Genealogy from the perspective of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon, LDS)

Monday, April 13, 2015

What happened to the new FamilySearch Family Tree Interface?

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about the new FamilySearch.org Family Tree interface. The main reason for this is that the interface is appearing and disappearing somewhat randomly. From my own personal use of the program, I have had the new interface for the Traditional View on the Family Tree show up three different times on different computers with different browsers only to have the new interface disappear shortly after.

It is my understanding that the new interface is being introduced in stages to a certain percentage of the FamilySearch users at a time. I heard that the first installment was for 5% of the users. So far, I have not heard why I would be getting access to the new interface intermittently. In a class of 20 or 30 people, one or two have had the new interface.

Here is a preview of the new interface from the Beta test website:


There are photos and the icons that now appear in the Descendancy View. Until I get the new interface consistently, I cannot really comment on how it works. So I will just have to wait and see what happens.

4 comments:

  1. We had two patrons on two adjoining computers yesterday, one with the new interface, one without. It was driving the consultants crazy. The patrons didn't seem to care one way or the other.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have read that they are having server issues with the amount of memory the photos that have been added are using. So, we may have to wait until they can decide how to handle or purchase more server capacity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They have also been having trouble keeping the Family Tree program up and operating. No one in the BYU Family History Library could access the Family Tree Sunday afternoon for a while.

      Delete
  3. It's not only FamilySearch. I'm also having trouble with the Beta page on Ancestry. I recently assisted a member in registering for an LDS account and when we opened the homepage it was Beta. There was no link to connect a person on Ancestry Tree with Family Tree. I phoned Ancestry and was told that the links aren't functioning yet on Ancestry Beta, but there is no way for a new subscriber to revert to the old format.

    ReplyDelete