Upgrade StorageMy first-run experiences of Zotero (summation: bad, very bad)
I heard about Zotero from a friend of mine, also involved in academic research, and was convinced to give it another go. I'd installed it on a laptop a long time ago, but didn't really have a good use for it and so I uninstalled it after a while.
This time around, I installed it on a Linux netbook system (where I do most of my casual browsing). I tried to import a PDF, which it failed to do, seemingly hanging in the "import and conversion" phase, with a progress bar showing. I restarted Firefox and was, from then on, unable to import anything, with everything I tried giving me the message "no translator could be found for the given file".
I then tried uninstalling and reinstalling Zotero, but the same problems occured. I then searched the help files on the Zotero website to do a "complete" uninstall, but there was nothing to suggest that Zotero had left a set of preferences on my computer.
I then tried re-installing Zotero on my main machine, an OS X laptop, which proved that Zotero leaves a rump of files even after uninstalling as it needed to update the old installation. Annoyingly, the Zotero installation could not import any files here either, giving the same error as on the other laptop.
I found the use of dokuwiki to be no help, as entering phrases into the wiki gave a lot of confusing and unhelpful pages. I found the 'getting started' guide to be less a guide to getting started than a list of things Zotero could conceivably do. My advice would be to re-write the getting started guide with a first-run scenario, and a video file does not help with written comprehension tasks.
I would also advise that the information on uninstalling be improved, as there are obviously errors on that page - you do not just 'uninstall like any other add-on', you will need to remove some deeper files from somewhere on your system, or possibly by using about:config in Firefox.
Zotero looks like a system that some people are getting a lot of value out of; but judging from my experience as a high-level technically-orientated user, it's overly complex and not explained well enough for such a fragile system. This is a shame; on paper, it fits the bill for exactly what I need, and I'm sure I'd love it if it worked. That's why I've posted this here, because I want projects like this to succeed.
I can't help you with usability, because I can't get Zotero to work. I can't even search the documentation wiki to solve my problem. All I can do is post this surely-annoying forum post, and for that you have my apologies. But I'm not going to be the only person who has had these problems, which is why I've taken the time to suggest some solutions.
This time around, I installed it on a Linux netbook system (where I do most of my casual browsing). I tried to import a PDF, which it failed to do, seemingly hanging in the "import and conversion" phase, with a progress bar showing. I restarted Firefox and was, from then on, unable to import anything, with everything I tried giving me the message "no translator could be found for the given file".
I then tried uninstalling and reinstalling Zotero, but the same problems occured. I then searched the help files on the Zotero website to do a "complete" uninstall, but there was nothing to suggest that Zotero had left a set of preferences on my computer.
I then tried re-installing Zotero on my main machine, an OS X laptop, which proved that Zotero leaves a rump of files even after uninstalling as it needed to update the old installation. Annoyingly, the Zotero installation could not import any files here either, giving the same error as on the other laptop.
I found the use of dokuwiki to be no help, as entering phrases into the wiki gave a lot of confusing and unhelpful pages. I found the 'getting started' guide to be less a guide to getting started than a list of things Zotero could conceivably do. My advice would be to re-write the getting started guide with a first-run scenario, and a video file does not help with written comprehension tasks.
I would also advise that the information on uninstalling be improved, as there are obviously errors on that page - you do not just 'uninstall like any other add-on', you will need to remove some deeper files from somewhere on your system, or possibly by using about:config in Firefox.
Zotero looks like a system that some people are getting a lot of value out of; but judging from my experience as a high-level technically-orientated user, it's overly complex and not explained well enough for such a fragile system. This is a shame; on paper, it fits the bill for exactly what I need, and I'm sure I'd love it if it worked. That's why I've posted this here, because I want projects like this to succeed.
I can't help you with usability, because I can't get Zotero to work. I can't even search the documentation wiki to solve my problem. All I can do is post this surely-annoying forum post, and for that you have my apologies. But I'm not going to be the only person who has had these problems, which is why I've taken the time to suggest some solutions.
This discussion has been closed.
To add a PDF you can drag and drop it into the zotero pane, or use the "store copy of file" function in the new item menu (green circle with white +). See http://www.zotero.org/support/attaching_files You may also be interested in http://www.zotero.org/support/retrieve_pdf_metadata This is a good idea, and will hopefully be done at some point (I might have a go myself - but I won't have the time until after my university finals are finished). See this thread, especially the second half of it. This main problem IMO is that most of the documentation is written from the perspective of someone saving information primarily from online databases and while this is one way to use zotero (and probably its strongest area) it is by no means the only way, and the documentation needs to approach the "first-run scenario" from multiple angles to cater to different users. My guess would be that it leaves the "zotero library" folder intact and nothing else, which IMO is as it should be - I certainly wouldn't want my Zotero library, built up over two years, to be destroyed if I accidentally uninstalled the extension. The old Zotero library (specifically the database structure) would be what needed updating on your machine. The documentation on uninstalling should probably mention this point though. I don't believe it had.
You might want to take a look at:
http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs
I think the solution for uninstall would indeed be to update the documentation to include mention of the storage folder - unless something really is left in the FF preferences, which then should indeed be fixed.
The solution for the first problem might be, beyond improving instructions - to somehow improve the feedback in the "import" dialogue - he's certainly not the first person to try to import pdfs that way. Either "Import" needs a better name - but I don't have a great idea for one that's short enough - or at least the error message should contain something about "only bibliographic data formats" (but preferably in less technical language). Thoughts?
Edit: For what it's worth, though, searches for 'getting pdfs into Zotero' and 'importing pdfs into Zotero' - if not restricted to the wiki - produce meaningful results among the first 5 or 6 hits.
Edit2: Pete - note that the drag&drop for pdfs that Bionatsci describes won't work on your linux netbook - due to a FF bug file drag and drop is broken on Linux.
Thanks for your very thoughtful and helpful responses, but I'm not sure whether petehindle is ever coming back. His forum post might have been more of a parting shot than an attempt to seek assistance. But if he does decide to return, we'll of course be glad to help him.
1) It had nothing to do with the two issues Pete was experiencing, which were due to the presence of an old Zotero data directory (which obviously shouldn't be deleted by default) and a misunderstanding of how to get PDFs into Zotero (which could indeed be helped by a clearer error message for Import).
2) It's consistent with standard uninstallation practice on OS X and with most Linux package managers, in which you remove the app and leave preferences and data directories behind.
3) It's consistent with the behavior of most Firefox extensions (i.e., "like any other add-on").
There's not even support in Firefox for reliably removing things on uninstall. From mozillazine.org's KB article on uninstalling extensions: Standard installation/uninstallation hooks might be added to Firefox 3.7, which would allow for a checkbox (disabled by default) to allow the removal of the data directory and preferences.
For now, I've added a line to the uninstallation KB article to clarify that the data directory isn't removed, since that's what was confusing Pete.
I would say the basic error I committed was misunderstanding the way that PDF's were imported; this could be solved by a clearer message, as suggested. It gave the impression that I was doing the right thing on my first laptop (Ubuntu 9.10, Firefox 3.5) but then hung, and later only gave the error message about handlers. After installing/uninstalling and re-installing under Linux, I then moved to my OS X laptop (10.6, FF3.6) as I've got more familiarity with that operating system, and installed Zotero there.
The problem was that I didn't know that importing PDF's was a different case to importing a web page. I saw that Zotero did both... and I have a lot of awkward PDF's that need managing (it seems to be how research in my field gets distributed). I didn't use the drag and drop, but rather the 'import' button in the first pane of the Zotero (panel?) in Firefox. I didn't experiment with drag and drop on either platform.
I didn't intend to do a drive-by carpet-bombing, which is why I used my real name and left as considered a comment as possible. I know at least one person who really swears by Zotero as a research tool, and it's obvious that some of people are getting a great deal out of what your doing. So I took some pains to be polite and hope that it helps the project in general, and I think that you can see there are areas for people new to the project that cause problems (if you'll accept me as a baseline case).
I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that most people who want/need to use Zotero are educated to at least degree-level and have a high level of literacy. That's why the introduction page would work best as a written format, not a video. The page comes off as a list of what Zotero can do, not what and how it does do things, and was significantly unhelpful when tackling the learning curve of using Zotero for the first time. Another boundary was the video loading in mplayer on linux, and vlc on OS X.
I hope that clears up some of the issues I had when using Zotero for the first time. I'll check back tomorrow and see if I can clear anything else up... like I said originally, I want projects like this to succeed, so I'm not opposed to putting some work in. My problem is, at the minute I don't know enough to do so, so posting here seemed like the best thing to do.
(As for your comment on Twitter—"a dokuwiki is worse than useless for help - it's a case of stupid open-source stylishness, rather than actually helping the users."—I don't see how the particular piece of software in use has anything at all to do with the quality of the content.)
which starting page are you referring to?
The quick start guide - which is where you get pretty much directly by clicking on the support link on the home page
http://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide
has a video on top, but all the information in also there in written form.
Yes, there is only a video on the homepage at zotero.org, but there is no way even a fracture of the relevant information could be presented on such a small face - the homepage really is about showing what Zotero can do.
(and the player for the video is embedded - not sure why it didn't play on your computers, it does for me on ubuntu, maybe very high security/ no-flash settings?)
BTW. I think you're wrong about the fact that everyone would learn better from written documentation - a) because there are different learning types and b) because they are easier to understand for people who don't speak good English and there is no way we can provide the same quality of documentation for Zotero that exists in English for other languages.
I do think it is helpful to point out issues for beginners, so thanks for that, we are always trying to improve documentation. On the other hand, do allow me to respectfully point out that no, you are not a baseline user.
A tech-savy user would have taken five minutes to find the relevant information by searching the forums using basic search strategies - e.g. the error you received together with pdf would have led you here
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/9731/no-translator-could-be-found-for-the-given-file/
or here
http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/7951/no-translator-could-be-found-for-the-given-file/
most users who are not tech-savy enough to find that solution by themselves would have assumed _they_ must be doing something wrong and would have just come here and ask a question rather than publicly proclaim that Zotero is terrible and remove it from their system.
On a first run through a program I don't want to be diving into forums, as I find that they are usually full of chaff as opposed to useful, concise information. Perhaps this is impatience as opposed to technological stupidity; I really want to get things up and working in a short period of time, rather than spend time weighing and filtering things on a forum.
I'm not sure how I originally searched for help on "no translator could be found for the given file" at the time, but if you go to support and then search for "no translator could be found for the given file" you get this page:
http://www.zotero.org/search/#documentation/no%20translator%20could%20be%20found%20for%20the%20given%20file
which has four links, two of which are to changelogs.
I've probably given you as much useful information as I can about my experience, and any further interactions isn't going to convince you that I'm not some form of stumbling moronic troll who slipped and accidentally installed a firefox extension one day.
(And if you really wanted to avoid the forums, clicking Support and then clicking "Attaching Files to Library Items" would have given you the same information.)
I think we're all in agreement that the error message for "Import..." should be clarified, which is probably the main thing we're going to get out of this. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. We do appreciate it.
Petehindle, if and when you decide to use Zotero again, please feel free to use these forums to post genuine support inquiries. In the meantime, we have loads of actual Zotero users to help.