Allow collections to be tabs

I am using Logos 6. Right now I can create a pane and place a resource in that pane which appears as a tab at the top. When I click on the parallel resource icon I'm supposed to get a list of resources Logos thinks are similar to the one I am looking at as well as presenting one of my collections that that resource is in. However this is very unreliable. Some resources refuse to appear and when I open them in a new tab and click on the parallel resource icon it tells me there are no parallel resources. I don't understand nor care about the details of Logos' thinking, I just want the following:

I would like to be able to create a collection and treat the collection like a resource, that is, place it as one of the tabs at the top of a pane so that I can have the resources I've selected be available all the time. For example I'd like to open a collection of all the resources I want to use in a study of Romans. I don't want Logos to interfere with my collection, I only want those resources and I always want those resources.

I'd like a collection of Greek helps without having Logos decide that certain ones don't connect and therefore have no parallel resources.

Here's an example that confuses me. I have Holman's Handbook open to a passage in Romans. I click on the parallel resource tab and it brings up my collection on Titus. I guess it's because the handbook is in that collection. But that's useless.I want to see the collection on Romans.

If I open up Zuck's "Biblical Theology" I won't even be shown a parallel resource icon. That's nuts because I have several other Theology reference books as well as a defined collection of Theology references of which Zuck's book is a part.

It's this kind of inconsistency that makes it difficult to use my library.

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Comments

Mark Smith

Jim, I understand what you want. By saying you don't care about the details of Logos' thinking you show that you also don't understand how parallel passages work (or don't care to). Therein lies part of the problem, and is the reason why you will probably never get what you want.

Let me try to explain. Others can probably do a better job, but hopefully this will help.

For resources to be able to run parallel they must contain similar data that can be easily linked. For example Bible dictionaries can be easily linked through article titles. Logos has defined hundreds of individual data types (such as a dictionary articles and scripture references) that it uses to tag resources and this tagging allows parallel resources to work. If, and only if, two resources share a common datatype, can they be linked together. Putting them in collection will not cause them to be linked and function together.

So your desire to have a collection that is somehow respected by Logos and works as a parallel set simply can't happen. Logos must have discovered a common data type to link those resource in the first place and have applied that data type.

You state you have some "no parallel resources" encounters. These occur when the data you have selected in your resource has no matching data in any other resource you own. (For example, if in a Bible dictionary you have an article, "The Route of the Exodus" and you click on parallel resource and get this message it is telling you that you do not own another dictionary with an artifice with that title. That's a time-saver.)

Zuck and the other Biblical theologies are each outlined and approached differently. I am not sure how Logos could link them so parallel resources would work. This is the reason you won't see a parallel resource icon on their resource locator bars.

I'm not sure what Romans resources you have, but they should show up in the RH panel of parallel resources when you are in Romans in your Holman Bible Handbook (see below). (If you put the handbook in your Romans collection that collection will open instead of the Titus one. However I don't recommend putting a handbook in a collection of commentaries, but it is up to you. If you leave it out, your Romans commentaries will show up on the RH panel of parallel resources automatically, which is what I'd think you'd want.)

Does that help?

John Fidel

Hi Jim,

Using the Favorites tool is the best way to save resources and open them all in tabs. Below is a screenshot for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. What I do is open Favorites and select "new folder", enter name.. Dead Sea Scrolls. I then open my collections to my dead sea scrolls collection. I then drag the books I want to open in a tab at my command to the favorites folder. Lastly right mouse click on the folder and select open all. A pane will open with each resource in a tab.

You can close the collections and study. You can also save the layout if you do not want to go back to the favorites tool each time, but I do not know your workflow as to whether this makes sense. It is easy once set up and you can use the collections you have created to populate the folders. Just know that you need to drop one resource at a time.. at least I had to.

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/884229#Comment_884229

Mark, thank you for your patient reply. I understand what you are saying. However try to see it from my point of view. Logos allows me to access books by "prioritization" (which I think is rather unintuitive and confusing), by collections (which is a great feature) and by opening resources and manually dragging them to "favorites" (which is time consuming) and to search for resources in my Library through a command line syntax I can't always remember and seem to get right. Logos has worked hard to create what you call "parallel" resources that allow a user to move between resources driven entirely by your concept of similar data or entries and that is probably its greatest feature as you know. But I would find it most useful and time efficient to create a collection, put the collection in a pane as a tab and then be able to move among those resources. If the data fits as a "parallel" resource then it can open to an appropriate place. If it doesn't then it should open to the last place I was reading. That's simple and useful and allows me to quickly move among MY resources regardless of how Logos wants to function.

In addition consider this example: if I have a tab open to some resource, I can click on the parallel resource icon and move among true parallel resources (as Logos sees them) BUT if I happen to select something in the list that ISN'T a true parallel resource, then the parallel resource icon GOES AWAY and I'm stuck having to find some other means of getting back to one of the valid parallel resources. In other words Logos punishes me for making a wrong choice. I find that among Greek resources most often, but it happens with others.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/884402#Comment_884402

But when I want to simply create a collection, put the collection in a pane as a tab

Tab? It functions like the tab on a resource? When I click on the tab, what do I see, a listing of your collection?

then be able to move among those resources

Move among them in what way? Just open them one at a time?

I'm stuck having to find some other means of getting back to one of the valid parallel resources

That's what the back arrow on the resource's locator bar does (you can use your keyboard back arrow (ALT-arrow), too). It takes you back one at a time to the other resources that were opened in that resource pane. Do I misunderstand?

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/884286#Comment_884286

Using the Favorites tool is the best way to save resources and open them all in tabs.

I think you're exactly right. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes another pane to hold the favorites and creates a clutter of tabs since each time you open a resource it creates a new tab. The point I was hoping to get across is that Logos has a wonderful feature of collections, but doesn't make best use of it.

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/884407#Comment_884407

Tab? It functions like the tab on a resource? When I click on the tab, what do I see, a listing of your collection?

Good questions. Some ideas:

Right now if I click on the parallel resource icon in the tab "The Message of Romans" I'll get three columns, my Romans collection, Commentaries, and All Parallel Resources. The Romans collection list contains only 10 out of the 13 items I have in that collection. I understand why.

However Logos could list all of the collection and mark the true parallel resources. (As a ramification when I use the right and left arrows in that resource I could go to any item in the collection and if it is not a true parallel resource, just go to the last position it was at in the text. (There are other possibilities here, there could be a menu selection for the tab to only use true parallel resources or not). After all you already have a Commentaries and All Parallel resources list, so I don't see that it stretches the use of this icon too much and would definitely be more useful.)

Alternatively, you could have a new icon for collections that opens something similar to the parallel resource pop-up and lists all the collections this resource is a part of again marking true parallel resources - or not.

In addition it would be nice when clicking on the plus sign to open a new tab that the list of possible things to open is a collection. The new tab would open either to the first resource in the collection or the last displayed one.

Move among them in what way? Just open them one at a time?

Move among them in exactly the same manner as is done now. Right and left arrow, or using an icon to change the contents of the tab's pane to the selected resource. However include all resources in the collection, not just true parallel ones.

That's what the back arrow on the resource's locator bar does

I had forgotten about using this when I stumble upon a resource that takes away the parallel resource icon. I guess I think that if I got there through the parallel resource icon, I should be able to get back. I guess that's just my stubborn mind fouling me up.[:$]

I realize that my suggestion will not sit well with Logos because I know and appreciate that you have all put considerable thought into the consistent use of icons and menus, but in this case you are so close to what I would consider a much better user experience. As always it's just my opinion.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/884427#Comment_884427

Thanks for the explanation. It seems you want to pre-load what is essentially a list of resources and then in some way be able to easily go from one to the next. You only want to see one at a time and you want to be able to easily navigate up and down through the list. Fair enough.

Would you want a Table of Contents side panel or do you envision the resources opening up in a second panel while the 'collection' remains separate?

Jim

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/884437#Comment_884437

Would you want a Table of Contents side panel or do you envision the resources opening up in a second panel while the 'collection' remains separate?

I'm not envisioning your question. My thought is that the panel would display just as it does now for any set of parallel resources, just that I can also move to resources that are part of a collection but are not considered true parallel resources by Logos.

Upon further thought I can see a confusion arising if a work is part of several collections. It may be then that a new icon needs to appear next to the parallel resources icon. This icon would appear if the views resource is part of any collection and would allow the user to select which collection is to be currently active. That might be the best way to leave the parallel collection icon functionality alone. It would be used to select a specific truly parallel resources if so desired otherwise the right and left arrow keys would move among anything in the chosen collection as I earlier described.

In my opinion this would make accessing libraries much more direct. Hit the plus tab, choose a collection which opens the first (or last used) item in the collection and then allows me to browse through the collection both by parallel resources and by unparallel resources. That way I could define a collection useful for a particular study which may include a mixture of parallel and non-parallel resources and have access to it through one tab in a pane.