definitions (descriptions) for fields as "bubble help"

Ulrich Windl

I think Zotero would benefit from a bubble help that is displayed when the mouse hovers over a field name (to explain the semantics for the un-aware). The text to be displayed should be part of the locale files defining translations.

adamsmith

There should be some guidance, yes, though I'm a bit concerned that bubble help would be overpowering. Those would be a lot of bubbles bubbling up...
We also get surprisingly few questions on this, so it's not a major concern for most users (probably because fields are self-explanatory for standard item types, it's mostly unusual references that are unclear). For those that are more concerned with details, I'm thinking online documentation is probably a better choice.

Ulrich Windl

Well, people are often stating that a better user interface isn't possible until someone created one. If the bubble help would only appear if the pointer is hovering over the bold label for a second or more, most people won't be bothered with it while filling the fields, but those who have doubts will quickly get some useful help. There is nothing wrong with the concept of "local help". "Online help" is always further away...