Text Comparison Tool Must Be Fixed

Although I really like the idea, due to problems with the Text Comparison Tool, I am hardly using it anymore.

The problem is that it loads large segments of text (based on what it is linked to). This puts the program into a suspend mode while it is loading (and this can be a significant amount of time - perhaps one of the reason people complain that the program drags?) AND results in a Text Comparison Window that does not scroll with my work (if it loaded Ex. 1:21-23:33 then it only displays at the top of the window, Ex. 1:21 and the rest of the passage is below that but out of view unless I manually scroll to it). That defeats the purpose as I see it.

When you go to the beginning of a Bible book the effect is even more annoying - the ENTIRE Book is loaded into the window. On my computer, it takes several minutes when I go to Genesis 1. During the time the program does not respond to anything.

I think the tool should be redesigned to only load the first verse of any extended passage and and the first verse of a Bible chapter or Book. This would allow it to keep scrolling with the work.

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Comments

Rosie Perera

David, I see that you have Follow turned on in your Text Comparison window. I think you will find that slows it way down. You don't need it to be on to use Text Comparison. I suggest you turn it off and your experience with TC will be much better. Clilck the panel dropdown menu and choose None to turn Follow off:

David Saylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107180#Comment_107180

Thanks Rosie, but I don't have "Follow" selected. I do have link "A" selected. But if I turn this off the tool seems useless to me. (I tried to create an image like yours, but I can't seem to do that. Sorry.)

Dave

David Gullick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107180#Comment_107180

I use the follow command with text comparison. However, when using the bible that text comparison is linked to I wil enter a verse number as well, so the text comparison tool opens that verse, instead of the whole chapter. So, in your case, instead of entering just Gen 1, try entering Gen 1 1, and see if that helps you. Works for me and I'm not hindered by the text comparison tool

David Saylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107182#Comment_107182

David. Thanks. Actually I do that when I can. I'm not trying to be difficult, but, unless I am setting it up wrong, what I find is that in the normal course of using the program, without my input, Logos will "land" on these extended passages on it's own. It happens when I'm using commentaries (that group their discussion in larger sections) or doing a bible reading plan, etc.

When I have a choice, like you, I always specify a verse. But I am finding that quite often the program itself makes these choices. I think it's one of the reasons people complain about the speed of Logos 4.

Dave

David Saylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107183#Comment_107183

This problem became apparent to me when I started preparing to preach through the book of Hebrews. This put me at the beginning of book for an extended period of time as I did background work, etc. And every time I would scroll back to the beginning, BAMM! the program would stop responding...until the entire book of Hebrews would display in my Text Comparison Window. Eventually I would reset it by specifiying the verse I wanted to see and I would scroll again and BAMM! it would do it again (sorry to sound like Emeril). When I got to chapter 2, and needed to scroll back to verse 1, it would then load the entire chapter. Not so bad, but still it's not very useful because then the Text Comparison tool doesn't not follow you as you move through the chapter.

Since the time it takes to load the book is dependent on the size of the book, it made me happy I wasn't starting the Gospel of Matthew.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107181#Comment_107181

(I tried to create an image like yours, but I can't seem to do that. Sorry.)

No need to. I was able to click and zoom in on your other one to see that indeed it was Link Set "A" rather than the Follow asterisk. If you do ever want to capture just a rectangle of the screen not the whole screen (which I suppose is what you mean by "an image like yours") I was using a nifty program called SnagIt, but you could also paste the full screen image into MS Paint or something and then crop it.

Since the time it takes to load the book is dependent on the size of the book, it made me happy I wasn't starting the Gospel of Matthew.

Ouch! Yes, I concur, the performance isn't ideal, and there should be some way to limit the length of text the Text Comparison window attempts to grab and display. Then perhaps there could be a more>> button at the bottom, like what appears at the end of the Commentary section in a Passage Guide. It would reveal the next chunk of text.

Jonathan West

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107195#Comment_107195

What does "Follow" do? I see it is only available in Text Comparison (not Bible for example) and is not described in help as far as I can see.

David Saylor

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107195#Comment_107195

Thanks Rosie. That was a good idea. I was using Jing, but whenever I tried to capture with the "open box" it would close duing the operation.

This screenshot shows my setup and the problem. Note that The New Bible Commentary (which I often use with my devotional reading) has a verse range in Exodus from 21:1 to 23:33.

As soon as I referred to this commentary to read something in my Bible reading, the Text Comparison Tool set itself to the same verse range. Now usually I only have it open large enough to see on or two verses at a time, but in reality they are ALL there. So if, for example I scroll down to Ex. 22:1 in my normal Bible window, the Text Comparison Box still looks the same as it does now - it does not follow. (I'm sure you understand this already - I'm just rambling on in case someone else who reads this is not following the problem.)

Thanks Again. Dave

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107197#Comment_107197

What does "Follow" do? I see it is only available in Text Comparison (not Bible for example) and is not described in help as far as I can see.

It makes a tool follow the active window. If you switch focus to a different resource, the following tool(s) jump to follow you there. Other tools that have a Follow option besides Text Comparison are Copy Bible Verses, Explorer, CitedBy and Power Lookup.

Follow is documented in the Help, but not in a section of its own, only under each tool that has that capability. For example, here it is under Power Lookup:

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107204#Comment_107204

Thanks Rosie. That was a good idea. I was using Jing, but whenever I tried to capture with the "open box" it would close duing the operation.

Yes, Jing, being free, does just the basics. Other screen capture utilities I've tried also make popups disappear before they take effect. But as you've discovered Ctrl+PrintScreen will keep the popups up. SnagIt (made by the same company as Jing) takes over the Ctrl+PrintScreen functionality so it has the ability to capture popups. It even has an option to capture the mouse pointer, which I've found helpful at times!

Jonathan West

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107205#Comment_107205

Thanks for that - could be useful!

John Fidel

Hi David,

I can sympathize with your issues. What we have discovered is that the Passage Guide is best using pericopes, while the Text comparison tool is often best verse by verse. My work around is to not link the PG with my bibles or the text comparison tool, but to link the Bible and text comparison tool together. Yes, you have to enter the verse you are studying again, but it is just easier to keep reports and resources focused the way I want them when do this.

This does not fix the issue when you change chapters in the bible however.

I hope this helps.

David Gullick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107247#Comment_107247

Hey David. I work similiary to you, but I use the follow option instead of linking it to my Bible and whatever other resources. This way it only looks up a verse when I click on a verse in my Bible. Have you tried using the 'Follow' link?

Ward Walker

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107250#Comment_107250

Over time, I've turned off a lot of Link Sets and Follows; I've got a machine that chews through L4 just fine, but would often find that I wanted to refer to something, just to have it keep changing on me. For example, in TC I prefer to have the whole reference range appear--it is more useful to me. However, once there I want it to stay there--so I manually enter the verse range. That way if I've scrolled in a commentary/etc, it doesn't change TC to just a single verse/verse group.

I've wished that I could impose a one-time "follow" manually...i.e., if I want a resource/tool tab to apply the current index of the tab that has focus--hotkeys, clicking on a button, etc. This can't (yet) be done, so I have to type the ref's instead.

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/107207#Comment_107207

Yes, Jing, being free, does just the basics.

Off topic, but if you set up a hot key for Jing (use the Jing program controls (the gears)) then you can activate Jing using the hot key and your box doesn't close.

Concerning the topic:

I think there are a couple of situations in which it would be really nice to be able to designate a 'master' link resource, that is, choose a resource and set it as the master to the link set and have links only work from that resource to the other links and not visa verse. That way if the NASB was set up as the master, whatever went on in the commentary would not impact your place in the Bible or cause the resetting of the Text Comparison tool. That would seem to alleviate this problem and a couple of others I've found or which have been brought up here.