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Hi,
I just posted this to GR Support (in addition to details of the problems we are having).
Any more feedback on the latest release? (apart from the page recovery and locking up problems, which are covered in detail elsewhere).
Here is some further feedback on the latest software changes:
1. The default search panel has a drop down for Event Type, containing Birth, Death, Other Event. The default search panel is used on every search and the Event Type is not tailored for the type of search which is very confusing. For example, searching for marriages, the default Event Type is Births. You have to select Other event in order to search with a date. Searching the Census - the Event Type dropdown includes Death, which is not an option for the Census.
2. The search results show less results on the page than the old format. More scrolling and paging is required to view large numbers of results, in order to identify what you are looking for.
3. The format of the results is more diffcult to scan through visually in order to identify what you are looking for - columns of data are much easier to visually compare. THIS IS MY BIGGEST CONCERN!
4. The old format enabled sorting the columns of results by clicking the column heading - there is no equivalent feature, and the results sequence appears to be random. This was a feature I liked and used in the previous version and I would like it back.
5. The results line for one person in a search takes a lot of space. it includes a lot of blank space and the attribute name on every result, instead of a column heading. This is an inefficient use of space, and does not make it easier to read.
6. The search results header - "There are 1,234 results for..." is in a very large font size that takes up space on the page that could be used for more results. The font is so large that the header often appears on two lines, taking even more valuable space.
7. The Search page footer includes all the GR sites, the disclaimer, GR ranking in the UK and copyright. It takes too much vertical space that could be used for more results and less scrolling. Better use of the space would be to move the ranking to the right hand side, and move the sister site to the right of the GR sites.
8. The hard coded text field beginning "Are these the results you wanted?" also takes a lot of vertical space that could be used for more results. This is not an efficient page layout.
9. Consider putting a "results per page" attribute on the page and let the user decide the maximum number of results on a page - e.g. 10, 20, 50, 100. While the response time for a 100 results may be slightly more, it is less than the effort to scroll & page through ten pages of results.
10. I just tried a search for John Smith in Marriages & Divorves - the results were displayed, but there is now no option to use the advanced search, to further filter the results. I paged back and searched again with an advanced search including County London. The results displayed, and the search panel included the advanced search details, but the option "Or try the advanced search v" (where v is is down arrow) was still showing below Search now. Surely this should be "Simple search" with an up arrow when the advanced search is already displayed?
11. The picture border around the search panel, and the format of the search and advanced search panel itself takes up a lot of vertical space, that requires the user to scroll in order to view the first result. This is an inefficent page design.
12. The advert space at the top of the page appears to have got bigger (or is it my imagination?), however, the layout of the search results page requires the user to immediately scroll down to see the results - your advertisers will have less opportunity to benefit from their adverts. I am not in favour of Ad's anyway, but I understand that they are a necessary business tool - however, can you reduce the advertising space slightly? Along with the observations above, you could make much better use of the space, and allow the user to view the first results before having to scroll down the page.
That's all the time I can spare for now, and I'm frustrated by the page recovery and locking-up issues!.
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Strange that still no one else is commenting on your posts.
Mind you, it may be the Zombies on the census search boxes has got them all!!
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I do not use the records on GR, and thus hardly ever use the Search facility
Neither do I any longer access or add to my own tree on here
Therefore, I am unable to make any comment regarding the latest upgrade.
Regarding the ad space on the page ............. mine has not altered, just one small ad across the top on Community pages. Nothing on actual threads
Maybe the fact that I use AdBlock accounts for that?! ;-)
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I don't use the Search function much, but your 1st point above is very relevant. It took me some time to work out that the default box can be ignored!! Just click on the bits you want on the left-hand list. I found a marriage, even though the drop-down list said Birth!!!
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Congratulations on a well written and constructive report. This is just the way feedback should be presented.
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