Upgrade StorageTag feature dev't: associate by dragging tag, compact panel, highlight used tags, folder vs tags
I have been testing tags now for a while. Here are some points for discussion:
ASSOCIATE TAGS BY DRAGGING ONTO REFERENCE
I found it counterintuitive, that the ref needs to be dragged onto the tag not the other way round. This makes more sense for folder.
COMPACT PANEL
Since zotero lives in the bottom half of your browser window space is very scarce. I find that the tags are displayed with too much white space between lines and very long tags (say beyond 20 or 30 chars) should be truncated. One can always view the full tag name in the info panel on the right. A full line for the "display all tags" is also too much. A button "all" could probably be fitted below next "tags selected".
HIGHLIGHT USED TAGS
Immediately seeing which cells are associated with a reference would be very useful and has already been suggested here:
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/12820/tag-buttons-that-light-up-when-a-reference-that-has-that-tag-is-selected/#Item_7
Does
FOLDER VS TAGS
What exactly is the difference between these two to justify the existence of both? Folders seem to work almost identically to tags, except that they are hierarchical. A reference can be associated with multiple and folder and tags. Reference listings can be restricted by clicking folders or tags. One cannot combine, to my knowledge, 2 folders to show the cross-section of both whereas this works with tags. Tags on the other hand cannot be hierarchically ordered. What else am I missing?
ASSOCIATE TAGS BY DRAGGING ONTO REFERENCE
I found it counterintuitive, that the ref needs to be dragged onto the tag not the other way round. This makes more sense for folder.
COMPACT PANEL
Since zotero lives in the bottom half of your browser window space is very scarce. I find that the tags are displayed with too much white space between lines and very long tags (say beyond 20 or 30 chars) should be truncated. One can always view the full tag name in the info panel on the right. A full line for the "display all tags" is also too much. A button "all" could probably be fitted below next "tags selected".
HIGHLIGHT USED TAGS
Immediately seeing which cells are associated with a reference would be very useful and has already been suggested here:
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/12820/tag-buttons-that-light-up-when-a-reference-that-has-that-tag-is-selected/#Item_7
Does
FOLDER VS TAGS
What exactly is the difference between these two to justify the existence of both? Folders seem to work almost identically to tags, except that they are hierarchical. A reference can be associated with multiple and folder and tags. Reference listings can be restricted by clicking folders or tags. One cannot combine, to my knowledge, 2 folders to show the cross-section of both whereas this works with tags. Tags on the other hand cannot be hierarchically ordered. What else am I missing?
As for #2, if you do a search you'll see that some people actually like the full tag name to be displayed.
I like #3 too.
Re #4, your description of the tag/collection differences is correct. The hierarchical nature of collections makes it very useful for some types of jobs. In general, how you use them and if you have a use for both depends on your workflow.