WEBPAGE CITATION?

lesterx

I am using 4.0.29.10. There is no option to cite a webpage in the dropdown menu when I press the 'new item' button? I am guessing there must be some way to put in a webpage citation?

adamsmith

See the "Note" here: https://www.zotero.org/support/getting_stuff_into_your_library#manually_adding_and_editing_items

lesterx

Thanks a lot, will check it.

MEWill07

I agree with the post above regarding web citation. Are there plans to add webpages to the dropdown?

dstillman

Here's an updated link to the explanation and workaround:

https://www.zotero.org/support/adding_items_to_zotero#manually_adding_items

A webpage option may be added at some point with additional guidance, but it's very rarely what you want to do.

AdriChi

I did see the workaround mentioned in 'Manually Adding Items' but I do not understand why this item has not been added to the list in the first place.

dstillman

@AdriChi: It's explained in that section. You shouldn't be adding webpages manually.

AdriChi

Thanks for your response. Even though, I am still unable to understand why I shouldn't be doing so. What where or are the issues with adding webpages?

dstillman

What don't you understand about what it says in that section?

AdriChi

The reasoning I get from the section is that "the Web Page item type is not included in the “New Item” menu" because " it's almost always better to visit a webpage in your browser and use the “Save to Zotero” button".

I assume, that there is some kind of issue with people adding other kinds of sources (newspaper articles? online papers?) as web pages? And the "Save to Zotero" omits that issue? But why, when I deliberately want to add a web site as a source (because it does not fall into any other category) it is not an option out of the box. Instead I need to use the workaround described in that section, to find the category "Web Page" that is, in fact, included.

So I do not understand the necessity for using this way. I'd like to know what problem is solved by deliberately forcing this extra step, by adding this complication that needs to be looked up and explained in an extra section.

Maybe I just don't understand why it is almost always better to visit a webpage in my browser and use the "Save to Zotero" button. Might be because I am really used to edit entries myself.

dstillman

The whole section explains this. The very first sentence is "Zotero is designed to help you avoid manual entry whenever possible." Why would you waste time typing in lots of individual metadata fields by hand and manually downloading files instead of clicking one button in your browser toolbar?

One-click saving of high-quality metadata is pretty much the defining feature of Zotero, so if you're not using that, read through Adding Items to Zotero to better understand how Zotero is meant to be used.