Myfamily.com, Inc., launched myfamily.com in 1998. The web service was created to help families connect through photo and file sharing, chat, news posting, recipe sharing, email hosting and more. Many members have been using myfamily.com since the launch to keep in touch and share stories with their family, friends, alumni, church group or genealogy contacts.
The service serves million of members, and in recent years has had few changes, other than basic maintenance. But that hasn’t stopped many members from sending in requests to update myfamily.com. These request fall into the following categories:
- add new features
- fix the existing features that tend to break every so often
- enhance existing features with new capabilities
We took a hard look at the time, cost and feasibility associated with making the above changes and have concluded that as much as we love the original myfamily.com, it’s time to honor it with a new generation. In other words, it’s time to build an all new myfamily.com. We’re calling this new service myfamily 2.0. And we now call the original service “myfamily.com 1.0″.
Our myfamily.com 2.0 goals:
- Stay true to the orginal vision. Offer the best web service for families to stay connected, collaborate and share their experiences.
- Preserve and respect members’ content. Provide members to access their photos, news, mail and other myfamily.com content on myfamily 2.0.
- Make 2.0 more widely available. Create a FREE version of the service so that anyone with a computer and internet connection can enjoy the best of myfamily.com
- Keep (build anew) the most important features currently available on 1.0. Prioritize the order in which we build features; most used on 1.0 will be built first, those least used come last.
- Add new features (not on 1.0) that support the vision. Help families stay connected, share experiences, stay organized better than ever.
- Build the new service openly. Allow anyone/everyone to provide feedback as we add new features incrementally. Use that feedback to help shape the service.
In November 2006, we (a small design and development team) released a very early alpha version of a new myfamily.com 2.0, kicking off what is expected to be a year-long effort to build a new myfamily.com. Rather than lock down the site until all features are built, we decided that an open and iterative development approach would allow original myfamily.com members (and non-members alike) to provide feedback. This feedback will provide us the opportunity to build a far better service.
As we work on 2.0, please understand that we will continue to service and maintain 1.0. We will use this blog to keep everyone informed of our progress. As we release features and make changes based on feedback, we’ll post the updates here. So bookmark this page or subscribe to the RSS feed. And, please tell us how we’re doing with specifics about what works and doesn’t work. We’re appreciative of your time and look forward to the months of progress ahead.
Sean Malone and the myfamily.com 2.0 team
I dont think i will like your Beta 2, we like being able to see 99 pictures at a time, we like our old welcome page, as a matter of fact we all like the old site, we would like to be able to great at PAF or GED of all members at our site with the existing members list, . with pictures and notes.
I’m confused. Eventually, will my HT&TR myfamily.com site be merged into the new myfamily.com 2.0 (beta) site, at which point, the old site system will be eliminated? Or will there be two website systems? I use my site for genealogy and I don’t see where or how I can include family trees. Will there also be a way to have categories and subcategories similar to the File Cabinet or History portion of the myfamily.com sites. I’m an organizational nut and without some way to categorize a 1000 photos, documents, and other downloaded items, it would be a nightmare. Just wondering.
Hi Kim,
There will be two systems for some time while we create the same and new features on the new system, and until we iterate and adjust the new system enough that people start using it in preference to the old system, at which point the old system will no longer be supported. This will be a ways off. We intend and are committed to make the new system every bit as easy as the old system, or easier.
And yes, we have many plans to make organizing super easy. Categories, tags, sorting, etc… What you see today doesn’t include those features… but keep watching and trying it out. We need your continued feedback as we work to get it right.
I use our site for Genealogy, and I worry about our framily tree. When this change over comes will our tree upload from the other site?
I also like when I log onto the other site I know who has visited the site, and when. I can also click on that persons name and get their information such as address, birthdate and a photo of them. I have each person link to how they are related from WI to Norway! I would hate to lose that feature.
So far I don’t like Beta 2.0. It looks like it’s going to be all about “pictures” and my family won’t have a news section or blog section.
Another words.. it’s to busy. Keep it simple for those who are not computer savy.
I like the initial look of the beta site. I hope that it will be easy to manage, especially for the older folks in my family. We have recently started our site and are still getting used to it. Will the news section be on the beta version of the site??
I went to look at Beta 2.0 and lost my previous site! Please help me find it again. It has been a site we have used for 6 years and contains over 100 contacts that we need to stay in touch with.
Thank you for the notification of your new site. I have confidence that the folks that made the old will do a fine job with the new.
I have requested in the past that it would be nice to be reduce the junk mail.
One other thing. Do you suppose you suppose you might consider increasing the size of the email storage. If not across the board, then for the website sponsor? I find I now have to forward my older emails I want to keep to my Gmail account, then delete them here. However, I can only forward one at a time.
Thank you,
Jim
I know you have young people designing the new site but many older people use the old site. I am just now getting some of the older, computer illetriate, people to click on a highlighted menu item in emails. They are still far away from browsing our web site. So KISS ( keep it simple stupid) the new web site.
Also, when looking at pictures by catagory the next button doesn’t always stay in the catagory.
So far I like the “look” of the website. I know there will be many bugs to fix before the final release, but I look everyday to see what may be new. We have had a MyFamily site for many years and look forward to some new and updated features. I love the “Voice” Notes and Comments…works great, and for those who have trouble typing or reading, will greatly appreciate this new feature…I hope the phone number for this service remains Toll-Free. Keep up the good work, can’t wait to see more!
Right now, I’m withholding judgment on the new beta format. Couple of things need to be worked on. (1) ability to upload files in pdf format. (2) The ability to add voice comments via computer.
I realize this technology is in its infancy, but not sure whether I will like it as well as the old sites. Time will tell.
I cannot access the new myfamily.com/beta as it keeps adding the web address over and over again.
Edith are you going to http://beta.myfamily.com
I have a very successful site for our immediate families on the old version, which includes over 100 members participating. It is a combined genealogy site and also a way for cousins who live in different states to keep in touch. An example, our grandson has just been sent to Iraq and we ask that he be remembered with letters and mail. The response has been overwhelming and he is receiving packages and sharing with other soldiers. I do want the new site to have a feature that would allow such communication and response.
At this point I have only invited a few to the new site and feedback from those few aren’t positive. It takes some getting used to and at first did only appear to be a place to upload pictures. But I understand that more will be added as time goes by. I do agree that the site should be “elderly” friendly, too, as we older people have a difficult time adjusting to new things to learn, etc. I am not sure that the voice feature is what I would like, having to call an 800 number, etc. I will withhold further judgement, have patience and see what happens.
Hello,
I don’t like your changing the sites.
Why change it if it is fine.
I have several senior citizens on the site as well as a lot of younger members, and I don’t want it jazzed up with too much junk for them or me.
Also I was told about this change by another member of the sites.
No one from myfamily.com ever notified me at all.
I have been with myfamily.com for years and if you change it with too many extras and too much stuff I may have to leave.
Also I saw where another lady went to use the new one and her old site was removed! That’s terrible.
We pay for the sites.
This is my second try at posting a message as hte last time I tried and it locked up my pc!
I’ve had a opportunity to look at the new Beta site twice. I’m not happy with the front page of it.
We have a variety of people on our family’s website. Ages from pre-teen to senior citizens. Our website is growing everyday. I know now people are not going to like the front page. It needs to feel more welcoming..inviting. I like the suggestions someone said earlier to make it more “elderly friendly”. We all can work with that.
I think it’s a terrible mistake to ask our members to begin looking at the pages. You should trust the administrators to give their suggestions…and then ask the administrators to ask their members to come in to see. We have a better idea of who’s willing to take a look and give their feedback. Sending this invitation to all members would cause confusion on our family website.
We like the way things are set up right now. I can come back to you with suggestions from our group to find out what would we change on our current family website, if it was possible. I would be happy to do that.
I would hate for members to drop off because of not liking something..or it being too confusing. I do believe you take our comments seriously. We put way too many hours in posting and gathering information for us to become frustrated in the end.
I still don’t have an answer to my question about whether or not this new release is going to support super-sites or not. In other words, will I still have a domain name or not?
My beta site is all messed up. Yesterday when I clicked the link on an email stating there was action, I was directed to a page to create a page! Today I got two emails stating there was action at the site. I clicked on email number 1, got the site ok, no action at all. Clicked email number 2. Got a blank site. The pictures I had posted are gone. The only member of the original site I could talk into trying the beta site is not deleted (No way I am going to bother her to sign in there again), the messages we had typed to one another are gone. I then clicked email #1 link again. I got the family site that has everything deleted. I can no longer access the site with the pictures and the one member who dared try it.
What is going on? I have two sites and both are blank. I have lost everything. I hope there is a nother company who has a site like this because I doubt I will be using myfamily anymore.
I have asked over and over again, ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP THE ADMINISTRATIVE FEATURES? I DO NOT WANT ALL MEMBERS TO BE ABLE TO INVITE NEW MEMBERS, DELETE OTHER PEOPLE’S MESSAGES AND PHOTOS, CHANGE THE COLOR THEME, ETC. I WANT THOSE TASKS LEFT UP TO THE ADMINISTRATOR. THERE HAS GOT TO BE SOME CONTROL BY AN ADMINISTRATOR. SOMEONE ELSE STATED THIS TOO BECAUSE HE HAS OVER 100 MEMBERS AND TO HAVE EVERYONE ABLE TO DO THAT STUFF IS LUDICROUS. WILL THERE BE ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS? HAVE YOU SCRAPPED THE IDEA OF OPENING IT UP TO ALL MEMBERS LIKE I SAW ON YOUR TO DO LIST? AND WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SITE?
I just saw the message about maintaining the administrative rights. I hope you follow through with that.
Now, what has happened to my site? I now have no members but me at the Beta site because I will not reinvinte the other person to try it again. She was not impressed as it was. Like I said, the pictures are gone, the messages we had left for each other are gone, I apparently have two sites because the numbers are different at the end of web address on the two emails. Why are there emails about action when there was no action? Please fix my site and I only need one.
Well, I have my first beta site back with its pictures, I don’t need the other one. How do I get it deleted?
Cindi, right now there is not a way to delete one of the new sites.
Linda, we have been told Super Sites will be further down the road.(months not years)
Larry, the feedback button on your beta site is the best way to send the team feedback.
We’ll definitely try to keep it simple. We’ve already made many changes since our first few releases based on feedback from members, simplifying the look and usability. We’ll keep focusing on that and really do appreciate the feedback – especially feedback that gives us specifics areas for improvement.
We haven’t sent an email to all members yet. Many Admins have told us they would like to let their own family members know about 2.0 on their own time frame. We respect that and so we have decided to wait a few weeks before making a more broad announcement. Of course, anyone reading this blog would know about 2.0. Our primary concern is to a) respect your needs as site Admins, and b) be fair to all members by being open about our plans. The trick is to do both in a time that works well for everyone. We’ll continue to listen to feeback from everyone and revisit sending to non-Admins.
I am not receiving any notices and my initial try at cooperating with signing on new members has been wiped out.
I love the beta site. keep it going and oh should I change the name of my page?
Is there going to be a “Remember Me” check box on the new site so I don’t have to keep typing in my screen name and password? I think that needs to be added to your beta version soon.
I’m having trouble following all the blogs! Somewhere I think I saw something about a limit to the number of photos (or was it total size?) to one’s website. On my family’s site, we have photos that are meant to be there for as long as we maintain the site and there are others that could have a shorter life. I was wondering if you could consider adding some functionality that would let administrators select the longevity of photos. An option such as (a) never delete, (b) delete after x number of days, (c) delete after x number of months, etc. Then have the system automatically delete at the appropriate time. Another option would be to let the administrator designate photos to never delete and then let members assign delete dates to their own photos – with adminitrative override if necessary. Just a thought.
As an administrator, I could spend many hours deciding which photos to delete or keep and an auto delete feature would sure be nice. It might also be nice in the “news” section too, hadn’t given that much thought.
On MyFamily.com 1.0 we have the ability to customize site features.
“Site Features
You may choose the features that are appropriate for your family or group by using the Features Administration page. You can choose from the following features: Calendar, Chat, Family Tree, File Cabinet, History, News, Photos, Polls, Recipes, and Reviews.”
Will (or could) we have this same capability in 2.0? For instance, if most of our members use dial-up and that creates an issue for some of the new features where bandwidth is an issue, will we be able to “hide” those features and not use them?
We hope that the new myfamily.com beta 2 will have a better uploading feature that will not change the quality of the image.
In my site my members are all photographers and have enjoyed using the site since I opened it. The only thing we didn’t like was the site didnt give justice to our images. The quality seem to have gone Underexpose as when we upload the image unto myfamily.com website. It lacked on color contrast and density ( i.e Light/darker images)
Also since my site has been running for more then seven years.
Will the old site be deleted? I need to inform all my members about this if the site old site is going to be deleted and we having to start a new one. What will happen with all 6500 images that have been posted in our website?
Thanks for all the work you been doing.
Mr Jose Limon
Professional Photographer
Administrator Host
FotoFriends.myfamily.com
I have had a website with myfamily for years now and tonight, visiting another person’s site, I find out about the new beta version of myfamily. He had no information on it other than there IS a new site, so I did a search and found this blog. It says all administrators of their sites were notified, but I was not. Maybe I misunderstood what that meant. I feel like I walked into the party when it was half over!
How do I access this new beta version of my site?
Many thanks!
Joanne Graham
Hi Joanne,
We sent an email to all administrators. However, sometimes mail doesn’t make it to everyone due to spam filters, wrong addresses, or any number of things. We do our best to ensure everyone gets the message, but some things are beyond our control. Our apologies that you found out from someone else.
Access to the beta site is simple: click on beta.myfamily.com, then click the sign-in button on the top right of the page, then use your myfamily.com usersname and password and you’re in!
Let us know how it goes. And be sure to read the blog and FAQs section. There have been many great questions and we answer as many as we can keep up with.
I have 3 myfamily.com websites now. I started 3 beta sites. I am getting some positive responses from some of my family on one of my sites about the beta site, but all negative from most. They find the site difficult to navigate, and some of them are unable to locate the voice stories or even the news. I can’t help them, because even I find it difficult to navigate. I do not find the beta site intuitive at all.
The only people who like the new sites are those who are younger and very computer literate.
Well, I am not all that young (64) and I find the tabs at the top the easiest way to move around Home, Photos, News, Stories. So far that’s all we have to choose from so not too difficult. I have yet to make a story, but have made a couple of voice notes and found that pretty self explanatory. (Although I didn’t follow directions the first time and had to do it again.) My problem is that I want to use Firefox browser (Mozilla) and it is very inconsistent. Sometimes images do not show up on Firefox 2. This happens on my 1.0 family.com site too.
I also use Firefox browser but not sure yet if it will be a problem
I have two 1.0 site and now have two 2.0 site. I invited a limited number of members from both 1.0 to check out the 2.0 site. So far, everyone like what they see and can do. Can’t wait to see the full 2.0 rolled out and what it can do. We all find the 2.0 easier to use. Just one concern, how all our info, family trees, photos, etc will get moved into the 2.0 site. Oh by the way, this change is good. Dennis Carr
I was happy with the old site. it was easier to follow who was who. Last time I could not get passed the first page. help. ellen
I have been working in the news section and I began to notice that I’m not aware of when I have already read replies or when someone replies sometimes. is there a better way handle or notify read and unread replies? The Blog seems to have gotten easier to read, have you change it’s format or am I just getting use to it?
Concerning read and unread posts in News. I accidentally posted and then deleted an item, but keep seeing a NEW icon in red. Everything on my site has been read by me. Why does this keep saying NEW?
I liked the 1.0 method of bold titles on new items, as well as the What’s New feature and the choice of clicking items “AS IF” I had read them. There is just too much to read everything on many sites.
One more thing. When we add a web link in News item, could we have the little red (or any color) icon? We need all the visuals we can get!!!
Exactly, it is so difficult to spot new items in the news. Why does everything seem to be being hidden? It looks like you are trying not to let users see things, ie hard to spot new and unread news, hard to find the way to title a picture (it isn’t obvious and unless you are told there is no way to know you can), etc. As much as I am beginning to like the new site, you have to make it visible. Remember, these are family sites. I have good vision and have trouble spotting things. There are old and young, well sighted and poorly sighted people reading these pages. You need to make things visible. Don’t be afraid to have things highlighted. Everything seems to be geared for the young and healthy, well I think more older people use this sight than the young ones.
I agree with Cindi and Danielle, there needs to be more separaion and distinction. The blog seems to have improved in that direction. Now lets work on the Beta ste. Oh by the way I’m still not able to get back ro my test site.
Threaded discussions for 2.0 is on the list.
The separation on here has nothing to do with MyFamily. Someone associated with Vault9 wrote the code for this theme.
Thanks Kyle for continuing to help us provide answers -
As Kyle says, this blog is being hosted on the wordpress platform and we are using their tools as provided.
As far as news items and making it easier to find what’s new, and also being able to locate specific items being commented on (whether that’s a news posting, a photo, or story, etc.), this is something we know needs improvement. In fact, this is one of our top priorities over the next several weeks. We want to make sure the news & discussions on myfamily.com is working well for family members to engage in conversations.
Thanks Kyle and Michael for clearing that up. I was able to sign on once today and I thought I noticed a difference, but have been unable to sign back on.
Will be patience and wait to see if it clears up tomorrow.
I am glad that you are going to focus on the format for news and discussions. I logged into my beta site tonight and was absolutely horrified at the way it looks! It’s messy, there’s no flow to it, it’s hard to follow through the news and the events list seems to be just stuck on the bottom. I surely hope it gets better and better but right now it looks like crap!
I check out the albums and played with that feature in photo’s.
Need to be able to display by album name? That is the way we distinguish out different lines. Of course different families and then individuals.
Events was there must be under construction was not able toadd yet.
Haha… I saw the update. It needs a little work.
I was just going through the new albums section. It would be great if we could see thumbnails of all of the photos in the album, instead of click one by one. I’m trying to create archive my photos like archivists do with print photographs and thus that creates albums with a lot of photographs. It’s real tedious if you to go one by one through 926 photographs.
Just a suggestion.
BTW, you mentioned that you were using the word collections for something else. What would that be? It’s peaking my curiosity.
Sure is moving at a snail pace, at least as far as the Blog site. I guess everyone is like us waiting for something new.
Will check back in from time to time.
Still don’t know the best place to leave or look for comments.
Even our family sites on 1.0 are very slow. Spring vacation, entertaining grandchildren for Easter holiday, baseball starting up. Enjoy the holidays.
Has anyone else been recieving notifications about postings on the beta sites? Or have they just not set that up yet.
I found out a way to do a slide show with the cover photo. always wanted to do that in 1.0, but never spent much time trying.
Now every time I sign on the cover photo changes and cycles through all the photos posted.
Interesting comments..
Doesn’t the beta site default to slides shows on the front page? How did you manually change it? I tried a couple of weeks ago but I couldn’t figure it out.
I have been checking out the new beta site. Since I pay for my site I would like to be the person who chooses who can and cannot add or delete items from my site, also I like to be able to choose whom to invite to join my site . Like a lot of other members I use my file cabinet to keep a lot of my source material I have scanned and would hate to lose those as this is one method of backup for me . I also use the photo section, as a backup for photos that I have in case of a natural disaster. I do like the stories with voice section , I think that will be a definate plus. I am still in the checking it out mode and will continue to let you know how I find things to be.
I haven’t noticed it changeing before it may have and I did not notice.
I’ll have to go back and remove the album I have and see if it does.
All the features as far as the admin. will be on the beta site when it’s finished. since its just in the beginning stage we are using it as a playground and a place to play.
Shirley I’m sure everything will be secure and safe. I have a large site and we do the same things. Over the years we have replace Photos for people who have misplaced or damaged theirs. So I understand your concern.
We are all in the checking out mode here, and feedback and commenting ;?)
I’m new to myfamily.com & created my area tonight. I have a tree posted, and growing, on Ancestry.com but this is my first contribution to this new venture.
Is there a way to edit the “Additional Information” included next to the Photos? The info there is currently posting the Date Taken as the date posted. In a couple of cases it posted tomorrow’s date, which was rather humorous.
I can’t wait to introduce the distant relatives to my siblings.
B
Barbara, this edit is one of the items we are waiting for.
We have two family sites on the old system. I see no reason to
change – like the old just fine. We know how to use it. So far there is nothing I like of the new system.
I am working on the new 2.0 with my upcoming family reunion. I like the old site, but HOPE the new one will be just as resourceful. I can’t see anyone improving something and not actually improving. Most of my family has never used the 1.0, so I don’t think they will even know the difference. As for seniors, I don’t think this is confusing. I just dont’ think it is as appealing. I love knowing who has been on and when.
I am really, really, missing the “What’s New” feature on the Beta site I am testing. On 1.0 this makes it much easier to catch up on what you haven’t seen. This is an ESSENTIAL feature in my mind, moreso than those left on the “Partial Feature Backlog”. Usually my “workflow” consists of going to “What’s new” each day, clicking on a link, reading up, and then going back to “What’s new” until the list is empty. Not being able to do this is making the beta much less useful.
Also I don’t like that you have to give a subject to every comment you make on a photo in the beta. Why are you requiring subjects for all comments when it wasn’t a requirement before?
Finally, the ads with sounds (the Orkin ad for example) are OBNOXIOUS. Cut the audio. Make it a policy that ads can’t have audio please. (Plus, who wants to look at insects next to their family pictures??)
On the listing of news on the front page, what was wrong with the old, single line format? It now takes 3 lines of text to display what used to only take 1 line of text. I don’t care when the person was last active when I am looking at a news headline. I can look that up if I want to, but I do want to know when the thread was last updated, which I can’t see.
Finally, members of our 1.0 site are complaining that they keep getting an ad for the beta when they go to myfamily.com.
Please realize that I only make these complaints because we are big myfamily.com users and fans and we don’t want to see some of the great parts of 1.0 lost in 2.0.
I have recently created a new site on the new 2.0 and I think when all the kinks are worked out, it’s going to be great. I love the photo section. I’ve invited 2 other family members who agree with me when I say, it shouldn’t be a problem just because you’re a little older. We are not really young, (over 50) and we have no problem with it. It seems to be self explanatory. Can’t wait for the new features, however we are aware that this all takes time to do it right. Thanks for all the obvious hard work! I haven’t found out how to add my family tree yet, or if it’s available yet. I also would love to limit what all members can edit or delete from the site. Looking forward to the finished product.
In answer to Antayaje: very nice site you have put together Jeff! About the slide shows on 2.0, the default is for the photo to rotate each time the main page is loaded rotating randomly among all the photos loaded to your site.
You can stop the rotation and lock on to one photo by finding that photo and clicking it open, then clicking the link “use this as my homepage photo” in the lower right corner of the photo. Once you set a homepage photo, there is no way (as yet) to go back to the auto rotation “slide show”.
One of the things I’d really like to see is a way for the admin to select a folder of photos and set them to auto-rotate so you could feature a certain member or topic.
You can go back to the auto-rotation by clicking on the “stop using as home page photo” link in the same spot. Works like a charm.
Thanks Barb and Fumitaka! The auto rotation settings are not very intuitive. Maybe once they set up more admin settings it will more obvious.
Thanks for the comment Barb, although I’m not sure which site you’re referring too, my blog or my static website. Either way you can get to them both from each other, so I take it you saw both. Feel free to leave any future comments on the blog. Thanks a bunch!
I agree 100% with WillF about missing the “New” in the Beta site. Have I missed your comment(s) regarding this as I know many on our site have expressed how important it is to them.
A little follow up on what I said about the photo commenting above — I did notice that you can comment on a photo by only filling out the subject field and leaving the comment field blank. This is unconventional, but I could get used to it.
One thing I think you still need to make more obvious is titling photos. There is a blank space above the photo, and I like how you can enter the title right where it goes (very WYSIWYG), but there aren’t any cues that indicate that you can do this. It needs to look like a text box or there needs to be some faint gray text that says “Enter Title here” or something. Otherwise people aren’t going to know how to title their photos.
I also hope that you don’t drop the “Viewers” feature that allows you to see who has opened any given post or photo. As the person posting it is nice to be able to see who viewed your post. And as the reader it is nice to know that the writer will see that you read the post (or looked at the photo) even if you don’t leave a comment. I think that this feature helps motivate people to keep adding things to the site because they realize that even though people may not be responding, they are at least looking at what you posted.
I agree, the “viewers” feature if very beneficial in knowing if others have seen the notice/pictures/etc.
I just was reminded that the photo title does show a cue () if you hover your mouse over the space above the photo. I vote that you just have that showing all the time, regardless of the mouse pointer.
In 1.0, photo titles are limited to 4-5 lines; this limit needs to be expanded to 9-10 lines. The search tool searches only photo titles, so for the sake of generating thorough search results, all titles need to include all first names of all people in every photo. For large groups, 4-5 lines simply is not enough to include all first names; plus such a small limit leaves very little room for creative titling. An allowance of at least 9-10 lines (but only if needed) would be a great improvement.
Please remove the “edit photo” link at the end of each photo title (i.e., caption). It’s an eyesore that interferes with the title, plus it merely duplicates the “edit photo” link below each photo.
Sometimes the pic description needs to be quite long as well. Rather than forcing long descriptions to run down the page ad infinitum, why not allow them to wrap under the edge of the photo? This would save a lot of real estate between the bottom of the photo and the top of the comments.
The photos desperately need a “zoom” function on each photo page—i.e., a javascript that allows you to zoom into a picture as far as you want. The ability to zoom in is ideal for aerial photos of old farms in your family or any other historic pics where you want to allow a closer view of details. Even if those details are blurry when you zoom in too far, they can be very meaningful and revealing. Sometimes you even discover new people in the pic that no one ever noticed before! I use HTML to install a zoom tool (in the comments section) for about 20% of the photos now. We have a lot of historic photos, the oldest dating back to 1862. Some of them are panoramic and beg for ability to zoom in and explore around. This can be very nostalgic for those exploring their old homesteads or the town where they grew up. An automatic zoom feature for every photo should be pretty simple to add and would immeasurably enhance the quality of the site.
Everyone on our fam’s supersite relies on the “What’s New” feature. I can’t emphasize that feature’s importance enough.
I agree that the “Viewers” feature is essential for keeping members interested. Everyone wants to know who has looked at what. Some fam members are shy and will never ever leave a comment, so that makes the viewers lists even more important. In fact, I wish this feature could be expanded so that when you click on the name of any recent visitor on the Members page (or on the Front Page), you can see the last, say, 30-50 pages they have visited. That way when a site is very large (ours is 3,000+ pages and growing fast), you don’t have to wait until you “luck out” months later to see what a rare visitor has viewed. An expansion of hte Viewers feature would also really help Administrators by alerting them to the specifics of members’ interests, which in turn would help Administrators make content choices.
The family chatroom is usually broken. It needs more features—like color and other font variables that work consistently after clicking them once. Now you have to click them for every chat message you send. The chatroom desperately needs audio alerts (preferably customizable) for every time a member enters chat. If you’re browsing your site with the chat window open underneath the window you’re looking at, it’s so easy to miss a family member who shows up in the chatroom then leaves when they see no one else show up there. Most chatrooms these days have audio alerts so you don’t miss chatters. Audio alerts would be nice for the “Who’s Online” feature as well. But that feature has never worked right on our site. We have 140 active members, so it’s not uncommon for 4-5 to log on practicaly simultaneously. Yet despite that, the “Who’s Online” has never ever shown a name other than my own.
Sometimes members are able to log on and look at photos without their names appearing on the “Recent Visitors” lists on the Front Page and Members Page. I have no clue how this happens. Administrators need to know who ALL the recent visitors are. And other members like to know too.
Regarding CSS formats, perhaps each page could have a list of options when you save it (e.g., “old CSS format,” “new CSS format,” “really new CSS format,” etc.). It would also be nice to have an option to change these formats globally. But a menu of such options on every page you save would solve the HTML/CSS issue in the migration from 1.0 to 2.0. Those who wanted to could simply leave all the 1.0 stuff in the old CSS format and use the new CSS format for all the new stuff added once everyone is on 2.0 and 1.0 is no longer operational.
Many thanks for reading this!
I use the 2.0 and since then alot of my family I’ve haven’t talk to in years come on to the site and share pics and thoughts
If you don’t want to write something in the subject line, I have found that you can just put a ’space’ where the subject line is, and then tab to the comment box and it will save ok.
We are really missing that NEW notice whenever someone writes a new comment under an existing picture. Many are not returning to the site when they cannot readily spot some new comments, or miss ones that were written long ago.
Is there any way to get the comments to be entered in the albums after the photos are all posted? We keep getting error messages. Has anyone been able to copy the photos w/comments into an album?
This is a wonderful site for keeping families connected and fun way to keep in touch.
Robin,
The reason people are able to “mysteriously” view and/or post without anyone knowing is because of the all the time connection. DSL, Cable, Satellite etc… If they don’t log out of the site or don’t refresh the page they could do this all day. I do that sometimes even on diall-up. If I don’t switch between my MyFamily sites I can do this on dial-up too. Don’t know if there is any way for the Beta team to fix that in 2.0 or not. May just be a fact of new technology that we learn to cope with.
Also the beta team has talked about expanding the search feature to be more all-inclusive. Like search the site type thing. So that could help with your Photo Title’s.
Tagging people in photo’s is also something they are looking into. Don’t know if you or someone you know uses Facebook, but tagging is used in photo’s there. Once you identify(tag) people in the photo it creates a list in order of the people in the photo. Also when you mouse over the person their name shows up.
Searching the full site would be Wonderful! We often forget if something important is in News, History, or as a comment to a picture. Anxiously awaiting any new changes!!
A what’s new feature is needed now since we have added more stuff to the beta site. I am haveing to search through the site like I do the blog to find messages and comments.
Need something to get the interest back up so that we dont lose the ones that are participating.
And haveing to check back and forth betweeen the 1.0 and 2.0 is a pain when the links work back to the 1.0 , but not the other way.
My interest in this has definitely waned considerably.
I am seeing less activity on all my family.com sites and ones I visit. Fewer picture postings etc. I don’t think it is because of beta though as most of our folks have not been invited to beta yet.
I’ve noticed that every year, once it gets warm outside, the general activity on my sites drops. I just attribute it to people spending more of their free time doing things outdoors since the weather is nice. Things always pick up again in the fall.
Just looked at my 2.0 site. UGH! Don’t like what they’ve done! My cover photo is much too large, have to pull down the screen to see the news and it’s got a photo that I put out there long time ago shown as “new”. There is no distinction to new photos or new news – it’s just all thrown out there. This is NOT an improvement.
The main change I noticed (outside of the major formatting changes) was the disappearance of the “edit description” link for photos. Now, if there’s a correction to be made, I can’t make it.
It does distinguish what type of post is new. Photo has a thumbnail, Album has thumbnail stack, News has newspaper, etc..
Only the news item you click on shows up now instead of all of them. A personal profile was added under members.
And member rights (admin, member, and guest) has also been added, so now not everyone can delete things.
I hope that the 2.0 version will have the ability to create custom news tabs or sections that are similar to the news section, but will allow the admin to change the name of the section tab. For example, Prayer requests section, Field Trip section, Movie review section, etc… This would eliminate the need for hard coding set names to be used like just News, History, Recipes, etc… like in the V1.0. Allowing the user to create a uniquely named threaded discussion section tabs would make the site much more usable for group type usages like our Home school group of 400+ members. Having set names basically limits the usages since everyone family or group has different need to discuss.
We were hoping for something like this in 2.0. I hope you can add this…
Well, Kyle, I don’t like it one little bit! My 2.0 site looks awful. On the left side of the opening screen is the list of stuff like “invite members, etc. below that is an advertisement, below that is events and then “your feedback”, then another advertisement. Then I finally see “Welcome to my site.” Right below that is “Want to create a new site?” followed by another advertisement – after all of that my cover photo finally appears (it takes up an enormous amount of real estate!), and finally the “What’s New” listing. This is NOT an improvement over 1.0 – never will be!
Thank you all for hard work. I see some new and helpful features.
I guess I was looking for a list of What’s New without having to see all the stuff on the front page. When I check 13 sites a day, I really just want the “facts ma’am”. And all my old items are saying “New”!!
Appreciate some of the rearranging on the page. The links to Add News, etc. are very clean and easy. Member list is smaller, but to me not small enough. How many can we “stack” there and still see who has dropped in during a day?
Glad we won’t have these ads when we “arrive”. They are very annoying and take up lots of space.
Now that I’ve vented, let me say that none of my family will take the time to scroll through all that’s on the front page. There is so much blank real estate. This is looking more and more like a blog instead of an organized family website. I realize that the team has put in some hard work but really I expected to see something much improved and that’s not what I am seeing. I am also going to reiterate that I DO NOT want my users to be able to share or buy photos. I already have some family members who refuse to load photos because they think MyFamily.com is not secure. The way it is currently on 1.0, photos are only seen by members who log on. Oh, sure they can right click on the photo and save it and then send it on to someone else, but they don’t do that. With 2.0, any of my users can share the photo outside the family site with anybody they want. THIS IS NOT RIGHT!
Would someone, who has lots of members attending the beta 2.0 site, tell me how long the list can be? Maybe it will just push the ads off the bottom of the page!!!
Also, how many thumbnails of photos show up between the huge cover picture and the What’s New list? I have only added a few, so I wondered what a normal page would look like.
When we get to the point where we add our own html banners (custom front page) we will not need such a large cover picture.
Danielle, the Genealogy Admins 2.0 site shows 164 members, 7 pending and looks like it displays all of them. It doesn’t push the ads down the page. Didn’t look on down to see how many thumbnails show up.
Dear myfamily.com
I’m impressed. You’ve managed to fit three ads on the front page while incorporating a lot of information on it too! Personally, I like the redesign minus the large photograph and so many ads. But, I guess I’ll take the adds if you are providing this service for free. Frankly, you gave us what we’ve been asking for, a what’s new section on the front page. I think you did the best you could have done given what you have to work with. There was really no reason to have comments, news, and stories separated if people wanted to glance at the front page to find what they have not seen yet. The only drawback to this would be to new members who have not looked at anything yet.
As for the layout, its really fine. Downsize the main photo. It’s bad that I have to scroll down to see the rest of it on my widescreen. Nobody wants to scroll to see a complete image. Here’s a suggestion… wrap the header text around and to the right of the photograph to make it feel more welcoming. It’s a little bit choppy right now.
Great job, its functioning more like v. 1 every month.
It looks better this morning. I do agree with Jeff that the cover photo is still much too large. What’s new should be easier to find.
Looking a lot better! I guess one reason is like jeff says it is closer to what we are used too.
Every thing is awful slow, hope that will clear up in time, don’t have time to play with it so slow so I will check back in a day or so.
Wow. I didn’t even realize the “What’s New” feature had been added! It really was kinda “blotted” out by all the other “stuff. That being said, I think this is probably the most important and needed improvement to the site so far. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore it yet, but will shortly. And I really think we need somewhere a “latest updates to the Beta site”. This way we will know what features have been added/improved/removed. Maybe an e-mail to the admins or something. Otherwise, I think things are moving along nicely. Thanks for y’alls hard work and keep the good stuff coming.
this site is very confuseing how do i comment on pics and how do i add news or is it just the one that set it up that can do that
I know MyFam programmers fully understand how important these family websites are to their members, but I’d like to re-emphasize that point with this brief story. Today (May 4), I woke up to a MyFam E-mail notice announcing, “Happy Birthday to J.R.,” but our beloved cousin J.R. passed away last October. When that happens, I am in the habit of using HTML to convert the calendar section’s birthday page to a memorial page. For the sake of the decedent’s beloved children and grandchildren, I can’t bear to erase his name from the calendar. In fact, our home town doesn’t even remove the names of deceased spouses from its phone book. I’m pretty sure all of you know how painful it is to delete the names of your deceased loved ones from address books and other lists.
So I promptly deleted “happy birthday” from J.R.’s calendar page and converted the rest of its contents to a memorial. These memorials usually look something like this: “In loving memory of [insert name],” followed by d.o.b., d.o.d., and a verse, epitaph or special memory embellished with colors ranging from deep blue to indigo with smoky white or lavender lettering for the name of the deceased (or sometimes colors a bit more optimistic—like white on rose, for example).
Therefore, our calendar section contains not only birthdays and anniversaries, but also many memorials. What does this mean? It means our website is not just important to us; it is rather like hallowed ground—not that dissimilar from our ancestral cemetery, in fact, which was consecrated in 1880 and contains over 530 grave sites. We are related to every single person interred there. So the importance and the meaning of these family websites to family members cannot be overestimated or overstated. When administrators get flustered and “vent,” perhaps this is why they do so. We don’t want to be morbidly obsessive, of course, but it’s not untoward for us to take what we do and what we create very seriously.
That said, each page in the calendar section needs a “reply to this item” javascript just like all the photo, history, and news pages have. That way members can make comments under the calendar events of their choice. They surely want to say “happy birthday” or “happy anniversary,” but the current design of the calendar section doesn’t allow them to do that.
I think each poll also needs a “reply to this item” javascript at the bottom. Sometimes we do silly polls, other times serious, and people would love to leave comments underneath.
Many thanks for listening and for all the hard work you’re doing to improve MyFamily.com!
That is such a great idea(the memorial), I never really thought about what you should do in a case like that, but thanks for the idea.
Of course the other ideas are good also, but that just hit right .
The staff is listening and check often, they just don’t always have time to comment. i have been pleased so far with the way they have handled the transition. Just a long road ahead till the prize.
Put the ads at the bottom. I hate looking for things and ads in between them.
Thanks
Robin. Thanks for your story. We think that’s a fantastic idea. Several of us are talking about how to implement that into the service.
We really appreciate your telling us how the service is meaningful for you and others. It’s inspiring and motivating. It helps us stay focused on what’s important and we don’t take that lightly. So, thank you for that, and thank you for your patronage.
Sean
I have also used the calendar to memoralize family members but had to select a category (birthday, etc) so that it would be recurring. It would be great if that list could include something like “memorial.”
What time frame do you anticipate that we will be able to delete a beta site that we have created? I have one that has not taken off, and the other one is flourishing. I would like to be able to delete the one that has not taken off. Are you able to approximate a time frame? When it has been done, will there be an email sent out to everyone?
why won,t you except my info to my family web site with you i had an invite.?
I have seen this site and I really would like to place my family tree on here for all my family to see and be able to add to. I really do not like a place that I can’t add this. I need a place to do this, where everyone in my family will be able to help keep it updated. I see no place for this at all. I have spent 30 years doing this and do not want to lose it all in one move. I love the pictures section but I do like seeing a whole album at a time. I just don’t think I will like this.
Hi Darlene,
Trees will be part of the service… we want all our Ancestry, Genealogy and Family Tree Maker friends to be able to share their great family history research on myfamily.com.
Patsy, please use our feedback form on the site (top-leftish) so that our member service staff can help you get signed in. Apologies the site is giving you trouble.
Jackie, we need to build that feature, but it’s not top of the priority list right now, so it might be a few months – sorry for the inconvenience. Glad to hear one of your sites is prospering.
[...] 11th, 2007 If you’re a newer reader of this blog, here’s a link to our first post about why we’re building a new myfamily.com 2.0 and migrating our loyal 1.0 members’ sites and content to this new [...]