Family Historian User Group

An interesting surprise for census records this morning. FMP have added several new buttons and an option to have the transcription appear next to the mouse pointer for the record you are hovering over. The great thing is that you can now move to what ever page you want easily (as Ancestry have had for a very long time). A great step forward in my opinion.

Yeah - unless you have a laptop screen, in which case the lower 25% of the viewport is covered by what I'll call the filmstrip, which you can't switch off!

I find having pop-up transcription following me around annoying so I have toggled that off, but the default is on. The film strip is actually not really necessary, the ability say go to page nn really good and very helpful. Pity that you cannot toggle the film strip on / off.

dewilkinson wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2021 13:20

I find having pop-up transcription following me around annoying so I have toggled that off, but the default is on. The film strip is actually not really necessary, the ability say go to page nn really good and very helpful. Pity that you cannot toggle the film strip on / off.

I’d like to know how to toggle off the transcriptions too, very annoying. Can you tell me how?

Just went to get you a snip of the button but FMP is down for maintenance. I think it was the 3rd or 4th button from the left at along the top.

Ta,
I’ll give it a try!
I wish they’d heard of the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

The film strip view - if it works like Ancestry - should be a big help to get back and forth quickly.

However, I did find an oddity last night with Passenger Lists. I was documenting my first GI Bride and was able to use the filmstrip to get to the List header straight off (Queen Mary no less). But once there I failed to find the right combination to return to the bride's page without going out and coming back in again - so it's clearly not quite like Ancestry's adjacent images. Or at least, that one ain't.

This is what I see - which one is it? I can't find it...

dewilkinson wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2021 13:52

Just went to get you a snip of the button but FMP is down for maintenance. I think it was the 3rd or 4th button from the left at along the top.

fhtess65,
Not all images have the facility, and those that don't, don't show the toggle button, which looks like a Licqorice sandwich or Mortar board, with a line through it if it has been disbled. It was between download icon and Triangle icon.
I went to show you a screenshot, but mine is no longer showing the icon either, perhaps they had too many complaints and have removed it

Just tried it (17:33) and it is still there. The button has the red arrow pointing at it.

Hi
Sorry I think it is dreadful. Have messaged FMP. How anyone with a small screen sees anything I don't know. As has been commented, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Ancestry have changed their font in the transcription for a record and the GRO has a new giant birth or death record.
They must all be having a Spring clean!
Don't know if it is just me but Ancestry's back button is very inconsistent, sometimes it goes back to where you were, occasionally back to results list but more often goes back to the initial "search" page so you have to enter everything all over again.
Moan over,
Stay safe
Ann

gwilym'smum wrote: ↑

19 Feb 2021 07:52

Don't know if it is just me but Ancestry's back button is very inconsistent, sometimes it goes back to where you were, occasionally back to results list but more often goes back to the initial "search" page so you have to enter everything all over again.
Moan over,
Stay safe
Ann

Ann,
And I thought it was just me! Double clicking the back button sometimes works, but generally I find I have to do it two or three times to get back, then find like you, it has taken me too far back!

Another thing that really bugs me is when you click to view one of the family trees listed as a result of a search, it opens in another tab, so you can’t back click. You actually have to close the new tab to get back. Without realising, you find you have half a dozen tabs open.
Mike

They appear to have moved it to the bottom of the page - see screen capture. You have to click on Linked transcripts, toggle and then click to view...extra steps for sure.

OTOH, we can now more easily move around the record set with the film strip - though it would be nice to minimize it. I passed that on to FMP through FB.

dewilkinson wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2021 17:35

Just tried it (17:33) and it is still there. The button has the red arrow pointing at it.

It appears that they've moved it to the bottom right. Very odd. Overall, I don't mind the new viewer - once they allow us to minimize the film strip (which is handy for navigation), it will be just fine for me.

Gowermick wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2021 16:45

fhtess65,
Not all images have the facility, and those that don't, don't show the toggle button, which looks like a Licqorice sandwich or Mortar board, with a line through it if it has been disbled. It was between download icon and Triangle icon.
I went to show you a screenshot, but mine is no longer showing the icon either, perhaps they had too many complaints and have removed it

Sorry if you don't like what FMP have done here. It was a request from me to do this as navigating to Page 1 of the Census Schedule to see the area covered was hard work going page by page.

David,
Other sites manage to allow one to jump around the images using a 'Jump' to page feature, without the need to show a filmstrip of the images.
To be honest, unless one can actually see these small images, or there were more of them like familysearch, they serve no useful purpose at all.

Furthermore they haven't really addressed your problem at all, as the film strip still only allows you to go back 4 or 5 images at a time!

The problem wasn't caused by your request, but how FMP have tried and failed to implement it!

EDIT Another bug I've just seen. The icons at top of screen alter after a short delay, whilst viewing image. When I went to click the download icon, they changed so that I clicked the triangle instead. Why the delay in displaying all the icons I don't know, but this is not the first time I have been caught out by the icons moving as I attempt to click one! Poor, Poor Design!

fhtess65 wrote: ↑

19 Feb 2021 16:09

It appears that they've moved it to the bottom right. Very odd. Overall, I don't mind the new viewer - once they allow us to minimize the film strip (which is handy for navigation), it will be just fine for me.

Not quite, that method only applies to some sets of images, others still show the licqorice Allsort/Mortar Board!

I have no problems using the register on Ancestry. When I am looking at a name the register appeears on a list of options alongside the person
I have never used FMP on sub (e.g. Ancestry) is enough for me

Victor

Victor,
The problem isn't with the image, but the result screen!
When Ancestry shows a list of possible matches for a search, it also display on the left hand side, a set of sliders to modify the search filters.
As one moves the cursor to alter one of these sliders e.g. Birth slider, it triggers other slider popups, completely obscuring the Birth slider.
One has to be careful when approching these sliders, otherwise the popups are triggererd, and instead of being helpful, they become a hindrance!

I'll revisit the FMP ticket/request I raised and report our findings.

The reply I got from FMP

I'm sorry to hear you're not happy with the new image viewer features.

We conducted detailed interviews with Findmypast members on the mobile and desktop versions of the image viewer, tested our datasets to ensure the datasets displayed in the expected manner (as they are constructed differently) and browser tested the designs to ensure they displayed as intended.

The option to turn off the page navigation tool wasn’t considered critical by members in the testing we did for the first release.

We will continue to monitor its usage and any feedback we receive. Your feedback has been passed on to the Product team involved in this feature.

So, if others find the "filmstrip" irritating let FMP know.

David,
I complained about the popup hints as one scroll across the page, which cause the irritating flicker. I got a reply saying you can’t turn off navigation i.e the film strip! I replied, pointing out that my complaint was about the flickering. They came back with much the same answer, i.e you can’t turn off the navigation! I then pointed out that they were not reading my complaint properly, which never mentioned navigation!
I await their reply.

I have come to the conclusion they have seen so many complaints about the new screen layout, that whenever a complaint mentions the new screen, they jump to conclusion it is about navigation, and fire off a standard letter!

With such a defensive attitude, I don’t hold out much hope they will change anything

Already done. I sent them feedback via Facebook and received a shorter version of your response. I will also send a comment to them via the website.

Teresa

dewilkinson wrote: ↑

25 Feb 2021 12:59

The reply I got from FMP
<snip>
So, if others find the "filmstrip" irritating let FMP know.

I sent a complaint and received the same reply as David. I find the filmstrip intrusive when trying to see a whole record. I was looking at a parish register with a friend, she was on the other end of the phone looking at the same images. We were looking for several members of a family and also trying to compare letters from different parts of the record in order to decipher the letters and, because we needed a large image, we had to scroll up and down continuously, as we could only see a couple of entries at one time, half the screen was obscured with the film strip.
I haven't found the licorice allsort yet either!
However on a different topic on FMP. Shropshire are offering their members 15% off membership to FMP so I turned off auto renew in order to apply the offer code. A few hours later I received an email from FMP offering 15% off if I turned on auto renew. I telephoned to check that I would receive it and this was confirmed. I know many turn off auto renew as a matter of course but if you can remember just before you are due to renew, leave it on and you too might get the offer
Stay safe

gwilym'smum wrote: ↑

26 Feb 2021 07:10

I<SNIP>
However on a different topic on FMP. Shropshire are offering their members 15% off membership to FMP so I turned off auto renew in order to apply the offer code. A few hours later I received an email from FMP offering 15% off if I turned on auto renew. I telephoned to check that I would receive it and this was confirmed. I know many turn off auto renew as a matter of course but if you can remember just before you are due to renew, leave it on and you too might get the offer
Stay safe

FMP always offers renewing members a 15% discount.

Teresa