Upgrade StorageAll the notes are not equal
With the advent of Zotero 7 Beta and its powerful feature of HTML annotation, I think it is now possible to use Zotero as my all-in-one personal KM solution. To make that happen, I am trying to figure out my notetaking workflow in Zotero. I know the plugin Better Notes can help me a lot, but there is still an issue that bothers me: All the notes are not equal in Zotero.
One can take notes in the following places:
* Standalone note (They are formal items; they can be found in item list and all other places; they should be created manually;)
* child note (They are formal items; they can be found in item list and all other places; they should be created manually; multiple child notes can be created under a parent item;)
* attachment note (They are not formal items; they can only be found at the right side of the main UI; they are editable automatically after an attachment is created; only one attachment note is allowed for one attachment;)
* annotation (They are not formal items but can be converted into child notes; they can only be found at the left side of the reading and annotation UI;)
If you wanna search, recall, review and organize notes after taking them, you may be bothered by the following facts like me:
* notes can be scattered all over these places, with different visibility and rules, causing intellectual burden;
* attachment notes and annotations are not shown in the item list of main UI and the note list of the reading and annotation UI, so: when a search (matched attachment note or annotation) recalls an item, one need to figure out why it is recalled; when one tries to find relevant notes in the reading and annotation UI, he cannot find relevant attachment notes and annotations (only standalone notes and child notes can be found).
To address the issues, I would like to suggest the following changes:
* Promote the attachment note to child note. Use the same rules and UI for attachment notes. Allow multiple attachment notes for one attachment. Show attachment notes in the item list of main UI (as children of attachments) and search results. Show attachment notes in the note list of the reading and annotation UI.
* Add a formal item type for annotations, or promote annotation to child note. Show them in the item list of the main UI (as children of attachments). Clicking an annotation in the item list brings out the annotation pane (the left side of the reading and annotation UI) . Show annotations in the note list of the reading and annotation UI.
* Move the annotation pane of the reading and annotation UI, from left side to right side. This will be consistent with almost all other annotation tools (such as Adobe Reader, its annotation pane is at the right side by default) , also consistent with Zotero itself, because editing always takes place at the right side in the main UI.
One can take notes in the following places:
* Standalone note (They are formal items; they can be found in item list and all other places; they should be created manually;)
* child note (They are formal items; they can be found in item list and all other places; they should be created manually; multiple child notes can be created under a parent item;)
* attachment note (They are not formal items; they can only be found at the right side of the main UI; they are editable automatically after an attachment is created; only one attachment note is allowed for one attachment;)
* annotation (They are not formal items but can be converted into child notes; they can only be found at the left side of the reading and annotation UI;)
If you wanna search, recall, review and organize notes after taking them, you may be bothered by the following facts like me:
* notes can be scattered all over these places, with different visibility and rules, causing intellectual burden;
* attachment notes and annotations are not shown in the item list of main UI and the note list of the reading and annotation UI, so: when a search (matched attachment note or annotation) recalls an item, one need to figure out why it is recalled; when one tries to find relevant notes in the reading and annotation UI, he cannot find relevant attachment notes and annotations (only standalone notes and child notes can be found).
To address the issues, I would like to suggest the following changes:
* Promote the attachment note to child note. Use the same rules and UI for attachment notes. Allow multiple attachment notes for one attachment. Show attachment notes in the item list of main UI (as children of attachments) and search results. Show attachment notes in the note list of the reading and annotation UI.
* Add a formal item type for annotations, or promote annotation to child note. Show them in the item list of the main UI (as children of attachments). Clicking an annotation in the item list brings out the annotation pane (the left side of the reading and annotation UI) . Show annotations in the note list of the reading and annotation UI.
* Move the annotation pane of the reading and annotation UI, from left side to right side. This will be consistent with almost all other annotation tools (such as Adobe Reader, its annotation pane is at the right side by default) , also consistent with Zotero itself, because editing always takes place at the right side in the main UI.
Attachment notes only exist for historical reasons. We wouldn't add those today. I'd recommend against using them. Every PDF reader I'm aware of other than Acrobat Reader has a left sidebar with an annotations view. This is entirely standard. (We certainly do not look to Acrobat Reader — possibly the worst program I have ever used in my life? — for design inspiration.)
The right-hand sidebar is for the Item and Notes panes, and the whole point is that you can drag annotations from the left-hand sidebar into a note on the right to build up a document with annotations and citations.