Why do A******* keep changing format?

[jeeb]

A******** seem to have done it again! Today I tried to look up a census only to discover A******** have changed the lay out of their site again. Firstly I had a job to prove I was already a paid up member, for some reason they seemed to insist I join again despite the fact I still have 8 months membership to run.
Then I tried through their new system of locating somebody on the 1851 census and found this person is not indexed despite that fact I know they are on on the census and could always find them easily enough via the old system. I then tried to locate this family through a visitor I knew was with them and he was indexed and the family were duly found.
Then I tried to find this same family in 1861 and discovered there is no provision for giving a birthplace to aid in research. However when I did manage to locate the family in 1861 I discovered that to have used a birthplace would have complicated matters further because there he was stated as born in the same place as the family above which was completely wrong.
A******** needs to get their act together because membership is not cheap and if this is the service they are going to provide I will not renew my membership.

Jeremy

[Sue Mackay]

Jeremy

If you look at the top right, is there a button that says you can opt for Old Search? I did this ages ago and I have just been on the site and it is the same as usual (for me). There is a button (which I avoid like the plague) in the top right (very small print) that would allow me to opt for New Search.

I have also customised my Home Page so that the things I use most often come up first and all the pictures and adverts are eliminated.

I still get the option to enter birth place in the Census Search

[Wirral]

They are driving me crackers too! Despite having everything set up for Old Search on all my Quick links, when I went onto the site 2 days ago it had switched to the wretched New Search. |banghead|

There is now no Old Search/New Search button on the inital page, eg "Search UK Census Collection". Instead, it is hidden away on the Search results page. To find it you have to do a search first! Just put in surname SMITH to get to the Search page, then press the Old Search button. If you haven't smashed the computer in disgust by then, you should be back to the old version. |computer| Goodness knows how long it will be before they delete the old version completely.|soapbox|

[jeeb]

Hi Sue,
Thank you for that, yes there is indeed an 'old search' button which I have now opted for.
This however still doesn't excuse the mistakes on the new format and anyone using the new format would not find the man I looked for in 1851 using a name search and yet he is indexed clearly enough using the old search.

Jeremy

[jeeb]

They are driving me crackers too! Despite having everything set up for Old Search on all my Quick links, when I went onto the site 2 days ago it had switched to the wretched New Search.



This is what happened to me too Wirral, it is infuriating isn't it. Anyway having taken Sue's advice, so now when I log in it comes up with the old format again but like you I'm wondering for how long?

Jeremy

[Peter Goodey]

There is a body of opinion that suspects that the dumbed-down 'New Search' was designed exclusively to make maintenance easier and cheaper. It's hard to see how anyone could imagine that it would better for customers.

[Sue Mackay]

They are driving me crackers too! Despite having everything set up for Old Search on all my Quick links, when I went onto the site 2 days ago it had switched to the wretched New Search. |banghead|


A couple of times when I have typed the name into the Search Box the results come up in the horrible new format. If I then press the back button to the Search Box, I normally find that the Exact Matches Only box has become unticked. Ticking it again reverts to Old Search results.

[Wirral]

Not only had it unticked the Exact Matches box, but it changed the results per page from 50 to 20!|banghead|

[Red Kite]

I find one of the most annoying things is if you initially search on one census, there seems to be no easy way to expand the search to other census years. Whereas if you start with searching all, you can then narrow results to one year.

[Wirral]

I find one of the most annoying things is if you initially search on one census, there seems to be no easy way to expand the search to other census years. Whereas if you start with searching all, you can then narrow results to one year.
That's why I always use the UK Census Collection. It also means that you can more easily pick up on results in the other countries - particularly useful if people are hopping backwards & forwards across borders. I also don't put anything in the place name boxes - I put it in Keywords instead & use wildcards.

[Red Kite]

I normally use the UK Census Collection (when I have managed to get to it!), but sometimes I have started with a specific thing in mind and then have another thought, you know how it goes.

Ah, wildcards. The single most useful thing they could do would be to enable wildcards anywhere in the word, rather than after three letters. It's often the capital letter or first vowel that causes transcription difficulties. Now that would be an improvement!

[janbooth]

Thanks for that advice Wirral. I can once more put in an age range to search on. I hate the new format - why do they keep changing something that works perfectly well. I am rapidly becoming a grumpy old woman!! I also dislike intensely the way that if it doesn't recognise a place name as part of England with the new search, you get a load of non-related countries appearing such as USA, Canada, etc in your search returns.

Having got that moan off my chest, I shall now happily return to the old search format!!

Janet

[Jan65]

I thought I was the only one having trouble with the new search facility - I'm sick to death of ticking and unticking exact match for every single piece of information when it keeps ticking or unticking for me without me doing anything! And putting a birthplace into the search seems to confuse it altogether. So I was thrilled to hear that there is a button in the top right corner to revert to the old search. Off I went to the census search page, only to find that it had reverted to the old search anyway. ???????????? Eh??? Totally confused now but keeping fingers crossed that it stays that way (the search page, not my confusion!)

At least if it doesn't, I now know how to get it back to the old search again, so thanks!

[v.wells]

I'm glad it's not just me then! I still have the old search but the advanced search seems to revert to simple search and I have to keep switching on the Advanced Search button. It has been taking me longer than normal to find anything. Haven't been on today yet so my fingers are probably uselessly crossed that it will behave better!

[keith.robinson]

Using Windows7 with it also brings the pages up differently much to my annoyance.

Keith ;)

[raineshoe]

Have to say I didn't like the new search system and kept opting for the old. One day, I just decided to try to stick with the new one for a week or so and see how I went. I now quite like it, but must be alone in liking it. I must say though it did take a lot of getting used to and I do prefer the old system in some respects.

I use a combination of site too to search for census returns to get the best results.