Bookends 9 Interface Request...

[paintbuoy]

I've been using Bookends on and off for a while now and find it very useful in terms of its functionality but not the most friendly to use.

I was wondering if there were any plans for updating the user interface in the near future?
I (like probably most Bookend users) spend most of my time using email and newsreaders and find their three pane view of things (accounts, messages and preview) to be very effective in terms of reading what I have in my email/news accounts.
When it comes to creating/editing a bibliography a new window is great but for the majority of the time I am using the library to figure out what I have or arrange my entries into meaningful groups. When I am doing these tasks it breaks things up to open a new window, look at something and then close the window.

I don't know how other people feel but I think it would be great if Bookends had a three pane interface as it would really speed the way I use it up.
It would be even cooler if the preview pane was rendered in HTML (by leveraging the Safari HTML engine) so that I could write my own CSS stylesheets (or use someone elses) to change the appearance of the preview. This way I could highlight important aspects of the reference (such as the title, author and keywords) or just add a bit of flair to liven up the abundance text.

I think NetNewsWire's interface is a very good example of what I mean:
http://ranchero.com/images/nnw/hpss/mainWindow103.jpg

Another thing I would like to see is a customizable toolbar for quickly adding/selecting references and the like so I don't have to be going through the ever expanding menu system all the time.

I guess I am ultimately just looking for a bit of consistency across my different applications and at the moment Bookends sticks out as being the most inconsistent of the bunch.

That's just my two cents worth and hopefully maybe something that could make its way into version 9

Regards,


David

[Jon]

I've been using Bookends on and off for a while now and find it very useful in terms of its functionality but not the most friendly to use.

I was wondering if there were any plans for updating the user interface in the near future?
I (like probably most Bookend users) spend most of my time using email and newsreaders and find their three pane view of things (accounts, messages and preview) to be very effective in terms of reading what I have in my email/news accounts.
When it comes to creating/editing a bibliography a new window is great but for the majority of the time I am using the library to figure out what I have or arrange my entries into meaningful groups. When I am doing these tasks it breaks things up to open a new window, look at something and then close the window.

I don't know how other people feel but I think it would be great if Bookends had a three pane interface as it would really speed the way I use it up.
It would be even cooler if the preview pane was rendered in HTML (by leveraging the Safari HTML engine) so that I could write my own CSS stylesheets (or use someone elses) to change the appearance of the preview. This way I could highlight important aspects of the reference (such as the title, author and keywords) or just add a bit of flair to liven up the abundance text.

Hi David,

I don't understand -- why don't you just click on the View Formatted triangle? This opens the third pane you want, and lets you see exactly what you want, in the form you want it, immediately.

And no need for HTML -- you can easily switch between formatted displays using the pop-up menu. Create a standard Bookends format with the authors listed, title in bold, volume italicized, whatever, and Bookends will display that as you want.

Another thing I would like to see is a customizable toolbar for quickly adding/selecting references and the like so I don't have to be going through the ever expanding menu system all the time.

I could create a toolbar, of course, although I personally dislike them very much. But again, why not use the usual keyboad shortcuts?

Command-N -> new reference
Delete key or Command-D -> delete reference

So please correct me if I am mistaken, but I think Bookends pretty much does what you are asking for right now...

Jon
Sonny Software

[Guest]

Yes your very right in many respects (I only just upgraded to version 8 and had not even seen that View formatted option down the bottom).

The view formatted pane is useful but still not ideal as its primary purpose is for formatting references for print rather than taking advantage of what can be achieved onscreen with graphics, effective layout and links to other resources.

Most importantly the printout view does not recognise attachments, it prints the text but does not provide a simple link to open them. I find Bookends great at managing all my PDF's and a lot of the time all I am doing is searching for a paper and then opening the PDF.

Delicious Library's presentation of a book's details is a good example of how a clean onscreen layout with many subtle but useful options (like links and tabs) makes the program a real pleasure to use:
http://www.delicious-monster.com/images ... er_BIG.jpg

Part of this maybe because I do not use Bookends all the time. It's there on my drive and gets opened a couple of times a month to add an entry or compile a reference list. There are twenty other applications that are begging for my keyboard shortcut time so for something like Bookends I am always going to use a menu or press a button.

I am sure there are plenty of hardcore Bookends users out there that would agree with you about keyboard shortcuts and love all the features buried in the menus. I am just a part time user who would like things as consistent and easy to do across all my applications. The clearer things are displayed on screen with simple options easily accessible the better.

[Jon]

The view formatted pane is useful but still not ideal as its primary purpose is for formatting references for print rather than taking advantage of what can be achieved onscreen with graphics, effective layout and links to other resources.

Actually, it is not for printing. It is for *anything*. For example, we supply one format called 'Ref with Abstract' whose purpose it to let you see the entire reference at a glance without leaving the List View. Try it (and modify it yourself if you'd like a different display). It does not display graphics, of course, but inserting an image (what if you have many?) in an editfield is not the best way to do this, in any case. See next...

Most importantly the printout view does not recognise attachments, it prints the text but does not provide a simple link to open them. I find Bookends great at managing all my PDF's and a lot of the time all I am doing is searching for a paper and then opening the PDF.

True. One tip: in Preferences (List tab) you can tell Bookends to indicate that a reference has an attachment in the List View (a paperclip icon). This is helpful.

I think in a future update you'll be able to open attachments in the List View with a contextual menu (right-click), which may be more of what you want.

I am sure there are plenty of hardcore Bookends users out there that would agree with you about keyboard shortcuts and love all the features buried in the menus. I am just a part time user who would like things as consistent and easy to do across all my applications. The clearer things are displayed on screen with simple options easily accessible the better.

I understand. It's not easy to create a balance that pleases everyone. We've built in a lot of flexibility, so it is usually possible to modify things to your liking. And of course the interface will certainly continue to evolve, with the aim to make Bookends more useful and powerful.

Jon
Sonny Software