Place Name Suggestions

Question

Hello, Not sure if I'm doing this wrong, but the list of place name suggestions (birth or death location) is longer then the field, so I can't see the the full information.  If I click on one I can no longer see the full information (i.e. dates).  

Can anyone help, or is it in the list of must fix? Thank you,

Comments

The dropdown suggestions for placenames are from FamilySearch, not Wikitree, so isn't something Wikitree can fix.

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ETA

These place names and dates come from the FamilySearch places API.

They used to have a link where you could suggest corrections, but I can't find it anymore.

answered May 12 by Jamie Nelson

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Jamie: Is there any chance that WikiTree could make the dropdown box wider? The problem Gilberte describes is not with the FamilySearch data per se (as Melanie suggests), but rather that the width of the box truncates the information display.

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I've mentioned this problem before also. Maybe there's a browser plugin that would provide width modification.

Answer 1

I had notified Jamie previously about not seeing the right side of some and she said they would look at it the next time they are doing work in that section. So, unfortunately we have to wait and cannot use them frequently, you can always select one and the revise it.  The suggestions are initially from family search but they have been revised with some of the colony names for US and British Colonial America was removed since it is not valid.

Comments

Thanks Ros

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Perhaps they could make the longer entries split into two lines with the second indented so it is obvious it belongs to the first line.

Answer 2

The issue of place names being too long to fit in the field, so you can't see the dates, has been mentioned before - see https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1081440/widened-resizable-locations-prevent-suggestions-from-being.

The development team has noted the issue, but sadly it has been placed in the "Not Planned" list - see https://trello.com/c/lqJqSBfn/410-increase-the-size-of-the-location-dropdown-so-you-can-see-the-entire-location-name-and-dates.

Answer 3

I tagged your question with improvements, because I hope it will be treated as a suggestion for improvement. I have encountered a similar problem, mostly with relatively long place names. The dates are not very useful if we cannot see the dates associated with a particular place name.

It also would be a big help to have longer data entry boxes (or a way to temporarily expand a box), particularly for Other Nicknames and Other Last Names. (I often deal with people who need to have several names entered into these boxes, and it can be a nuisance to have to scroll horizontally to tell whether a name has been entered, or whether the same name has been entered more than once. I often end up having to go back to edit an entry after I saved it, because the errors I cannot see in the Edit mode become obvious once the page saved.)

Answer 4

In the meantime, when you are entering a location and all the suggestions populate, you can click on the little hourglass to the left of each suggestion. It is outlined in green with a yellow center. That will take you to FamilySearch's website with a map and more information about the location. It is helpful because it gives the dates the names were changed to help you decide. I use if often for New York City which had many name changes, for instance.

Comments

Thank you, I don't remember seeing an hourglass, but it's time I open my eyes. Sounds like I will use often for the Canada pre confederation.

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Thank you Lucy.  That is a dandy feature I'd not noticed before.  The place options drop down several times a day, and never saw that little dot to the left.  I've not encountered the lack of line space, as others have, but do see the additional info and history of the place, as very useful    Learn something new everyday.