Potential capabilities
Potential capabilities! This is a companion to Pilot stage.
What are additional services we might want eRegs to offer to fulfill stakeholder needs?
What would we need to provide to deliver that?
- Splunk-based dashboards for quantifying activity/usage, browser types, etc
- [Illustrated below] There is a way to author arbitrary cross-reference data: a specific phrase in the reg content always matches to a specific link (for example, Part B of title XI of the Act, section 1104 of the Affordable Care Act, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT)
- When reg text says a reference to a range of reg that eRegs contains, it links you to it within eRegs; on the target page, it appropriately displays the contents somehow (such as highlighting the range)
We also tested pop-up previews, but we had mixed results - this would need further study to determine if it's a viable concept:
- [Illustrated below] Display search results as a hierarchy according to part and section number
- Search is able to search for simple synonyms for your keyword (such as the full version of an abbreviation), drawing from an existing source of data
- Search is able to search for fuzzy synonyms for your keyword (such as multiple alternate phrases), drawing from an existing source of data [thesaurus]
- [Illustrated below] Search results display hand-written additional material (such as "related searches"), in addition to keyword results [thesaurus]
- Search box has type-ahead search suggestions, drawing from an existing source of data [thesaurus]
- Search results display semi-automated additional material (such as "related searches") from a different source, in addition to keyword results
- When you click a search result, your search term remains highlighted on the content page (and the highlights can be dismissed)
- [Illustrated below] When you're in search, there's a "Back to Regulation Text" button that tracks where they were coming from
- If search tracks where you come from, the search results page includes the context AND the left sidebar is collapsed by default
- People have a menu of shortcut links to key topics in a part, to help them find what they're looking for
- Regulations outside Title 42 relevant to Medicaid and CHIP (such as Title 45 Part 95)
- Site is optimized to show up at the top of Google results for reg citation searches
- eRegs tracks and keeps a list of where you've been and helps you get back to what you've seen (local history, no auth)
- People can add lightweight "bookmarks" for reg pieces (saved locally)
- [Illustrated below] You're able to view a reg part as it was effective on a past date, on a rule-by-rule granular level, using the annual editions plus parsing changes in Federal Register rules
- We tell the user when there is a proposed change that affects the part they are viewing (including a link to the NPRM)
- Ability to view final but future-effective versions and compare them within eRegs
- Ability to view proposed versions and compare them within eRegs
- There's a way to copy the text of a piece of reg with one click. When you paste that text from eRegs to Outlook desktop email on Windows, it looks reasonable (to the degree we're able to control this).
- There's a way to copy a link to a range of paragraphs
- When people share a link to eRegs on a tool like Slack, there's a meaningful snippet of content
- When you're looking at a piece of reg content, you see labels telling you the citation style info for what you're looking at in a way you can copy-and-paste (subpart, part, section)
- Including custom content on reg part homepages
- Each part can have a set of definitions data (terms that should be defined and the paragraphs they should link to)
- There is a way to author the definitions data (to select the terms that should be defined and the paragraphs they should link to)
- [Illustrated below] A definition inline links to its source location in the reg content (a specific paragraph from the definitions list within the reg)
- [Illustrated below] A definition inline presents a preview of its text
- We display a list of the custom content we use to power our thesaurus in search (groups of terms + regs they are associated with), as a reference and to support oversight
- The homepage provides a plain language description for each part
- There is unobtrusive inline/embedded content throughout eRegs that provides tips to help new reg readers learn how to use regs, such as explaining NPRMs, Reserved, etc
- We include (or link to) core background knowledge like how the federal policy hierarchy works (the difference between statute, reg, and guidance, etc)
- We offer recorded video demos of how to do various policy research tasks with eRegs
- [Illustrated below] Mobile view includes timeline, supplemental content, etc.
- Add annotations to pieces of reg text
- Label pieces of reg text with personal keywords and view by label
- Tracked history and bookmarked regs are persistent, not dependent on local storage