Wordsearch 9 Topic finder!
Don't get me wrong: I think that Logos 4 is overall a far more powerful software that WS-9. But when I got it yesterday and ran its topic finder, it put back in perspective all the talk about the "new way" of doing topic searching in Logos 4. My, was it ever pleasant to just find in a snap, conveniently arranged and browsable, the topics I needed NOW. Indexing was extremely fast too!
I am not advertising for WS9. But I think that L4 can get even better by looking at some of its features. Among these you've got to love the word editor and the ability to surf the web from within the application.
PLEASE bring back the topic browser.
Comments
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Francis said:
PLEASE bring back the topic browser.
Wonder about Logos 4.2a basic search using Large Text ?
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A picture is worth more than 1,000 words:
1) WS9
2) Logos 4
Which of the two provides the clearest, "faster-to-find-what-you're-looking-for" interface? I'd say WS9 by a long shot. But then it's interface is not all that different from the interface the topic browser had in L3 (except that it is full screen and includes the view panel). So it brings all us back to what many have been asking all along: even after learning a lot about searching in L4, we still like the INTERFACE for searching in L3 more. Improve the accuracy, yes, but going to a web-browser like search produces the same kinds of results as a web browser indeed. Now how many of us, advanced users of the web, would say that we have any confidence that we have not missed the best pages for the kind of information we were looking for? Word-driven searches simply cannot deliver the same kind of quality results as topic indexation (not without a LOT of tweaking and sorting of search syntax). But it's not just the method: the INTERFACE is not great. The WS9 interface is like a TOC. We need that to see through the clutter of innumerable results. Then again, a TOC is not possible without topical tags. So, the two problems are interconnected.
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Francis said:
Which of the two provides the clearest, "faster-to-find-what-you're-looking-for" interface?
Logos 4.2a Large Text basic search with Expand All:
Observation: can also sort Logos 4.2a search results: Ranked and By Count
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Logos 4.2a Large Text basic search of Bible collection includes pericope resutls:
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[I] Collections can be used for Table of Content groupings - so Large Text search in collections can quickly find useful articles:
First result worth reading => logosres:anecillus;ref=Page.p_62
“I Have Committed a Sin for Which There is No Forgiveness”
AT the close of a service in our Chicago church I found a man standing by one of the chairs. He seemed to be deeply interested. The moment I began to speak to him he broke down and said, “I would like to be saved, but I have committed a sin for which there is no forgiveness. I remember my mother reading me in the Bible when I was a boy that those who committed this sin could not be saved.” I asked him what the sin was that he had committed. He told me, and for a moment I could not think where there was any passage in the Bible that could by any possibility be construed into meaning that there could be no forgiveness for this sin, but suddenly 1 Cor. 6:9–11 occurred to me. I said, “I think I know the passage to which you refer,” and opened my Bible and began to read, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” “Yes,” he said, “that is it. Does it not say there is no salvation for those who do this sin? Does it not say ‘they shall not inherit the kingdom of God’?” I said, “Listen, while I read the next verse,” and I read on, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” “Does it say that? Does it say that?” the man cried. I said, “Read it for yourself.” He took my Bible and read it and cried, “Thank God.” He knelt down with the tears streaming down his face and accepted the Saviour, and arose full of joy in the knowledge that his sins were all forgiven.
Some weeks after when I entered the church one Sunday morning, I saw him standing at the back of the seats with a lady between thirty and forty and a young lady perhaps seventeen or eighteen. As I stepped up to speak to him he said, “Let me introduce you to my wife and daughter.” I spoke to them about Christ and they both took Christ. Today that man is a hard-working member and office-bearer in Chicago Avenue Church. His sin was great, but even such as he could be “washed” and “sanctified” and “justified.”
Torrey, R. A. (1907). Anecdotes and illustrations (62–63). New York: Fleming H. Revell Co.
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I was trying to duplicate some of the WS9 search results pictured above and I think I found a flaw in the Tozer Topical Reader: Doing a Large Text search does not pull up entry 1028, just the 3 shown below:
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Francis said:
Don't get me wrong: I think that Logos 4 is overall a far more powerful software that WS-9. But when I got it yesterday and ran its topic finder, it put back in perspective all the talk about the "new way" of doing topic searching in Logos 4. My, was it ever pleasant to just find in a snap, conveniently arranged and browsable, the topics I needed NOW. Indexing was extremely fast too!
I am not advertising for WS9. But I think that L4 can get even better by looking at some of its features. Among these you've got to love the word editor and the ability to surf the web from within the application.
PLEASE bring back the topic browser
I agree with everything above. I also like the ws9 cross reference explorer, which does a function similar to Logos' "cited by" tool. These two explorer structures (ie, topic and xref) are the main things I like better about ws9 and wish something similar could be implemented in Logos. I have way more resources in my package of Logos than I have in ws9, so maybe it would be more difficult to handle with these kinds of structures. At the same time, because of the additional Logos resources, these structures might make it a lot easier to find things among those resources. BTW - the ws9 topic explorer screenshots in this thread look very similar to the xref explorer, but with "cited by" hits.
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David P. Moore said:
I was trying to duplicate some of the WS9 search results pictured above and I think I found a flaw in the Tozer Topical Reader: Doing a Large Text search does not pull up entry 1028, just the 3 shown below:
Wonder if adding Heading Text finds entry 1028 in the Tozer Topical Reader ?
Went back to earlier Illustrations collection Large Text search and added Heading Text - found another article:
Living and learning - checking Match All Word Forms finds few more articles when searching Heading and Large Text:
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David P. Moore said:
I was trying to duplicate some of the WS9 search results pictured above and I think I found a flaw in the Tozer Topical Reader: Doing a Large Text search does not pull up entry 1028, just the 3 shown below:
This does appear to be a bug or at least a typo on catching the complete large text. Searching large text for Regret or Self-love finds #1028, but not forgiveness in any word form or case.
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Searching "large text" (as opposed to "all text") is a useful tip to find headings. But as I said before, it is not just how to find that is the matter, but also how the results are presented. The current layout is cluttered. It does not make it possible to quickly sift through a multitude of results. Like an Internet search one has to scroll through pages of results to see if perhaps a result on page 3 or 7 would be a good one. I'd still argue that a TOC is the way to go.
One relatively simple adjustment that could help a bit until better can be done, would be to allow a "compact view" for ranked results. This would allow more titles to show on one page. Also, if results could be sorted alphabetically, it could have some use (not so sure about that one).
For the benefit of those who might not have seen it, I post here the link to the very helpful wiki page on topic searching tips in L4: http://wiki.logos.com/Topical_Search_Suggestions
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