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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Zaphod99 on Wednesday 22 October 25 12:07 BST (UK)

Title: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Zaphod99 on Wednesday 22 October 25 12:07 BST (UK)
The new FreeBMD has been launched.

https://www.freebmd2.org.uk/

Zaph
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: purplekat on Wednesday 22 October 25 12:19 BST (UK)
No you're not   :D, thank you
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Tickettyboo on Wednesday 22 October 25 12:23 BST (UK)
posted in error!
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: LizzieL on Wednesday 22 October 25 20:37 BST (UK)
Searched for a marriage. found the bride. So how do I find her possible husbands? Used to be possible on old freebmd
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: mckha489 on Wednesday 22 October 25 20:51 BST (UK)
Searched for a marriage. found the bride. So how do I find her possible husbands? Used to be possible on old freebmd

Tap the number in the line headed ‘page’

Or tap “view marriage”
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Mabel Bagshawe on Wednesday 22 October 25 20:59 BST (UK)
Definitely a bit buggy

when I click in the marriage box I then get extra boxes for the spouse

Add in t he souse surname

Click search and it takes me back to a blank search page

Or is it just me?
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Josephine on Wednesday 22 October 25 21:13 BST (UK)
Thank you!
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: mckha489 on Wednesday 22 October 25 21:14 BST (UK)
You are correct, my test case does that too.  (Goes back to blank search if you put in husbands surname
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Roobarb on Wednesday 22 October 25 22:03 BST (UK)
I wasn't aware of this, have just had a go with it. What, other than a different look, is the difference?  I can't see anything else when I did a basic marriage search. Is it just something else that they can't leave alone?
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Tickettyboo on Wednesday 22 October 25 22:11 BST (UK)
Definitely a bit buggy

when I click in the marriage box I then get extra boxes for the spouse

Add in t he souse surname

Click search and it takes me back to a blank search page

Or is it just me?

no I have the same result. I then clicked on the feedback button and reported the problem. If  we let them know then they will find the problem and rectify it. If we don't do the feedback then its more difficult for them to sort out the problems

Boo
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: rosie99 on Wednesday 22 October 25 22:17 BST (UK)
One thing I use a lot on the old freebmd is the district sometimes after selecting the county and choosing the area I think most likely.  This new freebmd seems to expect you to know the name of the district without any help from them
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Mabel Bagshawe on Wednesday 22 October 25 22:43 BST (UK)
Definitely a bit buggy

when I click in the marriage box I then get extra boxes for the spouse

Add in t he souse surname

Click search and it takes me back to a blank search page

Or is it just me?

no I have the same result. I then clicked on the feedback button and reported the problem. If  we let them know then they will find the problem and rectify it. If we don't do the feedback then its more difficult for them to sort out the problems

Boo

Thanks - my computer and browser can be a bit odd so I tend to check that others are seeing the same before I report
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: MollyC on Wednesday 22 October 25 22:50 BST (UK)
To keep the existing info in the boxes you have to click "revise search"
but it positions the screen too high, so only half your search is visible.
It needs to position the name boxes at the top of the screen.

Having selected exact match on first names, then type the name, you still get a list of variants which you didn't want to see.
Having not selected phonetic search surnames, -ditto-.  Distracting.

I agree about not being able to see a list of districts within a selected county.
Countries gives you the option of All England, All Wales.  Useful.
But if you type "All", you also get CornwALL. - logical?!
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: maddys52 on Thursday 23 October 25 03:58 BST (UK)
The original FreeBMD is still available - does anyone know if this will always be available, or only for a limited time?
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: LizzieL on Thursday 23 October 25 08:30 BST (UK)
Searched for a marriage. found the bride. So how do I find her possible husbands? Used to be possible on old freebmd

Tap the number in the line headed ‘page’

Or tap “view marriage”

I don't seem to have a "view marriage" box

When I click page no it does give me all the brides and grooms, but so spread out that it is a lot more more bother to copy and paste into notepad, then delete all the repetitions
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: mckha489 on Thursday 23 October 25 09:51 BST (UK)
Ah, i think it is because it is a pre (1911?) marriage
The one I was looking at was 1934. But I’ve just tried an 1898 one, and have the same issue you have. Spread out boxes.
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: PrawnCocktail on Thursday 23 October 25 11:17 BST (UK)
Afraid I've gone back to the old version.

The new one doesn't gve it to me in a concise enough format to cut and paste, and finding the other half of a marriage is so much harder! Especially when you're not sure exactly when the marriage was, or which of several it might be.

Life's too short.

  :'( :'( :'(
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: LizzieL on Thursday 23 October 25 11:48 BST (UK)
Afraid I've gone back to the old version.

The new one doesn't gve it to me in a concise enough format to cut and paste, and finding the other half of a marriage is so much harder! Especially when you're not sure exactly when the marriage was, or which of several it might be.

Life's too short.

  :'( :'( :'(

Completely agree
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Gillg on Thursday 23 October 25 11:52 BST (UK)
Why is there no "All" box to tick in the B,M & D menu? I don't like it.  I couldn't even find my own birth when I did a test!
Oh, how we hate change, especially when the old website seemed to work so well.  Why have they done this?
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: BumbleB on Thursday 23 October 25 12:01 BST (UK)
The original version is still available as far as I can see - just remove the 2 from freebmd2  :)
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Spelk on Thursday 23 October 25 12:07 BST (UK)
In the What’s New blurb they say that the original version will be maintained for the foreseeable future. So until tomorrow?
They say that the changes are to make the site more useable on phones and tablets.
On my tablet some pages run off to the side and I can see no way to get any info on the spouse of a marriage apart from after 1911 when they give the surname in the table of results. Seems they have rolled out a beta testing version far too early.
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: MollyC on Thursday 23 October 25 12:30 BST (UK)
Don't be afraid!  Somewhere in there (I can't find it again quickly) I have read that original FreeBMD will stay available for the forseeable future.  Vote with your feet, hoping they will compare usage figures.  I have already relegated it down my list of favourites so it is not in the first screenful.  I agree it is cumbersome to copy and paste, which is how people work, making lists of possibles which fall within a short glance, not a wide ranging screenful or more.

I have tried using a split screen to do the same search using both versions.

Consider:
Colour versus "Birth", "Marriage", "Death"
Clear, compact columns versus acres of white space and repeated words "Volume" and "Page"
 - District has become more important than Page which you can only reach via a person record.
Italics versus "district query".
Turns out they have created a lot more district queries, by incorporating the dates-in-use into the district NAME.  e.g. Wortley  Dec 1838-1974 - why would that be a query?
Answer: Because the transcription says "Wortley"
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Spelk on Thursday 23 October 25 13:50 BST (UK)
I've figured out that to see the possible spouse you need to click on the name of the person getting married and then you get a second page where the page numbers are links which when clicked bring up the possible spouses. Why does it now take two clicks? The link could have been on th first page as before.
Also in the old version in the list of results it showed which records had postems associated with them. Now you need to look at the records second page details before you find out that it has a postem. Every extra click and loading a new page is slight but multiply it by billions every year and it a hell of lot of wasted time and electricity.
At lest the posters are still there. I would not have bothered to redo the hundreds of certificate transcripts I have done over many years.
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Geoff-E on Thursday 23 October 25 14:19 BST (UK)
Vote with your feet,

Ask for your money back.
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: MollyC on Thursday 23 October 25 14:22 BST (UK)
I am just writing comments including:
"If there is a postem you need to see this ASAP...  I knew there was a postem because I put it there.  It was hiding at the foot of the Person record where it may easily be overlooked.  It should be alongside the name in the Results, on the Page and in the Person record."

ADDED  A bit slow on the uptake here, I have now realised that the Person record is what you found previously by clicking "Info"  - which you would not normally do unless there was some query, but now you are obliged to go there every time to reach the Page, which is critical for Marriages before 1912.
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: sparrett on Thursday 23 October 25 23:54 BST (UK)
I think agree with the majority on this.

Keywords seem to be-
 
Old - Compact, efficient, friendly, logical.

New - None of the above.

Sue
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: Glen in Tinsel Kni on Friday 24 October 25 00:23 BST (UK)
The new has already had 1 failed release and got pulled, the 2nd attempt doesn't seem much better. The grumpy old man in me wonders why the new is never as good as the old?
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: AllanUK on Friday 24 October 25 09:49 BST (UK)
I think agree with the majority on this.

Keywords seem to be-
 
Old - Compact, efficient, friendly, logical.

New - None of the above.

Sue

Totally agree!!
Title: Re: Unless I'm the last to find out...
Post by: martin hooper on Friday 24 October 25 11:09 BST (UK)
As the old saying goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

Sadly ignored these days.

Martin