Addon Manager feedback from new User on Facebook

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1

A new user suffering overload and balking at the novice hurdles (being exceedingly barrier shy, common in those who choose Mac due to its GUI reputation) gave some feedback on the Gramps for Genealogists Facebook.

Here’s their more positive posting:
      I’m feeling more hopeful after yesterday‘s dire post of mine !

He could be talked through the lack of Feedback when an “expert” Addon does not appear in the default filters.

The lozenges feedback enhancement detailed in draft PR#2211 would have helped still has some deficiencies… such as when filters mean finding Zero matches. And the code is a crude AI hack. So it is not even on the Roadmap yet.

And while its enhancement that validates “Project” URLs is a workaround usable by Experts, it is fatally deficient at the Novice level.
A vCard approach for sharing Projects might be viable. But the vCard system of exchanging contacts for phones worked for expert-level users. But it took the tap-to-share-contact-info to make it viable to users. Likewise, setting a Project URL is a step up from the old Preferences dialog. So encapsulating project Name/URL in a vCard like upload/download workflow would make it easier still. But that still wouldn’t rise to the Novice-friendly ‘tap-to-share’ level. Perhaps we could use another Plugin Type for sharing Projects, Custom Filters or Configurations?

A completely missing feedback mechanism is how to inform users where a newly installed addon/builtin plugin will be accessed in the Gramps GUI.

The Gramplets registration communicates a navtypes parameter. So it would be possible to build a feedback mechanism (in the Plugin/Addon Manager detailed listings?) about which view container (dashboard or sidebar/bottombar) will have the gramplet available.

Views, Rules, Tools, and Reports have a similar registrations parameter that identifies where it can be found.

But do other Plugin Types offer similar signposts that could be decoded to feed a feedback mechanism?

For example, some QuickReports are added to context menus while others enhance other tools. Is that registered somehow?

2

The user has made a lot of progress in short period. Then shared the data with me for a bit of confirmation.

He is working from a hand-drawn and filled Pedigree. So I tried using some tools to verify the work. A couple enhancements would have really smoothed the process.

1st… the Colorized Tags were easy to set up in the Edit → Organize Tags

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But whether the users selects multiple records and tries to apply tags via the menu or by using the Tag button in the individual Edit Object dialogs, the associated color-coded cue is missing.
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As for the PhotoTagging, the pedigree is a Family-oriented diagram. So it would have been better to be able to tag to Families. But since the husband was the top listing, had to fallback to tagging to the males.

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Improvements over the original file:

  1. embedded the source chart as a media file
  2. tagged People with the same color key for Locations
  3. cleaned up the Places list to all have coordinates and hierarchies using the GeoNames gazetteer database
  4. photo-tagged chunks of the hand-drawn chart to the corresponding husbands
  5. added diacritics to given names
  6. Added I, II, III suffix to disambiguate 3 generations of Jeans
  7. Changed the De La and Le surnames to use the Prefix fields.