Accordance 9 Improvement Ideas

[Robert N]

Accordance Ideas for Improvement

 

 

 

 

 

[jpkang]

It sounds like you would benefit by working through the training DVD materials (available online now) and relevant podcasts... but I will engage some of your "ideas" here. (And remember that Accordance is coded so that it runs on System 7... without the benefit of modern APIs.)

 

• In the Search area the entry of a a verse reference should be recognized even in the Word mode.

The offer to run a word search erroneously entered in Verse mode was added not too long ago, so perhaps if the parsing is not problematic, this could be implemented... given enough time and resources. But why not use cmd-; to switch between search modes?

 

• In the Search area the omission of a space between the verse book and the verse number should be accepted.

Please clarify: did you mean chapter and verse numbers (problematic since you need some kind of delimiter here in many cases to resolve ambiguity) or book name and chapter number?

 

• In the Search area the inclusion of a space between the book number and the book name should work and not generate an exception.

This currently works; "1 Cor; 2 Cor" (for example) will pull up those two books. (If you meant book name and chapter number [e.g., John3], I would have to disagree about the desirability of such a syntactical allowance.)

 

• Add ability to go back and forward between multiple search entries in the Library Window e.g. If I search for "Dictionary" it finds the first one, but there is no way to find the next by jumping to it.

Press cmd-g to go to the next match (as generally in OS X). I know the desire to have the Library search be more Spotlight-like, which would probably solve a number of these types of problems.

 

• Add the ability to create user notes on non-Biblical texts

I believe this has been requested before and may eventually be added... again pending time and resources.

 

• Add Bookmarks on non-Biblical texts and a Summary of Book marks

Ditto to the first; not sure exactly what you have in mind by the latter.

 

• Add rollover word definitions (for all words... especially old English like Geneva and Bishop and KJV and, hopefully, others in the future as well as other languages)

You can currently use the Services menu to look up any selection in the OS X Dictionary app, search in Google, etc.

[Helen Brown]

Robert N, on 02 January 2011 - 01:51 PM, said:

 

• In the Search area the inclusion of a space between the book number and the book name should work and not generate an exception.

 

This currently works; "1 Cor; 2 Cor" (for example) will pull up those two books. (If you meant book name and chapter number [e.g., John3], I would have to disagree about the desirability of such a syntactical allowance.)

 

A space is allowed only onthe first reference, otherwise it is not clear whether the book number belongs to the previous reference or the next one.

 

Robert N, on 02 January 2011 - 01:51 PM, said:

 

• Add the ability to create user notes on non-Biblical texts

 

I believe this has been requested before and may eventually be added... again pending time and resources.

 

This is currently available. If you create a new User Notes file when a non-Biblical text is the front tab, the notes will belong to that text.

 

Robert N, on 02 January 2011 - 01:51 PM, said:

 

• Add Bookmarks on non-Biblical texts and a Summary of Book marks

 

Ditto to the first; not sure exactly what you have in mind by the latter.

 

Bookmarks work on all texts but cannot be saved, yet. We do have plans for this feature.

 

Robert N, on 02 January 2011 - 01:51 PM, said:

 

• Add rollover word definitions (for all words... especially old English like Geneva and Bishop and KJV and, hopefully, others in the future as well as other languages)

 

You can currently use the Services menu to look up any selection in the OS X Dictionary app, search in Google, etc.

 

If you get Webster and make it the top English dictionary, its definition will appear in Instant Details when you press command as you roll over a word.

 

• Add The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (978-0917006227) and The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (978-0840776945).

 

• Add Halley's Bible Handbook.

 

• Add ability to highlight/color code Library entries.

 

• Add an Apply button to the Define Highlight Styles dialog box.

 

• Add Bible Reading Plans and Tracking

 

• Add Bible verse memorization

 

• Add the Orthodox Study Bible

 

Halley's is in preparaton, Treasury and Orthodox Study Bible we are negotiating for licenses.

 

We have a Reading Plan but have plans to improve the implementation.

 

Thanks for the feedback though. We do listen... cannot do everything at once.

[David Lang]

A space is allowed only on the first reference, otherwise it is not clear whether the book number belongs to the previous reference or the next one.

 

Mark this day, ladies and gentleman, because we actually caught Helen in a mistake! For years, what she wrote about the space between the number and name of a numbered book (1 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, etc.) was true. Accordance used to allow you to enter a string of references without requiring you to use commas and semicolons between the various references. So you could enter something like this:

 

1 Sam 1 Mark 2Co 3:3

 

Entering something like this would give you 1 Samuel 1, the entire book of Mark, and 2 Corinthians 3:3. Yet because of this flexibility, there was an inherent ambiguity if you entered this:

 

1 Sam 1 Mark 2 Co 3:3

 

With the space between the 2 and Cor, it is unclear whether I'm looking for Mark 2 and Colossians 3:3 or Mark and 2 Corinthians 3:3, so Accordance would accept the space between 1 and Sam because it was at the beginning of the string of references and unambiguous, but it would not accept any such spaces later in the string of references.

 

At some point, we realized that the inability to enter a space between the number and the book name in some cases but not others was confusing to people, while very few people were entering references with just spaces between books. So we changed the behavior to require that commas or semicolons be entered between distinct references, and to allow for the space between the book number and name anywhere in the string of references. In short, whether you enter 2 Co or 2Co, Accordance will accept it every time, provided it comes at the beginning of the string or it follows a comma or semicolon.

[Kit]

This is currently available. If you create a new User Notes file when a non-Biblical text is the front tab, the notes will belong to that text.

 

Hi Helen,

May you please explain in more detail? For example, I create a new user Notes file when JOSEPH is opened; however, the note file does not allow me to jog note anyway.

Also, how about other modules, such as commentaries, theology books and other English tools?

Assuming this works, if one note file is only for one module, there would be lots of notes files at the end and I do not think this is practical.

Why not implementing something more streamline? The way that iBooks handles bookmarks and notes is very good indeed.

My 2 cents.

Chris

[Steve Lo Vullo]

Mark this day, ladies and gentleman, because we actually caught Helen in a mistake! For years, what she wrote about the space between the number and name of a numbered book (1 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, etc.) was true. Accordance used to allow you to enter a string of references without requiring you to use commas and semicolons between the various references. So you could enter something like this:

 

1 Sam 1 Mark 2Co 3:3

 

Entering something like this would give you 1 Samuel 1, the entire book of Mark, and 2 Corinthians 3:3. Yet because of this flexibility, there was an inherent ambiguity if you entered this:

 

1 Sam 1 Mark 2 Co 3:3

 

With the space between the 2 and Cor, it is unclear whether I'm looking for Mark 2 and Colossians 3:3 or Mark and 2 Corinthians 3:3, so Accordance would accept the space between 1 and Sam because it was at the beginning of the string of references and unambiguous, but it would not accept any such spaces later in the string of references.

 

At some point, we realized that the inability to enter a space between the number and the book name in some cases but not others was confusing to people, while very few people were entering references with just spaces between books. So we changed the behavior to require that commas or semicolons be entered between distinct references, and to allow for the space between the book number and name anywhere in the string of references. In short, whether you enter 2 Co or 2Co, Accordance will accept it every time, provided it comes at the beginning of the string or it follows a comma or semicolon.

 

 

David, does this apply to Scripture links in User Notes also? I have been assuming for a long time that you could not separate a number from a book name (e.g., I must have 1Cor rather than 1 Cor), except for the initial reference in a string.

[David Lang]

Steve, I just tried entering a string of references with a couple of numbered book names, all with spaces in a user note. I then selected the whole thing and made it a single link. It worked fine.

 

That said, I would recommend making each reference in a string a separate link. It's a little more work, but it lets you hover over each reference and see it previewed in the Instant Details box.

[RobM]

Hi Helen,

May you please explain in more detail? For example, I create a new user Notes file when JOSEPH is opened; however, the note file does not allow me to jog note anyway.

Also, how about other modules, such as commentaries, theology books and other English tools?

Assuming this works, if one note file is only for one module, there would be lots of notes files at the end and I do not think this is practical.

Why not implementing something more streamline? The way that iBooks handles bookmarks and notes is very good indeed.

My 2 cents.

Chris

 

 

A while ago, I created a User Note file (the way Helen described) for the non-biblical text the Qumran Sectarian MSS module (QUMRAN):

 

 

It is not that big of a deal (IMO) to create individual files for each non-Biblicalical text module for two reasons: 1) there are not that many non-Biblical text modules that are 'Text' modules and 2) typically, there is a lot of texts in one non-Biblical text modules (e.g., QUMRAN, INSCRIP, INSNWS, AFL-T, PSEUD-T, ETC).

 

You cannot make User Note files attached to General Tools (i.e., theology books or other English tools).

[circuitrider]

Halley's is in preparaton, Treasury and Orthodox Study Bible we are negotiating for licenses.

 

I am thrilled to hear that about the Treasury! Looking forward to having it on Accordance.

[Enoch]

What is a continual pain in my something somewhere, is that I am ever fighting to get a search done with the search window. To me having to choose verse vs. word is a big inconvenience as well as that drop down pane pain, which inserts things I don't want on the search window.

 

The solution would be very simple. To the right of the verse/word buttons, have a second search pain devoted just to verses. Then I could put all my verse searches in a different search window. At least this could be a preference to have.

 

Now for ice cream on the cake, one could put both a verse range in the verse search window & a word in the word window!