Tips
Remember where the image controls are
The control buttons for zooming in and out and panning are located just above the image. Unfortunately, when the scrollbars are used to scroll down the image the controls are scrolled out of sight. Remember that when you get to the bottom of the image, and want to view additional lines, that you need to scroll back to the top to use the controls. NOTE! the Archives have changed the placement of the image controls to be centered above the image; on low resolution screens you may have to scroll to the right to bring them into view.
Use the tab key!
The tab key can be used to move from input field to input field. The first time you press tab it moves to the first input field, scrolling the window if necessary. This makes it easy to get to the form on a web page without having to use the scrollbar. It also is a much quicker way to move from field to field than having to use the mouse. When the page is first brought up, or if you have clicked in the top part of the window, you need to click in the lower part of the window before using the tab key.
Type the first letter of the value you want in a drop-down selection box
If you use the tab key to select an input field with a drop-down selection box you can select the value you want by simply typing the first letter of the value. If there are multiple values starting with the same letter, press that letter multiple times, the value will cycle through the possible values. For example, in the relation to head of household field, pressing 's' once will select "Son", pressing 's' a second time will select "Sister", and pressing it a third time will select "Servant". If you continue to press a letter it will cycle through the values over and over. Using the tab key and typing the first letter of your choice will generally be much faster than using the mouse to move between fields and select values in drop-down boxes.
A magnifying glass or virtual magnifying glass is sometimes quicker than zooming in on the image
If you just want to take a closer look at a word or name you may find it is quicker to use a magnifying glass or a program like Virtual Magnifying Glass than to reload the image at a higher magnification. On Windows XP there is a built-in magnifier intended for people with visual impairments that can be useful: start / Programs / Accessories / Accessibility / Magnifier
Entering a non-date value in the date of birth column
If the enumerator wrote something like "didn't know" in the month and date of birth column you can enter it by selecting "Other" in the month selection box and then entering the text in the day input box. If the enumerator entered a valid month but then something invalid for the day, e.g. May ? still select "Other" for the month and enter both the month and whatever else in the date column.
Deleting a duplicate line
If you have a duplicate line on a full page edit that line and set the line number to 99. Records with line set to 99 will be automatically deleted periodically. If you have a duplicate line on a page that is not yet complete you can also edit the line and change all the values to data from an as yet untranscribed line. To edit a line use the transcription page and click on the edit link next to the line in the table under the input form. Note: once a page is claimed the edit link will only appear when you are signed on/authenticated as the user that claimed the page.
1911: in the 1911 census you can delete an unwanted line by clicking on the Show Data link below the input form and then clicking on delete next to the line you want to delete.
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Sunday, July 6, 2008
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