On 8 Oct 2007, at 9:16 AM, jiho wrote: > > On 2007-October-08 , at 08:38 , Simon Spiegel wrote: >>> Just out of curiosity, what would help the non-LaTeX users the most? >>> People have mentioned integration with word processors. What >>> would it >>> look like? Basic RTF scanning wouldn't be too hard. A UI for >>> templates would be nice, too. >> >> An UI would certainly be a good idea. I don't think that many users >> would use BibDesk with its current template system even if it had RTF >> scanning. Toom many users would be scared by it. I'd use it, but I'm >> certainly not the average user. I also think that the template system >> needs improvement to deal with more complex styles. For example more >> options how to deal with multiple authors/editors or with stuff like >> 'ibid.'. >
I doubt whether the template mechanism needs to be more complex, it is already quite complex and capable. See also below. For example, it is quite capable to do something like the standard bibtex styles (the Wiki has templates for abbrv.bst and plain.bst). > I also think a GUI to build bibliography styles would be very > welcome. I suggested this in back in 2005: > http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php? > msg_id=9787bb9212cc90ffa59662781198cb8a%40gmail.com > [NB: sorry the links to the images are broken, I lost them] > and it was considered too big to be in the scope of BibDesk at that > time. The context seems to be the same today: people want tighter > integration between bibdesk and their word processors and, to do > that, a way to scan the document for citations as well as to format > the references list is needed. > If such a UI is build, I would love it to output rtf templates as > well as something more LaTeX related (since apparently most current > users of BD use LaTeX). At the time of my first post, I thought about > writing .bst files, with BibTeX code, but the fact that it is a new > language, and a not very user-friendly one, adds some complexity. > Now, if this UI could output files suitable for biblatex, which is > much easier to use than bibtex, it would be great. > > JiHO > --- > http://jo.irisson.free.fr/ I personally have trouble imagining a workable UI to build templates. The template syntax is quite complex, and the only UIs I can think of would either be able to handle only simple templates, or they would be more bothersome to work with than the raw template itself. I don't know how the other managers (like Bookends and Sente) work with their "template" UI, but I guess they only use a much simplified syntax (in our terms, the equivalent of only value tags). I think a better road for users for whom building a template is too complicated is to provide an (extensive) library of standard citation and bibliography styles. That could be done mostly by users I think. Christiaan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Bibdesk-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bibdesk-users
