Genealogy Chat

Email received :)


I went through the link from the email: utterly non-user-friendly in appearance.

I cannot say that I am impressed either.

I am on the Beta site at the moment and like others, I find the pale colours on the white background very straining on the eyes.

The strange thing is that the new tree is identical to the production site (or so it seems so far)

So 3 out of 10 for effort.

Jeremy

Well, I have tried over and over again but can't access it whether I type in the password or c&p it.

Hang on a minute....
Looking at the new Home Page. (which is as much of a jumble as ever).

"What do I get with a Free Registered Account?
A helpful community of experienced family historians."

But if you have a free account you can't post on the forums or originate contact with anyone :-S

A bit misleading!

I had the email too, logged in no problem, much prefer the lighter colour, someone said it was white - it's a soft grey on mine, and not 'bright' at all

Husband can actually read things on the site too not something he's been able to do easily before as he is colour blind, the old colours just blurred into nothing.

Perhaps you get different colours with different browsers.

For me though, it was terrible.

And I am now back on the old system.

Having tried to send feedback unsuccessfully I sent a PM to Phil Moir who has replied with some encouraging news:-
The Colour schemes are not final and similar feeback was received from those that visited their offices last week

Jeremy

i have got one not tried to use it yet

First impressions are that it is a major step forward.

Before you do anything, suggest you first size the page correctly for your screen set up by holding down the Ctrl key and moving your scroll wheel up or down so that the page completely fills across your screen with no left / right scroll bar at the bottom.

As far as the lighter background is concerned - brilliant, a breath of fresh air. I gather one of the reasons that the old cluttered background was removed is because it was causing big performance issues as the patterns had to be loaded across the internet to your pc each time you moved about the site.

I also remember there was a barrage of complaints when the current colour and backgrounds were introduced a year or so ago so good on GR listening to all those users who wanted it removing and putting back to something less cluttered.

If you care to read the email you will see that the tree and payment pages are NOT included in the beta release, so little point in making comment that the tree looks the same.

I will be testing the functionality in some detail over the next week or so and I suggest others do the same and report as requested. Lets do this sensibly and objectively without the whinges and moans that sadly often happen whenever there are changes.

Just logged in, I've been out all day, but can see I too have mail re. the makeover.
Will look soon........

Gwyn

Well at least someones happy :-D

Never had a problem when they changed a year or so ago....maybe I did'nt have eyesight problems then?

IGP

"As far as the lighter background is concerned - brilliant, a breath of fresh air. "

So can someone please tell me if , as it appears very pale turquoise text on white on my settings which I can not read, can they be altered ( without altering the colour on every other site?

IGP my post from a thread on the suggestions board

What surprises me is that professional companies like (GR)( brighsolid )are supposed to be,
Have never use alpha and beta testing before a full launch of these New versions

or have i missed something

alpha testing
A very early version of a software product that may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version. Typically, software goes through two stages of testing before it is considered finished. The first stage, called alpha testing, is often performed only by users within the organization developing the software. The second stage, called beta
testing , generally involves a limited number of external users

beta testing
A test for a computer product prior to commercial release. Beta testing is the last stage of testing, and normally can involve sending the product to beta test sites outside the company for real-world exposure or offering the product for a free trial download over the Internet. Beta testing is often preceded by a round of testing called alpha testing.

Philmoir's response was

With regard to testing, we are constantly evolving new functions and features, and it just is not possible to have beta test cycles. although we are planning more of this in the future. Thanks again for the feedback.

Now despite the response i think that GR have listened because this beta version has been launched to give members a chance to try it out and give feedback so i hope members will try the beta site and give as much feedback as possible in the hope that GR can get the site working properly without members having to alter the settings on their PC or browser every time they visit the site

Roy

I got one, think the screens are a bit sparse.

Couldn't reply to messages or access "My Threads" so asked them to sort out the functionality before messing with the appearance.

"Before you do anything, suggest you first size the page correctly for your screen set up by holding down the Ctrl key and moving your scroll wheel up or down so that the page completely fills across your screen with no left / right scroll bar at the bottom."

- by doing this for this one site, would one need to change the size again for other sites?


"I will be testing the functionality in some detail over the next week or so and I suggest others do the same and report as requested. Lets do this sensibly and objectively without the whinges and moans that sadly often happen whenever there are changes."

- what would the functionality be, IGP?

I do wish to be sensible and objective.

My email, username and password provided to test Beta site says I am the first to do so....But it seems to say the same to everyone..

Nothing will have changed on here I think except the colour and I dont really care what colour it is or what changes they make .
I would just like the site to work properly...

Lots of Error messages on Beta test ,as on here,which I DID comment about on my "feedback".

I had the e-mail

Checked the 'new look'.................NO option to use the OLD TREE

The feedback link doesn't work - surprise, surprise!

GR have just signed their own death warrant, as far as I'm concerned

only just switched pc on for ist time today and saw email

memory not being what it used to be - typed in username (with incorrect case as it turned out) then tried to go back to email to check password but would not let me

I too feel the print colour is wrong. My screen (in firefox) does not appear too bright, though I prefer the original, and the size not much different BUT blue print on a white screen is one of the worst combinations for older eyes to read

I had no problem with the feedback email

would not let me look at 'my threads'

but did let me look at 'my watched threads'

and able to edit this post

I got the email as well, but have not looked on the beta site yet.


I do like a background colour and font colour that are easy on MY eyes.

I have had no problems with the current pale green background and darker green font, and find them very easy and comfortable to use for the long hours that I am sometimes on here


so I will have to see what I think of the new colour.


I am having few problems with error messages or submitting postings ......... all fingers and toes crossed that I haven't now jinxed myself ......................

..................... so I hope the same will apply when I do try the beta site.






Reggie ......... the old tree is gone, gone gone.


See Announcements saying it was going TODAY ........


.................... I've seen somewhere a posting that says it went somewhere around 1 or 1:30 pm UK time.





sylvia

Got this email, opened it saw what it was and deleted it

I got the email and logged on.
The white screen will take a bit of getting used to - a bit bright!

I could access My watched threads but got error message for My threads