The app layout

Getting to know every part of the Entities & Topics workspace.

Almost all work happens in the Entities & Topics workspace (⌘2). The picture below marks every part of the screen. Hover over a number or its explanation to highlight the other.

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1. 1
   Compact sidebarIn the workspace the sidebar shrinks to icons to give you more writing space. Hover to see page names.
2. 2
   Topics panelThe topics of the information page. The number on the right = number of topics.
3. 3
   All topics (full page)Shows all of the entity's topics at once, like the information page.
4. 4
   Selected topicGreen dot = this topic is filled in for the selected entity. Number = how many entities have filled it in.
5. 5
   New topicType a topic name and press Enter.
6. 6
   Entities panelAll entities in the project: species, genera, families, or anything you create.
7. 7
   Tree, filter, add manyHierarchy view, filters & sorting, and adding many entities at once.
8. 8
   Find entityFilters the list by scientific name, synonym or common name (⌘F).
9. 9
   Completeness indicator3/8 = three of eight topics filled in. A tick = all topics filled in.
10. 10
    New entityType a name and press Enter (⌘N). Scientific names are parsed automatically.
11. 11
    Classification pathFamily › genus. Click to open the parent entity.
12. 12
    Entity nameScientific name, common name and rank.
13. 13
    Status badgesFamily, IUCN category, CITES and P.106/2018 where applicable.
14. 14
    Check name, Preview, ExportCheck the scientific name (⇧⌘K), preview the information page (⇧⌘P) and export one species.
15. 15
    Review, exclude, deleteMark as needing review (⇧⌘R), exclude from export, or move to the Trash (⌘⌫).
16. 16
    Active topicThe title of the topic being edited.
17. 17
    Navigation hint⌘↑/⌘↓ change topic, ⌘←/⌘→ change entity.
18. 18
    Text sizeMake the editor text bigger or smaller (⌘= / ⌘− / ⌘0).
19. 19
    EditorWrite the topic text. It saves automatically.
20. 20
    Bottom panelMedia, Other Names, Occurrences, References and History tabs for the selected entity.
21. 21
    Media destinationThe entity gallery, or a specific topic.
22. 22
    Adding mediaFrom your computer, from the project's media library, or openly licensed online photos.
23. 23
    View sizeSlide from a list of names to large thumbnails.
24. 24
    Main imageThe first picture automatically becomes the main image. Drag to change the order.
25. 25
    Properties tabsProperties of the entity, the selected topic or the selected media.
26. 26
    Entity propertiesName, author, rank, taxonomic status, IUCN, classification and more. Save with ⌘S.
27. 27
    Conservation statusResults of the IUCN, P.106/2018 and CITES check.
28. 28
    Panel dividerDrag to change the width. Double-click to restore the default size.

Entities, topics and information pages#

The app is built on three simple ideas:

Entity

The thing you are documenting. Usually a taxon (family, genus, species, subspecies), but it can be anything: an area, a functional group or something else. Entity names are free text. If a name looks like a scientific name, the app parses it into genus, epithet and author.

Topic

A section heading of the information page, such as Description, Habitat, Distribution or Uses. You decide which topics you need, and each topic can be rich text, short text, a number, a choice or a date.

Information page

All of an entity's topics together with its media, other names, conservation status and occurrences. This is what is published as a website, PDF or Word document.

So the workflow is: choose an entity at the bottom left, choose a topic at the top left, then write its text in the centre.

Sidebar#

The left sidebar holds the app's pages. In the workspace the sidebar shrinks to icons. On other pages the page names are shown as well, as on Home.

Resizing panels#

Every divider between panels can be dragged. Double-click a divider to restore its default size. When the window is narrow the layout adapts: the Properties panel can be collapsed and the sidebar becomes icons.

Global search (⌘K)#

Press ⌘K anywhere. One box searches entities (scientific names, synonyms, common names, local names), topic text, topic titles, media (captions, file names, photographers) and every app command. Use ↑ ↓ to choose, Enter to open, Tab to jump to the next group and Esc to close.

Topic-text results open the entity straight at the matching topic. Search stays under 10 milliseconds even with 100,000 taxa in a project.

Saving#

Topic text, media, other names and occurrences are saved automatically. The only exception is the fields in Properties → Entity, which must be saved with the Save button or ⌘S so that names are never changed by accident.