Release Notes
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Contents
September 19, 2007
With our new 'Build your tree from your address book' feature, you can quickly build your family tree and invite your relatives to join Geni in three easy steps:
1. Import your address book and we will help you find the family members you want to add to your tree.
2. Once you have selected your family members, you or anyone in your tree can then drag these nodes to add them to your family tree.
3. These family members will then be invited to join you in building your family tree.
Try it now - click on the 'Add People' tab of your tree tray and watch your tree grow!
Now you can send a message to groups of your family and friends on Geni. You can add your own custom groups to these predefined groups we have created for you:
- My Immediate Family – Your current spouse or partner and your parents, siblings, and children
- My Family – Your third cousins and closer and their current partners and your current partner's second cousins and closer and their current partners
- My Friends – All of your Family Friends
- Immediate Family of… - The person you select and their parents, siblings, and children
- Descendants of… - The person you select and their direct descendants
Messaging users outside your tree
We’ve added the ability to send messages to users outside of your tree. This feature is a great way to collaborate with other Geni users who share your research interests and to connect with potential family members. Look for ‘Send Message’ links on search results outside your tree.
If you would like users outside of your tree to have the ability to send you a message, make sure you have checked the ‘"Send Message to Me" button’ checkboxes in the Search Privacy section on your settings page.
Photo Enhancements
- The Simple Photo Uploader now uploads full resolution photos, complete with JPEG EXIF data intact
- Click on a photo to view it in full resolution
- You can still use the Advanced Photo Uploader to quickly upload multiple photos
Profile Updates
- Family Friends is now a tab behind your Immediate Family
- Your email address and weblinks have been moved to the left column 'Contact' section
Date of Burial - There is now a Date of Burial field on the edit card and profile of the deceased.
Increased password security - When you forget your password, we will send you an email with a link to reset your password.
Lastly, the relationship pathway will now display direct relationships to you out to 5th cousin thrice removed.
GEDCOM Export
Now when you click the GEDCOM export link, an email will be sent to your primary email address with your GEDCOM file contained in a .zip file. This will prevent a time-out from error occurring when attempting to download your GEDCOM file directly from the site.
September 7, 2007
We are always looking for ways to help our users communicate with us and with each other. As part of this effort we have joined together with Netvibes to create a Geni Universe.
Netvibes is free service which allows you to create a 'personal start page' on the internet. By adding the Geni Universe to your Netvibes page, you can track our Forum, Wiki, Blog, Press, Del.icio.us, and YouTube community pages all from one page.
Visit the Geni Universe.
Read more about Netvibes.
August 23, 2007
People Tagger:
The People Tagger used for tagging photos and for addressing messages has been enhanced:
- The auto-suggest list now contains the 50 family members closest to you sorted by their relationship to you. The relationship is listed next to their name so you can easily identify each person, even with duplicate names.
- To select a person from the list, click anywhere on their name (no more small checkbox).
- Choosing names from the default list when on the album edit page is dramatically faster.
Advanced Photo Uploader
- The photo upload limit on the Advanced Photo Uploader has been increased to 60 photos per upload.
August 3, 2007
Tree Preferences:
We've added a new Preferences tab to the family tree. In it, you'll find several new options for customizing the display of your tree, including the ability to display maiden names -- a popular user request. The new preferences are divided into three sections:
Display
- Four tree layouts - Standard, Vertical, Photos Only, and Names Only
- Choose the number of generations to display, including an option for direct ancestors only (pedigree view)
- 'Flip' nodes over for more detail, right on your tree
- Display deceased relatives with a small black band
- Hide/show yellow arrows, photos, and more
Names
- Four options for how to display maiden names in your tree
- Show/hide display names, middle names, and suffixes
Advanced
- Set minimum and maximum font sizes (designed for better display of very long names)
- Choose from three display quality settings (for better performance on some computers)
- Choose to have the tray pop up only when clicked, rather than when moused over
In addition, we have temporarily removed the ability to message people in other trees. We'll be bringing this feature back soon, with additional security enhancements.
July 19, 2007
Speed Improvements:
We have made a number of changes focused on increasing the speed and performance of your Geni experience. Many of our users, especially those with large trees, should notice improved performance right away. Here are some of the changes we’ve made to make Geni faster.
Tree View Display Change - When you view your tree you will now see ten generations of ancestors displayed—if you’d like to see more click the “View All” link.
One reason for this change is that larger trees take longer to load—prior to this change we had to first calculate the number displayed on each ‘little green tree’. With this change we load your tree first, and then fill in those numbers—this change significantly speeds up the Tree display.
Profile View Change - Profiles of some distant relatives took time to load because of the ‘Relationship Pathway’. Now the profile loads first and then we load the relationship pathway. This means you do not need to wait for the longer relationship pathway to load before viewing or acting on the profile.
You may notice a few other minor changes we have made to accommodate these changes. For example, the ‘Blood Relatives’ count has been replaced by ‘Ancestors’ and ‘Descendants’ in ‘User Statistics’. Also the list view no longer has a ‘Blood Relatives’ option, but we have added an ‘Include Deceased’ checkbox.
Search Privacy Improvements:
Now you have control over the search privacy for every node you add or have added to your Geni tree. You can set the privacy for all nodes you have added in your Search Privacy settings. There are settings for your profile, for deceased profiles you have added, and for living profiles you have added. For additional control, you can enable or disable search privacy for each individual profile you have added. On the ‘Edit Profile’ page of any person you have added you will see a new ‘Searchable by the public’ checkbox you can use to change their public search setting.
Photo Album Changes:
‘My Family’s Albums’ and ‘My Family Friends’ Albums’ have been combined into the new ‘Recent Albums’ sub-tab. Here’s where you’ll find all recent albums created by you, your family, and your friends.
We have also added some additional information when you are viewing a photo album - at the top of every album you will now see a list of each person tagged in that album as well as the album description.
Messaging Improvements:
We’ve given you more options on how you can respond to Inbox messages. You can select Reply All, Reply, or Forward messages you receive in your Inbox.
“My Family” Group
There is a new List View called “My Family”. This is the subset of people in your tree whose birthdays and anniversaries appear in your Calendar, whose locations appear on your Map, and whose Recent Albums you see under the Photos tab. Initially, we have defined this group as your third cousins and closer, plus their current partners, and your own partner’s first cousins and closer, plus their current partners. Coming soon, we will let you define your My Family group.
New Fiancé Partner Option:
‘Fiancé’ has been added to our list of partner types. When you indicate a partner relationship as ‘fiancé’ you can also enter a Wedding Date.
June 23, 2007
Search Outside Your Tree
We have added a new feature to Geni to help you find and connect with your family. You can now search for other Geni users and profiles outside your family tree. Simply search for a name using the same search box you already use you will now see two tabs - Search results 'In Your Tree' and 'Outside Your Tree'.
'Outside Your Tree' search results will return a list of all deceased profiles and all claimed users who have not disabled public search. Depending on the profile's privacy settings you may be able to see who added that profile, send them a message, and add them to your family friends. This is a great way to find other people who may be related to you and grow your family tree.
You can control who may or may not search for you in your Settings - Your choices are 'Anyone (Public)' or 'People in My Tree and Family Friends'. In addition you can specify 'What they can see:'. By default your search results will include your profile photo, current location (city and country), and a button users can use to send you a message or send you a Family Friend invite. You can also display the 'Person who added me' and 'First names of my immediate family (except minor children)' on your Search Result.
June 21, 2007
Geni Inbox
Staying in touch with your family just got easier with Geni’s new Inbox: there's a new Inbox tab at the top of each page for quick access to your messages. (This tab will also display an icon when you have new messages.) There's also a 'Requests' view, for invitations from family friends.
Send a private, person-to-person message to anyone in your tree (and to family friends), by using the Send Message button on the profile page. You can also address a new message to multiple recipients, using the same auto-suggest feature you already use to tag your photos.
Tree Map, Photos and More
Map of My Tree
You can view all of your family's current locations and birthplaces on a global map. Use the familiar Google Maps interface to zoom and navigate around the world. Choose who you want to see on the map including anyone in your family or family friends.
Navigation Tray
Get around your tree with the new tray at the bottom of the My Tree tab. The ‘Navigate’ tab makes it easy to move around in large family trees. Use the ‘Go to...’ tab to jump directly to an individual, just by clicking his or her name.
Photo Enhancements
Move photos between albums To move one of your photos from one album to another, select the ‘Move to...’ link when viewing an individual photo Then, select the destination from a list of your photo albums.
Reordering photos Besides moving photos between albums you can also reorder the photos within an album. Use the ‘Reorder Photos’ link on the ‘Edit Album’ page to easily drag and drop your photos to arrange them.
Batch Messages
You'll now receive a maximum of two daily email digests: one each for birthday reminders and photo activity (new photo uploads, and tags by others).
Send Birthday Reminders checkbox
You can now disable birthday reminders for any profile you can edit. Next to the Date of Birth when editing a profile or viewing more info in the family tree, you will see a checkbox you can use to disable birthday reminders for that person’s birthday.
May 16, 2007
Family Friends
Geni is a tool for understanding and staying in touch with your family. Now Geni can also help you stay in touch with your family friends. When you invite family friends to join your network on Geni they can view your profile and your photos. When your friends join you on Geni you will be able to see their profile and photos as well. You can then leave a comment in your friends’ Guest Books and tag them in your photos. And if they don't already have a family tree on Geni, we'll help them create one!
Because Geni continues to take your family's privacy very seriously, your family friends will not be able to view your family tree or the profile of anyone else in your family. In order to help your friends connect with your immediate family, they can view the profile photo, name, and location of your immediate family. Your family can even invite them to be their family friend too.
Four New Tree Views
In addition to the original 'Tree' and 'List' views we have now added four new ways to view the information in family tree:
Calendar – The Family Calendar lists all of your family's upcoming birthdays and anniversaries. We also tell you how old the person will be on their next birthday and for anniversaries we tell you which anniversary it is (bronze, silver, gold, etc.).
Map - We are excited to announce the release of one of our most requested features, the Family Map! You can view all of your family's Current Residences and Birth Places on a global map. We use the Google Maps interface so zooming and navigating around your Family Map is easy. You can also choose who you want to see on the map - You, Living Relatives, Deceased Relatives, In-laws, Friends.
Index - Another widely requested feature request has been an index of family names in your tree. Simply click on the ‘Index’ link to view a Index of Last Names. The Index lists every last name that exists in your tree as well as the number of people with that last name and a link to view them.
Discussion – Now there is a Tree Discussion Board that will allow you to communicate with anyone on your tree. Messages you leave here can be read and replied to by anyone on your tree. Communication with your family has never been easier!
