new search format
The new search format is not helpful. It makes it harder to find what you are looking for. Please go back to the format which you had before this. Thank you.
Answers
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Over the years we have had to learn and adjust to use a vast amount of changes in the searching program. This latest change is about enough to make me quit. Why when we had an easy program to work with did you go and make this new confusing program. In the last two nights I have spent twice the number of hours I would normally had spent searching for the information I needed. Finally gave up and went to ancestry to find the information. And now I'll be using them for the source instead of the once easy link to FamilySearch for the source. PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK
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The new format makes searches take longer and the results are more difficult to 'slim down'. Being able to quickly hit 'exact' buttons was useful for both place and individual names.
Like many changes to internet programs it seems to be more focused on looks rather than practicality.
Additional evidence, such as scans of actual documents or records, have been very welcome, but this new presentation seems to have no benefits and is just confusing. Please either bring back the old familiar system or give us a choice - the old system as well as the new.
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I find it harder to navigate this new format. If I am looking for a death, I don't need all the census. Bring back the old system.
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Sorry, but this new intreface is horrendous, in all aspects. The new search form --- terrible. Click on a decade? Really?!? Let me enter the specific data that I know. The new results format -- annoying. I come here for DATA, not pretty layouts of someone's programmatic extraction of what they think I might want to see. Give me the image, and let me decide what's important to MY research (which may be different from someone else's).
My favorite feature -- the ability to limit my responses to a particular type of record -- seems to be gone. Maybe I'm just not seeing it, but that, in itself, is a failure of the new design.
And then there's this movement toward user-generated input. I loath that "other" genealogy site becuase of all of the incorrect "user-generated" "facts" to be found there.
Another trusted source bites the dust.
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The new search format is horrific. It is much more difficult to use and much less intuitive. I have spent over an hour trying to get what I wanted but it's just not good at all. The format that you had before was excellent. Why did you change it? why did you make it worse?
Please go back to the old format. This one is not helpful. Why would you want to make it more complicated to get the information we come here to find?
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The new format is anything but better: more complicated, more clicks, more scrolling, results are the absolute pits (no accuracy), and everything is 'inflated' which requires more scrolling. The old streamlined format was great, and results were much more accurate.
All that FamilySearch does is appreciated, but this is a step backwards and just leaves me wondering.
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I always felt that the FamilySearch site was far better than the other subscription sites. Your search engine / results were easy to use and navigate through. I always had hope I'd find something of value and usually did find something. The new site is now time consuming and no where near as good as the previous site. Please do us a favor and give us back the site we all loved and appreciated. Thank you.
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Well, I see don't the usual stampede of folks lining up to support your format change in the face of all of the negative comment. So, maybe you should listen. Like all of the comments above, I've been happily using and accessing information on familysearch for several years, and have found the layout, the availability of data, and the search routines a cut above what is available elsewhere. I have often used your system to find what I want, and then with that information force the other behemoth to find it. That is now gone. If you want to drive us away, just keep doing what you're doing.
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Agree with comments here. New search process is dreadful. If something is not broken don't fix it! I have also switched to ancestry (and findmypast) to get results
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The new format is not helpful at all, before it was easy, now I can't find the information I want. Why change something that's not broke. I live in Turkey and all I get is 'No results found'.Can I access this site from Turkey,or do I need to change to Ancestry, or Findmypast ? Not happy!
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Your new format takes me twice as long to enter my search and get the correct results. Your header takes up half the page and does nothing to help my search by blocking the blocks where I can input data. Listen to your users. Change back to old format .
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I've been using your sight since I started doing my research (so many years ago). It was awesome! So easy to read & get records. I have to say this new format is impossible to read or understand. I can't locate anything or even see anything anymore. The format before this one was bad enough. I had a very difficult time just getting to the records on that one, but at least I could read it. At this point, I will no longer be able to use this site, which is sad. Please go back to the old format.
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This whole thing is a mess. Just trying to find a place to give feedback or ask a question is almost impossible. Just hold your nose and point your mouse at something and hope someone sees it. Probably won't. All I want to know is how do I add a spouse name to a marriage search? All I have are 2 names. His and hers. I have no idea where or when.
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So disappointed with this 'new' format, it was so lovely to be able to find so much information with the old system but now I can't even find results that I know are there! I keep coming back, hoping that you've changed back to the old search format, but to be honest I'm fed up with that now. Please consider going back to the old search, don't fix what ain't broke!
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Classic Search format was laid out in an efficient way: the left hand side for search with multiple inputs, the right for results with a large, deep frame scrolling through those results. One was able to see all the people matching your inputs, identify relationship parameters - just from quick scrolling through the result field. It was really powerful and that ability has been destroyed by the New Search.
The NewSearch in comparison:
- Auto reloads after ea search parameter bubble choice. Adds time and frustration.
- The search bubbles are large, eat my screen, inefficient, annoying.
- Unable to add specific dates, forcing crawl through unwanted data in the new tiny result field.
- Rearrangement from old lateral side by side search/results into Over/Under: Results scroll tiny field under a non collapsible input field forces the user to scroll results in a GREATLY reduced space. It is extremely frustrating to have a 2" high scroll field to work in. For me on my laptop, it is basically unusable. Cannot look at the results broadly, cannot compare the results.
- From a user's perspective, the search wasn't broken. Why all the time and effort to change something that was straight forward and usable into something just the opposite?
- I appreciate Family Search and I hope that Family Search appreciates us. We have contributed blood, sweat and tears to our ancestors on these pages for the good of all. I hope Family Search can listen to it's users regarding this most important tool. Please change back to the old format or offer a Classic Search option. Thank you.
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I used to enjoy using Family Search. I have made over 14,000 contributions. The Classic search allowed me to do things like leave the subject name blank but enter the parents name with a birth place and date range. Or if I wanted to find someone on a census I could simply put in the census date and search based on residence.
The new search format is unworkable and frustrating. There was nothing wrong with it so why destroy something and make it much less useful. I see NO redeeming features.
I will not be helping with the world tree anymore unless the Classic search is restored.
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Your new search format is a lot harder than the old one. You can not filter for exact and I am getting results that are not even close to the name I am searching for. Please go back to the old Search. I am not against change but this change is not helpful at all. Thank you for all you do.
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If it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. This new search format is more difficult to use and eliminates useful records as more more filters are added. Return us to the old method that we are used to using.
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I'm reluctant to use this new record-searching format. I might use Family Search as a last resort now. It's not as good as it used to be.
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I, too, would like to see a return to the "old version". However, you can make "exact" searches using the new search engine, but you switch on "Show Exact Search" - at the bottom of the Search page - then check the appropriate boxes, according to what you want to base your "exact search".
Remember to use wildcards to capture records that might otherwise be missed. For example, I enter LA*DER in the Last Names box (with "Exact" checked) as my LAUDER relatives sometimes have been indexed as LAWDER, or even LANDER.
The filter options are much the same as before - just a little more difficult to locate, now they have been moved from their former position on the page.
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WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU DO TO THIS SITE???
IT IS BEYOND HORRIBLE. I CAN FIND NOTHING. FILTERS DO NOT WORK. I CHECK OFF EXACT MATCH AND STILL GET THE SAME RESULTS AS IF I DIDN'T CHECK IT OFF.
HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE. RIDICULOUS. AND THE FIRST POST I HAVE EVER TYPED IN ALL CAPS IN 17 YEARS OF INTERNET USE BECAUSE I AM THAT FRUSTRATED.
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Firstly, let me say I would be only too pleased if FamiySearch agree with 95% of its users and admitted this has all been a big mistake and reverted to the previous format.
That said, it really does this argument no good when so many users (as you have) make a general criticism, without providing any specific detail on searches that are now creating so much problem for you.
Whilst dealing with percentages, it is probably 99% certain that the former search routine will not come back, but quite possible that the engineers will recognise areas in the current one where there is a need for some change. However, that needs users to be constantly illustrating exactly where their problems lie - not that I'm suggesting multiple problems might not apply, but just to give clear examples of them.
The new lay-out does make searching more awkward, but (as an "everyday user" of the program) I am still finding ways of cutting out those unwanted results - using the "exact" and filtering options you, and so many others, claim give you the same results, regardless of their application.
In summary, help others (including, hopefully, the product developers) to help you by giving examples here. Tell us (and illustrate) if the search now seems more difficult when wanting (say) census results, or perhaps those where you are seeking a death / burial but are being presented with birth and marriage results, too.
Many are claiming they are leaving FamilySearch and going elsewhere (Ancestry, etc.) to make their searches. It shouldn't have to come to that if:
(1) The developers are listening and make appropriate changes.
(2) Meanwhile, we work with each other to discover the best possible way of making our searches successful, given the current tools and format.
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I had been away from my genealogy work for some time, I came back to it this month and boy was the Family Search website a surprise. To say "I hate it, is an understatement". The old format was perfect. You put in names, dates, etc and records came up even if spelling of Surname might be a little different. I found everything I needed and then some; now I find NOTHING,
I hate the place to add names etc. on the right side; I hate that you can't look through other records to see if there is a record with a different spelling, I hate it all.
I had always recommended Family Search to everyone but now I don't like it and I won't even be using it anymore much less recommending it.
Leave it to Ancestry to take over Family Search and ruin it! I guess because it is a free site they had to mess it up.
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Is there anyway to access the old search format? This new format is difficult to use. Half of the filter buttons don't even work!
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Lisa
Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...
Just in passing ...
Short Answer: 'No'.
In relation to, the "Changes" of, the NEW "Search Records"; and, the resulting "Results" page/screen ...
You are certainly not alone ...
We are ALL 'Struggling' ...
And, just in case you, were not aware ...
Here are some FOUR (x4) posts, in date (and, post) order of being posted, from someone, stating, to be part of the 'FamilySearch' Team that, 'Designed'; and, 'Developed", the the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records", which appears, in some of the posts, to give some "Instruction", on HOW to use the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records".
"Ideas" (ie. 'Feedback) Section
15 July 2021
[ 1 ] Discussion 90536
'Category' = Records (Searching And Viewing)
Home > Ideas > Records (Searching And Viewing)
Hello FamilySearch Community! Try out the new update to Record Search.
29 September 2021
[ 2 ] Discussion 103619
'Category' = General User Interface
Home > Ideas > General User Interface
FamilySearch's Updates to the Search Page
https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/103619/familysearchs-updates-to-the-search-page
[ 3 ] Discussion 103620
'Category' = Records (Searching And Viewing)
Home > Ideas > Records (Searching And Viewing)
FamilySearch Employee Responding to Search Page Feedback
[ 4 ] Discussion 103621
'Category' = Records (Searching And Viewing)
Home > Ideas > Records (Searching And Viewing)
FamilySearch Employee Responding to Search Page Feedback
I hope, that some of the information in these posts, may offer some help/assistance.
And ...
There are OTHER posts throughout this Forum, where the instigator of the above posts has responded with, advice; direction; instruction; help/assistance, on the NEW "Results" page/screen, of "Records Search" ('FamilySearch').
Now ...
That Said ...
You may like to ADD, your thoughts/comments, in those particular posts; so that, your thoughts/comments, like those of MANY other UNHAPPY Users/Patrons, ARE 'seen', by the Team, in 'FamilySearch', that 'Designed'; and, 'Developed" the NEW look "Search".
As you can 'see' from those posts ...
DESPITE, all the NEGATIVE 'Feedback', with regard to the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records", from those that matter, the 'lowly' User/Patrons, where the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records", was 'foisted' upon them; BEFORE, being "Fully" released to ALL User/Patrons - 'FamilySearch' RELEASED the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records", to ALL Users/Patrons.
As I already suggested ...
You are not alone ...
We are ALL 'Struggling'; and, NEED "Help", with the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records", which is NOT very 'User Friendly'.
MOST Users/Patrons want the NEW "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records" to be "Reverted" BACK to the PREVIOUS "Results" page/screen, for "Search Records".
But ...
That Said ...
SADLY, I doubt that will happen ...
And ...
Finally ...
'FamilySearch' has made, MINOR "Changes", to the NEW "Search Records"; and, the resulting "Results" page/screen, hopefully such will keep occurring ...
I know, that this may NOT help/assist; but, I hope, that this gives you, some additional, insight; and, perspective.
Brett
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Your new format is totally wretched. Loved the old format. Seriously thinking of paying for a better ancestry research tool that isn't Ancestry. Beginning to wonder if you made your format intentionally unuseable.
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I honestly gave the new format a good try by using it exclusively for 3 solid days. Don't like it. I'm going back to the old format. The reasons are the following: I don't like the side by side events or alternate names, and more importantly the vital info. Believe it or not, the constant movement back and forth is much harder on the eyes. The old format is just easier to look at. Cleaner, not cluttered. The names of the family members are in blue instead of the bold black. If you are working on the page for a long time, the old format is definitely easier to look at.
Another reason I don't like the new format is that the Life Sketch is at the bottom of the page. Many times there is very important information put there and I don't even think to look for it at the bottom of the page.
When attaching a document you don't always want to go back to the document. Most times I want to go back to the original individual's page. Can you add to "GO Back" buttons. One to go back to the document and one to go back to the individual?
If there would be one thing I would change is to separate the name into separate boxes ON THE MAIN INDIVIDUAL PAGE making the Surname it's own box. I've encountered so many times that the whole name in was typed into the first box, or the "Mc" or "Mac" is in with the first names, or JR put before the surname, etc. It's no wonder that some people can't be found when searched. At this time you can look at the all the family members and the name looks correct until you go into their own individual page and OPEN UP THE EDIT. This is really annoying and the only way to catch this error.
And talking about names, I would like to see that all alternate names are listed right underneath the name in the Vital section. Nick names, changed names, the whole kit-and-kaboodle!
There is also another thing that really gets my goat. There is a heading for Christening but not for Baptism. I'm not suggesting that another heading be added. Perhaps the title could read "Baptism or Christening". Christening information is easily attached with the document. But Baptism is added as a separate event. Then most people, including myself, copy and paste it into the christening space. I would like to see it added the same way as the christening where it populates the Baptism or Christening space.
I will say one thing that is soooo much better, and that is that every time I attach a document it doesn't add another tab at the top of the page. I LOVE that about the new format, but that is the only thing. It is not enough of a plus to encourage me to use the new format. Everyday user for many years, Kathie Evans
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FamilySearch
Kedveseim! Nagyon jó, hogy vagytok, de az új keresés, és emlékek blokk (fotók, emlékek, hanganyag, történetek- de főleg a fotók, mappák stb) használata nagyon bonyolult. Kérném, legyetek szívesek egyszerűsíteni rajta, mert így túl bonyolult és nehéz. Köszönöm szépen a munkátokat és a segítségeteket! Üdvözlettel: Vadonné Gál Etelka Ilona
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@K.Evans - correcting, this thread is an older one about the disimprovement of the Search - Records interface and has nothing whatsoever to do with the new person page that you appear to be talking about.
The one thing that you appear to consider an improvement on the new person page is the one thing I consider to be a near-fatal flaw of the new format. As I wrote a few times on other threads, the new inconsistency in the behavior of Source Linker caused me to lose my page three times in five minutes, despite my best attempts at trying to remember to right-click the "review and attach" button. The fact that Source Linker always opened in a new tab used to be one of the very few constants in FamilySearch's haphazard interface. Removing it is a Very, Very Bad Thing.
@EtelkaVadonne Gal wrote:
My dears! It's very good that you exist, but the new search, and Memories section (photos, memories, sound files, stories -- but especially the photos, files, etc.) are very complicated to use. Please simplify them, because right now it is too complicated and difficult. Thank you for your work and help! Greetings from Etelka Ilona Gál Mrs. Vadon.
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Etelka, pontosan mit próbáltál keresni, és mit akartál csinálni az Emlékek részben?
Amúgy van magyarnyelvű része a fórumnak: https://community.familysearch.org/en/categories/magyar
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Köszönöm a javaslatot, utána nézek, kipróbálom, átolvasom... Vadonné Gál Etelka Ilona
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