What would you like to see in Bibleworks 11?

[DavidR]

I am not sure exactly what you want to do, but you CAN already paste anything onto the command line, so that you can search on it. But ...
1) you have to have typed the proper search symbols on the command line first (e.g. . / ! ' etc.)
2) you either have to delete the vowel pointing and accents or have checked the General Hebrew Option "Search on Hebrew versions is vowel point sensitive" or General Greek Option "Search on Greek versions is accent sensitive" and have the appropriate search version already selected.
3) you may perhaps have to change your Copy Options. E.g. I have one of my copy options set to include the biblical reference. If I paste that onto the command line, I then have to delete the biblical reference.

4) A better way may be ...
a) you highlight the text you want to search in the browse window, right click on it, and choose "Search for Phrase"
b) you click on an individual word in the browse window, right click on it, and choose "Search on Form" or "Search on Lemma" or "Search on Word" depending on what language you are using.

With all these options available, what are you seeking to do which you cannot already do?

Mark, I'll let galencurrah respond about what he wants. One answer for me (I already use your #4 regularly) is that I might have some Greek or Hebrew text copied from another program that I want to paste in. I can't paste any such text onto the Command Line. For instance, I've just been trying to paste in the simple word με (no accents, no diacritics). I select BGT as search version and type a . first, but whether the με is copied in from BW or another program, it will not paste into the CL. All that shows up is some nonsense, usually a diairesis. I did try turning on "Search on Greek versions is accent sensitive" but that made no difference. Can you actually paste Greek and Hebrew onto the CL?

[Glenn Weaver]

Hi David,

The only Greek and Hebrew text that can be copied to the Command Line is that text that is in the BibleWorks font character mapping. It is possible to copy text from within many places in BibleWorks into the Command Line, but copying text from outside of BibleWorks would be difficult to do. Most, but not all, outside text will be in Unicode. BibleWorks exports Unicode, but does not use Unicode internally. Therefore, it is not possible to copy Unicode Greek and Hebrew to the Command Line.

And frankly, there are different ways to enter Unicode text of the same word, so that it looks the same but uses different characters, so even having Unicode capabilities would not guarantee that a search on copied text would work. It is an elusive goal, one that I don't think will be easily solved. It is a pretty complicated issue, though it may not look like it.

Blessings,
Glenn

[DavidR]

Thanks, Glenn. It sounds like, with Unicode as with so many other technological advances, "The great thing about standards is that there are so many of them!"

But WRT "The only Greek and Hebrew text that can be copied to the Command Line is that text that is in the BibleWorks font character mapping," I find that I can't paste text from either the Browse Window or the Analysis Window to the Command Line, any more than I can paste text from any other source. If I copy Greek from the Browse Window, putting something like "(Psa 15:1 LXXRH) με" on the clipboard, I find that with BGT or BGM as search version it pastes in the English "Psa 15:1 LXXRH" in Greek characters, but for the two Greek letters I get only a single diairesis.

[Lee]

Lee, what I want to do is not scroll through previous commands, but once a command is on the Command Line, move back and forth within it a word at a time instead of just a character at a time, and using keyboard shortcuts rather than mouse clicks. Ctrl+LeftArrow = previous word, Ctrl+RightArrow = next word, as in most word processors and text editors.

Gotcha. That's one keyboard shortcut that I had not run across, but that sounds helpful--I'll try it in Word when I pop it up in a few minutes. And I do imagine that could be helpful for long command line entries in BW.

[Glenn Weaver]

Hi David,

The default export option for Greek and Hebrew in BibleWorks is to export in Unicode. This will not paste correctly on the Command Line. The best way to copy from the Browse Window to the Command Line is to place your cursor on the word you want to copy (do NOT select the word, only place the cursor on it), then right-click and select "Append to Command Line". You can add multiple words to the Command Line this way, as well. In this way the font mapping and spelling will be correct. You can modify the spelling as you wish. This works for text versions and morphology versions.

Blessings,
Glenn

[DavidR]

Hi David,

The default export option for Greek and Hebrew in BibleWorks is to export in Unicode. This will not paste correctly on the Command Line. The best way to copy from the Browse Window to the Command Line is to place your cursor on the word you want to copy (do NOT select the word, only place the cursor on it), then right-click and select "Append to Command Line". You can add multiple words to the Command Line this way, as well. In this way the font mapping and spelling will be correct. You can modify the spelling as you wish. This works for text versions and morphology versions.

Thanks, Glenn! Somehow in years of right-clicking in the Browse Window, I had completely overlooked that command. It works as advertised; and it also switches to the version in which I've right-clicked and starts the CL with a period. Super!

[Andrew Wilson]

I originally bought Bibleworks when it was advertising that it was going to include Reuben Swanson's Greek New Testament Manuscripts arranged in horizontal line format. Publication of Swanson's volumes was first delayed and then complicated by publishing issues, and then it finally disappeared. From a buyer's perspective, without access to all the behind-the-scenes negotiating, etc., it felt like false-advertising. Publication just kept on getting promised, then delayed and then the line went dead and Swanson disappeared, although I realise that BW was trying to do its best to get the volumes onto the platform.

I realise that few people will agree with me, but this was THE one module that I decided to buy Bibleworks for - I am interested in NT textual criticism, and Swanson's as-yet-unpublished extra volumes (after his death) were going to be available. The main bulk of Paul's epistles have still not yet appeared in print format, and here was Bibleworks offering to bring them to the public.

Anyway, I have not regretted buying Bibleworks, even though it did not fulfil its promise to put Swanson in the package. I love Bibleworks!

So this is just a plea to try and sort some deal out so that Swanson gets put on some future version. The other text-critical resources are OK (particularly Tischendorf and the add-on Von Soden module) but NOTHING is as good as Swanson for manuscript comparison!

Andrew

[Glenn Weaver]

Hi Andrew,

I'm sorry that we were not able to include the Swanson content in BibleWorks. We spent a about a year's worth of development time on the project, and in the end licensing took some unfortunate turns and we were not able to license it after all. Now that Dr. Swanson has passed away, I do not believe that it will ever happen. I assure you it was not false advertising on our part--we were just as surprised as anyone when the licensing could not be completed.

However, the good news is that after the Swanson project we were able to get the CNTTS apparatus, and we started the BibleWorks Manuscripts Project. Having the images and transcriptions of the manuscripts is significantly more valuable than only the Swanson transcriptions, and the CNTTS apparatus has a tremendous amount of TC content. If it were not for our work on the Swanson project, we may not have started work on the manuscripts.

Blessings,
Glenn

[crossnote]

Hallo,

in the spirit of the thread "What would you like to see in Bibleworks 10?", which proved to engage our minds and imaginations of what's possible and needed, I suggest this new thread for already upcoming Bibleworks 11. I know that it's really early, but the earlier, the better! And who knows, some things may be implemented much sooner - like my request last week is already available this week (!!) - so we have nothing to lose and much to gain!

I will begin by one idea I had this morning for Forms tab:
The ability to choose morphology according to which forms should be grouped. For example, at the present, if I hover over some Greek verb, the Forms tab shows all forms (in other words, it may be too detailed in many cases). I however may be only interested in how many aorist vs present indicatives are out there (and not "aorist active 1 person singular", "aorist active 2 person singular", ... , "aorist passive 1 person singular", etc).

Not sure if this has been mentioned already or is already available, but I think Bullinger's "Figures of Speech" coded to each verse would make a nice addition for the Resource tab in the Analysis Window.

[epatt]

Allow for the scaling option to also increase the size of the list boxes in the browse window, as well as the tabs in the analysis window, or alternatively provide an option that lets you independently increase the size of those items by at least double (such as "Double Tab Size" or "Scale List Boxes and Tabs"). This would make it much easier for use on a mobile device since you don't have the staff to produce an app. The remote connection software works very well, but even with an increase in scaling the list boxes remain original size and because tablet screens are smaller it is a real challenge to tap the correct item. I usually end up tapping too high or too low, or having to tap multiple times to even open an item and after a while it gets very frustrating, especially when trying to use it during a Bible study because you have to tell everyone "hang on a moment, I'm having an issue with BibleWorks".