[Zotero 7 Beta] Single click to open links

mjthoraval
At the moment, a click on a link in a note opens a popup window containing the options to open the link or edit it. I find this very inefficient. I would simply expect a click on the link to open it. No need for the extra step to open the popup.

I may be missing the logic behind this choice, but in most other editors I am using:
- A click on a link opens the link.
- Hovering on the link opens the popup to display the link and edit it.
- Shift + Click opens the link in a new window.

This is actually what is done with the popups in the Reader: open the popup when hovering and open the link from a single click.
  • martynas_b
    I may be missing the logic behind this choice, but in most other editors I am using
    Could you name some of these editors? My experience has been the opposite — I've encountered many editors that display a popup when a link is clicked: Google Docs, Pages.app, LibreOffice (doesn't show a popup but doesn't open the link as well).
    Shift + Click opens the link in a new window.
    Shift + Click is typically used to select a range of text, while Ctrl/Cmd + Click already opens a link.
    This is actually what is done with the popups in the Reader: open the popup when hovering and open the link from a single click.
    Reader isn't a text editor and it doesn't need to maintain its cursor position.
  • mjthoraval
    edited February 27, 2024
    Could you name some of these editors?
    Editors in which I can open a link with a single click on it:
    - Evernote
    - Obsidian
    - OneNote
    - Joplin
    - Notion
    - Notezilla
    - StackEdit
    - Dillinger
    - Meister Note
    - iCloud Notes
    - Opening a Word file from the Dropbox website
    - Text editor in NextCloud
    - An annotation link in a note in Mendeley is also single click to go to the original content
    - ...

    Other Text Editors for which you can open a link with Ctrl/Cmd + Click:
    - Word
    - LibreOffice
    - OneDrive
    But:
    - In Word, you can configure it to open links on single click (without pressing Ctrl/Cmd): https://www.officetooltips.com/word/tips/use_hyperlink_without_holding_ctrl.html
    - Same in LibreOffice: https://askubuntu.com/questions/500579/opening-hyperlink-in-libreoffice-writer

    But I don't think that the comparison to a Word like text editor is really relevant here. We are talking about notes, so we should compare to note editors.

    The main purpose of creating a link in a note is to make it clickable. So except the first time creating the note when I might want to edit it, the only thing I am expecting from a link is simply to open quickly from a single click.

    Shift + Click is indeed non standard for desktop applications apparently, just some online editors like Dillinger. I was just expecting the note to behave the same as the browser, where it is standard.
    In Obsidian, you can do Ctrl + Click to open the internal link in another tab, which is consistent with the browser behaviour. And you have many more options from a right click on the link.
    Shift + Click is typically used to select a range of text
    I have just tested in Zotero 7 beta.63: place the cursor in the text outside of the link, then Shift + Click on a hyperlink -> It just does exactly the same as a simple click, which is just to open the popup.
    It was working as you describe in Zotero 6. But apparently nobody has ever needed to use this feature in Zotero 7. If someone really wants to copy some part of the text in a link, I think that it is more appropriate to do that in the popup editor.
  • martynas_b
    I understand your point, but implementing hover to display popups would require us to do the same for citations, highlights, and image annotations for consistency. This also brings up the question of how it would function on iOS and Android apps.
    I have just tested in Zotero 7 beta.63: place the cursor in the text outside of the link, then Shift + Click on a hyperlink -> It just does exactly the same as a simple click, which is just to open the popup.
    Indeed, it seems there is a bug.
  • mjthoraval
    edited February 27, 2024
    but implementing hover to display popups would require us to do the same for citations, highlights, and image annotations for consistency
    This would work nicely for me to open all links from a single click. I am indeed referring to all types of links.
    This also brings up the question of how it would function on iOS and Android apps.
    It makes sense to have a different behaviour on mobile apps.

    Most of the main note taking editors have mobile apps:
    - I have tested on Obsidan: single tap on a link always opens the link, either in reading or edit mode.
    - On Evernote, they make a compromise: single tap opens the link in reading mode and edit options in edit mode.

    I could test more, but this seems to be standard across most note taking apps. Forcing the popup really slows down any navigation. There are always better options than forcing the popup on click. Looking at the popup options is not the primary purpose of a link.
Sign In or Register to comment.