Feedback on 8.1.1

[frvs]

Again, kudos for a superb job.

The possibility of defining any user-defined field as a name field works seamlessly as far as I could see so far. This is a great improvement. So I ask, why not take the next step to make name fields state-of-the-art? What I find still lacking is the possibility of independently selecting the kind of name output for authors and for secondary authors (and other name fields). For example, in most cases one would want to output full name for authors but only surname-and-initials (or surname only) for editors and translators. Would it be possible to implement this in the near future?

Also, everything seems lighter and faster: ref windows appear to open faster, and there is a new lightness to typing long texts in the abstracts field. Kudos for the backgorund improvements that provide for a definite feeling of greater stability and reliance.

I still haven't experimented with the new possibiity of ignoring certain words at the start of titles when sorting, but this is clearly a step in the right direction. What is still badly lacking, of course, is the possibiliy to do precisely the same thing regarding author/editor fields...

Certainly, improvements feel more like a passage to 8.2 than a modest 8.1.1... Well done!

[Jon]

Hi Francisco,

Thanks for the kind words.

The possibility of defining any user-defined field as a name field works seamlessly as far as I could see so far. This is a great improvement. So I ask, why not take the next step to make name fields state-of-the-art? What I find still lacking is the possibility of independently selecting the kind of name output for authors and for secondary authors (and other name fields). For example, in most cases one would want to output full name for authors but only surname-and-initials (or surname only) for editors and translators. Would it be possible to implement this in the near future?

I don't know -- this is the first request I've had for such a feature. Let me think about it...

What is still badly lacking, of course, is the possibiliy to do precisely the same thing regarding author/editor fields...

I haven't forgotten that. It is just much harder to implement.


Jon
Sonny Software

[tharpold]

Again, kudos for a superb job....

I agree -- 8.1.1 is a more significant than an x.x.x update, and significantly improves some user interface felicities that had been bothering me a bit

Two suggestions for further tweaks in a later upgrade:

- the "Book" icon that you've added to the top of the List view is too schematic: you really need something that looks a bit more like a book, especially given the clean but elegant lines of the "i" and the "[gear]" buttons.

- shouldn't the new "Set to Default..." button added to the "General" Preferences window be labelled "Set to None..." -- ? That seems to me a more informative descriptor of its function.

And -- sorry, can't help myself -- long-range wishlist items -- consider these something to shuffle into the bottom of the deck...

- a preference setting for the "General" preferences to set a default database to open when the application is launched, no matter what database was open when it was last closed.

- a bigger one, this: collapse the "Font" and "Style" menus into a single menu, "Font", that includes a standard Mac OS X "Show Fonts" command, and menuItems/submenus for the functions now in the "Style" menu.

TH

[Jon]

- the "Book" icon that you've added to the top of the List view is too schematic: you really need something that looks a bit more like a book, especially given the clean but elegant lines of the "i" and the "[gear]" buttons.

I'd be happy to consider alternatives. If anyone wants to, please send me candidate images of a similar size and I'll see if I can integrate them if they look good.

- shouldn't the new "Set to Default..." button added to the "General" Preferences window be labelled "Set to None..." -- ? That seems to me a more informative descriptor of its function.

It could be. I labeled it like this so that it was similar to the attachments folder settings below it.

- a preference setting for the "General" preferences to set a default database to open when the application is launched, no matter what database was open when it was last closed.

- a bigger one, this: collapse the "Font" and "Style" menus into a single menu, "Font", that includes a standard Mac OS X "Show Fonts" command, and menuItems/submenus for the functions now in the "Style" menu.

Noted.

Jon
Sonny Software

[tharpold]

- the "Book" icon that you've added to the top of the List view is too schematic: you really need something that looks a bit more like a book, especially given the clean but elegant lines of the "i" and the "[gear]" buttons.

I'd be happy to consider alternatives. If anyone wants to, please send me candidate images of a similar size and I'll see if I can integrate them if they look good.

I think you already have an image at the ready: a version of the open (recto/verso) book that is overlaid on the row of book spines in the application and document icons of Bookends. Grab a copy of that when the document icon is displayed in the Finder at about 32 pixels, and plug it into the button. This would also be a nice way of reiterating the document icon graphic in the List window. I've emailed you a mockup.

TH

[Jon]

Hm, I haven't received anything. Please send it again, to

support@sonnysoftware.com

Thanks,

Jon
Sonny Software

[matthias]

Dear Jon,

Great job on 8.1.1.!

You even found time to include one of the German exceptions, i.e. a field for 'ibid.'...

I also feel that making the latest update an x.x.x.-Version only doesn't really reflect the many improvements. BE feels much faster and snappier when typing text.

Thanks for the great job!

Matthias

[scrollsgeek]

"What I find still lacking is the possibility of independently selecting the kind of name output for authors and for secondary authors (and other name fields). For example, in most cases one would want to output full name for authors but only surname-and-initials (or surname only) for editors and translators. Would it be possible to implement this in the near future?"

Has this function been added? I also need to have full names for authors but initials and surnames for editors.

[Jon]

No, that's not possible automatically. You could enter the editors first names as initials, though.

Jon
Sonny Software