Did you see the latest menu changes, with the personal Error Report links?

Question

Hi WikiTreers,

We just released a bunch of changes to the pull-down menus at the tops of pages. (You can see them at the top of this page, but the menus in G2G aren't a good representation because they're limited for various reasons.)

Before listing out all the changes (for someone who cares about them all?) I want to mention one change in particular: On person-related pages, the pull-down menu that starts with the person's WikiTree ID -- see the home page for the one that starts with your ID -- now includes an "Error Report" link.

Clicking this takes you to a page on a website run by the amazing Aleš Trtnik. Here's an example for me, Whitten-1.

As many of you already know, Aleš has been doing independent data-crunching on our database to find likely errors. The new Database Errors Project has grown up around his work. Check out your error report -- it's highly recommended.

Other menu changes:

There are now mouse-over titles that add explanation when you hold your cursor over a menu item without clicking. We had them on the last three menus before but now they're on all of them.

We made the main link in each menu bold, e.g. the Navigation Home Page link is bolded in the My WikiTree menu.

We removed a bunch of links from the person menu. Many members have complained that the list of links was too long, especially on mobile devices. Here are the specific changes to the person menu:

• Removed "[Surname] DNA". (It's accessible from the surname menus.)
• Removed "Surnames" link to widget 10. (Uncommonly used. Accessible from Tree & Tools page (TNT) and surname nav pages.)
• Removed "Tree Widgets". (Uncommonly used. Accessible from TNT page.)
• Removed "Ancestor List". (Family List is usually better now, and this is accessible from TNT page.)
• Removed "Activity Feed". (Meaning could be confused with Family Activity Feed. This can be accessed from the Changes tab on profiles.)
• Removed "Public Profile". (Accessible from tab on profile.)
• Removed "Trusted List" and change "Privacy Level" to "Privacy". (Same link.)
• Removed "Shareable Tree" (Not commonly used? Accessible from TNT page. And, of course, TNT page and other pages are shareable.)
• Removed "Images". (Accessible from Images tab on profiles.)
• Changed "Connection to AJ" to "Global Connections". (Suggested here multiple times.)
• Changed "Tree & Tools" to "Family Tree & Tools". (For clarity and to make it more prominent.)
• Added a "G2G Profile" link if the person is an active member.
• Confirmed that "Name Displays" always appears. (Discussed somewhere here with Liz(?).)

On the "My WikiTree" menu:

• Removed "G2G Profile" link. (Now in person menu.)
• Removed "Family List" link. (In person menu and on TNT page.)

On the surname menu (where available):

• Added "Genealogists" link.

On the "Add" menu:

• Changed "Followed Surnames" to "Followed Tags".

On the "Find" menu:

• Added Unsourced people in your Watchlist, like with Unconnected and Orphaned (suggested here).

On the "Help" menu:

• Added "Adoption Angels".
• Changed "Contact Mentor" to just "Mentors", and "Contact Team" to "WikiTree Team" since we can't fit "Contact Adoption Angel".
• Changed G2G link to say "Forum".

If you see any problems or would like to suggest additional changes for the next round, post here. Thanks!

Onward and upward,

Chris

Comments

Looks great, Chris!

I am guessing I just never used the menu from this point before, but when I look at the Global Connections for someone, the Person menu changes back to me on the resulting connection screen, rather than remaining the person I am looking at the connection of. For example, when I look at the connection for my grandfather, Royal Aldrich, it the Person menu is now for my own person rather than Royal's. Did I always just not see that or should it be Royal's since I am searching from his original person menu for the connection and the connection is for him?

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Hi Abby. Right, that's not new. Theoretically we could have the menu be for one of the people whose connection you're checking, but it's simpler the way it is.

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This is great tool!  Already fixed a very small error that would have remained that way for who knows how long.  Thanks

Question:  One of my errors is for the Missing Gender of a child that is a complete unknown - name, birth, death, and so on.  I know of it's existence because the birth certificate of the youngest son says that the mother had 7 children (6 are accounted for).

I clicked on False Error, is that the correct thing to do?

2nd question;  Will we be able to have the option for Unknown in the gender field? This might help with future errors.

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Thanks for this tool, every bit helps :)

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Thanks Chris! The other night, I spent about half an hour hopping around G2G posts and project pages trying to find it again.
Awesome tool!

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Looks much nicer and less overwhelming

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I used the Shareable Tree menu option all the time.  I wish there was a quicker way to get to that option now from a profile page.

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WOW!  I have a lot of work to do and had no clue.  THANKS FOR A GREAT FUNCTION.

Answer 1

Cool. Thanks for everyone's efforts! Why are there profiles on my error report that are not on my watchlist?

Comments

Hi Ellen. Aleš's system doesn't have access to your Watchlist. He is working on something that uses our API, where you could sign in, but for now it's just based on your public tree. He's including more than ancestors, though.

Answer 2

Thanks Chris! Looks great ...

Comments

I like the included Error report ...

Answer 3

I mostly like it, and the error report link is awesome. 

Off this topic, but what about the change to the way profiles appear when merging?  Nobody seems to like it --

http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/254250/new-compare-screen-look-or-bug-tabs-now-take-up-2-x4

 

Comments

Oh, about the tabs, that was done for mobile users. There is another way we could do it, rather than using screen size.

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I'd vote for another way... I don't much care for the "phone friendly" layout for the compare screen.

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Me too ... perhaps a choice could be created for those using moblie devices and those using laptops or plain ol' computers ... (guess this is asking something like little Olivier asking "Could I have some more please Sir?" ...:-)

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I notice that if I expand my WikiTree screen on my home desktop computer, the tabs display in the way we are used to. I don't much love the new display but I find trying to look at merge screens on a mobile phone almost impossible so there's that to consider.

Answer 4

Way cool!!! Thank you

Answer 5

Thank you. Interesting and heartening to know where errors have been created..

A question though. Having corrected an error, and refreshed the page, why is the error still reported, albeit in the darker shade of blue?

Comments

Hi Ron. Aleš is not using live WikiTree data. He's using our database dump for external developers, which is currently exported weekly. You can, however, mark the error to be skipped in the display. It's the last option on the right.

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I think the Hide and False options only take effect from the next weekly report?  But if you've fixed the error, it disappears then anyway.  If you flag it, you just prevent it from telling you if you haven't really fixed it.

Or is that just the main bulk listing pages?  PS I think it is - in the family extract, hiding takes effect on reloading the page.

Answer 6

I'ld prefer the Nav Home Page and Profile to be at the top of the list. These are the 2 most frequently used.

Comments

Once again Thank you Chris and the hardworking WikiTree team 

In a discussion about the different sites available (with other genealogist) I was asked why I prefer WikiTree. They just could not believe when I told them what WikiTree offers. You can be proud of your site. 

The Error report on the drop down menu is great. 

 

 

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If you use your Navigation Home Page as the default for when you open Wikitree, you can access that page at any time simply by clicking on the “My Wikitree” heading - regardless of where the page is listed in the drop-down menu.

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Yes, I do that. However my G2G Profile is no longer easily accessible if I'm not on my profile. I rarely use the G2G Feed. I've tried to but I find it easier just to scan what's new in G2G.

Answer 7

The Error Report is awesome!!! Extremely helpful.

I have small request for an improvement: Increase the font size. The text in the tables are extremely small. It makes clicking those links a little challenging.

Speaking of which: Why would "511 Unique first name spelling" even be an error? So far there are profiles that I'm seeing marked with this, where the first name is fine. The middle name might be unique. Also: There are a lot of profiles that have been created through GEDCOM imports where the first name and the middle name are both on the "First Name" field. It could be that's what this error category is picking up. In that case a different error category should be created: "More than one first name". Remember, that in a lot of cases, women change their middle name to be their maiden name. So of course you're going to see some very odd "middle names". And if those middle names are on the "First Name" field, you're going to have a lot of false positives.

Comments

In the Netherlands the concept of "middle name" is unknown: people have one or more first names. So in the Dutch Roots project we have the convention to not use the middle name item.

Creating an error category "More than one first name" would be disastrous!

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Good point, Jan. Different countries, and cultural norms.

Which then makes me think that this 511 error should not really be an error. It's not a true underlying database issue. There are too many cultural issues to consider.

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I went through my error list and marked several "Unique first name" errors as "False errors" because the error had been triggered by valid names: either (1) patronyms that appeared in the first name or middle name field (e.g., Claese or Casperse or Symonse) or (2) family names used as a middle name (e.g., Capen or Storr).

And some other "Unique" first names are faithful renditions of what appears on the record.

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Indeed I'd vote for that error # (unique) to be scrapped too, though it did help correct my own sadly soon after birth deceased sister's first name - I had not noticed a typo before - though I doubt that the error database would have otherwise done it differently by not seeing that too as an error.

Answer 8

Aleš Trtnik and Chris,

Just one word - Fantastic.  

The first two errors were typo's - easy fix.

It will take some time to get the rest.

Now how do we make error review a requirement?  (I know - will not happen - that's to bad.)

Answer 9

This is Amazing!

I see a note that it takes a Unique first name 20 "appearances" to no longer be considered Unique.  If we are able to document for you through Quaker Records or other means that the name is correct is there a way to validate the name more quickly so it cuts down on the processing calculation (if that is the right term) processing over and over trying to get to 20?

Every little bit we correct will help I suspect - thanks for finding all the needles in the haystack!

Answer 10

I think these changes are great with one exception: I miss being readily able to click on one link in the menu to get to the G2G forum. I am usually not on my own profile when I want to check the questions , or post a wuestion. I wish the menu link to G2G Profile would be put back.

Comments

From change list:

Changed G2G link to say "Forum".

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Which menu is it on? I'm not seeing it.

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Help/Forum

Answer 11

Overall, I like the weeding you've done to the drop-down menus, Chris, as well as adding the bold text to certain selections. However, I was wondering if more than one selection in each drop-down could be made bold? If so, my top 4 suggestions are G2G Feed, Watchlist, Error Report, and Pending Merges!