Invisible FamilySearch Icon When Trying to Match

RootsMagic
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I have been meaning for a long time to post about how invisible the FamilySearch icon is when trying to match a person in RM to FamilySearch. I decided to post a video because it was to hard to explain what I’m talking about just with screen captures. The video is here, length 2:51.

There are other issues such as RM7 supported matching from hints and RM10 does not. And I’m sure someone is going to suggest that I use automatch. But I will never use automatch because I want to approve each match manually. And I don’t use the RM Hints feature much anymore with FamilySearch because I use the new Right Click .> Go To FamilySearch instead. Then I investigate the hints from within FamilySearch rather than from within RM. So I’m still using the hints. I’m just processing them in a different way.

1 Like
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FamilySearch made some recent changes to the Hinting API. We are not receiving hints when the person is unmatched on FamilySearch. You will need to find a match and link them to receive hints. AutoMatch will find them for you if a close enough match. Hints and statuses are only generated on the Pedigree and Family Views. The Info Box will only display what was generated and not update on the People List, Couple List or Association view.

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I think there is a misunderstanding. I don’t care if I’m not getting hints for unmatched people. And AutoMatch will potentially find thousands of FamilySearch matches and I don’t want to use AutoMatch. I want to approve each FamilySearch match, so I just want to match one person at a time. So how do I match just one person?

I know how to do it. It’s just that often I have to hover over and then click an invisible area. I think we need to focus on the area being invisible, not on whether or not FamilySearch will return hints for unmatched people.

RM7 had up to three separate icons for hints, for FamilySearch matching, and for Problem Alerts. You could see all of them, and you could click directly on the one you wanted. RM8/9/10 has a single consolidated hover area which contains all hints, FamilySearch matching, and Problem alerts. You cannot click directly on the one you want. Instead, you have to hover over the area as a whole before you can click on any of the items within the area. I think that’s an awkward design, but never mind that. It’s probably not going to change. My issue is that the consolidated hover area is often invisible. And that’s what I tried to show in my video. I think the consolidated hover area always needs to be clearly visible, somehow or other.

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I have seen what you describe. Its annoying and seems to have mostly only occurred with 10.x.
Also the icon is not lit up despite having matches.

Kevin

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I’m able to see the white circles when a person is highlighted. I could even see them in your video.

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I can sort of see the white circles, but I think they are really hard to see. Here is a screen capture where they are really hard to see.

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In the first place, the circles are not white. That would be an RGB code of 255,255,255. But instead, the circles are a light gray. Their RGB code is 237,237,237. Second, the background is not dark enough. It’s just a slightly darker gray than the circles. Black would be an RGB code of 0,0,0, but the background actually has an RGB code of 227,227,227 which is much too light and there is not enough contrast between 237,237,237 and 227,227,227.

In the second place, the circles are too thin. However, I’m not sure that the circles being too thin would make as much difference if there were sufficient contrast.

Here is an example of the same image where I edited one of the three circles to make it whiter and thicker and where I left the other two circles unchanged. I think that’s the sort of thing that’s needed.

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In addition to thicker and whiter circles, a Right Click option would be quite delightful, maybe something like Right Click > Match to FamilySearch. If this option were available, it’s probably the one I would go with, even if the circles were easier to see.

Another thought is that some users would have requested the ability just to enter the FSID directly since they already have it in hand. I would probably prefer the right click. But either way, we definitely need better circles.

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Where you say they are hard to see, I see them very well. We are trying to not make they very obtrusive. Fade when there is no icon to display.

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But in effect, there is an icon to display. Namely, it’s the circle for Not Matched with FamilySearch.

I don’t have any trouble with a faded icon for hints when there are no hints. In fact, having no icon at all for hints when there are no hints would probably be better than having a faded icon for hints when there are no hints

I don’t have any trouble with having a faded icon for problems when there are no problems. In fact, having no icon at all for problems when there are no problems would probably be better than having a faded icon for problems when there are no problems.

But I do have trouble with a faded icon for Match with FamilySearch when the person is not matched with FamilySearch. Having a Not Matched with FamilySearch person is something that should be obtrusive rather than being unobtrusive.

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This message might be better placed in a new thread, but it’s closely related to this thread. Namely, I have noticed that sometimes a person doesn’t have the FamilySearch icon even when they are linked properly to FamilySearch. Instead, they sometimes have the faded empty circle even when they are properly linked to FamilySearch. Here is a link to a video of length 2:07 which illustrates the problem.

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It’s working as it should. In your video you are using the People List view. As I mentioned previously, “Hints and statuses are only generated on the Pedigree and Family Views. The Info Box will only display what was generated and not update on the People List, Couple List or Association view.” The people that had icons in the Info Box while you were on the People List view were probably viewed on the Family or Pedigree View during that session so their icon shows.
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