A new user handbook for the Census database has been published and is now available here. The handbook offers a complete guide to all of the features and search functions of the database.
The handbook also reflects adjustments have been made to the new database since its launch in April, 2023. Over the past months, several changes have been implemented to improve user experience.
This week, after new features were added to the FYLR software interface, a particularly significant change in search functions was released. Whereas previously, all types of data in the Census database could be searched at once, now only Antique Monuments and Postclassical Works can be searched in combination. The change was implemented in order to improve the search functions of the database and to make it easier to find and use the core data of the Census.
There are six types of data sets in the Census: the two primary categories of data (or ‘object types’), Antique Monuments and Postclassical Works, and the six secondary object types, Persons, Bibliography, Locations, Periods, Styles, and Images. Records which are classified as secondary object types supplement and are linked to the records of the primary object types.
All of the secondary object types (Images, Persons, Bibliography, Locations, Periods, and Styles) can still also be searched in the database, but now not in combination with the primary categories of data, Antique Monuments and Postclassical Works. This approach will help users to navigate the data in a way which is suited to the internal structure of the data model, leading to better search results.
Now, users should search for Antique Monuments and Postclassical Works either singly or in combination by selecting them in the Sources Menu (the drop-down menu labeled ‘Choose a Data Set to Search’). To search the secondary object types, users can select them by clicking on the icons located on the left-hand side bar:
To learn how to use the search functions of the database, users can experiment with a number of model searches provided in the new user handbook.
