Wordsearch-Logos Equivalent Features

Nathan Parker
Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

I looked over Wordsearch tonight. Here are the equivalent features between Wordsearch and Logos and where to find them in Logos:

Of course, user data hasn't been migrated yet.

  • Open Book-Command Box
  • Verse Lists-Docs Menu
  • Documents-Docs Menu
  • User Books-Personal Books (Tools Menu)
  • Desktops-Layouts
  • Desktop Templates-Layouts
  • Bible Notes-Notes (Tools Menu)
  • Info Window-Info Pane (with some differences)
  • Search-Search Icon
  • Strong’s Search-Under Search (more easily accessible from right-click menu in Bibles with Strong’s numbers)
  • Settings-Program Settings (Tools Menu)
  • Backup/Restore-Now Automatic
  • Syncing-Now Automatic
  • Bibliographer-Docs Menu, Bibliographies
  • Word Definition-Topic Guide (Guides Menu) or Factbook (Tools Menu)
  • Parallel Bible-Text Comparison (Tools Menu)
  • Topic Explorer-Topic Guide (Guides Menu)
  • Verse Explorer-Passage Guide (Guides Menu)
  • Lexicon Explorer-Bible Word Study (Guides Menu)
  • NoteStack-Clippings (Docs Menu)
  • History-Tools Menu
  • Manage Library-Hide Books under Program Settings (Tools Menu)
  • My Library List-Library
  • Manage Collections-Collections (Tools Menu)
  • Unlock Purchased Books-Now Automatic
  • Check for Updates-Type “Update Now” into Command Box
  • Check for Book Updates-Type “Update Now” into Command Box
  • About-Under Help Icon
  • Arrange Windows-Layouts Menu
  • ZipScript-Copy Bible Verses (with some differences, under Tools Menu)

Dr. Nathan Parker

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Comments

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    Here are the book toolbar equivalents:

    • Select Another Book-Parallel Resources
    • Table of Contents-Same
    • Reference Box-Same
    • Highlighting-Now under Tools Menu
    • Strong’s Numbers, Words of Christ in Red, Linking-Resource Panel Menu

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    Here are features I don't see 100% equivalents of yet to my knowledge:

    • Lessonmaker: Would like to see "Lessons" brought over to Logos based on similar code to the Logos Sermons feature; want the ability to publish lessons to Faithlife, Slide Integration with Faithlife Proclaim, Be able to Share Lessons to Faithlife to Co-Edit with other editors or to "Take" the lesson as a Participant
    • Search Spelling Helper (kind of there in drop down menu but not identical)
    • Greek/Hebrew Keyboards (partially implements but not fully cross platform yet)
    • Smart Search: Plurals and Verb Forms (there are some ways to pull this off but not quite as obvious as Wordsearch)
    • Auto Dock Books by Category (would like this feature)
    • Current Verse Highlighted in Bible
    • WordNik and Wolfram Alpha under Word Definition (these could be added to Factbook and possibly Topic Guide)
    • Cross Reference Explorer-Cited By
    • Window Bar
    • Web Browser (see my other post on this)
    • Instant Verse Study
    • Morphological Explorer (there might be something similar to this)
    • Sermon Illustration Manager (this would be good to add under "Docs" and call it "Illustrations" and be able to link them into "Sermons)
    • ZipScript-Need to add the Ability for Copy Bible Verses to Run When Logos isn’t running
    • Reference Picker next to Reference Box

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 33,245

    Hi Nathan

    These look very helpful - thanks for doing this.

    For a non-Wordsearch user (such as myself) are you able to expand a little bit on the functionality provided by:

    1. Smart Search
    2. Cross Reference Explorer
    3. Instant Verse Study
    4. Morphological Explorer

    Graham

  • John Fidel
    John Fidel MVP Posts: 3,463

    Hi Nathan

    These look very helpful - thanks for doing this.

    For a non-Wordsearch user (such as myself) are you able to expand a little bit on the functionality provided by:

    1. Smart Search
    2. Cross Reference Explorer
    3. Instant Verse Study
    4. Morphological Explorer

    Graham

    Hi Graham,

    The Cross Reference Explorer searches resources for the reference being studied. There are options to select which resources are searched and you can set up collections for the search. Below is a screenshot where I am searching books that I own in WS, that I do not have in Logos.

    The search results are arranged by predetermined categories set up by WS. The equivalent is to run a basic search on a verse (or pericope in Logos) on a collection set up i Logos.

    The Verse Explorer looks up each English word in a verse in Dictionaries, Topical resources and Word Study resources. Options to determine which resources are used is available. See screenshot below:

    It is a combination of Facebook and Exegetical Guide, but is really based on English and not the underlying original languages.

    The Morphological Explorer is WS equivalent of Morphological Charts in Logos. It is Greek only. Here is a screenshot:

    For those WS users interested in original language study they will love Logos as it was never featured well in WS.

    InstaVerse is a dialog driven search that creates a clipboard that can be pasted into a document. It essentially does the search and then allows the user to read the research outside of WS and perhaps use it, with some organization, as a final document. I never really found a use for this feature. Here is a screen shot:

    Hope this gives you an idea of how to advise those users requesting assistance with these features.

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,826

    Nathan, I am sure this will be very helpful to WS users. Thanks for the work you put in to provide these lists.

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,826

    John, thanks for the screenshots and explanation.

    The equivalent is to run a basic search on a verse (or pericope in Logos) on a collection set up i Logos.

    Does the Cited By tool accomplish the same function or are there differences? (Cited By will allow you to expand its results by clicking on Search within the tool.)

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • John Fidel
    John Fidel MVP Posts: 3,463

    John, thanks for the screenshots and explanation.

    The equivalent is to run a basic search on a verse (or pericope in Logos) on a collection set up i Logos.

    Does the Cited By tool accomplish the same function or are there differences? (Cited By will allow you to expand its results by clicking on Search within the tool.)

    Actually Cited By is a better example! I did not think of it when I posted.

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    John, thanks for the screenshots and explanation.

    The equivalent is to run a basic search on a verse (or pericope in Logos) on a collection set up i Logos.

    Does the Cited By tool accomplish the same function or are there differences? (Cited By will allow you to expand its results by clicking on Search within the tool.)

    I forgot about Cited By. Should be the same equivalent. 

    Actually Cited By is a better example! I did not think of it when I posted.

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    By the way, Logos has my permission to sticky this or feature it if they need Wordsearch users to quickly access it.

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • abondservant
    abondservant Member Posts: 4,796 ✭✭✭

    By the way, Logos has my permission to sticky this or feature it if they need Wordsearch users to quickly access it.

    I feel like this should be on the logos software homepage of everyone whose coming in from wordsearch.

    L2 lvl4 (...) WORDsearch, all the way through L10,

  • The Flanary's
    The Flanary's Member Posts: 108 ✭✭

    4th day since the changeover from WS. This post has been one of the most helpful for me (although everyone has been great here)
     I ran into something today whilst looking through my library. I'm assuming all of us Wordsearch refugees received it free, it's called "Quickstart For Logos 8" by Morris Proctor (you can easily search it in the "Go" box) I would highly, HIGHLY encourage other WS refugees  to check it out. They are short, simple, start from scratch videos for totally new users

  • Adam Troutt
    Adam Troutt Member Posts: 3 ✭✭

    One thing I did daily with WS was what they called a "wildcard" search. (obed*) to get all derivatives of obedient, obedience, etc. Does Logos have a similar search feature? My library hasn't migrated over yet, so I've not done much poking around yet.

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 33,245

    One thing I did daily with WS was what they called a "wildcard" search. (obed*) to get all derivatives of obedient, obedience, etc. Does Logos have a similar search feature?

    Logos does support wildcard searching but they are not recommended as they are very resource-intensive

    However it does have a Match All Word Forms option which effectively does the same thing (it finds all words based on a similar stem). Turn it off id you want exact word matching

  • Nikki Carter
    Nikki Carter Member Posts: 1 ✭✭

    Thank you so much Nathan for taking the time to construct this list.  It has been most helpful to me comparing the features.  So appreciate this!

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    Glad to assist! Here are some additional training resources as well:

    • Logos Pro Training (Free)
    • MP Seminars (He is releasing some free live webinars for Wordsearch users, plus he offers a monthly subscription services to his training library. I am a subscriber)
    • LearnLogos.com (He offers regular free webinars which are very helpful, he also sells webinars and offers a monthly service that allows you to download all of his future webinars and training videos, plus he sells training bundles. I'm a member of his VIP Club and have purchased his training bundles).

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    A few more interface equivalents. Most of these are more obvious, but I'm including them in the list anyway:

    • Menu Bar-Menus are combined with the main program toolbar in Logos
    • Home tab-Home page button
    • Study tab-Any layout in Logos when books are opens (it's just no longer marked "study", the books are simply "there")
    • Library tab and Resources pane-All combined in the Library
    • Account Menu-Account menu (either your initials or picture if you added a picture to your Faithlife profile)

    I think I've covered everything. If there's anything I missed we can add to it!

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Robert Paul McCloud
    Robert Paul McCloud Member Posts: 8 ✭✭

    As much as Logos is a far more powerful and full software package then WORDSearch, there are areas that WORDSearch did better. I hope, since you now own the rights to it, that you have an open mind and look it over closely to see if there are any approaches that WORDSeach used, that could be incorporated into Logos. One of the things that I think WORDSearch was better at is library organization. I know that I can create collections in Logos, but the way WORDSearch broke down categories in easily assessable sub-categories within the library tree was so much easier to work with. The Commentary category is a prime example: broken down according to commentary series (NAC, Tyndale, MacArthur, etc). The Logos library tree is so cluttered, it can be maddening. And collections, although useful, really doesn't match a branched library tree. Anyway, I just hope you don't fail to recognize that you can learn something from WORDSearch's approach. 

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,826

    The Commentary category is a prime example: broken down according to commentary series (NAC, Tyndale, MacArthur, etc)

    While it isn't quite the same, Logos' Library has a filter that allows you to select resources by a number of criteria, including resource type (commentary, for example).

    This screen shot shows the filter panel open, and I've applied two filters: one for type:Bible Commentary and one for the New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. I could go further in filtering the results if I wanted to do so.  It isn't a branched library, but it will allow you to filter down to what you are looking for fairly quickly.

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • Kevin A. Purcell
    Kevin A. Purcell Member Posts: 3,421 ✭✭✭

    Great list. I linked to this in my article about the move from WS to Logos

    https://www.kevinpurcell.org/wordsearch-is-dead-long-live-wordsearch-with-logos/

    Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
    Brushy Mountain Baptist Association

    www.kevinpurcell.org

  • SineNomine
    SineNomine Member Posts: 7,012 ✭✭✭

    Welcome to the forums!

    As much as Logos is a far more powerful and full software package then WORDSearch, there are areas that WORDSearch did better. I hope, since you now own the rights to it, that you have an open mind and look it over closely to see if there are any approaches that WORDSeach used, that could be incorporated into Logos.

    One of the very first threads--started by Faithlife--in this forum was (and is) "Favorite Wordsearch Features": https://community.logos.com/forums/t/193813.aspx

    “The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara

  • Mattillo
    Mattillo Member Posts: 6,209 ✭✭✭✭

    Here are features I don't see 100% equivalents of yet to my knowledge:

    • Cross Reference Explorer-Cited By

    I never thought of using Cited By for Cross References.  How would you set that up?

  • One of the things that I think WORDSearch was better at is library organization. I know that I can create collections in Logos, but the way WORDSearch broke down categories in easily assessable sub-categories within the library tree was so much easier to work with. The Commentary category is a prime example: broken down according to commentary series (NAC, Tyndale, MacArthur, etc). The Logos library tree is so cluttered, it can be maddening.

    Logos library allows resources to be found many ways so facet filters have many choices (cluttered can be reduced by collapsing sections).

    Screen shot shows Library (Details View) sorted by Series (clicked on column header to group resources by Series), filtered by Bible Commentary and English (clicked filter facets in hamburger menu), followed by finding NAC, Tyndale, MacArthur, Top2 (e.g. Reformation Commentary on Scripture volume description includes Tyndale so appears in filtered list)

    Personally have customized Commentary titles in my Library along with creating a custom series of Top 2 Commentaries that started with https://www.bestcommentaries.com/topcommentaries/ Thread => Creating a New Series of Commentaries includes title customization conventions and some historical commentary collection ideas. Thread => Collection rules for sorting commentaries (updated for Logos 8 Base Packages) includes Jun 2020 update of historical commentary collection ideas and title convention => https://community.logos.com/forums/p/88829/1104458.aspx#1104458

    My library prioritization includes two Commentary series in the Top 5 resources with Bible Indexing so Right Click on a Bible word allows me to click Reference for Lookup (mouse hover shows pop-up from my highest prioritized commentary series: UBS Handbooks)

    Clicking my highest prioritized Bible Commentary opens it in a new tab:

    Pressing right arrow key (shortcut for Parallel Resources) in the Commentary Tab causes resource change to my next highest prioritized Commentary, which is in my Top 2 Commentary series (when more than one volume has Bible Reference, alphabetical title order is used, which is chronological for my customized titles so oldest one first)

    Multiview Resources (product page shows inclusion in many collections: e.g. Logos 8 Fundamentals) is enabled in Gill's commentary so two more commentaries appear in parallel (previously chosen for MultiView from an earlier forum discussion).

    Keep Smiling [:)]

  • Mark Smith
    Mark Smith MVP Posts: 11,826

    John Fidel explained the Cross Reference Explorer in this way: The Cross Reference Explorer searches resources for the reference being studied. There are options to select which resources are searched and you can set up collections for the search. 

    In Logos we tend to think of Cross References as other scriptures in some way associated with the scripture we are studying. The way John described it and the screen shot he gave looks more like the Logos Cited By tool which searches all (or a group of) resources for the passage you input (which is what the example screen shot shows).

    In the example below I look for citations of Psalm 119:16 in a collection of expository commentaries. Note that Logos searches for any passage that includes the reference, so Psalm 139, Psalm 139:13-16, etc. (As far as I can tell there is no way to limit Cited By to a finding only single verse references as you can with a Bible Search.) You quickly get to the end of the list and have to hit the Search icon for more results.

    Pastor, North Park Baptist Church

    Bridgeport, CT USA

  • Mattillo said:

    Here are features I don't see 100% equivalents of yet to my knowledge:

    • Cross Reference Explorer-Cited By

    I never thought of using Cited By for Cross References.  How would you set that up?

    Tool => Cited By has Add button for Adding Series & Collections: e.g. Top 2 Commentaries (drag & drop into desired order)

    Hovering Mouse over Cited By hyperlink shows a pop-up

    Short title includes ? for a Top 2 volume due to known plagiarism.

    Keep Smiling [:)]

  • Mattillo
    Mattillo Member Posts: 6,209 ✭✭✭✭

    Thanks.  I'll have to play with this later.  I wonder if I just made a collection of my Cross References Treasuries and then used cited-by against that.

    I usually just have my bible open and the power look up open next to it.  Information tool works for this too.  It was never great but the easiest way I knew to look at both.

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Member, Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,487

    Two other options for finding cross references are the Cross References option in the Guides menu under Bible Reference Guides, and Important Passages in the same place. These can be opened individually, or as a custom Guide Template with a Bible reference key. That panel can be in a link set with a Bible in order to stay in sync with the current position in a Bible.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    Someone mentioned Favorite resources on another thread, so I'll also mention it here.

    The equivalent is Favorites on the Tools menu, which also allows you to add favorites for multiple book locations (not just one book). It also has a Bookmarks section which is handy when I need to temporarily find my place in books.

    Also, To set your Preferred Bible and Commentary, Dictionary, Word Study resources, etc., you use "Prioritized" in the Library. Drag the resources from the library over there and put them in the order you want them to appear.

    Lastly, you can also pin your preferred Bible and Commentary and any other tools to the main toolbar (just drag and drop them to the toolbar) to have one-click access to them like you have in Wordsearch.

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    Great list. I linked to this in my article about the move from WS to Logos

    https://www.kevinpurcell.org/wordsearch-is-dead-long-live-wordsearch-with-logos/

    Thanks for linking to it! We can all keep adding to this as questions arise.

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Dave M
    Dave M Member Posts: 67 ✭✭

    Nathan, Thanks so much for your efforts on this. I have been using WS for the past five years. Used Logos prior to that but left because of price and ease of use. These equivalents will help immensely. 

  • Dave M
    Dave M Member Posts: 67 ✭✭

    Smiley, Congrats. You have proved the point of the comment.

  • Robert Paul McCloud
    Robert Paul McCloud Member Posts: 8 ✭✭

    Thank you very, very much! This is extremely useful information. So many others have also provided help on this, The support from users in these forums are humbling. I really don't know where to start! Do you know if there is any provision to "blanket" reply to all of these responses in one shot? Like, just to say THANK YOU EVERYBODY?

  • Robert Paul McCloud
    Robert Paul McCloud Member Posts: 8 ✭✭

    Very useful list. On a side note (but related to all these lists) are the number of WORDSearch resources that have poor formatting and numerous errors in them (and don't have a Logos equivalent). I'm hoping that Logos is able to put the resources to correct these at some future date. I know it was frustrating for many of us WORDSearch users dealing with this. One prime example were the Life Application Bible Commentaries. A real nightmare, especially when trying to use them on a mobile app. I gave up. I was SO DELIGHTED when I looked at the Logos version! So well done, I can put finally put them to good use!

  • Kevin A. Purcell
    Kevin A. Purcell Member Posts: 3,421 ✭✭✭

    You can report typos and other errors in Logos. They are pretty good a lot of the time about fixing those reported. 

    Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
    Brushy Mountain Baptist Association

    www.kevinpurcell.org

  • abondservant
    abondservant Member Posts: 4,796 ✭✭✭

    Very useful list. On a side note (but related to all these lists) are the number of WORDSearch resources that have poor formatting and numerous errors in them (and don't have a Logos equivalent). I'm hoping that Logos is able to put the resources to correct these at some future date. I know it was frustrating for many of us WORDSearch users dealing with this. One prime example were the Life Application Bible Commentaries. A real nightmare, especially when trying to use them on a mobile app. I gave up. I was SO DELIGHTED when I looked at the Logos version! So well done, I can put finally put them to good use!

    I suspect the initial version will be quick and dirty (well at least a direct import of the original), but by years end, or whenever they are going to have the books ready for sale, they should be polished up pretty well. 

    When bringing a new book in from a paper source, they scan it, run an OCR on it, and then have two different human beings read it, and compare it to the original making changes. I imagine a similar process for "dirty" books from WS. At least having it checked twice before it is available for sale. 

    L2 lvl4 (...) WORDsearch, all the way through L10,

  • John Simpson
    John Simpson Member Posts: 145 ✭✭

    • Auto Dock Books by Category (would like this feature)

    I got WS7 the first day it was released and it didn't have auto dock. I was amazed when Dave Scofield added the auto dock feature the day after I suggested it.

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    I confirmed tonight Cited By is the best equivalent to Cross Reference Explorer. It can be used with custom collections just like Cross Reference Explorer.

    Print and Print Preview are under the Print/Export tab in the book's Panel Menu (large book icon on the left-hand side). In addition to printing, you can export to PDF which is super handy that Wordsearch didn't easily offer without a workaround.

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • luvlogos
    luvlogos Member Posts: 1 ✭✭

    Thank you so much for the time you took to compare.  this is a great help.

    Your Sister in Christ

    luvlogos

  • Drew
    Drew Member Posts: 20 ✭✭

    Has anyone found an equivalent of the WS My Library Report that can be copied to the clipboard and pasted into Excel so one can work with a list of one's Logos resources?

    Thanks, Drew

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 33,245

    Has anyone found an equivalent of the WS My Library Report

    I don't know what the WS My Library Report did, but try clicking the three dots icon at the top right of the Library window and select the Print / Export function.

    See if that gives you what you are looking for.

  • Drew
    Drew Member Posts: 20 ✭✭

    Graham,

    Thanks, that is great. It is much more complete than My Library Report.

    Drew

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 33,245

    Hi Drew

    Thanks, that is great. It is much more complete than My Library Report.

    That's good to hear

    Another option I should have mentioned is creating a Bibliography Doc. Some context at https://support.logos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016747291-Bibliography 

    This allows you to produce citation information for a range of resources - including your entire library if you wish

    Graham

  • xnman
    xnman Member Posts: 2,935 ✭✭✭

    One of my favorite things to use in WS was ZipScript.  How do I find it in Logos? 

    xn = Christan man=man -- Acts 11:26 "....and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch".

    Barney Fife is my hero! He only uses an abacus with 14 rows!

  • Kevin A. Purcell
    Kevin A. Purcell Member Posts: 3,421 ✭✭✭

    The closest thing to it is a thing called Copy Bible Verse. But it doesn’t run independently of Logos. It’s more powerful and more complicated. https://youtu.be/YYCfNIq2gaQ

    Dr. Kevin Purcell, Director of Missions
    Brushy Mountain Baptist Association

    www.kevinpurcell.org

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    xnman said:

    One of my favorite things to use in WS was ZipScript.  How do I find it in Logos? 

    ZipScript was one of my favorite WS features too.

    I'd love to see an update to Copy Bible Verses that would allow it to run independently in the background, especially on the Mac since ZipScript never worked on the Mac.

    Then if there was another update that added a ZipScript style interface as an option, that would be super useful.

    I was also an InstaVerse fan back in the day before WS phased it out. On websites that use RefTagger, it's less needed now, but some websites haven't added support for RefTagger, plus InstaVerse also worked with a few word processors. It would be fun if I could rest my cursor over Bible verses in a word processor or non-RefTagger websites and still get a Bible popup like I did with InstaVerse.

    Another feature I liked in WS7 (I believe it was removed in WS8 onward) was the "Cross Reference Pane" (they moved it to the "Cross Reference Explorer"). The closest thing now is "Explorer". It would be great if the "Insights" pane could offer an option to include some of the content in "Explorer". It would bring it pretty close to the "Cross Reference Pane" I had in WS7.

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • Nathan Parker
    Nathan Parker Member Posts: 814 ✭✭✭

    I can't remember if I ever shared these. These are my layouts for Thompson Chain Reference and Complete Biblical Library, the two series of books I used the most in WS:

    Dr. Nathan Parker

  • John W Gillis
    John W Gillis Member Posts: 136 ✭✭✭

    pretty close to the "Cross Reference Pane" I had in WS7

    The "Cross References Section" from the Bible Reference Guides can be opened as a stand-alone pane then attached & synced to a Bible pane within a window to create something pretty close to the short-lived "Cross Reference Pane" that WS7 had inherited from Bible Explorer. The way Logos lays it out, you need a lot more screen real estate then the older BE/WS pane did, but it's a bit more functional.