Accordance 9 won't see official release until Monday, but Oak Tree has begun sending out download links for those who have already paid for the upgrade. This post does not offer an exhaustive overview of new features, but hits a few of the big highlights. For more details and for other new features not mentioned here, go to the "New in 9" page at the Accordance website.
Click on the images below for a full-size view.
Zones: changing the way you work in Accordance. See here: the HCSB, Greek NT, and Word Biblical Commentary in parallel (top left); my personal notes (bottom left);The concept behind the new Accordance "zones" is not new to Bible software; it's been around for a long time. But sometimes different software of the same kind will follow different use philosophies, and that was certainly the case in the past with the way Accordance works. In previous versions of Accordance, biblical texts, commentaries, and notes could be in the same window (or on the same tab), but not modules of a different kind—such as the Greek New Testament and BDAG together. Yet the reality is that if you were to use physical texts, you might certainly place a Greek New Testament and a lexicon right beside each other. And there were ways to do this in previous versions of Accordance, but usually it meant manually aligning two separate windows beside each other if the user didn't want to go back and forth between two tabs. This is certainly Oak Tree responding to how users want to use Accordance for their work and study.
Searching in Accordance now offers results in context.Accordance has always been lightening fast in its searches, but in the past, searching through large numbers of texts could take a while. If, on a rare occasion I decided to do a true "Search All," I knew that I should really go do something else while the query was being processed. Further, the results list wasn't all that helpful. If a particular title returned multiple hits, I had to actually open that module to see what they were one by one.
In Accordance 9, search results of large numbers of files are not only fast, but displayed in their context. In the example above, I've created a group called "Journals" in which I've added 11 volumes of the Theological Journal Library, the entire Biblical Archaeology Review collection, and a beta of the upcoming Journal of Biblical Literature. This represents literally hundreds of thousands of pages of text. As I hit the search button, I looked at the second hand on my watch. I had the final results shown above in less than 10 seconds.
Even better than the quick results is the new contextual results list which you see in the right pane of the window. Note that I've selected JETS on the left. The results show me an issue by issue breakdown with my results in the full context of the paragraph that it occurs. See that in the results above, two different issues are represented, and when I scroll down I see many more.
Easy Install makes adding new modules easier.
I can't offer an accurate screenshot of the process without making a purchase, but now, if I buy a new Accordance module from the website, it will immediately be added to the list in the Easy Install window allowing me to download the file directly. Oak Tree has been offering downloadable modules for a while, but not for everything and never this integrated into the software. The list of files I have in the window below doesn't seem to be quite complete as it only goes back to 2005 (I've been using Accordance since 1998), but I believe it will be of most use in obtaining new titles from this point forward.
Syntax diagram for the BHS
Syntax diagram for the Greek NT
Accordance 9's new syntax modules offer graphical representation of the syntax of a biblical text. The cross highlighting feature that was available between tagged original language texts and keyed translation texts has been applied to the new syntax module. If you move your mouse over a word in the Greek or Hebrew text, it is also highlighted in the syntax window and even the corresponding word in a keyed translation. If you forget what an abbreviation for the syntax window means, running your mouse over it will reveal it's definition in the Instant Details window.
I started writing this post this morning, but didn't have time to complete it until this evening. In the intervening time, Timothy Jenney has posted a new video podcast offering an overview of some of these features and more. This video can be viewed in iTunes, YouTube, or on the Accordance podcast page.