Author Topic: Norfolk Record Office online catalogue  (Read 271 times)

Offline The Yokel

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Norfolk Record Office online catalogue
« on: Thursday 04 February 21 19:56 GMT (UK) »
What do you think of the NRO's new NROCAT?


http://www.rootschat.com/links/01q9t/

Offline phenolphthalein

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Re: Norfolk Record Office online catalogue
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 06 February 21 03:57 GMT (UK) »
Hi The Yokel

I hope I am correct in assuming you work for the Norfolk Record Office
and are seeking feedback on the layout, navigability and legibility etc of the catalogue.

I have  Norfolk ancestors so I had a look.

Advanced search did not seem to work.
Eventually I saw the >> but even then I could not get it to work.

It was not clear where to put even the simple search term.

Even on 125% magnification, the font was tiny and difficult to read.

Contrast was incredibly poor and made the site very difficult to read.
Pale blue, yellow and grey on white are all difficult to read
even for those with perfect sight.

The use of different colours to indicate different structural elements
 of the catalogue seemed to be consistent and useful.

I found records of interest but found reading them too difficult.

Maybe I should try 200% next time.

I think layout is probably all right but contrast and font size issues are a major problems.

I hope this is the sort of feedback you were seeking.

Regards
pH

Offline amondg

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Re: Norfolk Record Office online catalogue
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 06 February 21 06:55 GMT (UK) »
It used to be so easy, choose Wills and Probate then type in a surname.

Now under wills and probate the best you can get is an alphabetical list that you must troll through.

"If it ain't broke don't fix it"


Offline Lola5

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Re: Norfolk Record Office online catalogue
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 06 February 21 11:09 GMT (UK) »
Just had a brief look.

Obviously now  only intended for prof.genealogists !
Very complicated ...and nothing as an end result.
One would still need to visit the record office to look at anything.
Noah used to be much easier with clear instructions and notes..

From one who has spent many  happy hours in NRO in the past.


Offline The Yokel

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Re: Norfolk Record Office online catalogue
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 06 February 21 15:20 GMT (UK) »
Hi pH, amondg and Lola5.

Quote
I hope I am correct in assuming you work for the Norfolk Record Office

No sorry,I don't work for the NRO.


I went onto NROCAT the other day and found that they have changed the format.

I, like you, found it difficult to navigate and the font very difficult to read, although, as you say you can enlarge the text but I find the yellow text difficult to read.

The NRO have used AtoM (Access to Memory) which is a collaborative software application that can be used with other archives. So I assume this will become the bog standard.

At the moment I seem to be going round in circles but, I hope, that the more I use it the easier it will become.


Thanks for your reply's

Offline phenolphthalein

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Re: Norfolk Record Office online catalogue
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 06 February 21 23:53 GMT (UK) »
If you consolidate replies to pass to the NRO, please feel free to include mine.
Thank you for your posts.

Hopefully it will not become standard
or rather that they fix visual definition and legibility problems first.

Regard
pH
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