

 

4) The following request has been previously made but please, please add some option so that the character size in Instant Details can be made to be consistent. I understand that in the text itself it may be desirable to have the endnotes smaller than the main text, in order to follow the printed version. But it's frustrating to have to increase ID by two point sizes to have the endnotes readable in the same size as the hyperlinked Bible texts (for instance), only then to hover over a Greek or Hebrew verse that's now two times too big! As has been pointed out, perhaps making an option, so that those who want it can have a consistent ID size, would allow the smaller type in the main text to stay as is.

 

5) Add TOCs to texts like Ben Sira Canoncal order ou Manuscript order texts, Qumran texts, Comfort and Barrett Papyri texts, Gospel parallels, etc. It's sometimes a pain (yes!) to get to the right passage of the right text because 1) you only have the lower right-hand selection panel to bring up the passage and 2) the only reference that this panel happens to recognize is not the one that is embedded, say, in the canonical order text. This is particularly true in the Comfort and Barrett ressource. When one is looking for a passage on the fly, this is particularly frustrating!

 

Thanks for bearing with my rantings! Anything that can be done on these points would be received with gratitude. Many thanks for all the folks at work on this program. I have a huge appreciation for Accordance!

 

Don Cobb

[R. Mansfield]

Regarding your fifth suggestion for table of contents, you can create a ToC of sorts with any Text by going to the Display menu and selecting "List all book names." If you click on any of the hyperlinks, it will take you to that specific section of the text. This feature works better with some texts than others, but it might provide what you're looking for here in regard to easier navigation in some texts.

 

[Donald Cobb]

Thank you Rick. Nice feature. This actually seems to equate the lower right-hand scroll menu.

 

However, in the case of the "manuscript order" ressources (NT Papyri, Qumran biblical and non-biblical mss, Ben Sira...), the problem is that, once you have gotten to the document you're looking for, you still need to scroll through the whole thing to get to the passage you want to go to. Depending on the length of that document (e.g., the Isaiah Scroll!), that can be time consuming to the point of becoming impractical. What is needed is a collapsable TOC that would allow you to click on, say P46 then, within that, to 1Corinthians, then to ch. 2 and v. 11, etc. 

 

I'm aware that this would mean a fair amount of detail work, but it would make a huge difference in terms of user friendliness. As it is, using these modules is somewhat unwieldy.  

 

Do you know if there are any plans for improving the UI along the lines of what I suggested in my other points? I enjoy the UI, but I really would appreciate seeing the things I mentioned implemented!

 

Don

[R. Mansfield]

Do you know if there are any plans for improving the UI along the lines of what I suggested in my other points? I enjoy the UI, but I really would appreciate seeing the things I mentioned implemented!

 

I don't know off the top of my head; but I do know that these kinds of issues are always being evaluated, and the developers have or will see your suggestions. 

[Donald Cobb]

Thank you Rick for your reply. So we'll keep our fingers crossed. But maybe that's not quite the thing to say for a Bible program! 

[Unix]

I would think I can search the reference within the document? If doing so does it scroll easily there then? If not see it as a Feature Request specific to these types of texts! What I'm thinking of is when I search in Windows Notepad within the content an open .txt file, from Ctrl+F, I get to the point in the text I want to. With a reference search field search under Accordance I would feel comfortable using such a feature even if briefly having to memorise the latter parts of the reference:

However, in the case of the "manuscript order" resources (NT Papyri, Qumran biblical and non-biblical mss, Ben Sira...), the problem is that, once you have gotten to the document you're looking for, you still need to scroll through the whole thing to get to the passage you want to go to. Depending on the length of that document (e.g., the Isaiah Scroll!), that can be time consuming to the point of becoming impractical. What is needed is a collapsable TOC that would allow you to click on, say P46 then, within that, to 1Corinthians, then to ch. 2 and v. 11, etc. 

 

I'm aware that this would mean a fair amount of detail work, but it would make a huge difference in terms of user friendliness. As it is, using these modules is somewhat unwieldy.

 

+1 to:

2) make a distinction in space options between paragraphs and chapters. Especially when reading Biblical texts (BHS or NA, etc.), it's frustrating visually to have no difference between the two. I would like to be able to keep the paragraphs together except when it comes to the end of a chapter. It's helpful to know that, as in printed books, there is a chapter break and that I don't just run into the next paragraph. Of course, I know that paragraphs are secondary in Ancient texts, but there's no difference here, in principle, between a printed book and an electronic one.

 

3) make it possible to modify the height of a paragraph break. As it is, it's "one size fits all." But if it's too much for you (and it's much more than in any printed book), there's nothing you can do about it.

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by Unix

[TYA]

However, in the case of the "manuscript order" ressources (NT Papyri, Qumran biblical and non-biblical mss, Ben Sira...), the problem is that, once you have gotten to the document you're looking for, you still need to scroll through the whole thing to get to the passage you want to go to.

 

I'd like to chip in and echo my own previous request for more information in the "Display All Book Names" for ease of navigation--especially for less familiar texts.  I'm often at a loss to know how Accordance expects me to find my way through certain resources--meaning, how to type a particular book, chapter, or verse in the search bar.  So improvements to TOC's may be part of the solution here.  Also, my suggestion regarding some kind of index of chapter and verse numbers, so that one knows the "dimensions" of the work.

Edited January 17, 2019 by TYA