Displaying "folder" contents

[afeldman]

I believe the behavior of smart groups is a little funky in v11. I keep several smart searches in folders split up by project or topic. If multiple groups are selected Bookends returns an exclusive search. That is, only those references that fulfill both smart groups are shown. I think that it would be better, and consistent with other mac apps, if selecting multiple smart groups would be inclusive and show everything in all selected group. I can then use the search bar to drill down if I need to. As it stands now if I want to see everything a folder collection I need to create a whole new smart search. This adds unnecessary clutter to the Groups pane.

Also, for what it is worth, the number that appears to the right of a folder indicating the number of subgroups is also not consistent with the behavior of some other mac programs, like Mail or iTunes, and I find it distracting. Typically the number means there is something new and not the # of group members. An alternative idea might be to make the number representative of how many members of the current reference window exist in each group...or something.

[Jon]

I believe the behavior of smart groups is a little funky in v11. I keep several smart searches in folders split up by project or topic. If multiple groups are selected Bookends returns an exclusive search. That is, only those references that fulfill both smart groups are shown. I think that it would be better, and consistent with other mac apps, if selecting multiple smart groups would be inclusive and show everything in all selected group. I can then use the search bar to drill down if I need to. As it stands now if I want to see everything a folder collection I need to create a whole new smart search. This adds unnecessary clutter to the Groups pane.

You can change the behavior from a boolean AND to OR by using the Action pop-up menu (gear icon) to change the Virtual Group behavior.

Also, for what it is worth, the number that appears to the right of a folder indicating the number of subgroups is also not consistent with the behavior of some other mac programs, like Mail or iTunes, and I find it distracting.

They are the wrong paradigm -- Bookends isn't notifying you of anything new. It's reporting how many items you have in a folder. That's especially useful if the folder is closed, of course. If you don't find it useful you can ignore it.

Jon
Sonny Software

[afeldman]

You can change the behavior from a boolean AND to OR by using the Action pop-up menu (gear icon) to change the Virtual Group behavior.

Perfect! I was rooting through the preference pane...didn't even think of the little gear.
Thanks.

[chriggi]

Hi, a question or feature request:

When selecting a folder, why isn't the content of its groups displayed (as with "virtual folders")? Seems obvious to me, or am I missing something?

Would be an eays way to "drill down" into subject areas…
… Like: Science and Technology Studies (200 Refs) » Actor-Network-Theory (20 Refs) » ANT Case Studies (5 Refs)

Maybe eliminating the diff. between folders and grups altogether…?

Best,
Christian

[Jon]

I'm not sure what behavior you're requesting. Selecting a folder automatically selects all the groups it contains (and including subfolders and their contents)?

Jon
Sonny Software

[chriggi]

Well, kinda, yes.

Specifically I refer to the Reference List. When a folder is selected, the reference list now is always empty (cf. Screenshot). Why not displaying the contents (=references of all subgroups and subfolders)?

[Jon]

I've thought of that, but the UI gets messy. Should the groups be highlighted in that case? What about subfolder (and subsubfolder contents)? I'm not sure how other apps with folders/subfolders/groups handle this. Do you have any examples?

Jon
Sonny Software

[chriggi]

Examples (not very good ones, though):

* Pinboard/Delicious: Adding tags step by step to drill down (http://pinboard.in/u:ckatzenbach/t:twitter/ » http://pinboard.in/u:ckatzenbach/t:twitter+stats/)
* iTunes: Genre » Artist » Album
* Mail.App: Inbox » Accounts

I don't see too much cluttering b/c the reference list is empty now. I would only highlight the folder in question, not its subfolders /-groups.

[Jon]

I'll give this some thought. It's pretty straightforward if you just select a folder, but I'll have to think through how to deal with things like multiple selections.

Jon
Sonny Software