1901 Leftovers - suggestions

[SS from The Rhondda]

Hi Bob,
Glad to see that there has been some development with the 1901 leftovers.

I have one small suggestion, though:

When I first accessed the 1901 lefotvers home page, I could not find how to search for ancestors.
It was only on my second visit that I saw the small search button. It was hidden above the Google ads!

It may be because the font size is too large.

Would it be possible to adjust it so that everything fits on one page, making the search buttons visible ?
Or put an additional link to the search facility further down the page...


Thank you for taking on this project. Your efforts are much appreciated.

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi SS,

I don't know when you last visited the site, but after a recent PM from JAP, who also wondered how to search the site, I added these lines to the text:

Click on the Search buttons at the top of the page to search for a Person
or, if you know the reference, to search for a particular Piece/Folio/Page.

I thought that would make life easier for everyone,
but maybe I should make the last two bold bits into links

To Everybody,

If you have any other suggestions about the 1901 leftovers site, please add them here.

The more user-friendy the site is, the better   

Bob

[SS from The Rhondda]

Oops - That sentence wasn't there at my previous visit!

The buttons at the head of the page do help with keeping the RootsChat pages consistent.

Perhaps if the text on the 1901 Leftovers home page was reduced a size then the page would look a little clearer.

[Lloydy]

Just had a thought.  When transcribing the details from the images, which name do we use in the "Transcribed By"column? - our proper name or Rootschat Username?


Jan

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Jan,

It's up to you really !  the "1901 leftovers" is not a "RootsChat only" site, in fact it was in the terms of the takeover, that the site remains open to everyone.

So anyone transcribing can use any name they like.  A real name is usually not such a good idea, and if you want to show your solidarity with RootsChat, then your RootsChat username is great, but, .....

                 It's up to you ! 

Main thing is, the e-mail address is correct, in case anyone wants to query anything.

Bob

[Lloydy]

Hi Bob

Thank you for your reply.

I'm going to show my solidarity to Rootschat and use "Lloydy"!!!

Jan

[aussiecandy]

Hi Bob,

This is a great idea of Trudy's and terrific that Rootschat is keeping it going. I found it had to find the search buttons too. They are a wee bit small. After I found the button I did a few searches and I wonder if it would be possible for Rootschat to....

1)  make it optional to narrow down the search results? I just entered my ancestors surname 'TULL' but there were none, However, I got a results page with load of TULLY folk who aren't related to me, so that wasted some of my download allowance. Can the search results be a bit more restricted but maybe as an option also allow wild card *asterisk or similar for those researchers who do want a broader search but may not know the spelling eg TULL* SMI* WILLIAMS* ?
I also searched for my 'REE' relatives but all I got was pages of REED etc. I hope you can make it an option for more specific search results please.

2) ...create a personal messages system instead of having the 1901 transcribers email address so easily available. All you have to do is hover your mouse cursor over the transcribers name & their email address is displayed at the bottom of the browser. I'd like to transcribe too but I don't want my email address available displayed like that. At least with a personal message system like rootschat.com has I can choose to whom I give my email address. And with a PM system queries may even be answered without the necessity of using an email address. At least that way it would be optional.

Just food for thought anyway! 

Regards,
Candy

Hi SS,

I don't know when you last visited the site, but after a recent PM from JAP, who also wondered how to search the site, I added these lines to the text:

Click on the Search buttons at the top of the page to search for a Person
or, if you know the reference, to search for a particular Piece/Folio/Page.

I thought that would make life easier for everyone,
but maybe I should make the last two bold bits into links

To Everybody,

If you have any other suggestions about the 1901 leftovers site, please add them here.

The more user-friendy the site is, the better   

Bob

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Candy,

many thanks for your suggestions. 

Yes, they are a bit small, I'll have a think about enlarging the search buttons 

Re. Your first suggestion:

Yes I agree. At the moment, the search has an automatic wildcard, so REE becomes REE* without you noticing !

Re. Your second suggestion:

One of the conditions of RootsChat taking over the site, was that it remains open to everyone.  In Trudy's original concept, it was important to have the e-mail addresses of contributors, so that viewers could query them, if necessary.

Using a PM scheme would grant more privacy, but I believe it would need a lot of work to set up.  I'll have a think about that .....

Bob

[Berlin-Bob]

Update on Candy's first suggestion:

DONE !!

You can now use '_' and '*' as wild cards.  More details on the 1901 site !