Sign-In Page
Comments
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@Paul W The Community profile has very limited selections for roles. You are perceptive and yes, I am a FamilySearch employee.
The removal of the stay signed in feature was not done on a whim. There was much investigation and discussion before it happened. It was believed to be a better option for the future. The current setting ultimately keeps a person signed in after not using the site for a specified time which is less than what the previously stay signed in for 2 weeks option would so it is more secure especially for public computers. Is it the final solution for public situations? No. We are still looking at other options there.
Also, after further investigation, it is a standard browser feature delete the cookie connected to being signed into FamilySearch when a browser is completely closed. Some options to work around this are:
- close tabs instead of the browser when wanting to work on something else and planning to come back to FamilySearch later. Many browsers have options like close all tabs to the right or after this if you right click a tab.
- Firefox (for Windows, since default on Mac) has an option to not close the browser if you close the last tab.
Specifically using the Sign Out option will also require you to sign in the next time you use FamilySearch.
If you like how Facebook or Google keeps you signed in longer, you can choose to use one of them to sign into FamilySearch instead. Using the sign in option for another system will use their rules for how long you can stay signed in instead of FamilySearch's.
Getting kicked out less than an hour (old inactivity setting), resigning in when switching tabs, or having to reset password each time you try to log in is not how the system should be working. FamilySearch Support can try to help you work with these issues or escalate to engineering.
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Thank you very much for your response, including clarifying your position as a FamilySearch employee.
As I have highlighted in earlier posts, the issue that affects me most (since I always found "2 weeks" meant "one day", through my personal experience) is the current inability of restoring separate Family Tree tabs when my browser offers me the option to "Restore previous session". I have not changed any of my browser settings, so assume this must be a FamilySearch issue. Obviously, I have now learned to accept the new behaviour, but did find it annoying to find that opening multiple FT tabs now merely takes me to one page! I was / am quite okay with signing in multiple times - but not if it does not achieve its purpose of reopening the pages I'd being working on, thereby finding myself exactly where I was before shutting down my PC the night before.
However, thanks again for your kind interest, and assurance that this is not necessarily the final version of the revised sign-in page / procedure.
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@ketherin - c said:
"... The removal of the stay signed in feature was not done on a whim ..."
I don't think anyone ever thought it was.
" ... The current setting ultimately keeps a person signed in after not using the site for a specified time which is less than what the previously stay signed in for 2 weeks option would so it is more secure especially for public computers. ..."
Can we break this down into two?
Firstly, "public" computers - by which I take it we mean "shared" computers. I would agree that the new tactic of not allowing continual sign-in is preferable for these.
Secondly, non-shared computers. I fail to see how the new tactic is more secure for non-shared computers. Indeed, the blog article majored on the explanation being...
" ... We’ve listened to a lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in consistently. ... "
That's a different reason altogether. So how, for non-shared computers - i.e. home PCs - does FS think that the new set-up is more secure?
" ... it is a standard browser feature delete the cookie connected to being signed into FamilySearch when a browser is completely closed ... "
As I said previously, I have Firefox set to not delete cookies when my browser is completely closed. Ancestry keeps me signed in. FindMyPast keeps me signed in. FamilySearch apparently can't. This seems a little strange. Can FS work towards an Ancestry-type solution?
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@Adrian Bruce1 There are some cookies which get deleted no matter what, based on the type of cookie it is, when your browser is closed even when you have selected to not have cookies deleted in your settings. At this time, FamilySearch does not plan to change the sign in cookie information so it can remain when a browser is closed.
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One other point. Although this might seem trivial, nevertheless it is not my usual experience that the Show Password ("eye" icon) function does not operate until the first character is entered. Others will confirm whether this feature (long-awaited on FamilySearch) is unique in the way it works on the FS website.
Otherwise, I wonder why the engineers (as with other coding) seem not always to wish to conform to widely used website programming practices .
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@Paul W Although it's not exceedingly common to hide the eye icon until the first character is entered, it's hardly unique to FamilySearch. One site that does this is Facebook.com, and Instagram does the same. United Healthcare (uhc.com) and Metlife.com do it, too. I surveyed about 20 sites and found those 4. Not a majority by any means, but certainly not unheard of.
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Thanks for confirming that, Alan. I had not encountered it myself so - not wanting to appear overcritical of a (Show Password) feature that has, at last, now been added to the website - I withdraw my remarks on the subject!
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when I enter my username and hit tab or return one time, it automatically highlights "forgot username" and then a screen comes up to "Find My Account"
it would be nice if it automatically went to "Password" when you hit tab or return once and it does not
you have to hit tab or return twice and it is very annoying
thanks
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Regarding that eye icon, from the repeated pleas to have it over the past years, I would assume that the same people who really wanted to have it are the same people that would be most confused by the icon appearing and disappearing. I really think the designers should reconsider making it permanently visible.
I also like the darker icon that appears on the sign in page for the Church website:
It's just enough easier to see to be without being excessive.
For contrast, here is the FamilySearch sign in version with the first letter of a password typed:
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Ok. We are starting to discuss multiple issues here. The comments about the eye icon should have started a new discussion to keep this one clean related to the original stay signed in being removed comment.
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OK. That can be done.
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Please bring back the 2 week sign in option. Even with browser-stored usernames and passwords, it's cumbersome for users to have to login every day, or multiple times a day. And the third-party Facebook/Google/Apple options are even more unappealing. Why does FamilySearch need access to my credential from another app? FamilySearch cites security as justification for removing the 2 week check box, but security of my own account is on me, not on FamilySearch. If I want that security, I just won't check the 2 week login box. Since literally anyone can create a FamilySearch account, why would anyone care about my account, which I only log into from my own personal computer.
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Bring it back. It's very annoying to have to log in every single time, every day. This change makes it LESS likely I will use your site. There's nothing user-friendly about this change. I completely control who uses my computer - - and since they dog can't type, it's pretty secure.
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Many of the senior patrons have had trouble accessing family search since family search is the last option. It should be family search first and then "or" for the other methods of login. This has caused many of our patrons trying to log in with the incorrect password because they are trying to sign in by the first tabs.
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Hopefully, the engineers are taking note of all the complaints relating to the new sign-in page / procedures.
Regarding this issue, it's almost as if (are far as the page design prioritises choices) a straightforward, direct sign-in to a FamilySearch public account should be the least favoured option when we wish to access the website.
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On all my browsers, the user name box is active. So until things change again, try to encourage them to click the sign in link then when the sign in page loads just starting typing. Do not click anything. I hope that works that same way with browsers in Windows as it does on my machine.
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@Gordon Collett said...
"... On all my browsers, the user name box is active ..."
Firefox and Chrome act the same when accessed from my Windows 10 PC. In other words, when I reach the sign-in screen, the focus is on the user-name box, so any typing goes straight into that box.
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I am having the same issue, the checkbox for the sign in on the main site has disappeared. I am now having to sign in every day, plus the new sign in page is a real nuisance. It wants you to sign in using every social media sign in available, giving short shrift to the actual FamilySearch sign in, which itself now works very sporadically. Why do things that work perfectly well always have to be "upgraded" so they don't?
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I was quite happy with being able to sign in and stay signed in for two weeks, now I am being asked to sign in every few hours. Every family history website I use allows me full access even after I have had my computer switched off over night, surely that is normal? Therefore I do not understand why FamilySearch has to be so different.
I am not interested in using Facebook or any other social media, I am not interested in signing in with Google because it follows me and ads pop up where I don't want them, in spite of having Adblock.
I use Norton password manager which has also recently changed so that it no longer automatically signs me in, I now have to click twice to get it to sign me in.
I find this signing in change totally inconvenient and time wasting, please consider allowing us to remain signed in until we either sign out or switch off.
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I don't know if you are misunderstanding the issue raised by @Mary Elaine Callaway Seimears, but it appears to relate to the FamilySearch public account sign-in option being at the bottom of the list.
"...many of our patrons trying to log in with the incorrect password because they are trying to sign in by the first tabs"
The problem appears to be that they are trying to sign in through the first option - Facebook - so getting their password wrong. They are just not noticing that they should be signing in via the boxes at the bottom of the new page.
To us, the procedure might seem clear enough, but the patrons referred to probably hardly ever use the internet and just when they thought they were capable enough of at least signing into FamilySearch the whole page gets changed and they just automatically try to sign in from the (Facebook) link at the top of the page!
Regardless of any discussion on the "eye icon" and "2 week sign-ins", I believe this further illustrates the poor page design and the need for it to be totally revamped to suit the needs of all, but especially those very inexperienced in using the internet.
Surely, it is essential to reposition the FamilySearch sign-in to the top of the page, as well as the having the Show Password (eye icon) appear as it already does on the Sign in with Church Account page - fixed, not to appear only after hitting the first character (of ones password).
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As a point of interest, I just signed in through a Church Account, which overcame the Show Password issue, but found it a little more awkward to navigate to Family Tree using that method! (The system can recognise I am not a Church member, of course, so I (eventually) got to the same Family Tree pages as I view from my public account - no temple / ordinances details, etc.
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Since it is going to take some time for the designers to address all these complaints, if they ever do, by revising the sign in page, my comment was just to point out that for now when helping people sign in that it works best to try to get them to quit clicking anything when first coming to that sign in page but to just start typing.
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There is more than one type of complaint here and they are lost. If it is not specific to the stay signed in being removed, including field order and other things, it should be a different discussion.
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Signing in once a day should be the norm for FamilySearch now unless you have add-ons/extensions deleting cookies, closing the browser, or using the sign out function. All of these exemptions will make you need to sign in again and more than the norm.
If you are having to sign in more than that, then FamilySearch will need more information like how many times, what pages are you on, what type of device are you on, and what browser including version are you using. If you don't want to post that information here, then you can use the other contact options after clicking your location at https://www.familysearch.org/en/fieldops/familysearch-support-contact-us
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Unless you or someone is specifically testing, figure out what sign in option works and just use that going forward.
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@ketherin - c - thanks for providing that information, which has been sadly lacking up to now.
You said "Signing in once a day should be the norm for FamilySearch now unless you have add-ons/extensions deleting cookies, closing the browser ... "
I don't know what other people do, but, as I think I've shown above, I habitually close my browser several times a day, therefore I'll need to sign in up to several times a day. It feels, therefore, inaccurate to portray "once a day" as a norm for people like myself.
Further, I need to place on record my opinion that the change has not improved the security of my data within FamilySearch.
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Totally agree. I use this site a lot and every time I close my browser I have to log in anew on the next visit, even a few minutes. Now I understand that genealogy sites are having some security problems recently, but you can certainly find a way to let us "stay logged " that will work for all of us. Thank you!
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How funny... I was just coming into the Community page to suggest the same thing. Please bring back the "keep me signed in for 2 weeks" button. It was very helpful!
And, I guess I will also mention that I am not interested in using Facebook or Google to log in for the same reasons as were mentioned in the original post. I don't care for how invasive they are when it comes to marketing. However, I see that we do still have the option to log in without using them...So, thank you for that... So, I guess in that regard I will just say, please continue to allow us to log in without using them.
Many thanks for all your hard work!
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This requirement to frequently login makes family search makes not sense.
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The newly redesigned Sign In Page requires multiple steps that the old design did not require: 1) After bookmarking the Sign In Page, the link only takes one back to the site Welcome page, requiring a click to get to Sign In dialog.
2) The Sign In dialog is so spread out with unnecessary spacing requiring scrolling down to log in with using idea.
3) The stay logged in option is gone making it necessary to log in multiple times.
Need to go back to the old design. If you don't want to do that, you need to compact the dialog to eliminate the need to scroll. The optional ways to log in needs to be beside log in with password instead of being stacked up.
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