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Diigo
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Posted by dan7000
Feb 7, 2018 at 07:21 PM
Marbux wrote:
I have used Diigo for several years but hate it. It is vendor lock-in
>software. Its API does not permit exporting of all your data. I took a
>very hard look at using its API to move data back and forth between
>NoteCase Pro using NC Pro’s scripting capabilities, but was completely
>blocked by Diigo’s API. You can get some but not all data types out and
>the ability to restore it after processing in NC Pro is non-existent.
>
>In my mind, that fact weighs very heavily against Diigo’s convenience of
>use. I was seduced by that convenience but am now making the transition
>back to Zotero. I don’t think there is another digital research
>assistant out there that comes close. Yes, it has a steep learning
>curve, but it is an extremely versatile system so that’s to be expected.
>Take a look at the quick-start guide if you’re interested.
>https://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide
>
>The Zotero system is open source software and the API is mature. And no
>vendor lock-in in sight.
>
Marbux, does Zotero allow you to clip just one sentence or paragraph from a PDF or webpage and put just that sentence or paragraph into an outline or list? That functionality is pretty key for me and I don’t seem to see it in the initial Zotero documentation. For instance, I want to have an outline of all the definitions of a particular term that I’ve found on the web or in literature. I don’t want the outline to include the entire documents - just the definitions. But I want the definitions to have citations (and ideally hyperlinks) back to the full document. I can do that with Diigo - albeit clumsily - using the “convert annotations to bullet points” feature. But I share your concersn about Diigo and would switch to Zotero if it supports this functionality.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Feb 7, 2018 at 09:38 PM
There’s a lovely, little-known Mac utility that does something like that, and although the citation functionality looks a bit rudimentary at first sight, it’s actually pretty powerful. It’s called Research Wrench (it used to be called something else, but I can’t remember what). It’s an extraordinarily convenient tool for gathering together bits of text from pretty much any source, including the web. You’ll find it on the Mac App Store for a nominal price.
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by dan7000
Feb 7, 2018 at 11:24 PM
MadaboutDana wrote:
There’s a lovely, little-known Mac utility that does something like
>that, and although the citation functionality looks a bit rudimentary at
>first sight, it’s actually pretty powerful. It’s called Research Wrench
>(it used to be called something else, but I can’t remember what). It’s
>an extraordinarily convenient tool for gathering together bits of text
>from pretty much any source, including the web. You’ll find it on the
>Mac App Store for a nominal price.
>
>Cheers,
>Bill
Thanks, Bill. The reasons to switch from Windows to Mac keep adding up :)
Posted by MadaboutDana
Feb 8, 2018 at 11:39 AM
Ha, yes, I must say I enjoy working on Mac in a way I never really did on Windows (note that I still regularly use the latter for various technical reasons); I can’t easily imagine going back, even though I used to be a Windows sysadmin (and Apple have just nuked Apple Server, which despite its dreadful reputation, did have one or two useful features. But hey.)
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: the integration of Mac and iOS is one of the things that keeps giving me enormous pleasure. My mobile’s downstairs? Somebody gives me a ring? No problem, I just answer from my desktop (or iPad, or notebook). Such a little thing, so beautifully executed.
Back on topic again: Research Wrench is one of those unsung bits of loveliness that really deserves to do much better than it has. I regularly use it to keep track of interesting tidbits I don’t want to save to my main reference database (sad geek that I am, I have a huge database of material compiled from all sorts of sources on all sorts of subjects). It automatically pastes in web references, but I’ve found it also absorbs a lot of information from PDFs of research papers, too. Oh, and I may have given the impression it only handles text – no, it does handle images, too.
Keep It is a similar concept, of course, and a vastly more versatile app (especially in always-on-top “Compact” mode), but there’s something about Research Wrench’s simplicity that is very appealing, especially the built-in web browser.
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by doablesoftware
Apr 6, 2018 at 09:27 PM
what web annotation do most currently use?
1. to highlight someting on a webpage
2. make a note of that highlight so you know what the note is referring to
3. and is kept on the webpage when you revisit at a future date in time