Verbum Search through Tip of the Day #1 ... yes, I'm back
Note: this is a very different approach than my original Tip of the Day series. This is intended for people who are using Logos at a low level and want to learn to use it more effectively. However, it will cover not only the search options but the interpretation of the data returned. If there is no feedback, I may revert to doing it in document form only. Give it a couple of weeks to get into a bit more meat of the topics before deciding whether or not it will ultimately be of any use to you.
Introduction
One of the most common complaints about Verbum/Logos is that the Search is too complex. Unfortunately, given the power of the Search, it simply is complex – the number of terms that one must know to use all its power is overwhelming. On the other hand, you only need to know the terms needed for the questions you want to ask. There is another element in the complexity that falls squarely on the user. You must be able to define how you will tell if the results meet your criteria or not. Questions like “Give me all the times God was disappointed with the Israelites” require that you know how to identify a case of “disappointment”.
I hope through a slow, methodical, and repetitive set of tips to make the Verbum search more approachable, to encourage you to learn the vocabulary, and to teach sufficient linguistics and logic to ask answerable questions. We will start by working through Biblical Person, Biblical Place, Biblical Thing, and Biblical Event.
Biblical person: Searches and available information
Tip 1: Biblical person via Find, the string search
Please be generous with your additional details, corrections, suggestions, and other feedback. This is being built in a .docx file for a PBB which will be shared periodically.
Next post: tip 2
Resource Panel Menu
From Verbum Help:
[quote]
“The Panel menu is located in the top-right corner of the resource panel. The Panel menu displays:
• . . .
• Find (in this panel) — Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows) — Overlays a find box in the upper-right of the resource. Find (in this panel) looks for the text in the resource as typed, and is not to be confused with Inline Search, which serves as a more thorough, true search.”[1]
This tells me that if I type “Hannah” i.e. Samuel’s Mother, I will get “Hannah” but not “Hanna”. The Find simply matches what I type in, character by character. Nothing is hidden behind the screen.
Step 1: Open a Bible in a panel.
Step 2.1 Open the Resource Panel Menu by clicking on the kebab (1).
Step 2.2 Select Find (in this panel) (2) which opens a Find bar.
Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+ F to open the Find bar.
Step 3.1 Type the character string you wish to match into the Find Box (1).
Step 3.2 The first match that is found is highlighted. (6) Note that there is no count of the number of matches and that only a single match is highlighted at a time (7).
Other functions available on the Find bar include:
- Clear Find box (2); missing mouse over reported as error.
- Previous result (3); mouse over identifies the function.
- Next result (4); mouse over identifies the function.
- Close the find bar (5); mouse over identifies the function.
Step 4 The Find box turns pink when either there are no matches or there are no more matches i.e. you are on the last occurrence.
Final detail: when there is no string in the find box, it shows a search icon (1) (magnifying glass) rather than the clear icon.
The find function works for any character string in all resources. It takes one and only one string argument. It does not show any tagging or media. It provides less information than a paper concordance. It is used most frequently to find locations within a book you are reading.
[1] Logos Help (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
Comments
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Great post!!! Thanks a lot!!! I wish Verbum help would be so clear and detailed!!!
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Well that was cool. Thanks!
Certainly I have found that as searching goes, there are times when the search results are so large or incomprehensible that I have found it easier to simply Google the Internet for what I am looking for. Not the intended use of Logos, I'm sure. And I'm an *educated* woman! [:D]
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Great! Thank you MJ.
“Let us begin, brothers, to serve the Lord God, for up until now we have done little or nothing.” St. Francis of Assisi
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Great, thanks I need to review the basics more often.
http://hombrereformado.blogspot.com/ Solo a Dios la Gloria Apoyo
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Excelente! gracias MJ. Smith
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👍
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