Auto Fill in Records Search Results
When you click on Search Records 'FamilySearch' it brings up the Records tab with a search query partially filled in.
If you click on any of the other fields (like alternate name or Mother of Spouse, etc. ) you have to then type in all the information.
It would be nice if when you click on it a pop-up box containing the information that is already in the person's record could appear and you could just click on each piece of information you want to add or have a custom field.
This would also help new users a lot, as the way the information is input on this page is not contestant with the workflow of the rest of the site, that uses colored graphics and pop-up windows for collecting information. (think of when you click an edit icon) As such this search feels legacy and like a thing you have to learn to use, rather than a thing that just flows.
A way to do this is when you click on of the additional information fields, a pop-up window appears showing the current selected information like when you click the edit button on the details page. And then if you click on one of the empty fields a list of existing information can be clicked on to add to the field or you can type in something original.
Answers
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Uh, no, please not more pop-ups. We hates them. With a passion. They add extra steps to extra steps and obscure things while they're at it. (I liken pop-ups to those stupid kitchen cabinets where you have to open two doors to pull out a drawer.)
That said, it took me more than a little while to figure out what you're talking about (the second box in the right-hand column of a profile's Details page), because I have that section closed/minimized. I don't think I've ever used a single thing in there, and I've been on FS for over a decade now. How does it fit into your workflow? Trying it just now, every single thing it found was either not for the person or already attached. Does it actually produce useful results, in better-indexed parts of the world?
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I was talking about the Records Search Page, not the Details page. When you click on 'search Records →FamilySearch' it brings up a new page. On this page on the right-hand side are the search criteria. It defaults to auto fill in the fields for Birth Place, Death Place, First and Last name and Marriage place.
While this gives a wide open search, many times you need to narrow it, and then when you click on the other events, or Alternate Name, or Family Member, you have to type it all in.
It does not have to be a pop-up widow. But it would be nice to have the ability to select information that is already on the file to auto fill these fields.
It would also be better for newer users to find the records search page to feel and flow more like the Details page for easier integration into the workflow.0 -
This was meant to be a Suggestion.
This Idea seems to have turned into a General Question overnight, losing its votes, as do several others from yesterday, is this intentional @Ashlee C.?
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(Dunno what's going on with the categorization of your question. As Áine said on another thread, the suggestions section has been broken for many months.)
We're talking about the same thing; I'm just concentrating on how you got there, while you're focused on what you see once there.
If you do a search of index entries "from scratch" (go to any main FS page - click Search in the topmost menu - choose Records - fill out some fields and click Search), you get a results page that's nearly identical to what you get using a profile Details page's Search Records - FamilySearch tool/link. The main difference is that the latter puts a gray "reminder" across the top, summarizing the profile being used.
In other words, the records search page flows exactly like the records search page, not like a profile details page; to my way of thinking, this is a Very Good Thing, as the indexed records database is a very different beast from the Family Tree. (This is the main reason that it bugs me that the Find function now looks basically identical to Search.)
I think one reason the profile's Search Records tool concentrates on names-and-dates rather than relationships is that the hinting system very often renders further searches by relatives unnecessary: it's very good at finding them. That said, I can see the sense in modifying the tool somehow to allow the transfer of profile conclusions to search fields, beyond the ones it transfers automatically. Perhaps the grey strip across the top could have an "expand" option, showing a condensed summary of the profile from which one could then choose conclusions or relationships to search by?
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