Image Viewer Updates – Print Current View Now Available

AUTHORED BY JIM MOSHER (FROM ANCESTRY.COM)

Thanks to all of you who have provided feedback on the Beta Image Viewer on the blog, via the message boards, through the survey, and directly via email (feedback-imageviewer@ancestry.com). We appreciate the input – both positive and negative – and have used it to further improve the viewer.

Today, an updated version of the viewer is on the site. If you aren’t already using the new viewer, you can get to by clicking the Options button in the green toolbar above the image. You can switch back to a different viewer the same way.

The updated viewer includes

• Print the Current View
• Better keyboard support for zoom and panning
• Better support for Newspapers and similar collections
• Improved performance

Print the Current View

You can now print the current view of the image. This is the most-often requested print feature that we had in the previous Advanced Image Viewer. Position the image in the viewer (zoom in or out, move the image where you want it), click the Print button, and then select the Print the current view option. A preview window will appear and the Print dialog should open. (We generally recommend printing in Landscape; you can select that in the printer properties).

Better keyboard support for zoom and panning

The previous version did not have full keyboard support for zooming and panning on all of the browsers. We believe this is corrected. The + and – keys on both the keyboard and keypad now work for zooming in or out. Arrow keys, as well as Page Up and Page Down keys, are supported for panning. Home will take you to the left side of the image; End will take you to the right side of the image.

Better support for newspapers and similar collections

We have improved our support for newspapers and similar collections (those that are processed with Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, technology). The viewer will now highlight the search terms and center the current hit within the viewer. Additionally, the Next Hit button should work.

Improved performance

We continue to work on performance issues to make the new viewer (and the underlying services which support it) faster and more responsive. There are still steps to take, but we hope you find that the experience continues to improve over time.

Other miscellaneous improvements

There are other improvements you may notice as you work with the new viewer. Images should now load to the “Fit Width” zoom level by default. The viewer now remembers your zoom settings as you move between images in a collection so you don’t have to reset it as you browse between images during the current session. And we prevent the new viewer from showing up on iOS devices (such as the iPad).

Thank you again for your feedback!

We will continue to make updates to the image viewer. We appreciate your feedback and hope that you will continue to use the survey (click the “What’s Changed” link at the top of the image viewer) and email address (feedback-imageviewer@ancestry.com) to let us know what you think of the image viewer.

Regards,

Jim Mosher

About Charlene Chen

Charlene is a user experience manager at Ancestry.co.uk and responsible for improving the Ancestry.co.uk site. She is always keen to hear your thoughts about the site features, which help her when working hard to make the website better and more enjoyable for you to use.