Insert Project note in Basic view

Question

What might be the explanation why you cannot insert a project note while in Basic View in PT 9, but you could in PT8?

Answer 1

I’m not sure if this was a design decision or an oversight. In general, I suspect some of the functionality in the various modes should be more orthogonal to the viewing mode - why forbid someone from doing something like add a note because they choose to view it in a particular way? Ian and I are looking at this.

How much of a problem is this for you currently?

anon892024

Comments

Similarly, you cannot view or edit notes that appear in a Text
Collection - which most of the time makes sense. But there are
occasions (for example when group-checking the book of Proverbs,
which focuses on each verse in isolation - with little regard to
the surrounding context!) when it would be very helpful. Perhaps
this need could also be included in your review about what can be
done in which views.

Mark

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Not for me, but for several projects starting now in rural Tanzania that a colleague is trying to help. They have been able to give only minimal training to the translators and currently we do not know when someone can visit the translators. The translators can currently draft, but not comment on others work. Soon, there will be a point where trouble starts. So,for them this is a critical issue.

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There is a whole table that says what you can or cannot do in the different views. Right now, we are just asking questions, and we will need to get a lot of review before we change anything, but I am basically wondering these things:

1. How many of these things should be features that can be enabled/disabled in all views?
2. If we do that, how many views do we need, and why?
   I don’t know how much of a pain point this is for users, but to me, five different views is quite a few, and the features associated with each are not inherent to the view itself, I do not know a design principle that tells me what to expect each view to provide in each row of the table below. I have seen users randomly switch among views trying to enable the feature they need.

anon892024

Prior to each row in the following chart, say either “In this view …” or “This view …”.

Preview
Basic
Formatted
Unformatted
Standard
If highlighting is selected, you can see highlighting of the following:
• The current verse for non-active windows that have Biblical text.
• Invalid or unknown characters.
• Approved renderings of Biblical Terms.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
If you have chosen to display spelling, a red or gray wavy line appears below words with Invalid spelling.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
For project notes or consultant notes:
• You can insert them in the text.
• You can see icons for them in the text.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
You can view/display consultant notes.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
Icons prior to references show whether the reference has an error.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
You can see where others are working in Paratext Live.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
Footnotes, cross references, and end note callers are visible in the text.
YES
YES
YES
NO
YES
The text is editable and the names of the users who can edit the active book appear on the title bar.
NO
YES
YES
YES
YES
Word-break characters other than spaces are displayed.
NO
YES
YES
YES
YES
Footnotes, cross references, and end notes are displayed in the footnotes pane.
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
Can be used in the right pane of a Text Collection.
YES
NO
NO
YES
YES
USFMs are visible in the text.
NO
YES
NO
YES
YES
You can insert/enter markers in project text.
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
Illustrations (figures) are displayed.
YES
NO
YES
NO
NO
With the footnote pane visible, you can convert between a footnote and a cross reference.
NO
NO
YES
NO
YES
The footnote pane opens automatically when you insert a footnote, cross reference, or end note.
NO
NO
YES
NO
YES
Has a style drop-down menu.
NO
NO
YES
NO
YES
Allows insertion of a footnote, cross reference, or end note.
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
Pressing backslash at a point in the text displays a list of valid markers that can be entered there.
NO
NO
YES
NO
YES
Unified Standard Format Markers (USFMs) for footnotes, cross references, and end notes are visible in the text or the footnotes pane.
NO
NO
NO
YES
YES
You can change a caller (or enter a missing caller) for a footnote, cross reference, or end note.
NO
NO
YES
YES
YES
You can add a missing chapter marker.
NO
NO
NO
YES
YES
USFMs are editable.
NO
NO
NO
YES
YES
A tilde (~) is displayed as a non-breaking space.
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
Paratext automatically formats a number you enter as a verse number if the number is a valid verse number for the current chapter.
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
You can move an existing project note to another location in the same chapter.
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
Markers that are not part of the USFM set of markers display in red.
NO
YES
NO
NO
YES
Pressing Enter at a point in the text displays a list of valid markers that can be entered there.
NO
NO
NO
NO
YES

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Sigh. This table looked much better in my outbox than it does here. Let me try again …

image.png1169×809 51.6 KB

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Mark+P:

Similarly, you cannot view or edit notes that appear in a Text
Collection - which most of the time makes sense. But there are
occasions (for example when group-checking the book of Proverbs,
which focuses on each verse in isolation - with little regard to
the surrounding context!) when it would be very helpful.

I agree that it would be very helpful for me personally if we could toggle the ability to view notes within the second pane of the Text Collection window. There is already the ‘Two Panes’ toggle which allows us to have a full view of a single translation/resource within the Text Collection window. Another toggle could be added such as ‘Display notes in Two Pane view’. This would keep the first pane simplified while allowing the second pane to be more useful. A translation like NET has footnotes, but the front translations we use have many Paratext notes which can’t be viewed in the Text Collection window currently.

Answer 2

anon982572:

What might be the explanation why you cannot insert a project note while in Basic View in PT 9, but you could in PT8?

I’m not sure what you are seeing, but I don’t think you can insert a note in Basic view in Paratext 8. I went back to Paratext 7.5 and you can’t enter notes in Basic view there either. I believe that part of the idea of Basic view was to have something that is totally protected and simple. If someone needs to be adding notes then they would move to Standard view. Whether or not that is a good assumption is what is being considered, but notes have never been a part of the Basic view as far as I’m aware.