Hello everyone,
First of all, I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2025.
Yesterday (Saturday, January 4, 2025), I participated for the first time in comparing genealogies, even though I knew it wouldn’t yield much for me (Dutch family tree).
However, I wanted to experience how it works, partly to potentially update the chapter on this in the documentation with practical experience and screenshots.
Below are my comments, wishes, and suggestions based on that experience.
I’d love to hear whether others see and/or experience this the same way and whether my comments are shared or endorsed by more users.
This is not criticism but is intended to refine, expand, and perfect this useful tool.
Point 1:
There is a button to automatically rearrange the screens. Unfortunately, afterward, many screens overlap instead of being placed side by side and below each other. So, if you’ve created a convenient layout, you’ll have to start all over after clicking that button.
For that button, I think the following layout would be useful:
Create columns with the comparison window and the corresponding user window always side by side (see also point 7).
When the bottom of the available comparison window is reached, start a new column to the right, and so on.
This way, you can fit many combinations in the comparison window, and I think it would create a clearer overview.
Point 2:
Create a button to save the layout (for example, the grid from point 1). This way, everyone can save their preferred layout.
Point 3:
When a new user appears, the entire layout is reset, and you have to rearrange everything again.
It would be great if this no longer happened.
Point 4:
Button texts and popup hints. The checkmarks don’t actually indicate a selection but are actually command/action buttons. For example, "View" is essentially a scan command. So, change the text to "Scan."
In Trancestris, the text of the overview textbox is currently "View." Translators who haven’t used this screen might interpret this incorrectly.
For example, it says: "Check this box to assess…." For a translator/user, that doesn’t look like a command, which it actually is. Maybe something like: "Check this genealogy for overlap now, YES, NO"? That looks more like a command.
The same goes for: "Check this box to compare with…." Maybe something like: "Compare this genealogy with yours now, YES, NO"?
Point 5:
After working with this tool, I found it extremely useful, but for me, and probably for more non-French speakers, the results are often not meaningful.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could have your own session with people you know or already collaborate with? Something similar to, for example, a Zoom session where you can invite people? I mean outside the fixed time slot.
This might need to be coordinated with Ancestris because of the server, but then non-French users would benefit more as well.
Otherwise, perhaps this could be added to the TODO list?
Point 6:
Colors. If it’s not possible to have a fixed grid for the screens in the comparison tool, could it be possible to work with colors?
Color the lines that belong together. Color the headers of the subscreens that belong together.
Using colors greatly improves visibility and the ability to locate elements.
Point 7:
Screen heights. Currently, the comparison window and user window subscreens are not the same height, which makes positioning them harder.
The user window has four icons arranged in pairs, without text.
A comparison subscreen has two icons with text next to them. However, in all cases, you can hover over an icon with your mouse to see what it represents. After a few times, you’ll know. So, the text in the comparison subscreens can be removed, but the number should remain. Then the two icons can be placed side by side, making all subscreens the same height.
Point 8:
The statistics and results screen: please add horizontal dividers between the different sections.
Point 9:
User profile popup button (the second button from the left in the header of this entire screen).
This brings up a dropdown box. Why not make it a separate, movable window? This way, you can keep it open and place it in a convenient location, allowing for better oversight in a "full" screen with many users logged in. From there, you could toggle user visibility on or off.
Additionally:
Assign each user a number (this could perhaps also be displayed in the header of the corresponding subscreens).
Display everything in this screen, including all information shown in a user’s screen (the 4th icon is missing now?) and the details from the comparison screen.
You could then use this new screen as a handy overview and work from there if desired.
Best regards,
Mother10
