New Features on Family Tree Circles
Scott_J
If you’ve been reading the FamilyTreeCircles newsletter, you know that I’ve been working on some new features on FamilyTreeCircles.
If you don’t currently subscribe to the newsletter, you can sign up here.
I’m happy to say that a number of them have gone live today.
Here’s an overview of what’s new.
New Journal and Comment Views
You’ll notice a new menu item called “Journals”. That brings you to a new series of pages that give different views of journals and comments:
- Newest: All of the new journals
- Unanswered: Any journal that does not have a comment
- Last Activity: All journals sorted by last activity (either a new journal or a comment added)
- QuickSearch: search in all journals, more on that below
- Latest Comments: View just the latest comments, not journals
This functionality replaces the old tried and true “Active Posts” page, which remains available if that is what you’re comfortable with.
Take a look through these menu items and see if these offer you any improvement in how to view the journals on Family Tree Circles
Quick Search
While you can use the search box in the upper right, the new Quick Search gives you a fast way to quickly sift through journals in the system to find keywords that you’re looking for. Looking for a surname? just start typing it in to the quick search box and you’ll immediately see any journals matching your search term.
Note: You can also search in just your own journals by accessing the quick search link from your own Journals page from your profile.
Journal “Thanks” and “Flag”
In order to reward people who are writing great journals, I’ve added a “Thank” button to the bottom of all journals.
If you like what someone wrote, just quickly click “Thank”. I’m quietly keeping track of these for now, but soon I’ll be exposing these numbers in the form of “popular journals” or people who get the most thanks. For now, just feel free to use it!
If you have any questions about these features, please drop a comment.
by Scott_J
Profile | 
Research |
Contact | Subscribe | Block this user on 2011-03-23 16:47:38
Scott Jangro is the owner of FamilyTreeCircles.com and has documented roots back to Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and William Brewster. If you're wondering what he's doing when he's mysteriously absent, here's some links to other stuff he's responsible for: about.me/jangro.
Comments
ngairedith on 2011-03-23 17:28:55Hello Scott,
Wow, these new additions are great
So eays to find categories now. If you want to spend some time answering queries just go to 'Unanswered' and there they all are, sorted from the other journals. Great idea
Quicksearch - love this feature. Try it and see for yourself.
With so many members now posting on so many varied names and subjects, Quicksearch (found on the 'Jounals' page) is just what it says, a very fast way to find anything you are looking for, names or places. Fun too !!
Thanks Scott :)
Scott_J on 2011-03-23 17:40:59Thanks ngairedith.
Oh, right, I forgot to mention that personal categories are now sorted alphabetically in your profile.
mowsehowse on 2011-03-23 18:26:03That IS helpful. Thanks.
SierraLee on 2011-03-28 12:32:26Question-is anyone having a problem recieving their email from Scott-cause-when I get message I CANT click on it-NOTHING to click as in blue line-I have to log out of email & loing to family tree circle.Yes,I know we have to log in-but I didnt have to log out before of email,I clicked on email & IT brought me to family tree circles to log in.????HELP
mowsehowse on 2011-03-28 13:09:47I have yet to receive a response to any message I have sent, so perhaps I should be doing something techy too??
Scott_J on 2011-03-28 14:18:48There was a problem with the emails that were going out. I believe I have resolved it. New notification emails should be formatted properly with clickable links in them.
But even when they weren't formatted properly, they were going out, and they did have content in them for most people. They just weren't formatted well.
mowsehowse on 2011-03-28 14:26:18OK. Thanks for that. Could you check out the message I put via "contact us" re: blog comment awaiting moderation please?
Scott_J on 2011-03-28 15:18:39That contact us form is another matter, and I've been having trouble with that too. I think I've got that licked as well.
Sorry about the blog comment sitting in moderation. I get so much spam in the blog that it's hard to see the good stuff. I've just trudged through hundreds of spam posts and found a handful that I missed, including yours.
mowsehowse on 2011-03-28 16:06:39Thanks Scott - though it doesn't alter the fact that the link has been removed here in this blog, and was accepted without any checking, into the active posts.
Scott_J on 2011-03-28 16:43:03If you're referring to the missing URL at the end of that comment, it simply wasn't there. Surely you entered it, but I'm not sure why or how that happened -- I certainly didn't remove it for any reason.
I've edited the comment and added in the site to which I think you're referring. Are we good now?
Sorry 'bout that!
mowsehowse on 2011-03-28 17:08:44We are sort of "Good now".
I have no idea why the URL (if that is the proper term,)disappeared, and thank you for putting it back. It copied and pasted fully into a journal with no problem.
I tried to put the above comment on the blog page, (if that is the correct term,) twice, but it would not stick, so I had to put it on this page instead.
I reckon this is all more trouble to you than a barrel load of monkeys!
Thanks. :o)
Scott_J on 2011-03-28 18:10:49A URL is the technical term for a link. Sorry, I talk to software developers all day.
The blog is built on different software than these journal pages, which I didn't create, so it is difficult for me to see what happened. I guess we should just stick to posting here in the journals. :)
I'm very sorry for the trouble.
mowsehowse on 2011-03-29 03:10:13No real trouble, just a bit difficult. Sorted now anyway. :o)
tonkin on 2011-05-06 03:02:53My congratulations on the new editions and changes you have made while I was AWAL Scott.
I have been off-line for a few months doing home renovations and noticed all the changes you have made. I have not struck any problems to date.