Zotero bib(la)tex import should let (La)TeX commands as they are
Hi,
when Zotero imports .bib files, it does perform some funny things with LaTeX commands. But, as such commands are legitimate in .bib files, Zotero should let them just as they are. Minimal example of input .bib file:
when Zotero imports .bib files, it does perform some funny things with LaTeX commands. But, as such commands are legitimate in .bib files, Zotero should let them just as they are. Minimal example of input .bib file:
which gives, after biblatex export:
@book{mittelbach_latex_2004,
title = {The {\LaTeX} companion},
isbn = {9780201362992},
language = {english},
publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
author = {Mittelbach, Frank and Goossens, Michel}
}
@manual{lehman,
title = {The \texttt{biblatex} package},
url = {http://tug.ctan.org/pkg/biblatex},
author = {Lehman, Philipp and Kime, Philip and Boruvka, Audrey and Wright, Joseph}
}
@book{mittelbach_latex_????,
title = {The {\textbackslash}{LaTeX} companion},
isbn = {9780201362992},
language = {english},
publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
author = {Mittelbach, Frank and Goossens, Michel}
}
@book{lehman_textttbiblatex_????,
title = {The {\textbackslash}textttbiblatex package},
url = {http://tug.ctan.org/pkg/biblatex},
author = {Lehman, Philipp and Kime, Philip and Boruvka, Audrey and Wright, Joseph}
}
We could just parse it out entirely, I suppose (i.e. just render ("LaTeX and "biblatex" in Zotero) - it's not going to be stable on back&forth export/import, but at least it won't create nonsense.
But in case of Bib(La)TeX use, it would be very useful. Maybe this could be subject to an option in the configuration in order to avoid to LaTeX' users the pain of rewrite all the LaTeX macros in their exported .bib file.
BTW, sorry for asking, but I'm not a regular user of Zotero, how Zotero manages documents which have specific style characters (italic, bold, small caps, ...) in (e.g.) titles?
while it's still a little unstable, in general those should convert to proper bibtex codes and vice versa.
1. font families, at least "sans-serif" and "monospace": http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_font_font-family.asp
2. font styles, at least "oblique": http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_font_font-style.asp
I'm also not convinced that bibliographic data ever needs an oblique font. I've never seen that required in a style guide, for example.
While we're happy to make things work were we can, we'll never get perfect BibLaTeX <--> Zotero correspondence.
You said "I'm also not convinced that bibliographic data ever needs an oblique font. I've never seen that required in a style guide, for example." I agree that oblique fonts should be rare but, once again, if used, it would be in order to be close to the original, not for following a given style.
You said "While we're happy to make things work were we can, we'll never get perfect BibLaTeX <--> Zotero correspondence." I can understand :) But at least monospace font family could be helpful...
BTW, how Zotero would display "Pseudomonas aureofaciens nov. spec. and its pigments" with styles where titles are in italic?
Italics get reverted, so they'd show as normal font when the rest of the title is in italics.
Trying to match a font family, IMO, would be on the same level as trying to match the actual font or font size.
(Edited)
About monospace, the idea came to my mind to follow it for the biblatex package documentation's title (http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/biblatex/doc/biblatex.pdf) where I noticed the name of the package had been monospaced by the author: I'm pretty sure this was intentional and meaningful, hence I wanted to respect it.
If you can find any relevant data standard or citation/style manual that requires this we can maybe rethink it, but having spend a rather significant amount of time with author instructions and style manuals I'll say that I'd be very surprised.