Word plugin: privilege full name matches over partial matches, and (first) authors over editors
I'm reporting something that I believe I didn't see earlier, so either I wasn't paying attention or there has been a change.
(I)
The Word plugin for Zotero seems to privilege partial string matches in author names and titles over full matches. So in the screenshot below, I'm looking for an article authored by Elman, and the plugin presents me with matches from "Beidelman and Finnegan" to "Bickel 2014" (a chapter in a book co-edited by Kockelman... Scrolling down I get "Edelman" and then, finally, Elman.
It seems clear to me that most of us are not typing partial but full author names, so my proposal would be that full authors names show up first.
http://i.imgur.com/0sIY96R.png
(II)
On a related note, the plugin presents a list ordered from A-Z, which easily leads to irrelevant matches showing up. For instance looking for "Kockelman", I first get a chapter by someone else in a handbook co-edited by Kockelman, whereas obviously I'm more likely to be looking for stuff (first- or sole-)authored or (first or sole-)edited by Kockelman.
Here, my proposal would be that authors are privileged over editors, so that the stuff on which Kockelman is an author, and perhaps whole volumes where he is an editor, comes up first.
In fact, when typing "Kockelman" in the citation window, I'm clearly not trying to cite a chapter by someone-else-who-happens-to-come-before-K-in-alphabetical-order in a volume edited by Kockelman, so perhaps a more specific rule could be that whenever editor ≠ author, if my match is to author, show it, but if my match is to editor, don't show it.
(I)
The Word plugin for Zotero seems to privilege partial string matches in author names and titles over full matches. So in the screenshot below, I'm looking for an article authored by Elman, and the plugin presents me with matches from "Beidelman and Finnegan" to "Bickel 2014" (a chapter in a book co-edited by Kockelman... Scrolling down I get "Edelman" and then, finally, Elman.
It seems clear to me that most of us are not typing partial but full author names, so my proposal would be that full authors names show up first.
http://i.imgur.com/0sIY96R.png
(II)
On a related note, the plugin presents a list ordered from A-Z, which easily leads to irrelevant matches showing up. For instance looking for "Kockelman", I first get a chapter by someone else in a handbook co-edited by Kockelman, whereas obviously I'm more likely to be looking for stuff (first- or sole-)authored or (first or sole-)edited by Kockelman.
Here, my proposal would be that authors are privileged over editors, so that the stuff on which Kockelman is an author, and perhaps whole volumes where he is an editor, comes up first.
In fact, when typing "Kockelman" in the citation window, I'm clearly not trying to cite a chapter by someone-else-who-happens-to-come-before-K-in-alphabetical-order in a volume edited by Kockelman, so perhaps a more specific rule could be that whenever editor ≠ author, if my match is to author, show it, but if my match is to editor, don't show it.
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dstillmanI've fixed #1 in the latest 4.0 Beta. I've also made it use the composite "Creator" field from the middle pane for sorting, so as long as the item has an author, the author and not the editor will be used for sorting, which I think will mostly address #2. (The only time it won't is when an item only has an editor.)
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markExcellent, thank you Dan!