Thursday, January 15, 2009

NFS Rollout Update for 14 January 2009

It's time once again to update you on the progress of New FamilySearch (NFS) and its younger sibling, Family Tree, which we could call New New FamilySearch, but that would be too, too confusing. As we previously reported on these pages, NFS is coming to Las Vegas! Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who registered their Family History callings received the magic e-mail Tuesday informing them that their temple district was going live on Temple Tuesday, 27 January 2009.

You're Going Live Message

The "you're going live" e-mail message has been updated since I shared it with you a year ago. Here is the way it currently reads:

From: support@familysearch.org
Sent: Tuesday, [ 14 days prior to the go-live date ]
To: [ mailing list name at FamilySearch.org ]
Subject: New FamilySearch to Go Live on [ day/month/year ]

To: Priesthood leaders, family history center directors and family history consultants in the selected Temple district.

Beginning on the Tuesday date listed above, the new process for printing temple name cards using Family Ordinance Requests will be used in your temple. The new FamilySearch will be available to the general membership of the Church within your temple district on the previous Saturday. No additional notice will be sent to priesthood leaders or members of the Church in your temple district concerning these dates.

We ask that family history consultants and center directors encourage members who have existing TempleReady disks to take them to the temple and have their temple name cards printed before the new FamilySearch becomes available. Beginning immediately, please do not create any new TempleReady disks in your family history center for members who live within your stake or temple district.

If you have not done so already, please complete the new FamilySearch online training prior to the temple release date. This will greatly benefit your preparation for helping members to use the new FamilySearch as part of the new process for preparing ancestral names for the temple. Please contact FamilySearch Support by e-mail or phone if you have any questions or problems.

Thank you for your support of temple and family history work.

Sincerely,

FamilySearch Support
support@familysearch.org
U.S. and Canada : 1-866-406-1830
International: Go to http://contact.familysearch.org for more toll-free phone numbers.

This is the first screen of the 30-day preparation survey30-day Rollout Preparation Survey

At least some of the members of the Las Vegas temple district received a survey about their preparations for the New FamilySearch. The e-mail message looked like this:

From: support@familysearch.org
Subject: New FamilySearch rollout preparation
To: [ mailing list name at FamilySearch.org ]
Date: Sunday, [ 30 days before the temple's go-live date ]

To: Family History Center Directors and Consultants in Selected Temple Districts

We are coming down to the final few weeks before the new FamilySearch is introduced to the members in your temple district. We again hope that your preparation activities are progressing well.

To help us to have a better idea of what you may need to finish your preparations, would you please take a few minutes and complete a very short survey. The survey may be viewed by clicking here or by going to http://www.inquisiteasp.com [Sorry, I can't give you the full URL 'cause that could mess up the statistics.]

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance with the new FamilySearch, please contact FamilySearch Support.

Sincerely,

FamilySearch Support
support@familysearch.org
U.S. and Canada : 1-866-406-1830
International: Go to http://contact.familysearch.org for more toll-free phone numbers.

New Old FamilySearch.org

In other news, the home page for the old FamilySearch.org website got a new look recently, as shown in the illustration below. Contrast this with the previous iteration shown on the PAF-LUG blog.

A new look for the old FamilySearch.org

The new home page sports several minor changes.

  • The name and logo of FamilySearch owner, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is displayed prominently in the header. The phrase "a service provided by" is situated just to the left of the logo.
  • The "Start Your Family History" section on the right side of page has been supplemented with an historic photograph. Refresh the page and you'll see a different photograph.
  • I don't remember if this is new or not, but the header is now in a frame so that it won't scroll off the top of the screen as you scroll down the page.
  • The "Free Family History..." heading is larger, dark blue, in a new font and has a little more white space, which makes it look more inviting.

Along with the home page changes, the Family History Library Catalog page has had a minor facelift with links to three training videos.

If you hear any news about the rollout of New FamilySearch... you know the drill. AncestryInsider@gmail.com

2 comments:

  1. If you go to FamilySearch Labs you will also see a project to do a full update to the FamilySeach web site and they are asking for our input. The page is called FamilySearch Alpha. Here is a link:
    http://labs.familysearch.org/alpha/index.php

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gary,

    I'm glad you mentioned that. I had every intention of covering that, and sometime between starting and finishing (which was late), I plume forgot.

    Thanks,

    -- The Insider

    ReplyDelete

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