Friday, April 29, 2011  One Step Backwards, Wait, Wait, Wait,
Wait, One Step Back  The search form had spaces for both birth
and death eventsWith the release this week of search filters,
FamilySearch can breath a sigh of relief. Search filters allow
users to cut the number of search results by dynamically adding
search criteria.  Prior to December 2010, users could keep
search results to manageable numbers by specifying birth and
death events in the search form. (See the screen image to the
right.) When replaced, a new, simplified search form restricted
searching to a single event. This increased the number of
results, often to unworkably large numbers.  “RecordSearch pilot
validated the search model of doing an initial search with…a
single event and then filtering the results by secondary events
and parameters,” said Robert Kehrer, FamilySearch product
manager. Unfortunately, while filtering was not ready for
release in December, there was some advantage in immediately
adopting the single-event search forms