understanding the /basic/ basics

Hi. My name is Paul and I'm brand new to Logos 5... [reference to other support group introductions intentional]

I've read some tutorials and watched a number of videos, but I'm still missing some--what seem to me to be--significant basics. Like:

1. when I have two books open, in different tabs, and I click the Home icon, how do I get back to the open books? I tried clicking the Library (Book) icon, but that just prompts me to open another book and leaves me on the Home page. I tried Layouts, but that just showed me a number of Application Closed layouts (all of which were of my Home screen, which I didn't want to go to). Finally, I clicked Help and--wonder of wonders--it flipped from the Home page to the two books I had open! That's great! But do I really have to go to get Help to return to my workspace?! Is there a different way to get back there?

2. how do you know if a book is going to be opened in a new tab or as part of an existing tab (so far, it seems rather arbitrary to me)? What are the advantages / disadvantages of having a number of books in one tab?

Well, answers to those questions would be a huge help. Thanks in advance,

Paul

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NB.Mick

1. when I have two books open, in different tabs, and I click the Home icon, how do I get back to the open books?

Maybe it's too simple for inquisitive minds - just click the Home icon again, voila!

2. how do you know if a book is going to be opened in a new tab or as part of an existing tab

This however, is a complex heuristic and may not be predictable.

Paul Unger

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/690655#Comment_690655

1. when I have two books open, in different tabs, and I click the Home icon, how do I get back to the open books?

Maybe it's too simple for inquisitive minds - just click the Home icon again, voila!

You're right, I don't find that simple at all. Click "Home" to go away from "Home"? Not very intuitive... But thanks for pointing it out!

2. how do you know if a book is going to be opened in a new tab or as part of an existing tab

This however, is a complex heuristic and may not be predictable.

Fair enough. From what I can see so far, Logos is a complex bit of kit. I'll keep plugging away with figuring it out.

Thanks again.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/690668#Comment_690668

1. when I have two books open, in different tabs, and I click the Home icon, how do I get back to the open books?

Maybe it's too simple for inquisitive minds - just click the Home icon again, voila!

You're right, I don't find that simple at all. Click "Home" to go away from "Home"? Not very intuitive... But thanks for pointing it out!

Kind of like clicking the Start button in Windows to shut down, eh? [:)]

An alternative is to view it as as toggle button. There's also a keyboard shortcut which will accomplish the same thing: Alt+h (to open the Home page, and again to close it and return to where you were). If you're on a Mac, I think it's Cmd+h.

2. how do you know if a book is going to be opened in a new tab or as part of an existing tab

This however, is a complex heuristic and may not be predictable.

Fair enough. From what I can see so far, Logos is a complex bit of kit. I'll keep plugging away with figuring it out.

It is quite difficult to guess where Logos will put it (they have their own internal logic, but I don't think it's ever been explained very well and it's not always what you'd want anyway). You can override that by dragging the book as you're opening it to the location where you want it to open. So if you're opening it from your library, instead of simply clicking on it, click and drag to the tab area of the pane where you want it, and you can even position it to the left or right of an existing pane, or split a pane in two with it to open it in a new pane. If you open a book by typing its name in the command bar, you can drag its full title from the dropdown menu that appears below it and drop it as a tab to wherever you want it.

Paul Unger

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/690760#Comment_690760

1. when I have two books open, in different tabs, and I click the Home icon, how do I get back to the open books?

Maybe it's too simple for inquisitive minds - just click the Home icon again, voila!

You're right, I don't find that simple at all. Click "Home" to go away from "Home"? Not very intuitive... But thanks for pointing it out!

Kind of like clicking the Start button in Windows to shut down, eh?

Well, if you want to compare, I'd agree with 'kind of'... One could view the Start button in Windows as the means to initiate an action. To initiate shut down you click the Start button and issue the shut down command. Home doesn't invoke the same kind of metaphor for me.[*-)]

An alternative is to view it as as toggle button. There's also a keyboard shortcut which will accomplish the same thing: Alt+h (to open the Home page, and again to close it and return to where you were). If you're on a Mac, I think it's Cmd+h.

Sure. That works, now that I know it. It'd just be nice, for this new user anyway, if when he hovered over it on the flip side / Home side of the toggle it didn't also say Home... It says Home whether I'm on the Home page or away from the Home page. To my mind, clicking that button is only going to take me to one place: Home (which is what Help tells me as well; it doesn't mention that clicking it again will take me back to where I was).

While I'm on the subject: is there a name for the non-Home screen / return-to-where-you-were area?

Thanks for the tips about dragging books around. I didn't know you could drag a book from the dropdown menu; I had only dragged a book after it had been opened.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/690850#Comment_690850

While I'm on the subject: is there a name for the non-Home screen / return-to-where-you-were area?

It's called your Layout. You can save different layouts and open different ones from the Layouts menu. I find the "Home" screen an odd intrusion on my main layout. I occasionally go to Home to look something up, but I actually think of my Layout as my home screen and spend most of my time there. I open to it by default (bypassing Home altogether).

Thanks for the tips about dragging books around. I didn't know you could drag a book from the dropdown menu; I had only dragged a book after it had been opened.

You can actually drag anything from the dropdown menu. It's helpful to know that for dragging commands to the shortcut bar, so you can have a quick icon to access them.