I think that what would make Zotero perfect FOR ME is if it could either be hosted remotely, or better yet, I could "synch" Zotero, much like the FoxMarks extension synchs my bookmarks.
Has anyone used the "Export to RDF" method to "synch" Zotero on multiple machines? I haven't yet, but I am fearful that it is going to just ADD the RDF file every time, such that I'll end up with duplicate entries all over the place.
Foxmarks style synching is in the works as I understand it.
As I said earlier, install Firefox on your flash drive and put Zotero on that. That's about the best option to share between computers if you're worried about exporting and importing, I think you'll find that suggestion made in the Zotero forums.
Earlycj5
I am using Bibus for a few years now, and I would not agree with the statement from above that it does not develop fast. Currently, I find that it superseeds the combination of Word and Procite I used to know before switching to Openoffice (almost 5 years ago now!). It has come a far way in its ability to provide custom formatting for al aspects of the citations and reference list.
I should try Zotero but this statement
worries me: for me, the most important task of bibliographic software is to take the tediousness out of having to format all your references by hand. Otherwise, I could quickly setup an sqlite database myself.One thing that Zotero currently lacks is a way to create customised citation and bibliographic styles
That method won't really work for me, because I am notorious for forgetting my flash drive. That's why something remotely hosted would work better for me.
In the meantime I will just backup with the RDF file and live with the duplicates. I may even save the file somewhere online to get a step closer to what I'm really looking for.
You can find out more on the planned Zotero server here.
Don't worry!
Just to clarify - you can import a custom style into Zotero. The problem is that, as yet, there isn't a user friendly way to create styles in the first place. In the short term, the Zotero people are concentrating on building up a repository of styles that you can install. In the longer term, there are plans to create a web based wizard that will enable you to create your own styles.
As an aside, it's great to see that Zotero are implementing their styles using Citation Style Language (CSL), a new open standard format for defining citation and bibliography styles. This is definitely a good way to go.
I have now taken a look at Zotero and ... I am impressed! This is for sure highly innovative software. With one single click indeed you enter a reference from a recognized web site to the database. You can conveniently link the PDF and as many items that you want to the record, annotate, etc.
"Cite while you write" and reference formatting is where bibus currently clearly is the winner. The Zotero OOo plugin is still a bit buggy (it is indeed considered in beta stage), and currently does not allow the extent of customization and flexibility that Bibus has come to offer. For example, Bibus will automatically "join" two or more in text references, e.g. (Author1 et al., 1989; Author2, 1992), or format ranges in the reference numbering system e.g. [1,2], [1-3], [1,2-4,7]. It allows to customize at the field level, e.g. formatting pages as 124-107 or 124-7, formatting authors the way you want, etc. Zotero currently is much more limited in these aspects.
Thus, currently, Zotero and Bibus each clearly have their particular strengths in different areas.
Well over 2 years since the last reply in this thread...
Any new insights into Bibus vs Zotero?
Would be nice to see a plus/minus list on both of them...
Just trying to help...
I'm not going to make a pro and con list, but I can tell you that Zotero has spread widely in academia and is now considered one of the three big players (together with Endnote and Refworks, both for pay and neither fully functional under linux) - check out the electronic resource departments of most major US research Universities - Stanford, Harvard, Duke, Princeton, Berkeley, Northwestern, U Michigan etc. all recommend Zotero.
Many of the features people in this thread describe as lacking (word processor integration, syncing etc.) have also since been introduced or updated
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