Accordance 5.0 for Mac released, OS X version on the way

Accordance 5.0 for the Mac has been released by OakTree Software, which makes “the most complete family Bible study products available for the Mac.” What’s more, a native Mac OS X version is in the works.

Accordance is a Mac-only Bible program that has been praised by reviewers as “the kind of software that makes Windows users wish they had Macs.” There are currently twelve Accordance CD-ROMs available containing a “massive” amount of material, David Lang, Accordance Development, OakTree Software, told MacCentral

“We recently debuted version 5.0 of the software at Macworld New York,” he said. “A Carbonized version should be available this fall.”

With Accordance, you can compare multiple translations in parallel; you can look up words in the original Greek and Hebrew; consult a variety of commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and reference works; analyze your search results with informative charts and graphs; or record your own notes on any verse, as well as create 2D and 3D maps with the Bible Atlas

In version 5.0, new Window and Amplify palettes let you to access every Bible text and study aid in your Accordance library with the click of a button. That is, if you click the right button. In previous versions of Accordance, there was little to distinguish the button for one kind of text or tool from all the other buttons, and it was easy to click on the wrong one. In version 5.0, each pop-up button can easily be distinguished by its icon, and a text label appears whenever you place your mouse cursor over an icon. You also have the option to turn off the icons in favor of text buttons.

In addition to its new color background, the Search window in version 5.0 features a number of improvements. The Mode button has been replaced by a pair of radio buttons that let you specify whether you want to search by verse or by word; a new History pop-up menu lists all your previous searches, so you can go back to a search you’ve done before; a new Context pop-up menu lets you display the context of verses right in the Search window; and you can now add Search window panes which display reference tools and/or user notes.

Version 5.0 also includes “user tools” — customizable tools that are fully searchable, accessible via the New Window and Amplify palettes, and capable of displaying Scripture hypertext links, user tools can be put to an almost endless variety of uses. You can use them for tasks such as creating your own topical Bible or Bible dictionary; developing a database of sermon illustrations and anecdotes; storing class notes and outlines; downloading a public domain text from the Internet and adding it to your Accordance library.

Also, with Accordance 5.0, you can create hundreds of different highlight styles and use them to mark entire verses or individual words within any Bible text. You can choose to display or hide the highlighting at any time, and can even search for verses highlighted with a specific style.

Accordance has always made it possible to view multiple Bible texts in parallel by opening additional “panes” within a single window. With version 5.0, you can now open panes displaying reference tools (such as commentaries and cross-references), as well as your own user notes. Reference tool and user notes panes can be oriented either vertically or horizontally, automatically scroll along with the Bible, and can be printed in conjunction with the Bible text panes.

The new HITS command lets you search the word list found in another Search window, enabling you to compare the vocabulary of different passages, different translations or even different corpuses such as the Qumran and the Hebrew Bible.

You can now define ranges in the browser pane of the tool window to narrow your search to a particular set of articles, or to allow you to display, print, and save specific articles. Also, with the update, the older Accordance Guide has been replaced by Accordance Help, which is purportedly much easier to navigate and search. The product is available in a variety of levels. For info on pricing and ordering, go to the OakTree Software Web site.