SwordSearcher 9 Released with Dark Mode and more

Brandon Staggs

Brandon Staggs

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After a considerable development period, SwordSearcher 9 is finally available!

1630109630173.png

There are a couple of new library modules, as usual, but the real improvements are to the program itself. Version 9 adds a dark/light color mode toggle that lets you quickly adjust the color mode of SwordSearcher’s interface for when you’re working late and night in a dim environment or just trying to reduce eye strain. Check out the comparison of color modes here. What’s great about the color mode toggle is that it remembers your text and background color choices for each mode, independently. This means you can set up your favorite colors for each mode and not have to worry about losing them when you switch!

In addition to that, some serious work has been put into improving SwordSearcher’s layout and windowing systems.

Moving your study panels around in the main window is easier now because panel sizes automatically adjust to expected sizes when you move them, and all of the panels will proportionally size, automatically, when the main window is maximized or restored or otherwise resized. Setting up a custom layout should be faster and easier now.

Also, tool windows like the Topic Guide and English-Strong’s-Indexer now appear to the system as “top-level windows,” which means they can all be maximized, minimized, and most importantly, they now participate in Windows Alt+Tab task switching and Windows Snap functionality.

Clone panels have had an upgrade, too. You can now create clone panels that can be maximized, minimized, snapped, and Alt-Tabbed. (If you prefer the prior functionality of dockable clone panels, you can have that, too!)

We’ve also been using Microsoft’s preview builds for Windows 11. Not surprisingly, to really shine on a new version of Windows, we had to accommodate some new and changed features of Windows 11. That work has been done, and SwordSearcher 9 runs and looks great on Windows 11, which is expected to be released to general availability later this year.

There’s a bunch more stuff, including hundreds of little improvements and tweaks too numerous to mention. Rest assured though, SwordSearcher 9 is still SwordSearcher and you will feel right at home when you upgrade.

Speaking of upgrades, if you’re already a SwordSearcher user with a valid license, you can get a huge discount on the new version right here.

More information:

Blogged here.
 
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What's New in SwordSearcher 9​

Dark mode interface option added!
  • With a click of one button, you can switch between light and dark color modes.
  • The new dark mode has been requested by many SwordSearcher users and is a big help in reducing certain kinds of eye strain or when using SwordSearcher in a dark environment.
  • Your personal color settings for text and text backgrounds are maintained on a per-color-mode basis, so you can easily switch between light and dark modes, using your preferred colors for each setting on the fly.
  • To go along with the new dark mode, the Word Cloud Generator and Word Trees tools have a new color theme option: River.This new color option works in either light or dark mode but is especially well-suited for dark mode.

    Click here for more details and screen shots about color modes.
New modules:
  • The Works of B. H. Carroll [CarrollWks], 14 volume set. A single module with 14 books containing works of Benajah Harvey Carroll, First President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Unabridged [JFBu], 3-volume edition of the JFB commentary with about twice as much content as the single-volume edition that is in the JFB module. (Note this new module is JFBu, and the previous JFB module is still included.) Most of the additional (unabridged) content is in the Old Testament.
New layout system functionality based on user requests:
  • The layout/docking system has had some core parts of it redesigned so that sizing and docking layout panels requires a lot less "hand holding" by the user. Making custom layouts and moving panels around is now more intuitive and faster.
  • Resizing SwordSearcher will proportionally resize all of the panels inside.
  • For custom layouts, when re-docking panels to new locations, the "sibling" panels are all evenly divided inside the container automatically. They can then be sized manually if desired.
  • All of your previously configured custom layouts will continue to work with the new system!
Windows 11 support.
  • Several windows, menus, and controls have been updated so that they work properly in Microsoft Windows 11. (Windows 8 and 10 are still supported, too!)
  • Enhanced support for the new Windows 11 window snapping system.
Improved windowing system for SwordSearcher tool windows:
  • Top-level windows like the Topic Guide, Passage Analyses Tool, English-Strong's Indexer, etc., now appear along with SwordSearcher's main icon on the task bar, and participate in Windows task-switching when they are open.
  • You can use Alt+Tab to switch between open SwordSearcher tool windows along with other applications in Windows.
  • All SwordSearcher top-level tool windows can be "snapped" to the sides of monitors, etc. This works in Windows 10 Snap Assist, and especially well with the new Windows 11 Snap functionality accessible from the maximize icon on these windows.
New Clone Panel windowing:
  • The previous Clone Panel system (for creating new Bible, Book, and Commentary text displays) has been extended to use top-level windows that participate in Alt+Tab task switching and the Windows Snap functionality, and can be maximized or minimized.
  • Although these clone panels are not "dockable" panels, the previous clone panel system with dockable panels can be selected if you prefer that. The setting is in File, Preferences, Layout Options.
Other improvements:
  • Added "Open in clone Bible panel" option to the main search box, when entering a verse reference. This makes it very easy to open a new verse in a separate Bible panel (without changing the active Bible verse) and view its entire chapter context.
  • Added "Open in clone panel" right-click option in the Topic and Verse Guides. This way you can open a book or commentary entry in a new window without changing your active book or commentary panel.
  • The Verse Auto-Paste feature, which is invoked with Ctrl+Alt+V when using a different application, no longer forces SwordSearcher to become the top-most window. Many users requested this to make inserting verses into other applications more seamless.
  • Bible highlighting improvements:
    • Improved legibility of red-letter text over highlights.
    • Underlines and background highlights are now contrasted with space between them.
    • Highlight colors are automatically dimmed in dark mode so that they are not overpowering.
  • Fixed certain Windows settings causing text display in SwordSearcher to ignore user color options.
  • Printing text panel content no longer includes the primary background color in the output.
  • Bible panels reload much faster and with less "flicker" after applying a highlight or saving a user entry edit.
  • Fixed some issues with windows staying on top of other applications when SwordSearcher is not the active application.
  • The integrated help system has been modernized to make it easier to read and use.
  • Improved back/forward navigation for Bible, Book, and Commentary panels to better maintain the scroll position of the text.
  • Significant speed improvements for resizing panels with a large number of open library tabs.
  • Improved search result panel captions to be more concise (so their tabs take up less space).
  • Library tabs in "single row" display mode can be scrolled with the mouse wheel.
  • Several "look and feel" improvements with controls like scroll bars and various buttons to improve consistency and give a more aesthetically cohesive experience.
  • Many more usability enhancements and bug fixes.
See what's new from previous releases here.

Current users click here for upgrade info.
Not yet a SwordSearcher user? Order here.
 
Thank you Sir, Thank you Sir, Thank you Sir, Thank you Sir, Thank you Sir, . . .
Praise the LORD, for YOU and all your knowledge, and craftmanship ! !
PICs to come soon, on what it looks like on a LG 49" monitor.....
 
SS9 - LG49.PNG



It is CRAZY . . . . SwordSearcher 9.0 + LG 49"
 
Johnny NL said:
View attachment 1743


It is CRAZY . . . . SwordSearcher 9.0 + LG 49"
Click to expand...
That's very colorful! I've been replacing my full-color highlights with the same color underlines and I like it a lot better. I found that I can use a different color underline for words that I want to stand out in the verses and it works really well - like circling a word in underlined verses in a paper Bible.
 
Last edited:
marty said:
That's very colorful! I've been replacing my full-color highlights with the same color underlines and I like it a lot better. I found that I can use a different color underline for words that I want to stand out in the verses and it works really well - like circling a word in underlined verses in a paper Bible.
Click to expand...
And the whole beauty of it; you can still switch between "light view / dark view"... Awesome !
 
It just keeps getting better. Every new feature is a wonderful improvement to an already great Bible Study tool; I really thought I would rarely use the "Dark Mode" but it has become my default mode now. I have found it to be much easier on my eyes even after hours of study. If you are a frequent user of SwordSearcher, do yourself a favor and upgrade, you will have no regrets.
 
Thank you so much for SS9! I'm sure it's the result of a whole lot of work and patience. I pray that God will continue to bless my congregation as one of the fruits of my 'diligent' study from resources like this. May God's Holy Spirit lead!
 
Just for the fun of it, . . . I just clicked on "light mode". What a reminder of the impressive beneficial effect of the "Dark mode".
I love and appreciate my SS9, but by doing this tonight, it just gave me a little "➕" on how much I love my SS9 ! ! !
Praise the LORD, for SwordSearcher 9, and Mr. Staggs.
Ya-all be blessed.
 
Brandon Staggs said:

What's New in SwordSearcher 9​

Dark mode interface option added!
  • With a click of one button, you can switch between light and dark color modes.
  • The new dark mode has been requested by many SwordSearcher users and is a big help in reducing certain kinds of eye strain or when using SwordSearcher in a dark environment.
  • Your personal color settings for text and text backgrounds are maintained on a per-color-mode basis, so you can easily switch between light and dark modes, using your preferred colors for each setting on the fly.
  • To go along with the new dark mode, the Word Cloud Generator and Word Trees tools have a new color theme option: River.This new color option works in either light or dark mode but is especially well-suited for dark mode.

    Click here for more details and screen shots about color modes.
New modules:
  • The Works of B. H. Carroll [CarrollWks], 14 volume set. A single module with 14 books containing works of Benajah Harvey Carroll, First President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
  • Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Unabridged [JFBu], 3-volume edition of the JFB commentary with about twice as much content as the single-volume edition that is in the JFB module. (Note this new module is JFBu, and the previous JFB module is still included.) Most of the additional (unabridged) content is in the Old Testament.
New layout system functionality based on user requests:
  • The layout/docking system has had some core parts of it redesigned so that sizing and docking layout panels requires a lot less "hand holding" by the user. Making custom layouts and moving panels around is now more intuitive and faster.
  • Resizing SwordSearcher will proportionally resize all of the panels inside.
  • For custom layouts, when re-docking panels to new locations, the "sibling" panels are all evenly divided inside the container automatically. They can then be sized manually if desired.
  • All of your previously configured custom layouts will continue to work with the new system!
Windows 11 support.
  • Several windows, menus, and controls have been updated so that they work properly in Microsoft Windows 11. (Windows 8 and 10 are still supported, too!)
  • Enhanced support for the new Windows 11 window snapping system.
Improved windowing system for SwordSearcher tool windows:
  • Top-level windows like the Topic Guide, Passage Analyses Tool, English-Strong's Indexer, etc., now appear along with SwordSearcher's main icon on the task bar, and participate in Windows task-switching when they are open.
  • You can use Alt+Tab to switch between open SwordSearcher tool windows along with other applications in Windows.
  • All SwordSearcher top-level tool windows can be "snapped" to the sides of monitors, etc. This works in Windows 10 Snap Assist, and especially well with the new Windows 11 Snap functionality accessible from the maximize icon on these windows.
New Clone Panel windowing:
  • The previous Clone Panel system (for creating new Bible, Book, and Commentary text displays) has been extended to use top-level windows that participate in Alt+Tab task switching and the Windows Snap functionality, and can be maximized or minimized.
  • Although these clone panels are not "dockable" panels, the previous clone panel system with dockable panels can be selected if you prefer that. The setting is in File, Preferences, Layout Options.
Other improvements:
  • Added "Open in clone Bible panel" option to the main search box, when entering a verse reference. This makes it very easy to open a new verse in a separate Bible panel (without changing the active Bible verse) and view its entire chapter context.
  • Added "Open in clone panel" right-click option in the Topic and Verse Guides. This way you can open a book or commentary entry in a new window without changing your active book or commentary panel.
  • The Verse Auto-Paste feature, which is invoked with Ctrl+Alt+V when using a different application, no longer forces SwordSearcher to become the top-most window. Many users requested this to make inserting verses into other applications more seamless.
  • Bible highlighting improvements:
    • Improved legibility of red-letter text over highlights.
    • Underlines and background highlights are now contrasted with space between them.
    • Highlight colors are automatically dimmed in dark mode so that they are not overpowering.
  • Fixed certain Windows settings causing text display in SwordSearcher to ignore user color options.
  • Printing text panel content no longer includes the primary background color in the output.
  • Bible panels reload much faster and with less "flicker" after applying a highlight or saving a user entry edit.
  • Fixed some issues with windows staying on top of other applications when SwordSearcher is not the active application.
  • The integrated help system has been modernized to make it easier to read and use.
  • Improved back/forward navigation for Bible, Book, and Commentary panels to better maintain the scroll position of the text.
  • Significant speed improvements for resizing panels with a large number of open library tabs.
  • Improved search result panel captions to be more concise (so their tabs take up less space).
  • Library tabs in "single row" display mode can be scrolled with the mouse wheel.
  • Several "look and feel" improvements with controls like scroll bars and various buttons to improve consistency and give a more aesthetically cohesive experience.
  • Many more usability enhancements and bug fixes.
See what's new from previous releases here.

Current users click here for upgrade info.
Not yet a SwordSearcher user? Order here.
Click to expand...
The Verse Auto-Paste feature has been my favorite. I used to minimize the SS window whenever I use this feature. I recently wondered why it feels so seamless with SS9, only to notice that this feature has been "leveled up" as well. Thanks for the great work, Bro. Brandon!
 
Hello Brandon and all my SS friends.
Thank you Brandon for the new release, all the new, improved bells and whistles. Appreciate the many loyal followers, and new folks who are always ready to help one another, the great modules that folks have offered up unselfishly and really enjoy the Spirit of the forum as everyone is courteous and respectful to one another regardless of disagreement.
Chew up the meat and spit out the bones................. We all know there are plenty of forums out there if you are looking for a doctrinal debate, where people really get in the flesh.
All I can say to the way this world is going............. Revelation 22:20 (KJV) He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
 
terrpn said:
Hello Brandon and all my SS friends.
Thank you Brandon for the new release, all the new, improved bells and whistles. Appreciate the many loyal followers, and new folks who are always ready to help one another, the great modules that folks have offered up unselfishly and really enjoy the Spirit of the forum as everyone is courteous and respectful to one another regardless of disagreement.
Chew up the meat and spit out the bones................. We all know there are plenty of forums out there if you are looking for a doctrinal debate, where people really get in the flesh.
All I can say to the way this world is going............. Revelation 22:20 (KJV) He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Click to expand...
Amen \o/
 
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