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Table of Contents
Document Overview
This user manual provides a comprehensive guide to the Criterion application, a specialized desktop tool for creating and managing digital critical editions. It covers all key features, from text and apparatus management to advanced formatting, metadata, citations, and print/export options, plus a full suite of cloud collaboration capabilities that enable secure, structured teamwork among scholars.
Users will find detailed instructions, best practices, and technical notes on essential functions such as:
- Layout customization and paratextual elements (line/page numbers, headers/footers)
- Critical apparatus management (notes, sigla, reading types, separators)
- Bookmark navigation and annotation handling
- Bibliographic reference management and citation insertion
- Cloud account management (GDPR-compliant registration, profile editing, password management)
- Document sharing and invitation workflows (controlled collaboration with read-only access)
- Integrated chat system for contextual discussion of textual variants directly within the editor
- Real-time notifications and email alerts for all collaboration events
Organized into thematic sections, the manual serves both new and experienced users, from solo editors preparing a first edition to research teams collaborating on complex multi-witness projects, offering a reliable resource for accurate, efficient, and publication-ready critical editions.
Key Concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Annotation | The class for Web Annotations. |
| Apparatus | Component of a scholarly edition that accompanies the edited text and consists of a set of annotations that the editor has appended to edited text for a particular scientific purpose. |
| Base Reading / Lemma | The reading chosen or proposed by the editor, presented within an entry of the critical apparatus for the dual purpose of indicating the passage in the text to which the entry refers and to allow the reader to compare it more easily with the other recorded readings. |
| Critical Apparatus | An apparatus through which the editor shows the differences between the critical text and the textual transmission and possibly explains their choices. |
| Siglum | Alphanumeric string that identifies a witness within a critical edition. |
| Witness | Copy of the text of a work. |
System Requirements
- Operating Systems: Windows, macOS, Linux
- File Format: .critx (native), .pdf, .xml (TEI P5), .xlsx (export)
- Encoding: UTF-16 for full Unicode support
- Internet Connection: Required only for cloud features (account management, sharing, chat)