zbib.org feedback
Lately I'm sending more and more undergrads to ZoteroBib. Downloading software, adding extensions, etc. is becoming an increasingly painful proposition for increasingly tech-hesitant students who just want a bibliography.
In watching students use ZoteroBib, I've noticed the following:
In watching students use ZoteroBib, I've noticed the following:
- Many students use it to generate a single bibliography entry at a time (for an assignment, rather than for an entire paper, eg.).
- Relatively few students think to use it to copy in-text references.
- There is some disconnect between the various ways zbib displays "copy" actions and the ways students expect the tool to behave. I'll focus on these.
- Copy individual in-text references with the "copy" icon next to each entry. (Screenshot)
The problem here is that the copy icon being next to a formatted bibliography entry signals to the user that the single entry itself will be copied, not an in-text reference or footnote. Confusion results when users are prompted to adjust the in-text reference, and students unfamiliar with the difference between note and bibliography entry for note styles like CMOS may not even notice they're copying the wrong thing.
Suggestion: in the modal that appears when clicking the copy on an individual entry, include the ability to copy the entire entry, or change the existing copy function icon to a set of quotation marks (for "copy citation"), and add a second copy function that copies the entry. - Copy the entire bibliography with "Copy to Clipboard" button, and
- Export to various formats with the drop-down portion of the "Copy to Clipboard" button.
Although it's labeled "Copy to Clipboard," this button, being under the "Export" heading, is separated from the material being copied, so it's unclear exactly what is being copied. The word "Export" suggests something more technical than what most students really want to do.
Suggestion: either eliminate the Export heading altogether, or have it use friendlier language. Maybe "Copy & Export" as a heading, and use the button to describe what's being copied: "Copy Bibliography," or the reverse, "Copy Bibliography" as the heading, to clarify what's being copied, and keep "Copy to Clipboard" as the button text.
I share your thoughts about point 1 in your post. See my feature request here:
https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/407466#Comment_407466
I'm going to start a separate thread on some concerns I have and opportunities I see re: the future of Zotero and zbib, as someone who has been using and teaching Zotero to undergrads for about as long as Zotero has been around. I'll link to that here.