Combining Multi-volume works into one tab in a Layout?

First post - so thanks in advance!

I teach theology and have focused a lot of my Logos library on acquiring a wide variety of theology works. I'm trying to create a mega-layout with a large number of theology works on tabs (grouped by types/periods/etc. on various panels in the layout). My goal is to have most of my theology resources open at one time so I can jump between them quickly. Since theologies aren't linked content-wise like Bibles and commentaries, I'm trying to think out of the box a bit.

One problem I'd like to overcome would be that some theologies are split into multiple volumes - but really belong on one tab for my purposes. For example, Miley is 2 volumes; Oden is 3 volumes, etc. There are others that originally were multi-volume but were later combined, solving this problem for me (e.g., Erickson began as 3 volumes and was later combined so now it is in one volume).

Is there any way to get these to behave as one volume (on one tab) for my layout? I'm already going to have lots of tabs as I currently envision this layout, but having 2, 3 or even more for some sources doesn't make sense, or at least suggests I'll have to handle them separately. I'm willing to do that, but if someone has an idea...

I did a quick forum search but didn't come up with anything. This isn't like multi-volume commentary prioritizing (I even tried it just to be sure) and creating a collection for each author is a fine idea - it just doesn't help my layout problem. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

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Jerry M

Hi Carl, Welcome to the forums. Perhaps someone else will help clarify this. Theology texts are not (at least the ones I checked) indexed with headwords. That means you can't really meaningfully link them like a dictionary. So I don't readily see an answer to your multi volume problem. Personally I would make use of minimized floating windows in a layout like this. I also would make a vertical linear layout in my Favorites tool, with folders organizing it, which I could click and drag resources quickly to rearrange my layout as I needed. This linear layout would approximate my actual mega layout. You can drag an entire folder with several books, at one time to a pane. You do this by holding down ctrl while you left click and drag. Or you can right click on the folder and click on open all in a floating window. Hope this helps. Please continue to ask questions as you need to. There is a lot of combined experience here to draw from.

Paul N

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/281737#Comment_281737

Carl, to go along with Jerry's thoughts, have you pondered aquiring a second monitor? I think a mega layout would be best served with additional desktop space to work with.

The Working Desktop thread might give you further thoughts on how to display Logos on multiple screens to help facilitate the layout you were thinking of.

TCBlack

I teach theology

I'm jealous. [:p] Ok, ok, I'll get serious...

I'm trying to create a mega-layout with a large number of theology works on tabs (grouped by types/periods/etc. on various panels in the layout).

You might consider using the information out of Grudem's sys theo which separates various authors into their camps such as Anglican, Arminian, Dispensational, Reformed, etc. In which case you would have a panel full of tabs for each separate camp.

One problem I'd like to overcome would be that some theologies are split into multiple volumes - but really belong on one tab for my purposes. For example, Miley is 2 volumes; Oden is 3 volumes, etc. There are others that originally were multi-volume but were later combined, solving this problem for me (e.g., Erickson began as 3 volumes and was later combined so now it is in one volume).

I would agree that having these volumes combined makes good sense to me; however not everyone is likely to agree. You're best bet is to place them in the same panel in numerical order at the moment. you'll still be searching for your information though.... It is too bad, but I know of no other way of accomplishing this. I have found that Grudem's Biblio at the end of each section is helpful due to the way he breaks down the theological presuppositions of each author.

Mike S.

Minor quick testing shows the following does NOT work for multi-volume theology sets like Pinks, Studies in Dogmatics, nor Luther's Works.

Sorry! This is a great problem for Logos to solve and I would love to find a good way to address it! Unfortunately I think the only approach is working off a floating search window for the collection of theology you're interested in.

I'll take a shot at how you may be able to solve this problem (i.e. untested):
1. Set up a floating panel with a search window, for your collection of theology volumes you're interested in, that only looks at headword and similar fields.

2. In your main window, set up all the first volume from each in the layout of your choice

3. Save this as a layout

Usage:

a. do your search for topic/term/headword in search window

b. all theology sets that have this will come up as search results: click on each them to "sync" them up and show them concurrently. You'll hopefully find that they will switch volumes without creating a new tab (I've seen this kind of behavior doing other work, but need to try it out to see if it will fly here)

Note that you may want to create separate layouts for the kinds of theology sets you'd like to see together. For example: all the systematic theology sets in one layout, biblical theology sets in another, a particular mix of favorites, etc..

You could test this with just a few sets and small collection to cover them.

Carl Sanders

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/281875#Comment_281875

I'm going to make one general reply to all who offered suggestions. Thanks and while there was some help to be found, my assumption about limits due to some fundamental designs turned out to be right. Oh well. So, some specific observations (kind of detailed - so if you don't care about this, feel free to move on to something more interesting!):

1) The publishing decisions on whether to set these up as individual or multi-volume sets in their electronic format are inconsistent and hard to figure out. Hodge (I think always in a 3 volume hardcover) is a single resource in Logos; Shedd is normally multiple volumes but 1 resources; Chafer (8 volumes) is in two resources- volumes 1-6,8 in one resource, volume 7 in another. Many others seem to just mimic the print format, even though there is no reason to do so in an electronic format (other than to create a larger resource count!) and in fact it does limit the utility of the books just a bit - or at least makes it a bit harder to use them.

2. I had already set up a dual monitor system in my work office - it does help a bit in seeing everything, but that wasn't my only concern! Thanks for the suggestion.

3. Grudem's list of bibliography on topics, while not perfect (e.g., follows his chapters and sometimes long sections in other works that are not as specific as his chapters), does help a bit. In fact, it was part of my lecture to students when we were talking about tools this week. It's also limited a bit in that it is a static resource (and missing some good things) and most of the links are not live in Logos (with a few exceptions like Hodge and EDT). I wish Logos would do a bit more there...

4. The use of minimized floating windows had not occurred to me and does help organize a bit and create needed space. Thanks for that one.

5. The lack of clear headword organization makes searching these guys a bit of a beast. But, we do what we can. Some works, like Evangelical Dictionary of Theology - I can't figure out how to get a search of article titles going. But since the titles are alphabetical, it's not hard to find things... So I guess that isn't too serious of a problem. For others like Miley, can't figure anything out right now...

6. This last suggestion from Mike about setting up a floating search window as part of my layout has proven quite helpful. After I set the search parameters to Search Large Text in all open resources (it took me a while to get that figured out!), I can limit search to most of the applicable sections (at least for topics with a heading or subheading using the term). So for example, searching for trinity in my 15 open resources gets my 19 "articles" in 9 resources - so I at least have found a good starting place in 9 of my resources (the ones with better headwords, I would guess!). I may still be missing something on the search there, so feel free to share if I am. This result compares to an entire text search in my open resources resulting in 1402 articles in 22 sources - too many hits to be useful. For less common terms, a full text search works better (e.g., theosis gets 12 articles in 4 resources for a full text search! [by the way, that's sort of pathetic...]). When I click on any of the search results - they seem to pop to the relevant open resource in the link location.

Finally, in case anyone is interested - here's what I came up with at the moment. If I figure out a way to improve it, I'll try and share. If you can suggest something better - let me know!

For the moment, this is most of my systematic theologies at the moment - I need to figure out where to put all my historical and biblical stuff (probably separate layouts!). On my main page I have several panels - opening a couple of my first line primary resources (I'm using Erickson and Grudem for this), as well as a panel with key 19th century ones (Hodge, Shedd, and Strong [really very early 20th]), and another with 20th century single volume works I use more (Berkhof, Thiessen, Ryrie), then in floating windows (minimized when opened) I have - 1) reference - EDT, Moody Handbook, New Dictionary of Theology, 2) Miley - 2 volumes on 2 tabs, 3) Oden - 3 tabs, 4) Geisler - 4 tabs, 5) Chafer 2 tabs. And then add in in one floating search window set to search in large text in open resources. So in one layout I have immediate access to 15 systematic theology resources. All open and pretty quickly available to research in or to search as a group. Not sure how to do a lot better than this (though I still have a few more resources to pop in...). For fun - here's the main page panels:

Again thanks for all the help and I'm enjoying learning more tricks to milk a bit more efficiency out of the package.

David Ames

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/281845#Comment_281845

You might consider using the information out of Grudem's sys theo which separates various authors into their camps such as Anglican, Arminian, Dispensational, Reformed, etc. In which case you would have a panel full of tabs for each separate camp.

Have added this to my 'Wish List'. [Thanks for pointing it out]

Re the use of the word 'etc.' How long is the list of items under 'etc.'? [that is how many ways have we split the Christian Church? Or do I just have to wait until I get the book?]

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282678#Comment_282678

Re the use of the word 'etc.' How long is the list of items under 'etc.'? [that is how many ways have we split the Christian Church? Or do I just have to wait until I get the book?]

well, if I were cruel... [6]

But here you go David: there is a fuller biblio at the end of the resource but at the end of each chapter there is a specific one. Here then is the one at the end of Chapter 9, the first in the section on the Doctrine of God, this one upon Existance of God.

Sections in Evangelical Systematic Theologies

1. Anglican (Episcopalian)

1882–92 Litton, 42–58

1930 Thomas, 3–14

2. Arminian (Wesleyan or Methodist)

1875–76 Pope, 1:233–48

1892–94 Miley, 1:57–136

1940 Wiley, 1:217–40

1960 Purkiser, 39–59

1983 Carter, 1:107–11

1983- Cottrell, 1:419–42

1987–90 Oden, 1:131–80

3. Baptist

1767 Gill, 1:1–15

1887 Boyce, 8–46

1907 Strong, 52–110

1917 Mullins, 35–48

1983–85 Erickson, 156–74

p 146

4. Dispensational

1947 Chafer, 1:129–78

1949 Thiessen, 21–42

1986 Ryrie, 25–34

5. Lutheran

1917–24 Pieper, 1:371–74

1934 Mueller, 143–47

6. Reformed (or Presbyterian)

1559 Calvin, 1:43–69 (1.3–5)

1861 Heppe, 47–56

1871–73 Hodge, 1:191–334

1878 Dabney, 5–26

1887–1921 Warfield, SSW 1:34–40

1889 Shedd, 1:195–248

1909 Bavinck, DG 41–80

1938 Berkhof, 19–28

1962 Buswell, 1:72–161

Sections in Representative Roman Catholic Systematic Theologies

1. Roman Catholic: Traditional

1955 Ott, 13–17

2. Roman Catholic: Post-Vatican II

1980 McBrien (no explicit treatment)

Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994), 145-46.

David Ames

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282680#Comment_282680

Re the use of the word 'etc.' How long is the list of items under 'etc.'? [that is how many ways have we split the Christian Church? Or do I just have to wait until I get the book?]

well, if I were cruel...

Have bumped this to the top of my wish list. Thanks

TCBlack

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282682#Comment_282682

BTW: I agree with Carl, I wish all of these were linked to the other theologies in my library such as Berkhof.

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282641#Comment_282641

This last suggestion from Mike about setting up a floating search window as part of my layout has proven quite helpful. After I set the search parameters to Search Large Text in all open resources (it took me a while to get that figured out!), I can limit search to most of the applicable sections (at least for topics with a heading or subheading using the term). So for example, searching for trinity in my 15 open resources gets my 19 "articles" in 9 resources - so I at least have found a good starting place in 9 of my resources (the ones with better headwords, I would guess!).

Searching Heading Text (with Large Text) finds some more articles. Also can create a Theology collection (search open and closed resources for articles).

Option: drag search tab to favorites or shortcut. Can right click on shortcut, then click open in a floating window.

Keep Smiling [:)]

Carl Sanders

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282739#Comment_282739

It's interesting, adding Heading Text didn't do a lot for me (I actually figured that one out late last night, but thanks for the suggestion). Unfortunately, it appears that for a number of books and for parts of others, the results aren't consistent - lots of headings aren't found by the searches. For example, when I search Erickson using Large Text and Heading Text I only get one hit, to one of the subsections in the chapter on the Trinity (even though the chapter title and at least one other sub-heading have trinity in the title). Still, the search gets me to the right place, but it's more clunky than I would like.

As for searching with collections. I've got multiple theology collections depending on my purpose for the search. I'll probably be fine-tuning those for a long time.

And I can't resist posting a picture of my just finally arranged office desk. Three monitors (including my laptop's) and all filled with Logos goodness.

Please don't pay any attention to the strategically piled papers in the back right!

Jason

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282831#Comment_282831

Lol Carl. Looks like my desk [:D] [;)]

Mike S.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282831#Comment_282831

As for searching with collections. I've got multiple theology collections depending on my purpose for the search. I'll probably be fine-tuning those for a long time.

I would love to steal some of your theology collection definitions! Please share if you can spare the moment!

I really feel like my most untapped resource is my collection of "theologies" and theological monographs. Anything we can do to help bring this stuff to the surface and make it even more accessible when studying a "topic" would be fantastic. I know part of the problem is a lack of normalization of terms; this makes tagging and linking the texts even more difficult. I would venture to say that Logos should look at providing a way to fund better tagging by selling some kind of "advanced" version of resources.

Carl Sanders

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/282930#Comment_282930

I'm working on some ideas to help with this. Now if I can get them implemented...