New login page?

[clintonslayton76]

Of all of the things we need on FTDNA, such as a way to order our Y project SUBGROUPING participants together by PAN, and In Common WITH tool spasming,the waste of programming time to produce a generic "smiling face"s login page, requiring a new bookmark, does not warm my heart.
There are too many things we need more! Does FTDNA need to look like FamilySearch?

[MoberlyDrake]

Just read all the posts on the forum about all the problems and all the things that aren't working, and this is what they do with their time!!!

[abuelita]

new sign-in page design - dissident view

... Does FTDNA need to look like FamilySearch? ...

Yeah, kinda. If it looks slick and attractive on the outside it might attract still more people, and perhaps some real matches, which would be a great favor to people who are adopted and to those who have few, if any, real matches. (Of course the very people attracted to shiny and commercial might not answer e-mails, so ... who knows?)

[Conat]

Yeah, kinda. If it looks slick and attractive on the outside it might attract still more people

But it's the login page, by its definition it is for people who are already customers.

I can see why a slicker front page for the site and, perhaps, the sales page might bring in more customers but I can't imagine there being a huge demand for a better looking login page. What we need is a functional one and the current change degrades that so...

[Carpathian]

But it's the login page, by its definition it is for people who are already customers.

You and we know that, but the administration and their staff doesn't understand that. Someone on their staff was told to redesign the login page. And so they did, and they collected their salary. This sort of redesign is common in most large businesses. It amounts to imposing change for the sake of change, but not of any improvement of anything.

I manage 3 accounts here. Today I tried to log in as usual. It was asking for my "GAP Username". "GAP" is three letters of alphabet soup. No explanation of "GAP" is provided. What does it mean? Apparently only the genius who designed the new page knows what that acronym means.

I entered my site name but it didn't accept it. I had to request my kit number by e-mail, because although it had always been accessible before, it no longer automatically appeared to make the login simple.

Obviously this redesign benefited the person on the payroll who designed the new page, but not those of us who have to use it. There is a GAP here indeed. Can we call this pseudo-progress? I don't know what "GAP" means, but I do know what BS is.

[MoberlyDrake]

Heck, I'm a project administrator, and I'm not sure if the "P" in GAP means project or page, but The "GA" means "Group Administrator". Some group administrators manage large public Y-DNA projects or mtDNA projects, some manage small private family projects. Some of us, who manage the kits of a lot of family members, applied to be group administrators just so we could log in to all our kits at once with one password.

[MoberlyDrake]

But I agree that the term "GAP Username" is going to puzzle many customers, who will think they have lost, or never received, something that they are supposed to have.

Group administrators had a separate sign in page until now. And that was a much better idea, in my opinion.

[Carpathian]

But I agree that the term "GAP Username" is going to puzzle many customers, who will think they have lost, or never received, something that they are supposed to have.

Using an acryonym when no definition has been previously or currently provided is shortsighted to say the least. It amounts to "in group" speak among the cognoscenti of the design team, with no regard for the end user.

[John McCoy]

You're right, the new page is bizarre! And in this time of fake news, fake websites, spam, ransomeware, and phishing, all those gratuitous smiles from people who mean nothing to me does not inspire confidence.

[MoberlyDrake]

I don't like all those photos. The former GAP sign in page was completely blank, except for two boxes, one for the ID and one for the password, just about like 23andMe's current sign-in page for their customers. That's all that's necessary.

[Tenn4ever]

You're right, the new page is bizarre! And in this time of fake news, fake websites, spam, ransomeware, and phishing, all those gratuitous smiles from people who mean nothing to me does not inspire confidence.

LOLOL. Like what do I care about all these smiling faces over there who mean nothing to me (or anyone else). If this was a commercial to encourage someone to purchase the product maybe it would be an effective tool but why do I want to see that as someone already with an account. I want all business.

[Tenn4ever]

But I agree that the term "GAP Username" is going to puzzle many customers, who will think they have lost, or never received, something that they are supposed to have.

Group administrators had a separate sign in page until now. And that was a much better idea, in my opinion.

Acronyms should not be used except as insider lingo. I learned this in basic training classes when speaking to the public. Unfortunately, Family Tree has hired a novice

[Carpathian]

Acronyms should not be used except as insider lingo. I learned this in basic training classes when speaking to the public. Unfortunately, Family Tree has hired a novice

I hope you aren't on 23andme. Several years ago they redesigned their site. It was touted as their "new experience" and was a dysfunctional disaster. They rolled it out with little or no testing. Their team of young designers had the chutzpah to congratulate themselves in their official public blog, including boasting with their names, credentials and photos of their large design team, stating how proud they were of their new creation. It amounted to adding insult to injury. Some customers who dared to complain about it were intimidated and banned.

23andme's design team laughed all the way to the bank, but their customers were stuck with the dysfunctional mess. Now, after several years of their tinkering behind the scenes, it's a semi-functional site, but with many problems remaining.

Will FTDNA follow in their footsteps? Follow the money...

[MoberlyDrake]

I tested my mother at all 3 companies almost when atDNA tests were first introduced. I quit checking matches when the "New Experience" came out and only started again a few weeks ago. I miss many of the old features, but the chromosome browser is wonderful!

By chance a first cousin once removed and a 1st cousin 3X removed of my mother have tested there. I can put the match in the top compare box and then put all 4 of us in the bottom section and immediately see what segments, if any, the match shares with each of us, both graphically and in table form from which I can add the information to my huge spreadsheet of data from both 23andMe and FTDNA.

Even better, if I see a two matches who seem to be matching some of us on the same segment, I can clear our names, put Match A in the top section, match B in the bottom and see what segment Match A and Match B share with each other and that is really great!

I'd love to have the ability to see where two matches match each other here. The matrix tool basically tells us if 2 matches match each other, but not where.

I don't think FTDNA's programmers would be capable of designing such a chromosome browser, any more than they can design fast, easy to navigate trees like other genealogy websites have.

At least they attempt to allow transfers. They don't seem to be able to make that work, though.

I wish they could figure out how to make the shopping cart and the Submit Request feature work in Firefox.

[loobster]

Count me among those who dislike the new login page.