"Identify Mode" is great but could be better

General
1

Issue #1: Can only use with records that are “needs ID” (solved!)

Identify mode allows you to move through a set of organisms like a stack of cards. It is restricted to organisms that are in the category “Needs ID” which means it can’t be used to, for example, check every ant in a genus to add an annotation about if they are a major worker, minor worker, a male or a queen. You can only do this for records that need an ID.

This kind of tagging is a part of the ID process since, once I’ve exhausted books and papers, such comparisons are really helpful for new IDs. I understand this being the default, I don’t understand it being locked in with no way to turn it off.

Issue #2: Suggestions UI is always closing the window and hard to use.

You can click on the suggestions tag to see existing species in iNat that might match. You can change how these are selected by changing the source (RG observations only, visually similar) this works fine, but it’s automatically restricted to a clade by the selected Taxon. I often change this, but if you try to type in the drop-down window the whole ID panel often will close. This can be really annoying.

Wish List Item #1: Would be so nice to see “Identification Tips”

I love “Identification tips” (this is the tab on species and some genus and complex pages where you can see the comments people have made when making that ID in the past.) It is filled with amazing information. It can often alert you to a known issue before you make a mistake. I wish there were a way to see this in the ID panel. ID tips contain some of the most valuable wisdom on this site.

2

at the top left of the filters menu, you can check ‘Research Grade’ and ‘Casual’ - the default is ‘Needs ID’

3

But I can’t uncheck the “needs ID” box. I think I got so focused on this I didn’t realize I could just add the two others.

I don’t think there would be a case where I’d want to ONLY look at “research grade”

But being able to look at ONLY “casual” would make it easy to look at photos from antkeepers which could be nice.

This comment really helps but I guess I don’t understand why the box is locked so that it is checked.

4

if you check another box, you can. you just can’t have them all unchecked.

5

The Identify modal is intended to make IDing easier, with keyboard shortcuts. It is where I prefer to spend most of my iNat time.
Currently sorting thru my IDed at Fungi – and was helped by Tony Rebelo to build a suitable URL. Tweak your URL to suit what you want, then bookmark that. Location. IDed by me. Filtered down to Class. Reviewed Any. For my example. That 2 part Wiki on how to build search URLs helps, but a human / scientist who speaks Search URL is even better !

6

This isn’t happening for me. If it’s happening for you, can you please fill out a new topic in Bug Reports?

Agree, I’d love to see those in the Identify modal as well.

7

I find that this pane disappearance happens if I try to select the text and my cursor drags from the text to outside the pane (if you know what I mean). As a result, I mostly try to select with a triple click to avoid that.

(Though with my slower internet/browser, I often find I have to delete multiple times because the text reloads as the page continues to load and I lose what I’ve been typing. Now that gets annoying.)