Inconsistent "return key/tab" behavior

awenner
When entering publication and author information, contextual suggestions based on previous entries will pop up that the user can then select. One of two things then happens:
1) Hitting "return" selects the contextual suggestion while leaving the text-box open, so that the user can modify the text or tab to the next input box.
2) Hitting "return" closes the editing operation and shifts focus away somewhere else. The user then has to go to the mouse and select the following text box.

I believe option 1 is the preferred behavior. This bug occurs most frequently when editing/inputting to "author" and "editor" fields, and less frequently when editing "place" and "publisher."

I'm running OS X 10.5, Firefox 3.03, Zotero 1.07.
  • haraldkliems
    I'm not sure if this is a technically related problem but while we're on the topic of tab-behavior I wanted to make an additional suggestion/bug report:

    I start entering something into any field in the right pane and, if it it matches a previous entry, Zotero then offers suggestions. I now use the arrow keys to choose the appropriate suggestion and then would use the tab-key to get to the next field, expecting that Zotero enters the completed string that I had chosen with the arrow keys. However, this is not what happens.

    Example: If I, for example, enter "E" in the language field, Zotero suggests "English". Hitting the down-arrow to choose "English" and then tabbing to the next field, produces not "English" but "E" in the field.

    I consider this to be a bug and hope it can be fixed.
  • scot
    I second the interface discomfort expressed in the preceding two posts. In fact Zotero's strength at slurping up references from web databases, means that I don't generally remember (what seem to me to be) these interface quirks, between uses, so I get 'caught' by them whenever I use the manual interface... which is still sometimes.
  • dstillman
    In the latest 1.0 branch and trunk builds, focus now remains in the current field after hitting Enter when using two-field autocomplete. The fix will be included in 1.0.8.
  • smwechsler
    Sorry to say that I just installed 1.0.8 and the problem seems to be much worse now. I cannot get it to accept any manual input at all in the Author field. Unless I'm missing something. Any suggestions?
  • dstillman
    What do you mean by "cannot get it to accept any manual input at all in the Author field"?
  • smwechsler
    I type into the Author fields. But neither tab nor return nor clicking somewhere else nor anything else causes the text to be saved, apparently. When I move away the changes are not saved. The little white text-insertion rectangles do not disappear. Also can't change from "Author" to "Editor" in the pulldown menu. I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.11, Mac OSX. Again, I could be forgetting something; I'm fairly new to Zotero, but never had this problem.
  • dstillman
    OK, looks like creator editing is broken in Firefox 2, which we don't test in anymore. We may put out a new build with a fix for this for the small fraction of users still on Firefox 2, but I'd highly recommend upgrading to Firefox 3, as, among other things, Firefox 2 has database instability problems that can corrupt Zotero data.
  • smwechsler
    Aha! Done-- just installed Firefox 3. Works fine now. Thanks and happy holidays.
  • dstillman
    Creator editing in Firefox 2 is now fixed in 1.0.9, though we still highly recommend using Firefox 3.

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Instead of commenting here, you should start a new discussion. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.