Preferences under Edit (Linux), Tools (Windows)

zuphilip
It looks that the preferences are not under the same menu for Linux and Windows. I have Zotero 5 installed in Windows, where the preferences are under 'Tools'. However, for my other installation of Zotero 5 in Linux the preferences are under 'Edit'. Related post https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/65794/i-cant-find-the-preferences-window-in-the-5-0-version
  • dstillman
    We're just following Firefox's example for the OS convention. (Granted, a lot of Windows programs don't have menu bars these days, so it's hard to compare, but I assume Mozilla had a reason at the time.)
  • zuphilip
    But this will make it much harder to write documentation or for live instructions and it might confuse more people than just me and the two users from the previous forum post. Wouldn't it make sense to have the menu structure for Zotero the same on all operation systems? (Personally, I would never call preferences a tool.)
  • dstillman
    edited July 13, 2017
    To be fair, I think the people in the other thread were confused at the absence of the gear menu, not the location in the menus.

    Gear menu aside, this isn't new, to be clear — this has always been the case in Standalone, and in Firefox since, well, since before it was Firefox. But it looks like Mozilla was basically following Microsoft's lead, and I think those Microsoft programs either no longer exist or have switched to ribbons and no longer have menu bars (let alone Tools menus) anymore, so it's probably reasonable to move this, along with renaming it to Preferences. I agree that Edit -> Preferences is more intuitive, if no one has compelling examples of Windows apps that still use Tools -> Options.

    (It won't be the same on all OSes, though, because on macOS it definitely goes in the application ("Zotero") menu.)
Sign In or Register to comment.