Sente?

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Boban
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Sente?

Post by Boban »

Just to pick the brains of fellow Mellel users. I completely converted to the Melle/Bookends combo about a ten months ago and have been very happy (esp. with Mellel). I'm just curious if anyone here with experience of both has a preference of either Sente or Bookends. I downloaded the recent demo of Sente, but it didn't seem to care for my Czech diacritics, so I binned it (perhaps rashly).

Any thoughts?

B.
DanZac
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Re: Sente?

Post by DanZac »

I can't say I have experience with czech in Sente, though I am a little surprised that it wouldn't handle those.

I am impressed with Sente, though it still has some catching up to do with BE. Its importing is limited still, as is its quick importing from LOC. Its method of copying and pasting needs to be enhanced as well, and it needs to upgrade its journal glossary and global changing abilities. For these reasons, I am still using Bookends.

Having said that, I am excited and impressed with Sente as well. I really like its attachment handling - it can reorder the attachments folder to the users preference very nicely. I like its grouping in the list view into libraries and folders. And the database is stable and fast. I REALLY like being able to fully customize the right column AND bottom window right in the list view — it feels very Apple-like in that regard (allowing the user to drag and drop the fields in the order of choice). I am also very happy with being able to enter information right into fields in the right column.
With Sente 5 they introduced much more robust formatting which finally made it a viable option for people like me who do footnotes. Its keyword browser is very cool too. Lastly, its note-taking feature is very impressive.

As I said, there are reasons I am still using Bookends, but Sente is closing the gap. I have emailed the developers on the above issues and hope to see these come to fruition. When they do, Sente may well become the leader of the pack and my new bib. manager.
Boban
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Re: Sente?

Post by Boban »

Thanks for that Danzac, I'll keep my eye on Sente. As I said, for the moment I am happy with Bookends.

Thanks again,
B.
kidwellj
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Re: Sente?

Post by kidwellj »

I realize this is an old post, but thought I'd mention that the issue with diacritics was resolved just about a year ago when someone alerted the developers to it.
este.el.paz
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Re: Sente?

Post by este.el.paz »

Folks:

I looked at both BE & Sente back in 2005 while in the process of doing a doctoral degree track and Sente looked good in terms of the GUI, but I went with BookEnds and I continue to use it now . . . . The reason I'm posting this is to emphasize that Jon is very responsive to any issues that may come up while getting it set up. Don't know if he's a one man show, but it seems that he's on the ball all the time. Recently had a question about whether I needed to upgrade to get BE into my new MBP . . . and, he graciously let me know that my old version will work just fine . . . . He's a quality player.

e.e.p.
DanZac
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Re: Sente?

Post by DanZac »

este.el.paz wrote:I looked at both BE & Sente back in 2005 while in the process of doing a doctoral degree track and Sente looked good in terms of the GUI, but I went with BookEnds and I continue to use it now . . . . The reason I'm posting this is to emphasize that Jon is very responsive to any issues that may come up while getting it set up. Don't know if he's a one man show, but it seems that he's on the ball all the time. Recently had a question about whether I needed to upgrade to get BE into my new MBP . . . and, he graciously let me know that my old version will work just fine . . . . He's a quality player.
I totally agree, Jon at Sonny Software provides the best tech support for all of the apps I use. The only other close rival is the DEVON team.
daiyi
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Re: Sente?

Post by daiyi »

este.el.paz wrote:Folks:

I looked at both BE & Sente back in 2005 while in the process of doing a doctoral degree track and Sente looked good in terms of the GUI, but I went with BookEnds and I continue to use it now . . . . The reason I'm posting this is to emphasize that Jon is very responsive to any issues that may come up while getting it set up. Don't know if he's a one man show, but it seems that he's on the ball all the time. Recently had a question about whether I needed to upgrade to get BE into my new MBP . . . and, he graciously let me know that my old version will work just fine . . . . He's a quality player.

e.e.p.
My situation was very similar to yours and I ended up going with BE for many of the same reasons. At the time, Sente also had some serious issues with formatting for the humanities. That has improved by now, I assume. But I don't regret my choice at all. The integration with Mellel also makes BE a good choice.
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