Sonny Software

Hi Jon,

Bookends 8.1.1 looks good. One aspect that isn't working so well is the use of temporary citations using Mellel. This allows the use of {} containing some text to refer to a particular paper. After selecting "Convert text to citations" in Mellel, a Bookends offers a selection of papers that contain the inserted text.

The problems are:

1. BE sometimes skips over a citation.

2. BE will sometimes go back to a text citation and ask again which paper is being referred to. When this occurs, the offered selection is shorter than the set of papers offered the first time it scans the citation.

3. The first two problems result in the citations not always matching the bibliography list.

4. A reference window is left open after the bibliography has been compiled, even if the preference is set to have the list window open by default.

None of these problems occur when inserting citations directly from BE into Mellel, using, for example, the command-Y shortcut. Quite possibly this is a Mellel problem, but I don't know the answer to this.

Another problem is font-related (the bane of my life). Selecting Helvetica Neue as the bibliography font in the BE preferences results in Helvetica Neue Light appearing in the Mellel bibliograpy.

David.

Hi David,

If it scanning works when Bookends creates the citation but not when you do, then the problem is with the citation you create -- there is no magic here, it is just text when Bookends creates it, too. The citation you are creating is either incorrect in some regard or, as you have seen, sometimes ambiguous. Don't worry about Bookends showing a shorter list the second time. So, either make sure the citation is correct (all spelling, author name first if you use 'et al.' as part of the citation, etc.) or use Bookends to make it for you.

As for the font -- I think Mellel has a preference setting for bibliography font...

Jon
Sonny Software

Hi Jon,

I can type in a temporary text citation and BE will have two attempts at presenting me with a list of possible candidate papers. If I select one reference the first time, then select none the second time, BE tells me that there is an unmatched citation, BUT, it compiles the bibliography correctly even though the citation is not converted.

If I select none the first time, BE picks a matching reference, seemingly at random.

If I select one reference the first time, then another the second time for the same text citation, it seems to accept the first match, not the second, which I suppose is logical albeit redundant.

It also doesn't always apply the custom citation rules when compiling the citations e.g. Smith, Jones & Brown 2003 is always cited like this, instead of Smith et al. 2003 for second and subsequent citations. This doesn't happen when inserting citations directly from BE into Mellel.

The other issue of fonts in Mellel was solved by appropriate choice of font replacements in the Mellel preferences.

David.

I don't know. If it works when Bookends creates the citation but not when you enter it yourself (and you are sure it was entered correctly -- have you tried entering the same citation manually that Bookends creates?), then it sounds like it might be a problem with Mellel. You may want to contact their tech support.

Jon
Sonny Software