FamilySearch.org New Look

If I had just gone into the actual FamilySearch.org website last night, when I was looking up my grandfather on the IIGI, I would of seen the new look for FamilySearch.org. As it was, it wasn't until I came home from work today that I saw it. It was like WAHOO!! has FamilySearch.org got a face lift, and it looks beautiful on her.

I could just smell the excitement in the air. You know things are really happening now. I'm sure the face lift was in prep for when the tree portion is added from the current new FamilySearch. I honestly didn't think we would see all this integration until the old FamilySearch was going to be officially replaced by the current new FamilySearch. It just appears that FamilySearch.org can just simply add a tab with the tree port from new FamilySearch whenever it is ready.

I just had to test out all the tabs and see what's new.

• There is a link to the pilot.familysearch.org project which is called Records Search. This had been recently added to FamilySearch.org with a big ugly orange box. I guess it did it's job by getting people's attention. It has found a nice home now. If you weren't aware of Records Search it is the end results from FamilySearch Indexing. You can search the indexes created and view original documents. We are indexing the granite mountain vault microfilms so this is a massive project and currently in pilot format.
  
• There is a link to volunteer or work on FamilySearch Indexing. I noticed that the link takes you to a new page. Not the current www.familysearchindexing.org site. I wonder why it doesn't directly take you there but has a new page? Will one page eventually go away? Seems silly to have two websites to sign up on.
• You can now search the Family History Archives. This is the books project that started over at BYU. They started by digitizing 5,000 family history books. I have no idea how many have been digitized now. You could find them linked in the Family History Library Catalog if you stumbled upon them by chance. I'm sure many did not have the direct address to search just in the books - well now they do! Nice addition.
• There is a link to Websites - that are useful in your research. It's been a while since I looked at this page on FamilySearch.org. Have they added more - it appears so. If not this is a great place to add someday the Family History Library links that are only available at the FHL for download. Great collection of bookmarked links that everyone needs access to. I hope to see this page added to in the future.
  

It's obvious that the new design for FamilySearch.org is still being worked on. If you go under Help>Product Support you can still see the old tab design. It would seem reasonable that we will see more changes over time.

One thing that I noticed obviously missing from FamilySearch.org is the Wiki. I wonder why they haven't included it yet? It really needs more publicity. I keep meaning to blog about it but I haven't had time to yet. You can look at the Wiki at wiki.familysearch.org. This is a great tool to find all the research guides and information on working on your family history in different locations. The beauty of a wiki is that users can add their knowledge to it for the benefit of those that come after them. The wiki is still in beta format so maybe it's not ready for prime time. Who knows we could see it added in the next couple of days for all I know. FamilySearch is just full of surprises.

I just wanted to tell FamilySearch that I love the new design. Much more modern and pleasing to the eye. The layout is basically the same as before so it's not hard to find things. I very much appreciate having to go to one link to look at all the resources. Keep up the good job. I know there is more to come. YIPEE!!!

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!