“Parallel book sets” versus the “Multiple books display”

I’d like to see some discussion about the use of “Parallel book sets” versus the “Multiple books display” – pros and cons of each and whether people use one or the other or both and how they use them. (Note: These are the Logos 10 titles for these. They are also referred to as “Parallel resources” and “Multiple resources display”)

I got this idea after reading a 2016 article by Dr. Mark Ward in which he showed a screen shot of his six column Multiple books display of Greek lexicons (which he called the “multiview”, perhaps what it was called in 2016 in Logos 6). Here is the article: https://www.logos.com/grow/the-logos-feature-that-makes-using-bdag-a-breeze/

I’ll start. I use both, but each in a different way.

Parallel book sets
I have set up my lexicons in my preferred order of access in the “Prioritize Books” list from within the Library. The order that each appears in the list is the order that they will be displayed on the “Parallel book sets” list (the // symbol) and the order they are displayed using the right and left keyboard hot keys.

One of my Layouts has a Tile with multiple Panel Tabs, one for each type of lexicon (Greek, Hebrew, etc.), so whether I’m in the NT or the OT in the Bible, I have a tab for that language. I can then roll through each of my prioritized lexicons that addresses the particular word I’m looking at.

Multiple books display
In the abovementioned Layout, I have another Tile with multiple Panel Tabs, and each Tab displays an original language text linked to the Bible. (These are also ordered using the “Prioritize Books” list).

If a text has an apparatus that accompanies it, I display the text and the apparatus side-by-side in a Multiple books display in the Tab. This gives me immediate info on variants in the text.

Those are ways I’ve figured out how to use these two features of Logos.

Are there others out there that have different uses of these features?

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MJ. Smith

There are more options:

Multiple panels/tabs w/o links - each book acts independently except for possible hyperlinks to "send hyperlinks here" books.
Multiview - single tab, multiple books; they must have a common index. All movement within the books is managed by the first book.
Multiple panels/tabs w/ links - they must have a common index. Movement within any book adjusts the position in all books.
Book with parallel resources - they must have a common index. Only one book is in view at a time; as one flips through the books the next book opens to the current location of the current book.
(Rare) Equivalent resources - the same text in different formats. Otherwise it behaves as parallel resources.

DMB

Are there others out there that have different uses of these features?

I never have used the parallel books sets, mainly because if you 'arrow' to a resource that doesn't have that location (eg verse), then it pops to what the resource does have, and you're lost. Or to put it another way, you have to make sure your chosen few not only share the same index, but have the same locations.

Now, I'm just the opposite for MultiView or its modern name Multiple Books Display (MBD). I keep 2 permanently in my big layout for commentaries; one for preferred sets, and the other for the kitchen sink (I tag commentaries by Bible book, as well as group).

You didn't mention Text Comparison, which is yet another approach. I keep 4 of them in my layout; they match up the OT/hebrew, NT/greek, and OT/greek so I can quickly see differences for the various resources by language.

Regarding, lexicons and apparati, I keep those in tabs, panelled by language. The main reason is I know which one I want ... positioned for quick access. No bouncing indices (parallel sets) or bouncing in/out of view (MBD).

You didn't mention one of the interesting features of combining Parallel Book Sets with MBDs. You can keep a main Bible in view, and then arrow to an MBD Bible for a set of readings, or commentaries, etc.

Jeffrey Gardner

I failed to mention in my original post (and cannot now edit my original post [:(] ) where I discussed my use of the Multiple Books Display in displaying original language texts:

I not only order them in the “Prioritize books” list, but I also have a Collection for each language, setting the Collection to “Show in parallel books”.

- The Collection limits the books in the list to the specific language (because Bibles in all languages are lumped together into the “All parallel books” list).
- The “Prioritize books” list makes them display in my preferred order in the “Parallel book sets”.

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258396#Comment_1258396

I see the merit of using Parallel Book sets instead of keepig multiple tabs open in a Layout. Definitely, a more compact way.

Is there a way of specifying which collection to display in the Parallel Book sets?

Thanks

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258456#Comment_1258456

Is there a way of specifying which collection to display in the Parallel Book sets?

Yes. When you click on the Parallel Book sets icon (//), then:

- if the current book appears in no Collection marked as "Show in parallel books" there will be a single default "All parallel books" set shown (based on the Type of book it is, e.g. Lexicon, Bible, etc.)

- if the current book appears in one or more Collections marked as "Show in parallel books", in addition to the "All parallel books" set will be a set displayed for each Collection the book is a member of. You then click on the heading of the set you want to use as the current set for arrow key navigation.

It has been suggested that you put your Preferred Bible into each of your Collections of Bibles to allow you to "jump tracks" and start through a different set (e.g. jump from the "All" set to, say, a "Greek Text" set) and back again. I am finding it more useful to actually keep dedicated Tabs open in my Layouts for each of those Collection types (so I am considering pulling my Preferred Bible out of the other Collections...someday).

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258301#Comment_1258301

I never have used the parallel books sets, mainly because if you 'arrow' to a resource that doesn't have that location (eg verse), then it pops to what the resource does have, and you're lost.

I don’t know all the situations that produce the “No parallel resources” “black hole”, but I run into it only very infrequently. See the recovery method below.

A book will not be shown on a Parallel books set if it does not have a reference to the current book’s referenced location (e.g. verse, word, topic, etc.). Two examples:

- when looking up a verse in a commentary, only other commentaries that have a section on that verse will be shown in the active Parallel books set (whether the “All parallel books” set or a set based on a Collection). When you select another commentary from the set and, in the new book, scroll past the section for the verse in question, the Parallel books set will be reconfigured to only show resources for the new verse/location.

- when looking up a word in a lexicon, only other lexicons that have articles about that word will be shown in the active Parallel books set (whether the “All parallel books” set or a set based on a Collection). When you select another lexicon from the set and, in the new book, scroll past the article for the word in question, the Parallel books set will be reconfigured to only show lexicons with articles for the new word. This is a common situation for the dreaded “No parallel resources” “black hole” to appear. For instance, if you look up a word in the TLNT (Theological Lexicon of the New Testament) Greek lexicon, and then select A Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott, and then scroll past the article to a word that does not appear in the Bible, the TLNT will no longer be in the Parallel books set (along with probably all of your other lexicons which are based on the Bible). You could wind up in the “black hole”.

To remedy either of the preceding (or other “black hole”) situations, use the following recovery method.

Recovery method
There are two easy ways to recover from that “black hole”. Both of these will take you back to the previous display, not to a previous book in the Parallel books set.

- 1. use the previous location Back arrow in the Resource Toolbar (the “<“ in the upper right side of the Panel)
- 2. the Alt-left-arrow keyboard shortcut.

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258301#Comment_1258301

(I tag commentaries by Bible book, as well as group)

Could you elaborate on that, give some examples, etc.?

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258301#Comment_1258301

You didn't mention Text Comparison, which is yet another approach. I keep 4 of them in my layout; they match up the OT/hebrew, NT/greek, and OT/greek so I can quickly see differences for the various resources by language.

Text Comparison
I had not looked at the Text Comparison tool outside of comparing English versions. It seems like a specialized Multiple Books Display for Bible text only. (It does seem to be rather flaky in trying to save an arrangement, but I finally wrestled it to the ground with Greek Text arrangement.)

It is an interesting view-only setup showing the variant readings. (“View-only” in that there is no hover info or links out of the text.) Plus, I think I need to get a bigger monitor to see the whole spread in one view!

I’ll mess around with it and with a Hebrew version to see how it works for me.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258472#Comment_1258472

It seems like a specialized Multiple Books Display for Bible text only

No .. as with parallel sets, and MBDs, Text Comparison uses any common index. Especially good for ancient writings that were indexed.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258463#Comment_1258463

A book will not be shown on a Parallel books set if it does not have a reference to the current book’s referenced location (e.g. verse, word, topic, etc.).

Indeed, but that's not the cause. Some of the Bibles are range-driven. Prior to my post above, I started out with NABre in a verse in Matthew. Within 5 clicks I was nowhere near the verse I started in.

This is a common situation for the dreaded “No parallel resources” “black hole” to appear.

Yes, also indeed. It's frightful! Especially late into a dark and windy night. Again (no offense), I just swear-off Parallel Sets (but not a vow, of course!).

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258464#Comment_1258464

Could you elaborate on that, give some examples, etc.?

I tag each commentary with 2 tags: Comm## (##=BookNumber 01-99) and CommAbbrev (eg CommWBC). I also edit the title to correctly sort in Bible-order throughout the software. Below, is filtered by commentary (Anchor Yale), and then by Bible book (Genesis). Other users have similar approaches.

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258477#Comment_1258477

Some of the Bibles are range-driven. Prior to my post above, I started out with NABre in a verse in Matthew. Within 5 clicks I was nowhere near the verse I started in.

Sorry to appear dense here, but I don't understand much of what you said.

-- What is "range-driven"?

--"Within 5 clicks..." -- clicks on what?

-- "...nowhere near the verse I started in." -- do you mean the verse in the Reference box was changed?

P.S. Thanks for the description of your tagging and naming work.

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258476#Comment_1258476

Text Comparison uses any common index. Especially good for ancient writings that were indexed.

Hmm, I don't see that. When setting up the arrangement of books, if I type into the Find box of the setup window anything other than a book with Type=Bible, nothing is listed in the lower section to select. I can only select Bible types.

Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing that does that?

I see nothing but Bible types in the list.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258502#Comment_1258502

Text Comparison uses any common index. Especially good for ancient writings that were indexed.

Hmm, I don't see that. When setting up the arrangement of books, if I type into the Find box of the setup window anything other than a book with Type=Bible, nothing is listed in the lower section to select. I can only select Bible types.

Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing that does that?

Actually, Logos is secretly smart. In the screencopy below, in the textbox, I started typing 'Apion' (Josephus), it started guessing my reference; near the bottom were 2 choices ... Winston and Loeb. After I selected my choice, it automatically went and got the resources needed. As it turns out, my choice was a range. But just to show the power (again, below). I started typing 'b' and it went and found the possible ancient docs that have a 'b' ... quite impressive.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258501#Comment_1258501

-- What is "range-driven"?

--"Within 5 clicks..." -- clicks on what?

-- "...nowhere near the verse I started in." -- do you mean the verse in the Reference box was changed?

Some Bibles aren't verse-by-verse ... they're ranges of verses (eg Mat 5:4-12). So, let's say you're comparing Mat:5:9 ... when you hit the example, it'll pop the textbox back to Mat 5:4. If there's another Bible, but its range is Mat 5:1-7, it'll pop the textbox back to Mat 5:1. (I used 'click' as arrow-keying; the sound).

That issue for most people probably isn't significant (I arrange my translations by date published, so as I move across, they're in time sequence; most people don't). But if you're in the Old Testament, it can be a problem between the MT and LXX versions.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258513#Comment_1258513

Just another example, I chose Hammurabi's law code, which also brought in COS translation for comparison (alike):

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258460#Comment_1258460

1Cor10-31">Is there a way of specifying which collection to display in the Parallel Book sets?

Yes. When you click on the Parallel Book sets icon (//), then:

- if the current book appears in no Collection marked as "Show in parallel books" there will be a single default "All parallel books" set shown (based on the Type of book it is, e.g. Lexicon, Bible, etc.)

- if the current book appears in one or more Collections marked as "Show in parallel books", in addition to the "All parallel books" set will be a set displayed for each Collection the book is a member of. You then click on the heading of the set you want to use as the current set for arrow key navigation.

It has been suggested that you put your Preferred Bible into each of your Collections of Bibles to allow you to "jump tracks" and start through a different set (e.g. jump from the "All" set to, say, a "Greek Text" set) and back again. I am finding it more useful to actually keep dedicated Tabs open in my Layouts for each of those Collection types (so I am considering pulling my Preferred Bible out of the other Collections...someday).

That was super helpful. Thank you.

I failed to mention in my original post (and cannot now edit my original post ) where I discussed my use of the Multiple Books Display in displaying original language texts:

I not only order them in the “Prioritize books” list, but I also have a Collection for each language, setting the Collection to “Show in parallel books”.

- The Collection limits the books in the list to the specific language (because Bibles in all languages are lumped together into the “All parallel books” list).
- The “Prioritize books” list makes them display in my preferred order in the “Parallel book sets”.

Thank you. This was also very helpful to me.

One of my Layouts has a Tile with multiple Panel Tabs, one for each type of lexicon (Greek, Hebrew, etc.), so whether I’m in the NT or the OT in the Bible, I have a tab for that language. I can then roll through each of my prioritized lexicons that addresses the particular word I’m looking at.

.......

A book will not be shown on a Parallel books set if it does not have a reference to the current book’s referenced location (e.g. verse, word, topic, etc.). Two examples

Why can't I have all Lexicons in one collection. Why separate them? When you are in the OT, only the OT Lexicons should show up under Parallel resources, isn't it?

Thanks again. I think my Layouts going forward is going be more manageable.

Jeffrey Gardner

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258559#Comment_1258559

Why can't I have all Lexicons in one collection. Why separate them? When you are in the OT, only the OT Lexicons should show up under Parallel resources, isn't it?

In my multiple Tab lexicon Tile, I typically don’t set up Collections, instead I use the default “All parallel books” set to let Logos find all the corresponding lexicons.

If I wanted to eliminate from the Greek lexicon list a couple of my Greek grammars that sneak into the list because they have a glossary at the back, I could set up a Collection of just my Greek lexicons and then use that Collection as my parallel set.

Another down side to the “All parallel books” set in Greek, is that it combines NT and LXX lexicons in the same list. Making a Collection of LXX lexicons would make them more visible in a Parallel books set. (This may also happen in Hebrew/OT Aramaic, but I haven’t check on it yet.)

Since I haven’t figured out the algorithm that determines in which Tile, Window, or location a new Tab will open (has anyone?...), I leave each lexicon Tab open and set at the top-of-the-parallel-list lexicon (my preferred, top prioritized, lexicon) for that language to ensure that a double-click on a word in a Bible opens in that Tab – otherwise, all bets are off as to where in my Layout a new lexicon Tab actually opens. I always reset the Tab to the top lexicon when I am done with the lexicon(s) before returning to the Bible or elsewhere. (I might put in a suggestion for a keyboard hot key to do that “reset the parallel books list” operation...)

I recently started experimenting with displaying my Tile of lexicon Tabs as a full-screen Floating Window (I work on a laptop, so display real estate is limited) and setting up my preferred lexicon for each language Tab as a Multiple books display that includes my top 4 or 5 prioritized lexicons for that language. (This mimics the panel I saw in Mark Ward’s article.) I can still use the Parallel books set to roll to a single lexicon display in the full window.

I’m going to try to insert a screen shot of that Window, but I have not been very successful with that so far. If you don’t see it, you’ll know I failed yet again.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258601#Comment_1258601

Since I haven’t figured out the algorithm that determines in which Tile, Window, or location a new Tab will open (has anyone?...)

In the early days of Logos4, they tried to group same with same (if there), or across from, if not. Later on, they added the right-side first rule (the assumption being one read on the left-side while driving in England).

That's why I leave 'anchor' tools in my 7-window layout ... so it can line up searches, and so forth. Still a bit random.

Dave Hooton

Are there others out there that have different uses of these features?

Series has not been mentioned, although they are inherent to most commentaries and some lexicons and bibles.

Create a series with a Greek bible and a Hebrew bible and you can readily switch between OT/NT in a single tab e.g. SBLGNT with LHB.

select both in Library and use the Info sidebar to "Set series for all".

You can do the same with lexicons e.g. Greek & Hebrew/Aramaic
- I can look up any original language word by pasting it into the Reference box or using transliteration.
- but it is not as convenient as having two tabs with Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek lexicons.
You can use Commentaries in a Parallel Book set linked to a bible

If the natural Commentary series are reasonably complete, the commentary will keep in sync with the bible
but you will enter a "black hole" if the bible is moved to a book (or chapter) that is not in the series of the current commentary i.e. it will stay in Luke if the bible moves to Genesis.
the only way out is to select a commentary that has Genesis in its series and then move it to Genesis
if it is a one-volume commentary in multiple "parallel" collections then you can switch collections as well.

1Cor10 31

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1258601#Comment_1258601

Since I haven’t figured out the algorithm that determines in which Tile, Window, or location a new Tab will open (has anyone?...), I leave each lexicon Tab open and set at the top-of-the-parallel-list lexicon (my preferred, top prioritized, lexicon) for that language to ensure that a double-click on a word in a Bible opens in that Tab – otherwise, all bets are off as to where in my Layout a new lexicon Tab actually opens. I always reset the Tab to the top lexicon when I am done with the lexicon(s) before returning to the Bible or elsewhere. (I might put in a suggestion for a keyboard hot key to do that “reset the parallel books list” operation...)

Thank you. I understand now the need for 2 tabs - one for Greek and one for Hebrew.