On 28.01.2010, at 11:34, Christiaan Hofman wrote: > > On Jan 28, 2010, at 9:53, Simon Spiegel wrote: > >>> >>> >>> >>>> This is an interesting discussion. For me the most critical requirement is >>>> to have an annotation application that uses ink. I need to be able to jot >>>> down margin notes by hand rather than typing on a window. Then the >>>> integration of this pdf previewer/annotator and bibdesk would be great. >>>> Some method such as the one used by, for example, Papers where the pdf >>>> file can be read within Papers would be good. >>> >>> As far as it goes, you can read PDF files page-by-page in BibDesk, if you >>> zoom in on the file icons in the lower pane, or use the Quick Look preview. >>> No annotation or fancy reading features, though. >>> >>> My guess is that the iPad would basically require a new application; >>> BibDesk is heavily oriented and optimized for usage on a laptop or desktop >>> system. That would require significant effort, not to mention a developer >>> with an iPad :). It does look like a good platform for that sort of app, >>> so it'll be interesting to see what happens. Both you and James have >>> emphasized the reading/annotating aspect, so I'm curious whether you're >>> looking for BibDesk with a viewer, or Skim with a PDF manager. > > I think it's clear that what one wants (and should want) is something very > different from BibDesk or Skim. BibDesk is citation manager, to help with > organizing bibtex, while this is about reading, annotating, and organizing > PDFs. So it's more like Skim with a PDF organizing feature. As for the code > base, I can tell you that 90% of BibDesk and Skim are totally useless for use > on an iPad or iPhone. Therefore we're really talking about a totally > different and new app, that needs to be written basically from scratch. Most > relevant, Skim and all its annotation features are heavily based on PDFKit, > which is not available on the iPhone OS, I think the only thing that would > remain is the (tiny) SkimNotesBase framework for accessing Skim notes. The > more primitive Quartz framework is much harder to work with, so writing > Skim's functionality for the iPad would be a lot more work than writing Skim > for MacOSX. I think we all agree that it would be very nice to have all this > functionality for the iPad. But given that, the first question should be: who > will be writing a totally new app that would be quite a lot of work? I can > assure you I won't do it, and I suspect Adam would say the same. So if no one > would want to start developing, I'm afraid this discussion is rather academic.
Since most people who use BibDesk are probably academics, this is not per se a negative thing. ;) At least for me, I wouldn't want just a modified version of Skim, but also a way to edit my bibtex data on the iPad. So far, there is no way to do that. When there was only the iPhone there was always the argument, that such a small device isn't really the best way to edit your bibliographic data. Now with the iPad, I think this has changed. I think there really is a market for a bibliography app for the iPad (and Papers is not a bibliography app …). Anyway, I completely understand that this needs actually someone to do it. Thanks for explaining how much – or better: how little – of the existing code could be used. Simon -- Simon Spiegel Steinhaldenstr. 50 8002 Zürich Telephon: ++41 44 451 5334 Mobophon: ++41 76 459 60 39 http://www.simifilm.ch „It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.“ Tom Lehrer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com _______________________________________________ Bibdesk-users mailing list Bibdesk-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users
