Very sluggish

[RevM]

This is not a bug as such, but I am finding the Accordance interface very slow on my computer. Other programs are very much faster. For example resizing windows is very slow, there is a delay betweeen clicking a menu item and the menu appearing, Entering search terms is slow, general screen drawing is slow etc. The background processing itself is plenty fast enough but the overall impression is of a very sluggish program.

 

I am using v13.0.4, (v12 was quite a bit faster).

I am running on a Dell Optiplex with i5-4670, 24GB RAM, SSD HDD with plenty of space, GTX710 video card alongside Intel 4600 graphics.

I take care to keep all my drivers up to date.

I run multiple monitors.

[TYA]

For example resizing windows is very slow, there is a delay betweeen clicking a menu item and the menu appearing, Entering search terms is slow, general screen drawing is slow etc. The background processing itself is plenty fast enough but the overall impression is of a very sluggish program.

 

Amen.  Scrolling in texts has always been aggravatingly slow for me, and I'm running Windows 7 with Accordance v.13.  But I had the same delay back in v.12.

 

When I have the Text Browser open, especially in conjunction with other windows, I have a solid 1-2 second delay from the moment I scroll to mouse wheel until something actually moves on the screen.  A true 1-2 second delay, constantly.

 

And typing, backspacing, and deleting are notably slow as well, so that about 25% of the time I try to copy and paste a verse reference into the search field (which is frequent), I get a glitch, and the text goes back to Gen 1:1, or something like that.

 

I don't have this problem with any other software on my computer, including two other well-known Bible software programs.  It is unique to Accordance.

 

Now, to be fair, if I open one and only one Accordance text, then the delay is much less--only about 1/4 of a second, so to at least some degree, the delay is correlated to the number of texts I have open.  But in BibleWorks, I had dozens of texts open, without the slightest delay.

 

Besides, I never open Accordance to sit and read only one translation of the Bible without other windows / tabs open.  In fact, I always have the Text Browser open.  So there is still a noticeable delay even when I have one and only one native Accordance text open.  The problem can't therefore be blamed on me, I believe.

Edited February 2, 2020 by TYA

[mgvh]

I've noticed this also with 13.0.4. I have plenty of horses in my machine, and Accordance is only using 31.7MB of memory according to Task Manager.

Example: I click on the icon to open the Library, and it takes 3+ seconds for it to appear.

I do have quite a few resources open...

[TYA]

I'll also add that the verse slider (upper left) is now more sluggish than it has ever been.  If I want to click and drag it all the way from one side to the other, I often have to try two or three times, as though it gets stuck.  In other words, I can't just quickly wisk it from one side to the other.

[miketisdell]

Version 13 is much slower for many of the standard windows tasks (like re-sizing windows) than Accordance 12 was. I reported that quite a while back. When resizing windows, I have found that I have to click on the window and they wait a second or two before moving or it simply doesn't resize at all. If I click and wait, then I it resizes but much moves slowly and kind of jumping as it moves. It does not keep up with the mouse pointer. 

[TYA]

(like re-sizing windows)

 

If this refers to dragging (resizing window panes), then I also reported this back in beta testing for v.13 (here).  But I work out of fixed Workspaces most of the time, in which I've already painstakingly placed everything exactly where I want it to be.  Therefore, I don't do a lot of resizing panes / windows in Accordance.

 

My biggest personal complaint resides with the highly-delayed scrolling of texts when I have a Text Browser open.  Again, just to repeat, there technically shouldn't be any delay even when I have one and only one Accordance text open, and yet there is a very slight delay.  But when I have a Text Browser open (which is all the time), I'm plagued with a solid 1-2 second delay, which is quite big if you ask me.

Edited February 3, 2020 by TYA

[RevM]

Seems like this is a common problem then. It does make the program frustrating to use in coming from Bibleworks which was slick as you like.

I wonder if Accordance is built with some kind of extra layer to enable the Mac code to be used on Wondows? Or perhaps somebody has forgotten to turn of debugging before the final build ;-)

[RevM]

Just a thought. If, as seems possible, the issue is the speed of screen drawing, would a faster graphics card help?

[Λύχνις Δαν]

I went over this a bit this morning. I don't use the Text Browser all that much but it is very sluggish scrolling on Windows. I also notice the lag to display a menu but only when coming from focus on another program. Once I'm in Acc and have had a menu display it's ok on subsequent menu operations. I tried switching to my Nvidia card from Integrated graphics. Made no difference. I'm running an i7 16GB RAM and all SSD on Win 10. So the kit is well up to it. I have noticed that there is a brief pause with library opening but just checking it now it's opening in under a second I would guess so not disastrous.But I suspect the number of installed modules is important here.

 

I don't have 12 installed any more so I haven't done a comparison.

 

thx

D

[TYA]

would a faster graphics card help?

 

I am by no means an expert on the more technical end, but when I point out that only Accordance has thing kind of lag out of the programs I use, then it would seem to pinpoint the issue with Accordance--not with my graphics card.

 

As you yourself mentioned, BibleWorks (which holds a large amount of information) didn't have the same problem.  Why then would the issue be relegated to your / our computers.  Can't Accordance do something to speed this up?  That would be *really* helpful, considering that I spend much of my time in Accordance.

Edited February 9, 2020 by TYA

[miketisdell]

Can we get feedback from Accordance?

[miketisdell]

Any feedback from Accordance?

[RevM]

It's good to know it's not just me. Accordance really need to get this sorted. For me the biggest issues are:

1. Typing in search worde or Bible verses. There is at least a 1 second delay before each character appears.

2. Resizing windows. Can be 2 or 3 second delay before the window redraws in the new position.

3. Opening resources or clicking hot links is very slow.

4. Scrollin through a resource is very slow.

5. Closing or maximising a windows is slow.

 

On the plus side instant details appear instantly in the box. So it can be done!

 

None of my other programs behave this slowly. I also us 'Wordsearch Bible' and, while it is a lot more basic than Accordance, it responds instantly to all operations.

 

This is really impacting me almost to the point of making Accordance unusable.

 

Please, please, PLEASE Accordance can you address this issue! it is hampering what is otherwise a fantastic program.

[Joel Brown]

Thanks for all of the feedback.

 

The Windows app had to go through some major under-the-hood changes as part of v13, which also involved changing its underlying renderer to DirectX.  As with any major changes, there are always some growing pains as we get everything working again and optimizing where need be.  One of the interesting things about DirectX is that I see a lot more variety in speed on Windows than on Mac.  On my development PC (decent machine, but 5+ years old), everything is very snappy.  Even on my 10 year old Windows 7 machine everything moves pretty smoothly.  However, we certainly recognize that there are areas of both specific and general optimization, and it is a fairly high priority item for us.

 

We'll keep you posted as we are able to get the optimizations live.

[rcdeacon]

Thank you Joel. I also have noted some slowness but not enough to post about. Perhaps what I do with Accordance is not big league stuff and so it was not as noticeable for me. Thanks you all you and the team do, it is appreciated!

 

Bob

[TYA]

We'll keep you posted as we are able to get the optimizations live.

 

 

Be assured that these will be very appreciated.  For me, one of the biggest benefits to using Accordance is the original language research--the ability to view many ancient versions in different languages at one time, and in one place (viz., the Text Browser).  But this is also what causes the biggest lag (again, a solid 1-2 seconds).  But even with one single version, as I mentioned before, there is still a noticeable lag.  Thus, any and all improvements will be greatly appreciated.

 

(Not to forget that v.13 created this awful "Accordance falls apart" syndrome, which honestly happens about 3-5 times per day.  No one can continue like this forever.

Edited February 16, 2020 by TYA

[RevM]

Interesting development!

 

I've just had reason to use Accordance on my i5 Microsoft Surface Pro 3, and it is slick and quick! All the same modules installed. Integrated intel graphics and very high res screen.

 

It looks like the painful slowness is machine dependant. Does it have a problem with NVidia graphics cards (doubtful) or multiple monitors (doubtful) or multiple graphics processors in one machine?

 

I'm very happy to post more specs of my machines if they will help. 

[Helen Brown]

Please do.

[RevM]

Here you go:

 

Desktop machine:

Dell Optiplex with i5-4670, 24GB RAM, 3x SSD HDDs with plenty of space, GTX710 video card alongside Intel 4600 graphics.

Two monitors running from the NVidia card, one 2k and one 4k

Two monitors running from the intel graphics, both 2k but one ultrawide.

Running Windows 10 Pro

I keep Windows 10 updated and I use the latest NVidia drivers.

 

Microsoft Surface:

Totally standard Surface Pro 3 with i5 and 8Gb RAM  and 256Gb SSD.

 

If you would like detailed software versions (of DirectX etc.) then, if you can suggest a utility program to dig out the information, I am happy to provide these too.

[KevinPurcell]

I too am seeing very slow behavior on a SurfaceBook first gen - here's a link to the full detailed specs from MS

I wonder if this is the same reason I am having this problem that I posted about here: slow download

 

I also have a self built Windows machine and a Mac. On those devices I see no issues.

[Viktor]

@Joel Brown what does the workspace configuration you're testing performance with, look like?

 

In a real-world bible research application, there are multiple interconnected tab groups

• of various bible texts with parallels and interlinears,
• of simultaneously immediately visible analyses
• — across multiple windows (on multiple monitors), etc.

But even with just a few synced tabs – let's say three (English & Hebrew/Greek combined with interlinear display & TSK/Commentary)
– I'm experiencing veeery sluggish behaviour,

• with tabs locking up to white surface upon search and entry of bible reference
• excruciatingly slow scrolling

It's good to hear that steps have been taken for modernization with v13, however it's been such a long time since then,
that I wonder if Accordance cares about the UX of their Windows users at all.
My perception is that the .NET + DirectX based rendering and performance of functionalities these depend on,
are handled rather stepmotherly. 😢

 

Here is a setup, that I use for research, covering

Bible texts with analyses on the left and lexicons on the right.

 

 

Minimizing the number of tabs is not an option, as I really need all of them in place and
actively use all of them when I research e.g. the use of Greek words in the Hebrew bible and Septuagint.

 

Please do invest in optimizing the UX, especially UI performance for Windows,
we would appreciate that so much! 🙂

If there is already work being done on this, please keep us in the loop,
as I'm eagerly awaiting improvements and by the lack of it,
have been discouraged from using Accordance more often because it's such a pain — even with a smaller configuration.

 

kind regards,
Viktor