BibleWorks Update

In the past year there has been quite a bit that has occurred that has unfortunately taken up my time to not be able to really work with new BibleWorks functions. One day I hope to be back, and when happens one of the things I am excited about with BibleWorks 9 is that they have instructional videos. I will say that 8 also had them, but they were much more limited, they have quite a few more at this point and really it is all very exciting. So hopefully I will be writing here in the not so distant future.

Well, it is here, and has been here for a little while.

Not too terribly long ago BW 9 was released and I waited patiently for my copy to ship, it finally came, but with the birth of my second child, a seven pound five ounce baby boy, when the software finally came, I was a little busy. I have been able to tool around with it a little bit and can't wait to dive into some of their more advanced features. However, for the sake of this blog, eventually I will get back to my function reviews of the features of BW, I may have to modify according to the help menus, but I took a quick glance, and I honestly don't think I will have to adjust too much. I can say, with much certainty, that this is one of the best upgrades I have seen in some time. I remember saying that when BW 8 was released, but this by far even outdoes that one. So a lot of exciting things going on with BW.

BibleWorks 9!!!

Ok so here's the story, last week someone got onto the BibleWorks forum and asked a question about BibleWorks 9 the questions came about because of the most recent CBD (Christian Book Distributors) magazine which featured it as a product, most found this surprising since the company of BibleWorks has always been pretty good to their customer base and under normal circumstances would have let the people in the forums know before it came out in the catalogs. As it turns out CBD accidentally jumped the gun on the release and was not supposed to have it in their magazine until at least mid-July. Seeing this the BBW team immediately released the BBW 9 butttttt they can't ship until mid-July. For me this will be an incredibly long few weeks. However having watched the videos and read the reviews on the unofficial Bible Works Blog I have to say that I am rather impressed with 9, just from that without even having used it. I will have to talk more about this in the future as I dream of the time when my copy comes in the mail.

Function 13: Statistics Analysis Tab

Even before BBW 8, when you did a search on the bottom of the search window you could see some of the statistics of your search, how many hits you had, how many verses that they appeared in how fast the search was done and so on. However, this information is brief and it may leave you with a desire for more information, this is where the statistics tab comes in. In the statistics tab there is a lot of information if only we would know how to read it.
The bottom of the search window also may need some interpretive help so we will start there. At the bottom there are several categories, hits, verses, form, and seconds. The hits are the number of search hits one would get per search, this differs than verses or forms. It differs because first of all, you can do searches on multiple words or forms that are not simple words or verses, so for instance you do a search on a verb –noun construction, it is possible to have over three “hits” within one verse. On the other hand the “verses” at the bottom means just that with few exceptions. (The BibleWorks help file does mention the possibility of it with a link to a section on complex word and phrase searches) This simply gives you the number of verse in which the “hits” occurs in. The form identifies the number of form, or forms on which the search is done. The sec. is the time it takes BibleWorks to perform the search, you will probably notice that this is almost always a small number. At times you may see parenthesis around your search result, this just tells you that you have limited your search and gives you the results had you searched the entire version of the text.
After the search if you go into the Analysis window and click on the search tab, you will see even more statistics on your search. The statistics can be displayed in your hits, or your words and displayed as a graph. The graph has three colored bars, green for Old Testament, red for New Testament and blue for everything else (apocryphal books, non-Biblical books). At the top of the statistics tab there is a drop down, from here you can choose whether you want to display how many verses in a particular book had your search, or how many hits were in each book of the Bible. You can also display percentages. The percentages you can display range from entire Bibles to verses with some in between.
When you click on the options on the top of the window, you will have other choices of graphs whether you want it in chapter, book , or just verse this does change some of the other options. You can also change the way the graph is displayed whether you want it to fit inside the window or whether you want it to be horizontal or vertical and so on.
In my opinion the graph bar has been a huge help in displaying more information for the search results. It is things like this with Graphs and visuals in general that Bibleworks has been lacking in comparison to Logos, however, this is done in the BibleWorks fashion and is an excellent add on. I cannot say that I use it the most, however, when it is needed it is a huge help for the visual that I need.

Function 12: X-Refs

X-Refs are a new function to BibleWorks 8, however, it was a much needed and much appreciated addition. The "X" in this case stands for "cross" i.e. cross references. Cross references are pretty standard in most study Bibles, and of course some are better than others, some find connections in everything and others cannot seem to find a connection to save their life. A cross reference is a connection, it is when you are reading a text and there is a connection between your text and another, when there is a connection, there is a cross reference to show you where it is, so that you can look it up and see what it says. In BBW this is done with the X-Refs.

with the X-refs is again located in the Analysis window as a reference tab. when you open there is a tab header which gives you several options including which version of the cross-references you want to look at. It also gives you the option of Biblical text you want the references to be displayed in the window there is also options on which x-refs you want to display. By my count there are 13 different versions, I personally like the "BW Master" however, there are plenty of others to choose from. In the window underneath the tab header is where the references are displayed not just the references but the full verses as well displayed in the version of the Bible which you chose from the tab header.

The other button on the tab header that can be clicked is the options for the x-refs. There are plenty of options here including font size and display of Bible version however, one of the best options that I can see is the option to add your own reference.

Overall this is a much needed addition, and with Bible study and exegesis this will be used by me quite often.

Function 11: Resource Notes Revisited

Within the past few months I have been able to own and work with Logos 4. This particular function, resource notes, is much different in Logos, so much so that I decided to have a short post to talk about it. With Logos, Notes to me become very complicated and if not done just right, will result in someone losing their notes or haveing the note misplaced. however it may seem at first that a person will lose some functionality and if this is the case you may like Logos' notes, however for me, I would prefer to have the generic overarching notes that BW brings to the table, it is simple to the point and easy to use and keep up with.

Video of a Training Seminar