UX student looking for interviewees

[Sirtel]

I don't generally use the tag browser and it's usually closed. The only time I open it is when I want to search for something using several tags/user categories at once or using an either/or search. Then it's faster to select from the tag browser than to type in the search term. But those times are few and far between. The longer searches I use often are saved under saved searches. And mostly I just type in part of the title, author, series or "tag:history" etc.

All my tags are customized and there aren't many of them. The default tags coming with a book get deleted right away as they usually are a mess.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by UXstudent

What is the most elaborate search you've done?

(tags:@cleanup) OR (marked:true) OR (languages:false) OR (#pagecount:false) OR (#fanficcat:true AND #chaptercount:false) OR (formats:false) OR (formats:original_epub) OR (#kobopath:false AND NOT (formats:#=1 AND formats:paperbook) AND (NOT tags:"=.Comics" AND NOT tags:"=.Magazines & Periodicals") AND #manualtype:false) OR (#fanficerror:true and #fanficstatus:"=In-Progress") OR (#fanficstatus:"=In-Progress" AND #fanficupdated:<=730daysago) OR (#fanficupdated:<730daysago AND #fanficstatus:"=In Progress") OR (#onkobo:true AND #fanficcat:true AND ((not #kobocoll:"=Fanfiction") OR (#fanficstatus:"=In-Progress" AND NOT #kobocoll:"=In-Progress Fanfics") OR (NOT #fanficstatus:"=In-Progress" AND #kobocoll:"=In-Progress Fanfics"))) OR (#fanficcat:true AND identifiers:"=url:" AND (#fanficstatus:"=Abandoned" OR #fanficstatus:"=Completed" OR #fanficstatus:"=Oneshot") AND (publisher:"=Archive of Our Own" OR publisher:"=FanFiction.net")) OR ((publisher:"=Archive of Our Own" AND NOT identifiers:"=ao3:" AND identifiers:"=url:" AND NOT #fanficstatus:"=Anthology") OR (publisher:"=FanFiction.net" AND NOT identifiers:"=ffnet:" AND identifiers:"=url:" AND NOT #fanficstatus:"=Anthology")) OR ((publisher:"=FanFiction.net" AND identifiers:"=ffnet:" AND identifiers:"=url:" AND (#fanficstatus:"=Completed" OR #fanficstatus:"=Oneshot")) OR (publisher:"=Archive of Our Own" and identifiers:"=ao3:" and identifiers:"=url:" and (#fanficstatus:"=Completed" OR #fanficstatus:"=Oneshot")))

This monstrosity was my cleanup search. I've since split it up into a bunch of smaller nested searches, which is better for both Calibre's performance and my sanity whenever trying to modify the thing.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by PeterT

But you could map tags in calibre to shelves on the kobo.

I could, but I don't. It's historic - when I started with a dedicated ereader, I was using directories to manage books on the reader. This was when I was using the Hanlin (before I fell asleep on it). Then I went to the Libre, also using directories. I used to use tags to manage the onboard directories via a plugboard. Then I got my first Kobo and started using shelves instead. Obviously, my initial set-up was based on tags. When the Touch started playing up (I had a 2GB with a 32 GB SD card), I went to an Android device, and eventually went back to Kobo with the Forma.

So my workflow is pretty well embedded now, and I use tags and shelves for different purposes. Tags are mostly used to manage workflow within Calibre, whereas shelves are used on the Kobo.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by maddz

So my workflow is pretty well embedded now, and I use tags and shelves for different purposes. Tags are mostly used to manage workflow within Calibre, whereas shelves are used on the Kobo.

You could end up like one friend of mine who was enthused about using tags in calibre. When she picked up an Aura H2O, she used those tags to create collections. At one point, she had ~800 books on her H2O and ~1700 collections. A book could be found in romance, paranormal romance, vampire, werewolf, etc. At that point, she spent about 2 weeks adding a genre column to generate collections which reduced her collections to ~40.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You could end up like one friend of mine who was enthused about using tags in calibre. When she picked up an Aura H2O, she used those tags to create collections. At one point, she had ~800 books on her H2O and ~1700 collections. A book could be found in romance, paranormal romance, vampire, werewolf, etc. At that point, she spent about 2 weeks adding a genre column to generate collections which reduced her collections to ~40.

And that is the reason I don't use tags! As somebody mentioned up-thread, any tags imported into Calibre get deleted and replaced by my tags.

I have 40 shelves (genres) on the Forma (it's expanded over the years as my collections have expanded). Some have only a handful of books, others a couple of hundred. I tend to think about splitting collections when I get to 400-500 titles.

Most of my books are single-shelf; there are 2 meta-collections: 'Short or Anthology', and 'LTER'. The latter are from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer giveaways, the former are my usual commuting read. Both are for specific reading purposes, and both contain multiple genres.

[ownedbycats]

I have a couple of levels when dealing with Calibre:

Tags, which are basically just Fiction.Mystery.Cozy Mystery, Fanfiction.Crossovers, or Nonfiction.Hobbies & Recreation.Food & Drink.Cookbooks. I use these for navigating in the tag browser.

Genres is a composite column which is basically just the tags split apart and deduped - e.g. for one cozy mystery series, it comes out as American South, Animals, Cats, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery, United States. This has an unintended benefit that if I click on, say, "Cats," I get both fiction and nonfiction books related to it. I display these in the book details instead of Tags.

Fandom is for fanfiction, and populated by FanFicFare. I used KoboTouchExtended to have my Kobo display a subtitle with the fandom and fanfic status (whether it's complete or still in-progress).

Documenation Type is an enumerated (dropdown) column for documentation & manuals, and it has preset categories: Software Manuals, Game Manuals, Other Manuals, Supplementals, Official Strategy Guides, Unofficial Strategy Guides, and Artbooks & Lore.

Kobo Path. Another composite column. It's just the top level of the tags - Comics, Documentation & Manuals, Fanfiction, Fiction, Magazines & Periodicals, and Nonfiction. This is used for the save template for sending to my Kobo (it was preferable to having 100+ author folders in the root of the drive).

Kobo Collection. This is just shelves on my Kobo synced with the KoboTouchExtended driver, and manually done (though I am trying to automate the process by using Action Chains to determine the shelves from existing values in Genre). I also use it to mark the non-sideloaded books (I have a shelf called "Kobo Store") and show an icon so I remember not to overwrite them.

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I don't generally use the tag browser and it's usually closed. The only time I open it is when I want to search for something using several tags/user categories at once or using an either/or search. Then it's faster to select from the tag browser than to type in the search term. .

I have the tag browser open all the time. This is historical as I found it easier to find what I wanted when I first got Calibre. I still use the browser by preference for simple searches (e.g. author).

I have about 800 tags but I will reduce this when I get time. (as if)

[UXstudent]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

(tags:@cleanup) OR (marked:true) OR (languages:false) OR (#pagecount:false) OR (#fanficcat:true AND #chaptercount:false) OR (formats:false) OR (formatsriginal_epub) OR (#kobopath:false AND NOT (formats:#=1 AND formatsaperbook) AND (NOT tags:"=.Comics" AND NOT tags:"=.Magazines & Periodicals") AND #manualtype:false) OR (#fanficerror:true and #fanficstatus:"=In-Progress") OR (#fanficstatus:"=In-Progress" AND #fanficupdated:<=730daysago) OR (#fanficupdated:<730daysago AND #fanficstatus:"=In Progress") OR (#onkobo:true AND #fanficcat:true AND ((not #kobocoll:"=Fanfiction") OR (#fanficstatus:"=In-Progress" AND NOT #kobocoll:"=In-Progress Fanfics") OR (NOT #fanficstatus:"=In-Progress" AND #kobocoll:"=In-Progress Fanfics"))) OR (#fanficcat:true AND identifiers:"=url:" AND (#fanficstatus:"=Abandoned" OR #fanficstatus:"=Completed" OR #fanficstatus:"=Oneshot") AND (publisher:"=Archive of Our Own" OR publisher:"=FanFiction.net")) OR ((publisher:"=Archive of Our Own" AND NOT identifiers:"=ao3:" AND identifiers:"=url:" AND NOT #fanficstatus:"=Anthology") OR (publisher:"=FanFiction.net" AND NOT identifiers:"=ffnet:" AND identifiers:"=url:" AND NOT #fanficstatus:"=Anthology")) OR ((publisher:"=FanFiction.net" AND identifiers:"=ffnet:" AND identifiers:"=url:" AND (#fanficstatus:"=Completed" OR #fanficstatus:"=Oneshot")) OR (publisher:"=Archive of Our Own" and identifiers:"=ao3:" and identifiers:"=url:" and (#fanficstatus:"=Completed" OR #fanficstatus:"=Oneshot")))

@Quoth
Don't worry about my dissertation. UX education isn't like other college educations. I prefer working with open source because at least here my work at least have a chance to become useful.

[Quoth]

@UXstudent
I hope it works out for you. I didn't mean to sound so negative.
I'm not convinced an open source target in general makes much difference unless you fork it and make the changes yourself. I've largely given up reporting issues in proprietary and open source.
Though Kovid is the most responsive developer I've encountered.

[UXstudent]

Originally Posted by Quoth

@UXstudent
I hope it works out for you. I didn't mean to sound so negative.

Not at all. I actually appreciate it. It shows that you care

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by maddz

I don't need tags on the Kobo as everything is built around shelves, and unless I mistake, you still can't tag search on Kobo.

Kobo has changed the term shelves some time ago and is calling it collections.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PeterT

But you could map tags in calibre to shelves on the kobo.

I use the tags column to create collections. If eBooks I load into Calibre populate the tags column, I just remove the rubbish.