I read that, which is how I realised it was 4.0.27 that made the change. Is there an option to go back to the old behaviour, or do I need to downgrade?
With the separate buttons [available via Customize], you can […] even move the new save button between the address bar and search bar, close to its previous position.
The point is that the new save button now appears on all pages, so it doesn't make sense for it to be in the address bar. No point in downgrading — this change is permanent, site compatibility and syncing will require new versions, and you'll just be left with non-functioning software eventually. But you can configure the new version to be essentially the same layout as it was before, just with a single button that saves from any page.
The point, Dan, is that many of us have extensive customizations of our browser bars. I don't have room for the new, non-context sensitive buttons, even the addition of a single one between the address and search bars. I already have stuff disappearing off the right hand of the screen thanks the Australias interface. The context-sensitivity of the Zotero address bar icon was that it only appeared when I needed it, and it DIDN'T need to take up space along the browser bars when I didn't. Since it only appeared INSIDE the address bar, it didn't need to take up critical space anywhere else.
Please give us all back the ability to add the save button back in the address bar. I can easily right click on it there for the other functions.
It is disappointing when a well meaning developer makes changes to a UI and UX without consulting the broad user community. I would think changes like this should be announced ahead of time and have substantial user feedback before implementation.
This had been implemented in the beta version for many months. Beyond that, there's really not much of a way to consult the broad user community.
FWIW, Zotero devs answer dozens of questions every day, so they're generally very attuned to what types of issues cause confusion among users and the appearing/disappearing URL bar icon was one of the most frequent causes of confusion we've spent combined hundreds of hours clarifying.
Unfortunately, there probably hasn't been a UI change in the history of computing that hasn't made some people unhappy. That's simply unavoidable.
You can, though, hide the Zotero buttons entirely and just rely on keyboard shortcuts.
Please give us all back the ability to add the save button back in the address bar. I can easily right click on it there for the other functions.
It sounds like you're still misunderstanding. The new button provides "Create Web Page Item from Current Page" functionality too, which means it needs to appear on every page, which means there's nothing context-sensitive about it. You can't right-click on it unless it's there. And if you would have had room for an address bar icon on every single page, you can just shrink the size of the address bar to make room to the right.
In addition to adamsmith's suggestions, you can also move the new button to the overflow panel or the menu panel — we spent quite some time making sure the new icons look correct in those places as well.
The point is, many academic users like me do not use the "Create Web Page Item from Current Page" functionality that often, we only usually save pages that are sensed.
It also doesn't make sense to make this change on behalf of some confused new users, in spite of the habit of pro users.
At the very least, a compromise is needed, that users can decide whether to accept the changes which in some way violate the workflow they are quite satisfied with, not to mention the extra space cost.
A change should be made carefully if that is already good (and even the best) for many. So, please provide the former icon in the address bar, so that it appears only when we need it - light and simple.
Not sure how many times I can say this: there's no extra space cost. You needed space for the old icon anyway, since it could appear on any page. You were never in control of when it appeared, and, in fact, it appeared on more pages every day. Were you planning to protest at some point that Zotero was offering to save high-quality metadata on too many pages? Your argument seems to be that we shouldn't have been striving to save high-quality metadata on as many pages as possible to avoid taking up an extra 16px quite as often.
It also doesn't make sense to make this change on behalf of some confused new users, in spite of the habit of pro users.
We're not. We believe this a better change for all users, and I don't think you can honestly make the case that it's not. People want to save pages from Zotero, and they want the best data available. That now happens with a single button. To argue that it violates your workflow to click a single button instead of having to unpredictably go click two different buttons in totally different places is absurd.
I understand that change takes some adjustment, but I think if you give it a little while you'll come to appreciate that this approach is a usability win for everyone.
Also, to address fjmanion's point above more clearly:
Since it only appeared INSIDE the address bar, it didn't need to take up critical space anywhere else.
This is still the case. Firefox allows you to resize the address bar to the left, and with the separate save button that Zotero offers via Firefox's Customize mode (as shown in the blog post), you can place the save button between the address bar and the search bar, in essentially the exact same place it was before. So you needn't actually lose any space to the right of the search bar at all.
Not sure how many times I can say this: there's no extra space cost.
Thanks for making that clear. I was under this wrong impression too, even if this is not an issue for me.
Firefox allows you to resize the address bar to the left
I didn't know that (a double headed arrow appears between the address bar and the search bar only if there's no button between them). For anyone interested, here is an explanation : https://support.mozilla.org/fr/questions/952811#answer-457009 (I hope, Dan, that's what you were referring to).
Yes, it is, though I realize now that being able to resize that manually is actually irrelevant, since if you drag an icon there (e.g., the separate save button) Firefox shrinks the address bar automatically. So just adding the separate save button to that space as shown in the blog post and switching back to the Z to the right of the search bar is sufficient to have essentially the same layout as before, with no additional space taken up beyond what could have appeared on any page before.
(If we're being technical, the new icons take slightly more space because there's now the separate arrow to open the drop-down menu, which allows saving via different translators and other functionality. That menu was accessible before via a right-click on the address bar icon, but even most long-time users were unaware of that. Now that it's actually apparent that the menu exists, we're going to use it for additional functionality going forward. In any case, the basic point stands that, if you're concerned about toolbar space, you can put the separate save button into that spot and then have the same amount of space that you had before. Or, since you now have the option of putting the save button in the menu panel or removing it entirely and using a keyboard shortcut, you can even have more.)
Upgrade Storage
Please give us all back the ability to add the save button back in the address bar. I can easily right click on it there for the other functions.
It is disappointing when a well meaning developer makes changes to a UI and UX without consulting the broad user community. I would think changes like this should be announced ahead of time and have substantial user feedback before implementation.
FWIW, Zotero devs answer dozens of questions every day, so they're generally very attuned to what types of issues cause confusion among users and the appearing/disappearing URL bar icon was one of the most frequent causes of confusion we've spent combined hundreds of hours clarifying.
Unfortunately, there probably hasn't been a UI change in the history of computing that hasn't made some people unhappy. That's simply unavoidable.
You can, though, hide the Zotero buttons entirely and just rely on keyboard shortcuts.
In addition to adamsmith's suggestions, you can also move the new button to the overflow panel or the menu panel — we spent quite some time making sure the new icons look correct in those places as well.
It also doesn't make sense to make this change on behalf of some confused new users, in spite of the habit of pro users.
At the very least, a compromise is needed, that users can decide whether to accept the changes which in some way violate the workflow they are quite satisfied with, not to mention the extra space cost.
A change should be made carefully if that is already good (and even the best) for many. So, please provide the former icon in the address bar, so that it appears only when we need it - light and simple.
I understand that change takes some adjustment, but I think if you give it a little while you'll come to appreciate that this approach is a usability win for everyone.
(I hope, Dan, that's what you were referring to).
(If we're being technical, the new icons take slightly more space because there's now the separate arrow to open the drop-down menu, which allows saving via different translators and other functionality. That menu was accessible before via a right-click on the address bar icon, but even most long-time users were unaware of that. Now that it's actually apparent that the menu exists, we're going to use it for additional functionality going forward. In any case, the basic point stands that, if you're concerned about toolbar space, you can put the separate save button into that spot and then have the same amount of space that you had before. Or, since you now have the option of putting the save button in the menu panel or removing it entirely and using a keyboard shortcut, you can even have more.)