Need less technical troubleshooting help for site translators

jfriedman · September 9, 2009

I cannot save citations from this URL: http://aleph3.libnet.ac.il/F/2DV63CF4GCVNMYPLK5AIBDHVLSMR24KGFENDQA1A1CHYEUQ5M1-59734?func=short-jump&jump=000031
I tried to follow the troubleshooting directions but they are too technical -- lost me at #4. How do I know what translator Zotero is using vs. what translator it should be using?

adamsmith · September 9, 2009

yes, I can confirm the problem, error is
[JavaScript Error: "menu is null" {file: "chrome://zotero/content/overlay.js" line: 2233}]

Report ID 1069145654

I find #4 very straightforward, not sure how to make that less technical. If you hover of the item it tells you "Library Catalogue (aleph)" - which, considering that the URL you use contains aleph and points to a library catalogue is the right translator. If the translator would say "JSTOR" (for example) it would be wrong.

But this looks like an actual translator issue not something you can fix.

jfriedman · September 9, 2009

Thanks for the help. Sorry, but the term "translator" itself is too technical. Until I read your comment I didn't know what it was referring to. So are you saying that the problem is with Aleph and there's nothing I can do about it?

adamsmith · September 9, 2009

yes, or rather - it's with Zotero's reading of aleph - either aleph in general or that particular one.

Not sure what to do about the "too technical" part -
the basic documentation does explain what is meant by translator, but if we were to include that every time we use it, help articles would get quite bloated.
I have added a link to a brief description of what a translator is to the troubleshooting.

jfriedman · September 9, 2009

Thanks. May I humbly suggest inserting links, so that the first time a term like translator is used on any particular help page, the technophobe scholar can click on the link to have the term defined? This is done, e.g., with financial terms in the Help pages of Quicken, for folks who lack a grasp of basic finance and so have difficulty concentrating on learning to use the application.

adamsmith · September 9, 2009

yes, good idea - as noted above I have done this for that page.
Feel free to continue point out things that aren't clear on the documentation - it is partly community written and there are several of us who are always interested in improving it - which is sometimes hard if you know a software too well, because you start assuming things.