Ancestry users what do you think of your new Home page?

[At home in NZ]

We've now got the new homepage, and I don't really see it as an improvement. The majority of the page seems to be taken up with stuff about my tree and my husband's DNA matches, neither of which seem to be of much use, and both of which were readily accessible previously. The bits of the homepage I use most are now smaller and further down the page but thankfully still there.

It feels a bit like they are now presenting the site as being primarily for family trees and DNA, and the original data which is so vital for research has been downgraded as of only secondary importance.

I haven't done DNA so that part is further down the page after 'Make Discoveries' and the latter is just another way of displaying Hints.

I heartily agree with your last comment and may have voiced similarly elsewhere. It seems to me there has been absolutely no attempt to enhance research, it's all about looks!

 

[JoyNor]

What an utter pig's ear Ancestry have created! Like others I am seeing 1950 census hints for US relatives (which in my tree are thin on the ground and very distant so not my top priority), US school yearbook photos (WTF?), records of the most obscure of my ancestors, and my stream of latest matches which (unless you click to show more) shows about eight new matches and current ones between them they have ONE name on a tree. No doubt we will soon have the 1967 UK Phone Book streaming across the page! I had the previous homepage tailored to suit me - with everything I needed at my finger tips. Now it is all lost in this pile it high, sell it cheap display.

Not to be defeated, I am experimenting with manipulating the homepage to be less offensive. I created a new tree with just one person with 2 parents with ridiculous names. When I set this as the homepage tree it instantly got rid of the US crap/pictures/hints and just left me with my pretty DNA ethnicity hoop pictures and those useless new matches. BUT I can have my full list of quick links down the right hand side, from which I can move direct to whichever tree I want to work in, the search box and access to my shoebox and various collections

Yes - I fear this dumbing down is to satisfy the desire for visual gratification of the least interested researchers. Your instant tree back to William the Conqueror and your DNA is taking centre stage on screen. It was all easily accessible to those of us who take it seriously and use it as a research tool from the top menu anyway. This is all about pictures. It's like going into a retaurant where they show you pictures of food on plates, rather than a menu which lists the choices and describes them.

I have made an offsite list of the over 30 Quick Links to various trees which I use all the time and bookmarked my own profile page as my instant entry into my main tree when I start work. And I can add new Quick Links to my offsite list of course - just not as convenient as having them there on the front page of the website. But of course Ancestry know that those of us who dare to indulge in serious research will find work arounds - what they are aiming is to drag in the lazy and those looking for the quick fix they get from social media.

The only good thing I have to say is that today I got the reminder that my renewal was due soon - and the price is still the same. For the number of corrections I am always submitting they should be paying me.

 

[peter]

Like others I am seeing 1950 census hints for US relatives (which in my tree are thin on the ground and very distant so not my top priority), US school yearbook photos

Well I'm not - but that's probably because none of the relatives in my main tree (the one attached to my DNA results) were in the US in 1950. If they were then I'd certainly want to know about it!

Most of the record hints I'm getting are in England or Germany - which is where most of my known ancestors came from - and most of the ones I've looked at are correct. But as I rarely attach records to my Ancestry tree there are bound to be a higher proportion of correct hints.

 

[At home in NZ]

Well I'm not - but that's probably because none of the relatives in my main tree (the one attached to my DNA results) were in the US in 1950. If they were then I'd certainly want to know about it!

Ancestry seems to think anybody and everybody was in the 1950 census.
I am frustrated today with those 1950 US census Hints because when I click on the person I get
We’re sorry, this page is no longer available
I've tried in every tree that I have with those pesky 1950 things!

I have looked at another tree (of mine) using the drop down in the home page and not from the drop down at the top. There aren't any 1950 Hints, it starts with 'Explore Records' then 'Family Photos' which are obviously from other trees and are larger than the size of the photos in a gallery. I clicked on one photo, amazingly it worked. When I used my browser back button to get back to the home page, the order of things is now Family Photos then Explore Records.
As far as I'm concerned the home page is now a waste of space apart form the quick links.

 

[Tim]

Am I the only one that doesn't ever use the homepage?

 

[Pauline]

Am I the only one that doesn't ever use the homepage?

I doubt it! Maybe now I've done my own webpage of 'Quick Links' I won't use it as much.

 

[peter]

Am I the only one that doesn't ever use the homepage?

I use the home page to access the Quick Links I've set up, and also as a quick way of getting to the British censuses. Home pages are no longer as significant as they once were - but there was a time when clicking Home was the only way to get out of a rabbit-hole, and there are still a few sites which have dead-ends.

 

[jorghes]

Am I the only one that doesn't ever use the homepage?

I don't. Generally I have the trees themselves open. I've only been to the homepage lately to see the new design.

 

[At home in NZ]

Not to be defeated, I am experimenting with manipulating the homepage to be less offensive. I created a new tree with just one person with 2 parents with ridiculous names. When I set this as the homepage tree it instantly got rid of the US crap/pictures/hints and just left me with my pretty DNA ethnicity hoop pictures and those useless new matches.

I've yet to work out how to 'set' a home page because when I go back to the home page from another tree it is the home page for this other tree.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Like others I am seeing 1950 census hints for US relatives (which in my tree are thin on the ground and very distant so not my top priority), US school yearbook photos (WTF?), records of the most obscure of my ancestors,

Well despite Peter missing all such, I quite agree the Home page for my main Tree is inundated with US photos and school year books and, agree with AthnZ when she says:

Ancestry seems to think anybody and everybody was in the 1950 census.

..and the photos are, also as she says, jumbo sized.

I do not recognise any to date, and doubt I ever will. It is clearly an ill designed Ancestry algorithm to pad out things on Homepages where names are close to those in your Tree and have the word England (Wales/Scotland) as birth sources.

there was a time when clicking Home was the only way to get out of a rabbit-hole, and there are still a few sites which have dead-ends.

I agree it was once a good way of getting out of tricky dead ends, it also works today on Facebook/Twitter and other social media by clicking on the HOME icon to return to sanity after being swamped with repetitive trivia. But in Ancestry it is a place to be avoided or used sparingly.

 

[JoyNor]

I've yet to work out how to 'set' a home page because when I go back to the home page from another tree it is the home page for this other tree.

OK - this might be a bit long-winded, but so far it is working for me . . . .
I created the false name tree. Then from the annoying homepage selected that tree in the drop down list as my default. I then bookmarked it so that whenever I open Ancestry it opens at that page. On it I can quickly access my Quick Links list, the UK census list, my shoebox and all my other trees BUT I always then open whatever I have selected in a new tab. (ie I right click my mouse to get the menu option to do that). The false homepage sits at the far left of my screen as a "home tab" that I can just flick back to if I want to set up a new tab for something else. In other words if I have my main tree (or whatever) open I DO NOT USE the "Homepage" option on the top bar - if I do it does indeed default back to the unwanted messy screen. It does display the top block of boxes (pick up where you left off) as my main tree that I have been working in (and again I can right click to open any of those 4 names in a new tab) but so far it has not revived the irritating US trash that I don't want in my face.

Hope that you can figure that out. Let's refuse to be bullied by Ancestry! Cousins unite!

Re the US School Year Book pictures - I do potentially recognise the names of some of them as they are very distant connections either in my tree or the tree I manage for my cousin but I don't want them in my face as they are not what I am seeking to advance my tree backwards.

On a brighter note today I got 2 new DNA matches with trees with actual ancestors on and with whom I share common ancestors. But I have far more detail in my tree than either of them so there does not seem to be anything they can add to my branches. We go back to 5 x Great G/P as MRCA and most of their info has been collected from other Ancestry Trees with no linked records or sources so when I look closely I can see the mistakes they have blindly copied, whereas I have NOT attributed a pile of grandchildren whose names appeared on a census return as children of the head of household. Is it likely a woman of 72 will have 3 children aged under 5???? Sigh!

 

[JoyNor]

And of course that false homepage is a get out of jail free card, a quick reverse out of the rabbit hole and a place to retreat to for a cup of coffee whilst you re-group your thoughts. When my butterfly brain has got myself with a dozen different tabs open and have lost track of where I am I just close all the tabs execpt that one and start over when I am ready.

 

[PhilGee]

I have used Firefox with multiple profiles for some time - one for general use, one for genealogy use etc. Each has a relevant "home page" selected and, with the latest Ancestry "homepage fiasco", I am forced to build a suitable "home" page for my genealogy firefox profile probably with sub-pages of links to what I use most. The first prototype is a bit messy but the content is all relevant instead nothing relevant!

 

[At home in NZ]

When I find the right avenue to reach them Ancestry is going to get an honest critique from me.
My Home page was showing a 1950 US Census record for a mother-in-law of 4th cousin 2x removed, what's more, it's impossible to access the person from that entry in the Home Page. I have to click 'view all' which takes me to the list of all hints for the person. then click on ignore. All that just to make it disappear from the Home page - utterly time wasting!

If you have Irish Ancestry you are most likely to have a million and one cousins in USA. A lot of my Irish great grandparent's aunts, uncles and siblings left for the US during and after the potato famine. My great grandparents went to England and only one of their relatives followed.
In my Irish ancestor's tree I have a 3rd cousin with a very common name I'll call her Hilary Brown, noticing several US Hints on my Home page I decided to go to her profile to find out if she was even born in the US. She was.
Then I found 10 Hints, the first is the 1950 census which is actually in her mother's name, an obituary for her mother and the rest of them are school year books. Each of the photos in the latter is obviously a girl with the same name but which one is MY Hilary is anybody's guess and guess what, I don't actually care because it's not a piece of information that is of any help for further research.

Thinking about how I used to use my Home Page, it was mostly for my Quick links and for my Shoebox. Normally if I am researching a person I will use the Search button at the top righthand corner of the Profile, then use the filters at the left to find the census records, passenger records or whatever. If that fails, I find another way to search.

If Peter has read that carefully I think I can hear him tutting but, we each have our own way of working and when there is more than one way of doing something we do what we find is best.

Back to where I started, there was a link in the Home Page for suggestions which I had used when I wanted to have a moan about their latest stupidity. That has gone.
I spent ages last night trying to find anything about the new Home page, nothing!

I have no objection to the quick access to collections and other records on the right of the Home page but I would love to be able to have the ability to change where things are and delete what I don't want to see. like I could previously.
I can but ask/suggest.

 

[JoyNor]

I am getting the US records thanks to my cousin's Irish connections which are nothing to do with me. I have editorial access to his tree but as I am rarely in there the records are not being generated by any recent activity on my part. And all those US school photos of a dozen different people who happen to share the same name as a relative of my cousin are indeed a complete waste of screen space & my time.

When we first discovered these Irish ancestors via cousin Bob's DNA he sent off messages to all his best matches in US. Not a one replied despite we could see they were recently on the site. His sister tested, got the same DNA matches (several indicate 2nd/3rd cousin status) & tried the messaging. Again zilch results. A US relative of mine who is a keen researcher confirmed that there is a US culture of wanting to know your ethnicity but then people are not interested in building a tree - they just want it delivered ready wrapped on a plate. No doubt this is part of the aim of the new look homepage. "Oh look! We have your 3rd cousin in High School in 1957". Big deal!

I think we all work differently & with so many ways to do anything on a PC these days I am sometimes nostalgic for the simplicity of MS-DOS!

 

[At home in NZ]

I found somewhere to make a fuss! I asked for a Chat which then gave me the opportunity to email, I took that opportunity and got this reply:
Thank you for contacting Ancestry in regards to the homepage update.
We're sorry you are not liking the update to the homepage, please understand Ancestry spends hundreds of hours every year interviewing customers. We’re always seeking out what will be most impactful to our community.
We try to cater to everyone, beginners told us they want better guidance to find new family discoveries even faster.
Experienced users told us it should be easier to continue where they’ve left off. We have created a new homepage experience designed to keep the most meaningful recommendations, discoveries and next steps, front and center.
The new homepage makes it easy to pick up where you left off on your tree, explore record and photo hints, and look at your latest AncestryDNA updates.
We understand that not everyone is a fan of changes and we encourage members to share their thoughts customer feedback drives everything we do at Ancestry. Please submit feedback to our Suggestion Box under “General Feedback”.

I have asked where to find the General Feedback and said a link would have been helpful. And, how it used to be easy to make suggestions from the Home page.

 

[peter]

It seems to me that some of the problems reported are because Ancestry does not currently allow hints to be turned on/off on a per tree basis (or if they do, I can't find the setting). This would be a sensible improvement.

I imagine the reason that so many of you are seeing hints from the US 1950 census is because these are the most recent hints. I would have thought it made sense for them to show the newest hints - how else can they prioritise them?

 

[PhilGee]

... I am sometimes nostalgic for the simplicity of MS-DOS!

If you have 30GiB to spare you could install Linux (with/without the graphical interface) alongside MS Windows and have an up-to-date text based system to play with I rarely switch from a windows setup (that is NOT Microsoft Windows) but it can be useful on the (very) rare occasions an update fails.

 

[JoyNor]

Well done AhiNZ, but as you no doubt anticipated a pretty standard reply. And since when did website designers really take any notice of anyone? All these changes just keep geeks and nerds in jobs. And as new customers pay more than us established long time members (it appears to be the case in the UK anyway) then they have to keep up their revenue source by increasing turnover to allow for all the dissillusioned who drop out after 6 months. If making DNA results "easier to find" why is the button still on the top bar?

It seems to me that some of the problems reported are because Ancestry does not currently allow hints to be turned on/off on a per tree basis (or if they do, I can't find the setting). This would be a sensible improvement.

Now THAT would be useful! I have lots of trees - my main one, ones for experimenting with certain branches or in collaboration with cousins, trees of friends who are not curious enough to set up their own and know that I revel in researching on their behalf. But this means I am swamped with hints for these sideline trees as it is feast or famine and I do want the hints for my main tree (no matter what percent of them are rubbish!)

 

[peter]

It seems to me that some of the problems reported are because Ancestry does not currently allow hints to be turned on/off on a per tree basis (or if they do, I can't find the setting). This would be a sensible improvement.

Now THAT would be useful! I have lots of trees - my main one, ones for experimenting with certain branches or in collaboration with cousins, trees of friends who are not curious enough to set up their own and know that I revel in researching on their behalf. But this means I am swamped with hints for these sideline trees as it is feast or famine and I do want the hints for my main tree (no matter what percent of them are rubbish!)

Perhaps there is a stop-gap solution - if you set up another Ancestry account (no subscription required), and share the tree with yourself? I don't get hints for trees that have been shared with me.

Interestingly I don't seem to get hints for my wife's tree either, even though I am the tree owner. I can't figure out why this is.