Toggle Rich Text / Plain Text

snlr
The Rich Text feature seems very useful for many occasions!

However, the export doesn't seem to work well. In BibTeX, signs like < and > aren't treated correctly by different services I import my data to. Also, I doubt that everyone I'd like to share data with has a Rich Text editor for notes.

Right now, the BibTeX markup is transformed to plain text inside the actual text, which renders all the notes useless. Each note needs clean-up, after any sync or export has occured.

Even if this is a bug and will be corrected some day, it seems to me like calling for trouble to introduce such an invasive feature and not have the opportunity to switch it off. For me, at the moment, it effectively prevents sharing data.

Also, I like my notes in Plain Text. Rich Text is, for me, something that's done by some kind ot type setting operation after the actual text is done.
  • bdarcus
    You're thinking too much like a TeX user, and as a consequence missing some important details.

    First, the notes are not "rich text" in the traditional sense. They are structured HTML; every bit as structured as, say, LaTeX. This makes it easy to convert them to other formats, including LaTeX.

    If you don't want structured headings, lists, blockquotes, etc., then you don't have to use them.

    So I think it'd be better to suggest fixes to the BibTeX export.
  • snlr
    Good point. But still - while I suspected that it's merely an uncomplete feature or a bug in the export - how should I share my notes with anybody not using HTML? Even if the BibTeX export gets it right, how can I make sure that an online service or whatever program my collegues are using is getting it right on their end. On top of that, I don't need any markup features. I could use the extra screen space of the two menu bars for more plain text notes though. ;-)

    In my opinion, the ideal situation would be the possibility to toggle between marked up and plain text, and *if* markup is activated, the export can be told to strip HTML. Right now, when I import notes in Mendeley or CiteULike, I see {\textless}text{\textgreater} ... looks like the export was working, but other services don't like the idea. RIS gets HTML tags and masked characters, but who knows what the import party is going to do with it?

    Looks to me as if the user could benefit from means to prevent trouble before it occurs, which a toggle of plain text VS markup would provide.
  • adamsmith
    I think that might be hard to do because of the tinymce code - (the code behind the richt text notes) - might be an either or thing. Otherwise I agree this would be nice - note that dragging notes (e.g. into google docs) also doesn't work right because the html tags are copied along with the text.
  • snlr
    Another unexpected behaviour: when copying text from a webpage to a notes field, heaps of HTML are coming with. Even table-tags are added around 'stand-alone' data cells. It's a TinyMCE feature. So now when I'm adding details to an entry, I'm actually pasting into my text editor first, than to Zotero.
  • bdarcus
    This might be relevant on copy-pasting.
  • noksagt
    I see no compelling objection by anyone to having HTML-notes as long as they are reformatted properly stripped in export.
    So I think it'd be better to suggest fixes to the BibTeX export.
    Yes; and it is, further, a known deficiency that applies to the other export formats as well.
    how should I share my notes with anybody not using HTML?
    Out of curiosity: Pre-Zotero, did you really share your notes via a BibTeX file? That seems rather unfriendly to me (a heavy LaTeX/BibTeX user).
    Even if the BibTeX export gets it right, how can I make sure that an online service or whatever program my collegues are using is getting it right on their end.
    What do you mean by this? If Zotero is exporting to a standard format correctly, I don't know what more you expect it to do. What service/programs do your colleagues use?
    I could use the extra screen space of the two menu bars for more plain text notes though. ;-)
    You can disable the bars using CSS.
    Right now, when I import notes in Mendeley or CiteULike, I see {\textless}text{\textgreater} ... looks like the export was working, but other services don't like the idea.
    No, the export is not "working:" HTML does not belong in the export format.

    But bdarcus is correct: we shouldn't make it "sometimes" work by adding plain text notes back in. We should just fix the export of HTML notes.
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