Dear lis-medical,
Many thanks to all of the frustrated searchers who responded to my post on Thursday last week. I was amazed that so many other people from different sectors are all having similar problems, and slightly concerned that Ovid performance has been impaired by the recent ‘improvements’. Another respondent contacted Ovid and was told to try switching from Internet Explorer6 to FireFox 3.6 or IE8, and to change their browsers cache settings.
I have started using Firefox and have found OvidSP responds faster, almost back to ‘normal’ performance. But unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case for other people.
I’ve summarised the responses below at the end of this message. I have received a reply from Ovid. They have asked me to participate in an online meeting on Thursday so that I can show them some of these problems & design issues, using WebEx. If you have any further comments or problems you would like me to raise with Ovid, please let me know before Thursday. If there is anyone in the NHS who would also like to demonstrate their Ovid problems, please let me know so that I can pass your details onto Ovid. I am sending a summary of comments to Ovid as well, and also to the JIBS OvidSP Enhancement Group.
I will post an update after my meeting with Ovid, and hopefully we will see some real improvements in the near future.
Best wishes,
Kate Misso

Posted msg to lis-medical (11 responses)
NHS (2)
Corporate (2)
Academic (4)
UK NICE (2)
Other (1)

Experienced problems with OvidSP, using IE/Firefox browsers
IE (unspecified version) = 3
IE7	= 3
IE8	= 2
Firefox	= 3
Better performance with FF = 2
*Some respondents did not say which browser they were using. Some respondents experienced problems despite trying different browsers.

Summary of responses
Whole team of Info Specialists experiencing problems. Searching very slow.
Slow speed scrolling through results. Very slow with IE (especially when loading saved searches). Slightly better with Firefox.
Difficulties downloading results.
Screen loading is slow, sometimes have to abandon searches.
Exporting records is very slow.
‘New look’ OvidSP is not helpful, “am not sure where the improvements lie”.
Blue background makes abstracts unreadable.
Slow when searching, delays in screen loading time when searching & navigating saved searches. Exporting very slow.
Problems when looking at saved searches. Problems scrolling through screens, as though the screen has frozen. Both FF & IE very slow.
Slow searching. Combining search statements is erratic. Limiting searches seem not to work properly on IE7/IE8/Firefox.
Very slow on 3 networks (NHS, academic & RCN). Very frustrating.
With IE8 = Unhelpful appearance, too much white space, too many boxes & graphics. Significant delay between entering each search statement, screen seems to ‘hang’. Screen jumps around when loading. Very slow to search. Slightly better with Firefox.

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Kate Misso
Information Specialist
Kleijnen Systematic Reviews Ltd.
Unit 6 
Escrick Business Park
Riccall Road
York YO19 6FD
Tel: 01904 727989
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.systematic-reviews.com