This tree service downtime will affect Ancestry Member Trees, OneWorldTree, some portions of My Canvas, the sections of the Home Page that are related to Member Trees, and the sections of MyFamily.com 2.0 that are related to Member Trees. Other than that, all other areas of the site will remain functional.

For the vast majority of our members living outside Mountain Daylight Time, 1:00 – 2:00 AM MDT is the same as…

Coordinated Universal Time: 07:00 – 08:00 AM
In London: 8:00 – 9:00 AM
In Melbourne: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
In San Francisco: midnight – 1:00 AM
In New York: 3:00 – 4:00 AM
In Moscow: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
In Rome: 9:00 – 10:00 AM
In Tokyo: 4:00 – 5:00 PM

This maintenance will support the continued growth in Ancestry Member Trees traffic.

This tree service downtime will affect Ancestry Member Trees, OneWorldTree, some portions of My Canvas, the sections of the Home Page that are related to Member Trees, and the sections of MyFamily.com that are related to Member Trees. Other than that, all other areas of the site will remain functional.

For the vast majority of our members living outside Mountain Daylight Time, Tuesday, October 13 11:00pm through 11:30pm MDT is the same as…

In London: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 6:00 AM – 6:30 AM
In Melbourne: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
In San Francisco: Tuesday, 13 October 2009 at 10:00 PM – 10:30 PM
In New York: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 1:00 AM – 1:30 AM
In Moscow: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM
In Paris: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 7:00 AM – 7:30 AM

The current pedigree view shows up to five generations of ancestors at a time.  In “preview mode” you can now expand a family line to view dozens of generations at one time on your screen.  New zoom in/out tools allow you to customize the size of the names on screen to see more names at a time, or to make the text larger for easier readability.

Speaking of readability, we’ve sharpened the contrast and increased the text’s size and boldness to make names easier to read at any zoom level.

In addition, a “full screen” toggle button allows you to expand the tree viewer to take full advantage of any extra space your computer monitor is able to display.

In preview mode, you can grab and drag your family tree across the screen to adjust it to just how you want to see it, which can be especially helpful when looking at 16 generations of your paternal line at full screen.

We’ve also made it easier to navigate to your ancestors’ profile pages.  Instead of hovering and clicking “view profile”, now a profile icon appears next to each person in your tree–just click it and done.

Also, we’re introducing to the pedigree view a mini “more info” card for each person in your tree.  Clicking a name now brings up more information for that person, plus links to go to the profile page, view hints, edit, search, move to focus, and add family members.  This “more info” card also has an option to view the spouse and children of the person in your pedigree view, without having to leave the page.

To try out the preview mode, visit your family tree and click the link “Check out a preview of the new pedigree view”.

We expect the preview to last several weeks before we make the new pedigree view the default experience.  We invite you to use it, and send us your opinions via the feedback tool on the page.  We will work to incorporate as much of your feedback as we can before we launch.

In early June, we launched a preview of these enhancements to the family tree.   Our goal was to help you become familiar with the changes before they were incorporated on the site, as well as give us your opinion of the new design.  We received over 8,000 responses, the large majority of them very much excited to see the preview features implemented. We are very grateful for the time and care you put in to providing such insightful feedback, and made several changes to the preview as a direct result of your feedback.

Since the new look launched (yesterday morning) we have received nearly 4,000 feedback responses.  We’re taking notes and making plans for additional improvements as people get used to the new look and we learn better how to optimize it.  We encourage you to continue sending us your feedback through the feedback link in your family tree.

To learn more about the improvements we’ve made, you can visit our earlier blog post announcing the preview as well as our welcome page which gives a quick overview.

This maintenance will support upcoming features for Ancestry Member Trees and Family Tree Maker.

This tree service downtime will affect Ancestry Member Trees, OneWorldTree, some portions of My Canvas, the sections of the Home Page that are related to Member Trees, and the sections of MyFamily.com 2.0 that are related to Member Trees. Other than that, all other areas of the site will remain functional.

For the vast majority of our members living outside Mountain Daylight Time, 1:00 – 2:00 AM MDT is the same as…

Coordinated Universal Time: 07:00 – 08:00 AM
In London: 8:00 – 9:00 AM
In Melbourne: 5:00 – 6:00 PM
In San Francisco: midnight – 1:00 AM
In New York: 3:00 – 4:00 AM
In Moscow: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
In Rome: 9:00 – 10:00 AM
In Tokyo: 4:00 – 5:00 PM

The family tree pages will load faster and we’ve introduced some key navigation improvements to help you find what you’re looking for quickly and navigate your tree with fewer clicks. We’ve updated the Ancestor Profile Page and the tree navigation, and added a new “click card” feature. Enhancements to the pedigree view also will be coming soon.

HOW TO ACCESS THE PREVIEW
To access the preview, navigate to any person in your family tree and select the link at the top of the person page “Check out the new look of family trees and give us your feedback.”

 The preview link is also available from the pedigree view page.

HOW TO EXIT THE PREVIEW
To return to the current family tree look, click the “exit the family tree preview” link at the top of any page in the preview.

Also in this same area you’ll find links to learn more about the changes, and a tool to send us your thoughts on the updates (which we welcome!).

WHAT ARE THE ENHANCEMENTS?

Ancestor Profile Page
We’ve changed the look and navigation of the profile page to make it easier to use and to help you keep your information organized. Tabs across the top of the page make it easier to access sources, photos, stories, comments, hints and more. General information about the person you are viewing will remain consistent at the top of the page making is easier to always know exactly where you are.

Show me the sources
The new “Facts & Sources” tab makes it easy to see what facts and events a person has, and what evidence supports those facts.

 Family is always a click away
We’ve made the “Show immediate family” link available on most pages so you can always put the person you’re viewing in context of his or her immediate family members.

 Photos, front and center
You spoke up, we listened. You let us know that you prefer photos above the timeline. That’s where they are now — back on top. In addition to showing photos, the media gallery shows all of the media items you’ve added.

Built for speed
We’ve completely rebuilt many pages from the ground up. It’s faster than ever to load and navigate around your tree. So this is more than simply a new color & layout change—moving to this new design helped us achieve substantial improvements in performance. The new design has major technical improvements (requiring 65% fewer object requests, and 90% fewer server requests), so your pages will load faster than ever. In addition we’re loading the most important parts of pages first, so you can get on with your research sooner.

New Navigation Shortcuts
The new tree navigation is designed to make it both easier and faster to access key tools for your family tree.

What’s different?
When you first visit your tree you’ll now see your pedigree view first, rather than the “overview” tab with your recent updates. Instead, you’ll find those updates in the “Recent Activity” tab, and your photos, audio, and video in the “Media Gallery” tab.

Tree Shortcuts
The new tree navigation offers convenient shortcuts. (Click the arrow next to the tree name opens a drop down menu.) This gives fast access to:

• view the family tree
• view tree settings
• tree privacy
• invite family members
• view recent activity
• view all the photos and stories you’ve added in the tree “media gallery.”

In addition, the new tree navigation has persistent links to the home person, the list of all people, and a quick search box which lets you type in a name to quickly navigate to a person.

Profile Shortcuts
A new navigation feature we think will be especially helpful on the profile page is a “click card” link next to the names of each family member. Clicking this icon will bring up a quick overview of the person’s information along with fast access to:

• view profile page
• view Ancestry Hints
• quick edit
• search for records on Ancestry.com
• view family tree
• and add a relative
• view immediate family members

When you click this link, you’ll see this card:

Coming Soon: Enhancements to the Pedigree View
Next up in our preview of tree updates will be a new version of the pedigree view that will let you see more generations at one time, see your tree full screen, drag and grab your tree, and zoom in and out. Improved navigation tools will make it faster and easier to return to an ancestor profile page.

 Look for more information on the new pedigree view coming soon!

FAQ

What’s a “preview”?
A “Preview” enables members to see upcoming enhancements in their own family trees with their own family data. Many members appreciate (and have requested) a chance to learn more about and comment on significant changes before they are finalized. The preview model provides an opportunity to do that.

Why are you making these changes?
We’ve approached these changes with a great deal of caution—why mess up a good thing? We have two key reasons for these changes—first we’ve studied how members use the family tree product and found several areas where the current design hampers navigation and requires too many clicks. 

The new navigation model will make it easier to move to different people in your tree, with fewer clicks, and easier to review the information and sources you have for each person. To minimize the amount of change, we’ve done our best to add these key navigation improvements in the most low-impact way possible.

The second key reason for the change is to improve site performance. The ancestor profile page has become the single-most viewed page on Ancestry.com. Improving its performance will minimize wait times so you can focus on getting your research done.

How do you know this is better?
Our confidence comes primarily from working with members and watching how they do their family history work. We visit members in their homes to observe how they work, we invite members to our office to see our new design ideas and try them out, and we get a lot of suggestions online and by email. We’re launching this as a ‘preview’ to make sure everybody gets a chance to see what we’re changing and give feedback. The feedback tool sends each message straight to the team responsible for these changes to the tree system. We will be reading and considering each feedback item we receive. If you find things that don’t work as well for you as you’d like, please let us know.

How do I give feedback on the preview?
To access the feedback tool, click the link in the preview banner “Give us feedback about the new design”.  The feedback tool has four general categories for feedback: General feedback, Share an idea, Report a problem, and Give praise.

How long will the preview be?
We expect the preview will run for 3 or 4 weeks while we continue to refine it, fix bugs that come up, and implement your suggestions. When the preview ends, it will replace the current experience.

This maintenance will support the continued growth in Ancestry Member Trees traffic.

This tree service downtime will affect Ancestry Member Trees, OneWorldTree, some portions of My Canvas, the sections of the Home Page that are related to Member Trees, and the sections of MyFamily.com 2.0 that are related to Member Trees. Other than that, all other areas of the site will remain functional.

For the vast majority of our members living outside Mountain Daylight Time, 1:00 – 3:00 AM MDT is the same as…

Coordinated Universal Time: 07:00 – 09:00 AM
In London: 8:00 – 10:00 AM
In Melbourne: 5:00 – 7:00 PM
In San Francisco: midnight – 2:00 AM
In New York: 3:00 – 5:00 AM
In Moscow: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
In Rome: 9:00 – 11:00 AM
In Tokyo: 4:00 – 6:00 PM

This tree service downtime will affect Member Trees, OneWorldTree, some portions of My Canvas, the sections of the Home Page that are related to Member Trees, and the sections of MyFamily.com 2.0 that are related to Member Trees.  Other than that, other areas of the site will remain functional.

Have you ever wondered who keeps the service running for you?  Here’s a list of the key players tonight and their roles:

- Pause agents (Steve B. will have these paused by 1am)
- Turn off replication (Kelland)
- Take Tree Service offline (Greg)
- Switch database to read-only (Kelland)
- Backup/Restore all transaction logs (Kelland)
- Take all Tree Service web servers out of the vip except one (Becca)
- Change Web.Config settings — including TreeDB1 (Greg & Becca)
- Bring TreeDB1 online (Kelland)
- Test (Chuck)
- Service Broker check / CLR Stored Proc
- Bring Tree Service online (Greg)
- Start agents (Steve B.)
- SQL Jobs (Kelland & Greg)
- Setup Replication (Kelland)

While these folks don’t expect any special thanks for keeping our wonderful trees system running, I am personally glad that they do it. Thanks, Team.

Last but certainly not least, in my biased opinion, you can use the MyCanvas publishing service to create family history books and posters based on the data in your tree. If you’re new to family history, new to Ancestry.com or just new to MyCanvas, creating a family tree poster is the perfect project for you because it’s easy and fun — and you’ll get the satisfaction of seeing your family tree come to life in tangible form. You can make a poster that includes as few as four generations or as many as nine.  

Step 1: Build an online tree — or upload an existing tree to Ancestry.com.

If you store your family history data in desktop software program, such as Family Tree Maker, you can export your tree as a GEDCOM file and then upload it to Ancestry.com. “GEDCOM” is the universal file sharing format for family history software.

When you create or upload your tree, you’ll be asked to choose a privacy setting. No matter what setting you choose, information about people we believe to be living (based on the birth and death data you provide) is always hidden. Your name and contact information are hidden unless you choose otherwise.

If you’re interested in learning more about the three privacy settings — Public, Private and Hidden — scroll down to the bottom of this post.

Step 2: Create your family tree poster.

To access the MyCanvas publishing service, click the “Publish & Print” button from your online family tree. You can also click the “Print & Share” tab from the Ancestry.com home page, or just follow this link: http://mycanvas.ancestry.com.

From the vertical navigation menu at the top of the MyCanvas home page, click “Products” and then click “Family Tree Posters.” Select your poster format and size. Family tree posters are available in a combination tree format, which has a bowtie shape, or a standard pedigree format. The size of your poster (20×16, 24×18 or 24×36) depends on the number of generations you want to include. You can make a combination tree poster with 4, 5 or 7 generations or a standard tree poster with 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 generations.

If you have more than one online tree, choose the one you want to use and then pick a starting person for your poster. The starting person can be anyone in your tree. Name your project and then click the orange “Continue” button.

MyCanvas will automatically pull the relevant data from your tree to create your poster. If you have primary photos associated with the people in your tree, it will include those as well. If you have photos attached to a particular person but you haven’t designated a primary photo, no photo will show up for that person (but you can easily add photos to your poster, as described below).

Step 3: Customize the design of your poster.

If you like the clean, simple look of your auto-generated poster, you can go ahead and click the “Order” button. But I’d recommend that you spend at least half an hour customizing your poster’s look and feel. It’s easy to do, and you’ll be happier with the end result because it will reflect your own personality.

Here are some of the things you can do:

• Change your poster’s background. Click the “Backgrounds” tab to explore the options. There are several nice tree backgrounds that are designed to be subtle enough that that they won’t detract from your family history data. You can also use the advanced color palette to create a solid background in any color, or use the color picker to match a color in a photo.

• Add embellishments. Click the “Other Content” tab to access thousands of embellishments that you can drag and drop onto your poster. You can move, resize, rotate, flip, copy and combine embellishments to get the look you want. There’s also a folder that contains more than 200 flags from different states and countries. Flags are a great way to indicate your ancestors’ countries of origin while adding a splash of color to your poster.

• Add photos. Any photos that you’ve attached to your online tree will appear under the “Ancestry Records” tab. You can also upload photos directly to MyCanvas or import them from Flickr, MyFamily, SmugMug or Picasa. To add a photo to your poster, grab the thumbnail and drag it onto the page. You can either drop the photo into an image box or just place it wherever you want. Once a photo is on the page, you can easily move, crop, resize and rotate it, add a border or frame and even make the photo transparent.

• Edit text. You’ll want to zoom in on a particular area of your poster before you try to edit the text. Go to the Zoom icon on the top toolbar. When you move the slider bar or click the plus sign, a little box will appear in the top left corner of the main workspace, right under the Zoom icon. That box is a map of your poster. The red square inside the box is the panning tray. It shows you which section of your poster you are currently seeing in the main workspace. To move to a different section, just move the panning tray.

The Zoom tool may sound a bit tricky, but it’s super easy to use. I think a screen shot will help you get the idea:

Click to enlarge image

I’m not a professional designer, but here are a few simple design tips for family tree posters based on my experience using MyCanvas.

Tip 1: If you have color photos and black-and-white photos on the same poster, try changing the color photos to black-and-white for a more cohesive look. Better yet, try changing ALL the photos to sepia. Black-and-white photos from different time periods tend to have a lot of variations in tone and hue. Making them all sepia gives you more consistency. I also like the warm, brown tones. Of course, you may have different preferences. The great thing about MyCanvas is that you can experiment with different effects until you figure out what works best for you.

Tip 2: Use embellishments sparingly. A few carefully chosen embellishments can add a touch of warmth and artistry to your poster. Try using the “send to back” and “bring to front” tools to layer some of the elements on your poster. For example, you can position an embellishment so that it’s partially hidden behind a photo or another embellishment. But don’t go overboard. The main focus of the poster should always be your family history information and family photos. My favorite embellishments are in the “Pencil Art” folder. They’re subtle and delicate and won’t overwhelm your family tree data.

Tip 3: Use transparent images to add visual interest. Of course you’ll want the headshots of your ancestors to be fully opaque. But once you get further back in your tree and run out of photos, try bringing in historical postcards or other types of images.* I saw a poster made by a Mayflower descendant who had scanned a painting of America’s most famous ship and placed it over the information about her Mayflower ancestors. She made the image maybe 40% transparent and sent it to the back so that the text in front was easily legible. I’ve seen people use images of a family farm or local church in similar ways.

*Legal disclaimer: If you’re using an image you don’t own, make sure you’re not violating any copyright laws by including it in your MyCanvas project.

Step 4: Print your poster and share it with family members and friends.

Before you order a printed copy of your poster, you’ll want to preview it carefully to make sure there are no mistakes. Use the handy Zoom tool.

We don’t offer framing, but MyCanvas posters come in standard sizes. That makes it easy to purchase a frame at whatever price point you’re comfortable with, from less than $20 to, well, the sky’s the limit if go you to one of those custom framing places. As always, do what works for you.

Don’t forget that you can also share your poster electronically. This sharing feature makes it easy to get feedback from a family member before you order your poster. When you share a MyCanvas project, you can invite the people you’re sharing with to purchase their own printed copy. You can also choose to let them with create their own electronic copy of your project (or not).

Apologies for the long, rambling post. I believe I’ve told you everything you ever wanted to know about family tree posters and then some. In the unlikely event that I left something out, please post your question on this blog so that I can respond for the benefit of the whole community.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note about Privacy Options for Online Trees

Since the privacy options have recently changed, I’ll explain what the different settings mean so you can make an educated choice.

• Public: Recommended. We hide living people in your tree, but Ancestry.com members can view your deceased relatives. This setting is the best option in most cases because it lets you collaborate with other researchers and tap into the collective knowledge of the Ancestry.com community. We hear success stories all the time from people who’ve filled in gaps in their tree by connecting with other members who turned out to be distant cousins. Ancestry.com has millions of members. Chances are, at least one of them has information about your ancestors.

• Private: Optional. The names of your deceased relatives appear in search results, but their details are blocked. Other members can contact you anonymously to request more information. You can then decide on a case-by-case basis whom you allow to view your tree. This setting can be a good choice in cases where you’re not quite confident in your data. You can create multiple trees with different privacy settings, so if you have a particular ancestral line that you’re not ready to share yet, you could keep that data in a separate, private tree and still share your other lines with the community.

• Hidden: For specific instances. No one can see any of the information in your tree except you and people you invite. This setting is especially appropriate for professional genealogists who are doing research for a client. If you hide your tree, you can still use it for organization, hints and printing books and posters, but you’ll benefit far less from the greater community. Since the community is one of the main advantages of using Ancestry.com, think carefully about the trade-offs before you choose to hide your tree.

How do I hide my tree? When you initially create or upload an online tree, you’ll only see two privacy options: Public and Private. We’re working on getting the Hidden option added to this menu so that it’s easier to find. In the meantime, if you want to hide your tree, you’ll need to select “Private” and then click the “Manage Tree” link right under the tree’s name on your Family Tree page. You’ll see a summary page that shows how many people are in the tree, how many photos you’ve uploaded, etc. In the middle of this page is a line that says, “Is Tree Public?” Click the “change/more info” link and then check the box labeled “Do NOT include this tree in the search index.”

You may be wondering what I mean by “people we believe to be living.” If you’ve provided a birth date but no death date for a specific relative, our system assumes that person is living if he or she was born less than 85 years ago.

Just to introduce myself, I’m Jen Curry, a product manager here at Ancestry. Last month I started working full-time on the maps feature, which is why this post is coming from me instead of Kenny. As most of you know, last November we launched a new feature to Ancestry Member Trees which allows you to see the life events of an ancestor in your tree on a map.  Thanks to the numerous comments and feedback on the new feature,  we’ve made a few improvements.

Improved Place Finding
We’ve improved how the map finds and displays locations.  Now, if you search for a place, the map does a much better job of finding the correct location and placing the pin where it should be. Additionally, we’ve improved the software’s ability to find international locations. Now, when I click on my great-grandfather’s birth location, a pin is placed on the city of St. Helier, Channel Islands, UK. Before the improvement, the mapping feature wasn’t able to find St. Helier.

Move A Life Event Pin 
A number of people asked for the ability to move a pin to a different location and we’ve added that as well.  When you click on a life event pin on the map, you’ll now see a link that says “move pin”.  After you click the link, the pin will get a little bigger and another message window will open, allowing you to “save” or “cancel” if you move the pin.  You can now click on the pin while holding the left mouse button and drag it to the new location. 

When you have it where you want it, click the “save” button to keep the pin in the new location.  If you change your mind, click the “cancel” button and the pin will return to the original location.  After you’ve saved the pin to a new location, the pin will appear in the new location the next time you come back to that event.

Suggestions or Feedback?
As mentioned in the previous post regarding the mapping feature, we welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement.  We have some great plans for the maps feature and we want to know that we’re heading in the right direction, so please let us know what you think by adding a comment.