Separate Search Window Bible Refs & Words

[Enoch]

For years a continuing annoyance with Accordance is the search window. Continually one finds an annoying block followed by an annoying drop down window which has to be dealt with. One wishes to bring up a passage in the Bible, but the word option is activated. One wishes to search for words, but the verse option is activated. One is ever having to select search option & not realizing that the wrong option is on. Is this the Original Sin of Accordance?

 

It should not be rocket science to separate these features. 1) navigating to a passage & 2) searching. Going to a Bible passage is not really a search. On the left side of the line above the search window is found a little menu for text selection. To the right of that menu there is found a combo of 2 buttons where one selects words or verses. To the right of the words-verses selector is a blank, unused space. In that space a window like the search window could be added for writing the Bible book & reference for navigating to that reference.

 

Thus, I officially request separate windows for verse navigation & search, at least as an option selectable in preferences. Also in preferences, it would be nice to be able to disable that pop up error window which follows entering a verse for a word.

 

(Yes, I know that Accordance now has a huge, screen hogging banner which is activated when one activates the program, banner that has separate windows -- but as this is imposed on top of the program & has to be removed, this huge banner is not necessarily desirable).

[Helen Brown]

We are redesigning the entry for the search tab, and will take your request very seriuosly.

 

The "banner" is our Assistant window. You can go to Preferences/Assistant/Search All and turn off the window so it does not appear at startup.

[David Lang]

Enoch,

 

The solution you propose is the one followed by most other Bible programs, but it has its own set of problems.

 

Most Bible programs let you navigate to any verse, but you must see the verse in the context of the entire Bible. Because of this, they have no easy way to show two discontiguous verses together, such as Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. In Accordance, you do a verse search for "Gen 1:1; John 1:1" and you have it. In other programs, you have to go to some separate verse list view. Your proposal to separate navigation from searching would eliminate this capability.

 

Furthermore, merely navigating to a passage is already separated from doing a verse search in Accordance. Simply use the Go To box in the bottom right corner of the Search window to navigate to a passage without changing the search. Of course, if you've entered a search at the top of the window which limits the verses displayed in that window, you can only "go to" one of those displayed verses.

 

If you always want to navigate to a verse in context regardless of whether or not you've previously done a search, simply set the default for Accordance to show all context. Doing that and learning to use the Go To box instead of doing a verse search to get to a passage should give you the workflow you're requesting.

 

Hope this helps.

[Stuart Robertson]

I hope the search tab window will preserve the ability for multiple verses to be entered in the "verse search" mode -- this is something that I absolutely love about Accordance -- the ability to enter multiple scripture references and have the verses appear alongside one another in a single list. Truly beautiful thing indeed.

[Michael J. Bolesta]

Concur with Stuart

[Michael J. Bolesta]

I hope the search tab window will preserve the ability for multiple verses to be entered in the "verse search" mode -- this is something that I absolutely love about Accordance -- the ability to enter multiple scripture references and have the verses appear alongside one another in a single list. Truly beautiful thing indeed.

 

Concur!

[JSGilliom]

I, too, like the verse search mode.

 

When I read the Christmas story to my children, I love being able to enter

 

Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Micah 5:2 ;1 Timothy 3:16 ;Hebrews 1:1-4 ;John 1:1-18 ;Matthew 1:1-17 ;Luke 3:23-38 ;Luke 1:1-80 ;Matthew 1:18-25 ;Luke 2:1-38 ;Matthew 2:1-23 ;Luke 2:39-40 ;Luke 2:41-52

 

in the search argument and having the texts juxtaposed in the order I am wanting to read them!

[mbcvida]

I actually like the search window; its size allows for many non-contiguous passage insertions - as for switching between verse and word search I find the command - semicolon shortcut fast and efficient. I do occasionally get the error popup trying to insert a verse reference into a word search and viceversa. If there is a more efficient method, without sacrificing multipassage capabilities, and without displacing higher priority feature improvements, I'm all for that. Kudos to the Accordance team for providing ongoing feature improvements to an already excellent program.

[Enoch]

Thanks for so many helpful responses. One thing I don't understand, however, is why one brings up the topic of bringing up various passages together. If One window is dedicated to word searches & another to navigation, how would that stop having a program that can bring up various passages when that command is entered in a verse navigation window? To me, this discussion seems a red-herring. But it may be that I don't understand something.

 

Tnx again to all of you.

[R. Mansfield]

Isn't my memory correct that in early versions of Accordance, displaying a passage of scripture and searching for words were done in separate windows? It seems like those couldn't be done in the same window—there was a keyboard combination to switch between the two, I think—and we all cheered when it was changed to the way it is today.

 

Nevertheless, I believe it's wonderful that both can be done from the same window and find it to be a nuisance when using other programs where that won't work. I disagree with Enoch's assertion that the current search window is annoying. I also don't believe the drop down options are annoying, and I appreciate the fact that I can close them when I don't need them.

 

Enoch said, "One is ever having to select search option & not realizing that the wrong option is on. Is this the Original Sin of Accordance?" Well, I often make the same mistake he describes, but I would not call it original sin or blame it on Accordance. I can only blame myself for not paying attention to what I'm doing. However, I am thankful for the fact that when I use the wrong option, Accordance comes behind me and offers the other option instead.

 

 

Very user friendly—and absent-minded-friendly—if I say so myself.

[KevinSoars]

Without wanting to ignore the latest question from Enoch (I am sorry Enoch, I would have no idea how to answer your question!) may I ask David (or someone else) something? Re " if you've entered a search at the top of the window which limits the verses displayed in that window, you can only "go to" one of those displayed verses. How do I know if I have limited the verses displayed?

 

And secondly, Re "If you always want to navigate to a verse in context regardless of whether or not you've previously done a search, simply set the default for Accordance to show all context" whereabouts in Accordance Preferences do I set the default to show all context?

 

Thank you,

 

Kevin.

[JonathanHuber]

One is ever having to select search option & not realizing that the wrong option is on.

 

I don't quite see how having two separate windows for word searching and verse searching would be any better than the current presentation. If you want to switch between the two option, hit "CMD + ;". If they were two different windows, then what? The fact that toggling words/verses is an interruption to a workflow shows just how well Accordance simplifies Bible study. This is an enormous blessing, not a problem. I agree with Rick that having the two options in one window is a great feature.

[Steve King]

How do I know if I have limited the verses displayed?

 

And secondly, Re "If you always want to navigate to a verse in context regardless of whether or not you've previously done a search, simply set the default for Accordance to show all context" whereabouts in Accordance Preferences do I set the default to show all context?

 

Thank you,

 

Kevin.

 

Hi Kevin,

 

You will have limited the verses displayed if you have done some sort of search using the search entry box, either looking for a particular word or a verse/set of verses.

 

So if you searched for the word 'dragon' in the ESV you would get 18 hits in 17 verses and it would display the 17 verses where the word 'dragon' was found.

 

If you then used the go to field and entered John 3:16 it would actually go to Rev 12:3 because John 3:16 is not currently displayed.

 

If you have not done any searching (and therefore have an asterisk in the search field) you will have all the verses displayed.

 

Usually you should be able to tell from what is in the search field, although to be really sure you can look at the verse displayed comment just below the search field (to the left of the slider). That will say something like 'Verse n of 31202' if all verses are displayed.

If you have done a word search (for example 'dragon') it will say '18 Hits verse n of 17'

If you have previously done a verse search, for example you searched John 3:16 it would say 'verse 1 of 1'

If you searched for John in a verse search it would display all of John's gospel and say 'verse 1 of 878'

 

I hope that helps.

 

The default to display all context is under the preferences 'search tabs' screen. You need to select 'words' using the radio button and then you can change the default context to 'A'

 

Regards

 

Steve