Updates at Footnote.com

The folks at Footnote.com have made several improvements to the system today. The changes include:

A revamped viewer

It looks similar to the old viewer, but has an all new back end that is faster, smoother and does a better job with large images. It also allows everyone to get to existing connections or make connections in the viewer, share images (including all-access members sharing free access to premium images).  It also supports smaller monitors.

Improvements in the Gallery

The main addition here is the ability to rearrange items in the main gallery or in an individual collection.

A baby step toward a new search

As previously announced, Footnote.com will replace the old search engine with an all-new design. The first step of that was implemented today, although most users probably won't notice a difference.  The changes implemented today include a search that will do an "and" search by default.

It also will do some simple stemming. For instance, when searching for the word "president" it will also search for "presidents" (with an "s") and vice-versa.

Once these simple changes are tested for a while, extensive changes will be added.

You can test all this yourself at http://www.footnote.com.

Comments

[Ryan]

Dick,

Why do you promote footnote so hard? Is it because they sponsor the newsletter or is there another relationship to the company? Don't get me wrong, I like what footnote is doing and hope they succeed. I was just wondering.

[Dick Eastman]

Because (1.) the sponsor this newsletter and (2.) they are an up-and-coming service that is making a lot of changes as they mature. When they make a significant change, I usually write about it. Of course, I do the same for lots of other online services as well, as you can see from my recent articles about MyFamily.com at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/11/myfamilycom-20.html and World Vital Records at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/11/worldvitalrecor.html and Newberry Library at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/11/newberry-librar.html and many others.

I would hope to always write about changes that are of interest to many genealogists.

- Dick Eastman

[Ryan]

I am grateful for what you do ... I always feel up to date reading your newsletter.

[Happy Dae]

I think you'll find that Mr. Eastman promotes technology that helps genealogists. He doesn't shy away from genealogy-related social issues, either. I appreciate these entries and when I take issue with something, I post as did Ryan. Heck, sometimes my opinion has even changed due to reading the entries and the comments. How is that such a bad thing?

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com/ssg1.htm