Ancestry Family Tree users

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Comment by Pam Broviak on July 26, 2015 at 6:52am

@Jayne - I'm hoping too they take into consideration continued input from all of us. Most companies have some type of input center or tool to allow users to post requested improvements or updates and other users can vote on the ideas/suggestions. That would probably go a long way to help address the issues. For example your suggestion to improve management of images - they are so important it would be nice to have more advanced tools. If Ancestry had this input center you could post the suggestion, and we could all add to it or vote to implement it.

Regarding the importance to analyze everyone on their own, I agree with you on that. It's just some docs like marriage licenses and obits can end up sources for multiple people - here's an example of when I would like to drag to save having to retype: I often find a marriage for a couple so I of course cite that source as the basis for the marriage date. Many times the parents of the bride and groom are cited in the source allowing me to create new individuals. So I use that same marriage document as the source for their name since that is how I discovered what it was. Of course as I find the other docs for them, I'll add them as sources for the name too. But it's the marriage doc that linked them to their child so since I already just input it for the child, I want to just drag it onto the parents as a source for their names. I know that's probably just being somewhat lazy, but some days every keystroke counts! :-)

Comment by Jayne Ireland on July 26, 2015 at 2:53am

@Pam - Thanks for the tips. There are some things that I liked on the new interface, like the ability to attach a source to another event in a person's record. But at the same time, some basis tasks, like management of images, became too cumbersome.

However, I don't agree with your idea of dragging sources from one person's profile onto another person. That is a sure way of creating disasters in a family tree. Each person should be examined separately, even if it takes a bit more time.

I hope that Ancestry will listen carefully to all of our user comments and bring speedy remedies. Us "old timers" should be Ancestry's most valid asset, as we are the ones who submit corrections to indexed documents and who try to document trees as thoroughly and accurately as possible. The quality of Ancestry hints depends on this. 

Comment by Pam Broviak on July 21, 2015 at 4:53am

@Jayne - It's taken me a while to get used to the new interface, and Ancestry seems to be adding things so it has changed over the last few months. I'm thinking at this point, they now have it to where you can do some of the things you are trying to do. You can upload docs by going to the "Gallery" in a profile then clicking the "Add" button in the upper right. Instead of choosing "Upload Photos" choose "Upload Story." The doc types accepted are doc, docx, pdf, txt, and rtf.

To make a specific item in the gallery the profile photo, it is really cumbersome and probably could be made easier with one main button on the gallery page. So it took me forever to figure out how to actually do it which is to click on the photo you want then in the window to the right that comes up choose the little pencil button in the upper right.When the edit items come up go to the bottom and click the person the image is attached to - a drop down will appear where you can click to use it as a profile pic.Make sure to hit the save button when you are done. 

For comments, there does now seem to be a comment button in the profile header - when you click it a window to the right appears where you can toggle between notes and comments.

As for rounding the photos, I can't find a way to make the photos best fit the circles. I even had some rounded photos that don't fit the circle. I guess the only way they could help with this is to offer up a template so a photo could be specifically made to fit that circle or they could add a simple edit tool to allow us to stretch it or just go back to make it square. I haven't had any images added to my galleries by Ancestry - the only ones I see are in the timeline and I can choose to ignore these. I can also click the images added to the timeline from my gallery and choose to hide them by hitting the edit button on the image.

I've watched it continue to change over the last few months so I'm hoping some of the issues are cleared up eventually. One of the things I really wish they would improve is creating/adding sources. I want to drag sources from one person's profile onto another person in the family or just include another family member when I create the source. It's too cumbersome to have to re-add the source to everyone.

Comment by Jayne Ireland on July 21, 2015 at 2:40am

Russ, I agree that the new version is "pretty" and may be good for newcomers. But it is at the same time less user-friendly than the classic version. Especially for those of us who have subscribed to Ancestry for many years.

I need to be able to upload documents to profiles, choose which images I want as primary photos, include comments to explain some choices made. Uploaded mages should not be rounded or blurred, and the software should not add images I haven't asked for.

If Ancestry wants to offer this “new experience” to beginners, OK, but then there needs to be an “Ancestry Pro” version for professionals and advanced users.

What paying members want is more documents, clearer images, and better indexing (including better possibilities for correcting errors in indexing).

Comment by Jayne Ireland on July 19, 2015 at 1:11pm

Thank you, Sarah, for your comments. Now I don't feel so alone! I hadn't read the Ancestry forum, but now have added my complaints ;-) Someone on the forum said they had switched back to the old version. How is this done?

Comment by Sarah Coles on July 19, 2015 at 12:34pm

As a professional genealogist, it is a total disaster and I owe you no details.  I asked people only who only think the "new" Ancestry who have complaints about it to respond.  I only want to hear complaints about it.  The new site is being shoved down the necks of paying customers.  If you like it then fine, continue to use it.  I am not here to argue about it one way or another..  If you like Facebook and other social media sites, then you might like it.  It is not for serious genealogists.  If this becomes permanent, then Ancestry.com is liable for a class action lawsuit for invasion of privacy.  They have no right to make up a time-line with inserted photos on my private trees for clients.  READ the forum and 95% of people agree with me and I along with many others will drop our subscriptions should this "new" become a reality.  End of discussion.

Comment by Russ Worthington on July 19, 2015 at 9:23am

Sarah,

I find nothing wrong with the New Ancestry.com user interface. I am on it most days and find it very helpful. Especially for those non-genealogist who go to my Ancestry Member Tree.

What are some details about what you don't like?

Russ

Comment by Sarah Coles on July 19, 2015 at 8:44am

I need some complainers about the "new" Ancestry.com to respond here.  It is a total disaster and also an invasion of those who have private trees.  The more complaints; the better so Ancestry will wake up and not implement this new BETA version and we want the old Ancestry "classic" view to remain.  I could go on and on about it here but I'd like input from other Ancestry users.  I have posted on the Ancestry forums about this proposed change that will become a reality unless we all complain in numbers.  I would say so far that 95% are against it but we need more to complain.  Here is the link to the Ancestry forum regarding the subject:

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/06/01/announcing-the-new-an...

Comment by Cecily Bishop on February 7, 2014 at 1:03pm

Carol, take a look that this string of posts on Ancestry. Is it possible that you have a broken link?  http://ancestryforums.custhelp.com/posts/4d4119edd7

Comment by Jayne Ireland on February 7, 2014 at 5:09am

Carol, that is awful!  Did you ask Ancestry if they had backups of the system? If so, they could probably restore your husband's tree from an earlier version. I make regular GED backups of my Ancestry trees, just in case something like that should happen. However, a GED file is only text format (names, parents, children, timeline events) and does not contain photos etc. You need to save copies of these in folders on your computer (and remember to make regular backups of your hard disk to an external disk).

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