Please fix a very bad glitch that is/will be causing many mistakes
When you start typing the first name of a new person you are creating (it happened when I was adding a spouse to an existing person), the system offers a little menu with names that are similar to the one you just started typing.
The problem is that when you choose from that menu the name you wish to enter, a different name is entered.
For example, I clicked on "Maria", but "Marian" got entered instead. Another time I wanted to enter "Jan", and selected "Jan", but for an unknown reason "Jane C." was entered.
It's very easy to overlook those errors which are made by the system, not the human who is entering the name.
Answers
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If the system engineer cannot easily fix this glitch, please remove that menu of suggested names altogether -- so users just type in the name by themselves, without the system making suggestions and errors.
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That sounds more like a browser autofill issue rather than a FamilySearch issue.
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I didn't change my browser - it's the same I had before FS switched to the new format. That problem didn't exist when we were using the old format.
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Update: I just noticed that this is happening in Safari, but not in Firefox.
In Safari, if you search for a person in Family Tree, and you enter first name "Jan", a little menu unfolds and it has some nonsensical suggestions such as "Jane C.", "Jane", "Jan Hanzl", and also "Jan", but if you click on "Jan", "Jane C." gets entered.
So I thank you for suggesting that the problem may be linked to the browser. Still, it was not a problem when we (FS users) were able to use the old format.
This whole thing leads me to believe that some other issues that we are experiencing with the new format may be connected to the browsers that many people are using. I use both Safari and Firefox (but never Chrome, though I have it on my computer).
Which browser is recommended by the FS software engineers/designers for the optimal appearance and function of FS?
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FamilySearch doesn't autofill. That's your browser being "helpful". You should be able to tell it to stop, but I don't know the details of how (not being a Safari user at all).
(No, FamilySearch's programmers cannot tell your browser not to autofill. My sister the web programmer tells horror stories of her constant losing battle against browsers ignoring her every attempt at stopping their "helpfulness".)
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Is this on a desktop (notebook) computer or a mobile device (phone or tablet)?
If it's a desktop, I think @Áine Ní Donnghaile is correct. This sounds like an autofill issue - that is, where the browser is remembering earlier names that were entered in those fields.
Some ways to tell if it's autofill: 1) Double click on the field. Do you get a list of names? If yes, it's autofill. 2) Enter a character, say J. As J names show up, keyboard-arrow down to one and hit the delete key. If it goes away, it's autofill.
I routinely delete my autofills because they really clutter up the page.
A possible reason it didn't happen on the old layout is because the browser didn't recognize the old fields as being eligible for autofill. Every browser does stuff in it's own way.
If this is happening on a mobile device, it could be the on-screen keyboard's auto-suggest feature. That seems less likely than autofill, but it's possible.
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Thanks for your response - it's good to know. But which browser do you use and find doing the best job with the FamilySearch software?
In the new format, when I view the tree (in the portrait view) in Firefox or Safari, the display is huge, and allows me to see only very few people (and then I have to waste my time reducing the size of the display to see more people). That is not a problem when I use the old format (thank goodness, it's still available).
I once called the FS help line, and the lady who answered advised that I switch to Chrome. I just tried to log into FS in Chrome, and Chrome doesn't recognize my user name/password combination even though that same user name/passoword combination works for me in Safari and Firefox.
Life is getting so complicated with all this internet stuff ;-) I dread of how I'm going to deal with all of this when I'm 80 or 90 yrs old. That is why FS software engineers (and decision makers above them ) should aim at simplicity, intuitive design, and avoidance of needless disruptive change.
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@Ewa_Telazek In portrait view, you can use the +/- symbols in the top right to zoom out and see more of the tree.
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Áine, I know we can use the +/- symbol in the portrait view (I mentioned this myself earlier in this dicussion), but it's a burden for people who do a lot of work on FS to be constantly adjusting the size of that display (just because the default view is not properly sized, and therefore not user-friendly).
It is extremely time-consuming and aggravating to be constantly zooming in and zooming out. If this issue is not fixed in the new format, I'm likely going to build my new trees on some other platform (and I have entered 10,000 departed souls on FS).
Also, when you use the minus symbol to reduce the size of the boxes showing the people, the font size inside those boxes (the names and dates) get substantially reduced too, and it's more difficult to read them. You're forced into a choice: either you see more people in the tree, but have a harder time reading their names and dates, or see their names and dates comfortably, but you only see a few people. That's a lousy choice.
In the old format, the portrait view is sized correctly - you can see lots of people, and read their names and dates comfortably -- so why is that not the case in the new format? Just please answer that, Àine. I noticed you are quick to defend the new format - so maybe you know something the rest of us don't - but you never explain why the changes that make it harder to use the FS site in the new format were necessary, or why they have not been fine-tuned in response to the complaints.
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In terms of browser compatibility, FamilySearch commits to supporting the current and previous versions of all of the major ones (Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Chrome, if I recall correctly). I use Firefox (with occasional forays onto the beta site using Edge).
Like for the new person page, there is a Community Group for the revisions to the portrait and landscape charts, but since I only ever use the fan chart, I haven't joined. The fan chart "remembers" my zoom level for a while, but every now and then I go to it and it shows up zoomed all the way in and I have to click the minus button several times so I can see more than myself. Are you saying that the new portrait pedigree does that every time? That'd by highly annoying.
As for the original topic of this thread, I hope you've found where to turn off autofill in Safari, and/or found an alternative browser where it isn't automatically on.
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To turn off autofill in Safari, go to Settings and click the Autofill tab:
Make sure "Other forms" is not checked.
If you did not check this on purpose, there may have been a website form somewhere that when you filled it out Safari helpfully offered to save something for you and turned this on.
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Thank you, Gordon. Much appreciated.
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Julia, too. Many thanks.
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