Entering titles of documents

ldelong
I notice that no matter what document type I select, the initial small triangular arrow is always positioned at "author" (not at "title") and that I have to try repeatedly, with every type and sequence of clicking that I can come up with, to enter the title of anything. I can usually enter the title only when I have tabbed through most of the other fields. It takes many, many tries. I don't understand why this is so. Has anyone encountered this problem? Does anyone know how to set the default, so that the small arrow is positioned at the top of the list of fields to enter, namely the "title". Thanks for any fix, work around, etc. that people can suggest.
  • dstillman
    The triangle is an indicator for the drop-down menu that lets you choose different creator types besides author (like "editor" or "translator"). It has nothing to do with editing the other fields. To edit a field, you should be able to just click on the whitespace to the right of the field name. Is that not working for you?
  • ldelong
    No, it is not. I am frequently unable to click on the title field, to create a whitespace in which to enter text. The system always wants me to enter an author first.
  • dstillman
    edited January 19, 2008
    I am frequently unable to click on the title field, to create a whitespace in which to enter text
    Do you see the background change color (to create a dark rectangular oval) as you hover over the various fields? Do you not see this for Title?
    The system always wants me to enter an author first.
    Not sure what you mean by this.


    Also, are you using something other than the standard Firefox theme? What OS are you using?
  • ldelong
    I am using the latest version of Firefox, on Windows XP, with a Dell computer (about 4 years old). I certainly see the field name for "title" and, usually after clicking about 6 or 7 times, I am able to see the dark rectangular oval that you mention, and, after some more clicking, I am able to enter a title. But I don't understand why it should require so much persistence on my part to enter a title, when I can effortlessly tab through all of the other fields and enter text without difficulty. No matter what document type I select, the system directs me to the author field as the starting point. If I don't enter an author, it is virtually impossible to enter a title. In the case of newspaper articles, this is a problem, because I am frequently dealing with editorials that do not have an author.
  • dstillman
    I certainly see the field name for "title" and, usually after clicking about 6 or 7 times, I am able to see the dark rectangular oval that you mention, and, after some more clicking, I am able to enter a title.
    The dark rectangular ovals should show up as you move your mouse up and down over the whitespace to the right of the field names, not when you click. Are you saying that the behavior of the oval is different for Title than for the other fields?
    No matter what document type I select, the system directs me to the author field as the starting point.
    I still don't know what you mean by this. Zotero doesn't "direct" you to enter anything in a particular order.

    Are you referring to the order when you tab through the fields rather than click? After creating a new item and hitting Tab, the selection order should progress through the Item Type drop-down, Title, Author, and then the other fields.

    Please watch the Manually Creating Items screencast, and if that doesn't help, describe how what you're seeing on your system differs from what's in the video.
  • cartesian
    Dan: The cursor doesn't move to the Title (or equivalent) field with a single Tab press after mouse clicking the new item button unless the cursor was previously on the item type selection box. Can the cursor be made to default to the Title field after the new item mouse click?
  • dstillman
    Can the cursor be made to default to the Title field after the new item mouse click?
    Do you mean to automatically open the editing textbox for the Title field after creating the new item, or to change the tab order?

    The tab order is just a function of having to step over the Locate button and the Item Type drop-down (and the Info tab itself on Windows) before getting to the Title field, which is necessary for accessibility reasons. It might make sense to put the cursor in the Title field automatically after creating the new item, however.
  • cartesian
    Yes, put the cursor in the Title field automatically after creating a new item using mouse clicks.
    (The tab order is moot, as the cursor could begin pretty much anywhere as things work at present. Suppose I just clicked a link on a webpage and want to manually copy a source from the page I clicked through to. If I mouse click for create new item, but then start tabbing, my cursor moves around the web page instead of the Zotero window.)
  • dstillman
    Ticket created.
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