Web Page not available in dropdown

tylerbateman
Why is the "webpage" missing from the main dropdown menu when manually creating a new item? You can only find it in the side pane after choosing any of the other categories. Very annoying when I'm trying to teach this to undergraduate students. It seems like an annoying little bug to them that makes at least some of them think this is faulty software.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u4987392/dxzhgwmdtkp20vnqfsiz.png
https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u4987392/2c0uto2vn4nlhzfxeyb2.png
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    Explained here:

    https://www.zotero.org/support/adding_items_to_zotero#manually_adding_items
  • tylerbateman
    I personally disagree that it is helpful to require people to download the Zotero connector like this. Often, the "title" and "organization" of a web page is very interpretive and needs manual attention. It is also enough of a task to ask undergraduates to figure out how to use Zotero, besides also teaching how to use the Zotero connector. I would personally prefer for the option to still be there, and if people do want to use the connector, then they can. It might seem like an easier task to developers, but from a user perspective, the Zotero connector is an extra piece of software that must be downloaded, troubleshooted if need be, and then learned.
  • dstillman Zotero Team
    edited 5 days ago
    Editing metadata after saving from the Connector is fine and appropriate. But deep integration with the browser is literally Zotero's raison d'être, going back 20 years, and not teaching your students to download the Zotero Connector as part of setting up Zotero would be doing them a profound disservice.

    Zotero exists to save people from tedious tasks, which very much includes manually typing in metadata that can be saved with one click from the browser. While we've long planned to add a webpage option along with a guidance popup encouraging use of the Connector, every single person who has ever come to the forums to ask about this has fundamentally misunderstood this basic fact about how Zotero is meant to be used.

    If you're teaching your students Zotero, please help them download both Zotero and the Zotero Connector. It's a few more clicks for a dramatically better experience.
  • tylerbateman
    Alright, understood.
Sign In or Register to comment.