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I'm not sure when the change took place; I'm a longtime Ancestry member but have been away for a few months.
Signing on a few days ago, I noticed that Ancestry is just waaaay different now. I don't recall such major changes in the 7 years I've been a subscriber. And I don't particularly like them.
The timeline format in particular, causes one to have to scroll up and down the page. Adding the historic chapters - well, they're interesting, but many of us are history majors already and consider those blocks intrusive and distracting. I much preferred the previous "just the facts, ma'am" approach that kept all relevant data and links to sources on one screen.
I'm not even sure how much longer I'll have Ancestry. It's been a long time since the sources were a necessity, I've kept the site out of habit and a lack of decision on which offline software to use. These obtrusive changes are going to certainly push me to look for a different means of storing/displaying/dispersing my tree.
I'm not sure what the difference is that you're seeing. When I open the page for an ancestor, there is the "timeline" section that includes dated documents I've attached to the person, plus dated facts I've added for that person. I don't think the appearance of that section it has changed since I joined around 2009. Are you seeing historical facts that have nothing to do with your ancestor?
Ancestry now has a 'New Ancestry.' For a few months, it was theoretically tested as Ancestry Beta.
If you are using the 'Classic Ancestry' (as I was and am) you can continue to use until they decide the New is ready for prime time. If you log in and then mouse over your used ID, you should be able to select New (If you are using Classic) or vice versa. Folks have posted that you can toggle between the two. If you read the user boards on Ancestry, it seems that most folks do not think the New is ready yet.
Ah thanks. I see it now. I'm not seeing historical events not related to my ancestor, but other life events fro each person, like "death of father" and "birth of daughter."
ChinLuv, you know you can turn off the historical insights?
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Originally Posted by TracySam
I'm not sure what the difference is that you're seeing. When I open the page for an ancestor, there is the "timeline" section that includes dated documents I've attached to the person, plus dated facts I've added for that person. I don't think the appearance of that section it has changed since I joined around 2009. Are you seeing historical facts that have nothing to do with your ancestor?
You can see the new design by clicking on your username in the top right hand corner and selecting "New Ancestry". Eventually, the old design will be retired and only the new will remain but as mentioned, at the moment you can toggle back and forth. Each time you leave the New Ancestry you'll have the option to provide feedback. I STRONGLY suggest everyone does provide feedback - be as specific as possible. The developers ARE still listening to complaints and making changes, it is still a work in progress.
There are things I love about the new design and things I hate. I've detailed them all here and noted issues that have been resolved or plan to be resolved: Genealogical Musings: The New Ancestry.com Design
Ah thanks. I see it now. I'm not seeing historical events not related to my ancestor, but other life events fro each person, like "death of father" and "birth of daughter."
I don't like change.
The historical insights are only found under "LifeStory", not the facts timeline. They don't always appear in every profile though, mainly only for people who lived in the US at some point.
Ancestry now has a 'New Ancestry.' For a few months, it was theoretically tested as Ancestry Beta.
If you are using the 'Classic Ancestry' (as I was and am) you can continue to use until they decide the New is ready for prime time. If you log in and then mouse over your used ID, you should be able to select New (If you are using Classic) or vice versa. Folks have posted that you can toggle between the two. If you read the user boards on Ancestry, it seems that most folks do not think the New is ready yet.
Well, shoot, sometimes it's the littlest thing. Thanks. I'm heading back to Classic.
PA2UK - yeah, that was the first thing I fiddled with: "how do I make this nonsense go away?" I don't have to be told that the Civil War might have had an impact on my ancestors' lives because they lived in a certain area during that period. Duh
Another issue is the map. Ancestry is showing my families living in two different places at once, even when I edit the record to be specific about city/township and county.
And I will definitely leave feedback. I could get used to it; perhaps new users will have an "oh wow!" reaction to the added details; but I have collected enough data that I am more into developing connections with common researchers. That takes up more time than seeing if a new leaf popped up to alert me to a new source of data (which is mostly new - usually copied - trees )
Now that I've poked around the new site a little, I can confidently say that I have no use for the "Life Story" button and I'll probably never use it. It's about as useful to me as Facebook's "top stories" feed, which I also never use.
My ancestor was a toddler in the mid-1700s when there was some skirmishing in Pennsylvania between Pennsylvanians and people from Connecticut who tried to claim some land in PA. Ancestry though it was important to mention that in my ancestor's life story, when she was 3 years old and living far away in Connecticut.
The main difference I've noticed has to deal with the messaging center, which makes things easier to organize in my view.
The message center was actually updated a few months ago and hasn't changed with the new overall design, but I'm pretty sure it was a prelude to it. If you think that is the main difference, I wonder if you're using the new site because the whole site has drastically changed. Does it looks like what's shown in these screen shots?
If your tree doesn't looks like this than you're not using the new site design.
As for the message center, I had one issue with it which I complained about when they rolled it out but never fixed - when you're viewing a message you sent to someone, it doesn't show who you sent it too! It only ever shows the senders name on all messages, never the recipients name. It drove me nuts but it's been overshadowed now by all the issues with the rest of the site.
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