Zotero implementation via google gears or mozilla prism or adobe air

zoterofox
It seems to me that Zotero is somewhere between web app and desktop app but the link to firefox to work could be retooled to allow for google gears or prism so that it can still function with a much lower footprint.

Of course it will still have to ensure that the ms word or ooo writer plugins work well to allow citations to be inserted and bibliography to be inserted in the document.

Even adobe air could be adopted. Don't get me wrong I would love to fire up my Firefox browser but at writing I usually need the collected journal references to be available but not necessarily the WEB that eats hours! Frankly it also would let us (read short attention span...procrastinators) to work without the next big item being found that detract from the actual work!

I know someone will say get some resolve and WORK ! But if I did that when would I had time to find Zotero!
  • noksagt
    If you are merely asking for some technology that will help cut down online distractions, you can put firefox in offline mode or block it with your firewall or physically disconnect from the net or use something like invisibility cloak or some other extension to limit access to distracting sites.
  • zoterofox
    edited February 16, 2008
    I just prefer not to have to have a web browser on if it can be helped.

    True i could disconnect..but with prism (pc) or fluid (mac) others web apps like flickr or gmail can be used like desktop apps... it is also a smaller memory/ram footprint could be use here then it would be great.

    Anyway it is my "request feature" not necessary a condemnation of zotero or firefox.

    PS: zotero uses sqlite from firefox backend. All three (google gears, mozilla prism and Adobe Air use SQlite so it could be done) and i think Fluid for mac is similarly implemented.
  • thinkingSage
    I agree there is a need for either a Google Gears or Adobe AIR application for Zotero, in that I agree with zoterofox. This allows usage with Google Chrome, which I prefer because it is so much faster than other browsers, but the lack of add-ons is deterring, although not a deterrent. I'm envisioning a future of being able to use Zotero with Chrome via an AIR application that syncs with a server. Google gears is a better suggestion still, but it doesn't solve zoterofox's problem of not wanting to use a web browser, while the AIR application does.
  • noksagt
    Dan's comment is insightful, though--Firefox offers much more than just storage & many of these features are lacking in the technologies proposed in this thread.

    Zotero does plan to have a server & presumably that would bring some cross-browser compatibility. Perhaps they would consider some of these technologies there (although they can certainly build a nice system without using them).

    I fail to see anything that is really mature enough to reproduce the nice desktop experience that is offered in Firefox.
  • bdarcus
    I also think we all need to get away from the idea that one project does everything. What we need to work towards is fully interoperable tools.
  • georgedarroch
    I find it really really really damn hard not to spend entire days, weeks, or months on the internet when Firefox is open. I'm not joking.

    I know you've designed this technology around FF, but it's a terribly flawed solution for procrastinators (ie, a good percentage of students).
  • noksagt
    edited July 1, 2009
    The LeechBlock extension is pretty good at preventing access to some sites.
  • Bionatsci
    edited July 1, 2009
    @ georgedarroch

    Would it work for you to use Zotero in full screen mode which hides everything firefox related and effectively creates a "standalone" Zotero window?

    Alternatively you could use a "distraction free" firefox profile with Zotero, potentially using something like Leechblock with it as noksagt suggests.
  • georgedarroch
    edited July 4, 2009
    Yeah, those are reasonable suggestions, for reasonable people. I've had Leechblock on my computer for a while, to some success. There are always more forums though ;)

    I'm thankful for the work that has been done so far, and realise that there's no such thing as perfect software.

    There's also the issue of FireFox3's huge memory bloat (process regularly consumes over 100mb, often up to 300mb). This hasn't been resolved in 3.5, hopefully it might not be such an issue in future releases. Unfortunately I can't run Zotero on my 4 year old laptop for this reason.
  • ghiozzo
    Hi
    I too have been disappointed that zotero somehow is not (yet?) compatible with prism. BUT there is another satisfying solution: firefox profiles!
    I have various firefox profiles: one with almost no addons/extensions for speed (standard_profile), one with various tools for debugging (webdesign_profile), and one with zotero and the universitys proxy to access literature databases (literature_profile).
    The easiest way to manage/switch these profiles is by installing the awesome ProfileSwitcher Addon (https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/profileswitcher-en.html).
    For my taste, this way I'm coming pretty close to a Zotero standalone-app.
    Best regards
  • kent
    Why not have someone from Zotero contact Google directly. Have developers at Google who are interested, work on interoperability with Chrome, Google Books, and Gmail accounts. So I can store all of my Zotero data on Google servers, and synch it. I know that Zotero is already working on a synch feature, but why not pitch this to Google as something that they can do to improve Google books. You have to sell it to them, so they see some benefit for themselves. Then get them working on it. Then we will all benefit, and Zotero.org will not have to pay for the servers. I say Zotero.org should get completely out of the business of owning servers anyway. Why doesn't everyone let me run the entire world? :-) (I hope you know that I'm joking.)
Sign In or Register to comment.