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If it wasn’t for the fact that Find A Grave provides an unparalleled service to the genealogical community, their website’s design and functionality would be laughed right off the internet! After 3 months of tinkering with the new ‘purple monster’ here are 4 annoying problems with Find A Grave’s new website.
First, let’s start with the ad-heavy interface on Find A Grave. I get that they have to make money to run their website (I do too!) but ad placement is something that should not interfere with the smooth functioning of a reader’s experience while on that site. Too many adds placed in inconvenient locations can lead to what web heads call a “higher bounce rate,” which is people staying on your page for less amounts of time. That’s a problem.
The second critique of Find A Grave’s new website is that I have is that there are huge ads in the right-hand column between the pictures section and the flowers section, it’s kind of annoying as those 2 pieces compliment one another and should resemble an actual cemetery where the headstone is on top and the flowers below it. Solution: move the ad block below the flowers or thin it out so that it’s not as intrusive – in fact, that’s the solution for ALL of the ads on Find A Grave.
The other ad location that I have a problem with is the one at the end of the memorial which relegates the memorial owner/contributor (“created by”) to the bottom of the page below a huge, blocky ad just above the footer; this is an almost criminal formatting decision as this irrevocably disassociates the Find A Grave community from itself. “Anyone seen my noggin?”
Third, what’s up with the “read more” button?!? Straight up, I don’t like these. The whole purpose of Find A Grave, in my mind, is to feature memorials about our loved ones that have passed on and NOT to have a memorial description be placed prominently, front-and-center on the site is, well, kind of ass-backwards. Memorial space is being sacrificed for ad space. “Read more?” Yes, I want to read more! A full memorial description should be the default setting.
The last critique/problem/complaint/gripe of Find A Grave’s new website that I’ve heard from others and have experienced myself is missing information on memorials. Um, major faux pas! This is a minor frustration for me since I only manage 17 memorials; but what about the top contributors that have over 100,000 memorials to their name? I can only imagine their stress.
As someone who has helped many people start their own blogs, I can fully relate to the angst involved in the technical requirements of a relaunch, but this seems like a systemic problem that should have been planned around. I see this as core database issue which cannot simply be “fixed.”
I have only been a Find A Grave user since 2013 and am glad they took the time to bring their website into the 21st century as the old site was practical but super unwieldy with all sorts of scripting problems. I think I was too positive in my initial review of the new FaG site. I know they are working to create the best user experience possible and it takes time to de-bug any new website after it goes live.
However, the thing that sunk my boat, so to speak, was when I saw members on a FB genealogy page who were displaying Find A Grave screenshots to one other still using the OLD site! That’s when you know there are at least 4 annoying problems with Find A Grave’s new website, aka, the “purple monster.”
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Spot on!
👍🏼
Exactly!
On point!!
Excellent.
Let plays “Pick a Reply”
Which Reply will Find A Grave use today?
My favorite is “we were a good… https://t.co/LytpIRJJ6E
Yes!
https://m.facebook.com/SaveFindaGrave/
The new website is embarrassing for everyone involved in building it.
Extremely disappointed.
I’m not a fan of the new site
I know this sounds reactionary but why does everything have to be changed? If it ain’t broke leave it alone.
I totally agree… I hate this new format
I keep finding myself using the old🧐
Spot on!!❤ and to be put on probation for making it a better place!
I don’t like it either! I’ll keep using the old site as long as it’s offered!
Go back to the old one and just do some tweaking here and there, no/ yea
I honestly find it unusable and don’t rely on it anymore.
Agree with you.
There are so many things wrong with the new design it’s hard to believe the coders/designers are professional software designers. All ads should be put in a strip down the right hand side so they don’t intrude on the reason why we use the site. Although there are many big things I hate about the new site one of the biggest is that the names of the people that spent their time/money/family responsibilities as a volunteer and they are given the acknowledgement at the end of the page that most people don’t even get to, shame on the website owners. They are the ones that build the wonderful site that the old site is. Wait until all those volunteers say to the owners to he$$ with you do everything yourself. I still can’t use the new site because every time it pops up the loading spinner keep spinning and the site bogs right down.
Using the new Find A Grave Be like this on loop.
#SAD
My entries are intact on the new site. I’ve asked on multiple threads in multiple groups where people are complaining that information is “missing” on their entries accessed on the new site to either provide links to the entry on both sites or to screenshot the entry on both sites so the reader can view the problem and see what’s missing. NO ONE has done this. Will someone who claims there’s missing information when the entry is accessed on the new site please follow up your complaints with some proof?
My entries are intact on the new site. I’ve asked on multiple threads in multiple groups where people are complaining that information is “missing” on their entries accessed on the new site to either provide links to the entry on both sites or to screenshot the entry on both sites so the reader can view the problem and see what’s missing. NO ONE has done this. Will someone who claims there’s missing information when the entry is accessed on the new site please follow up your complaints with some proof?
Get Ad blocker – it’s free and works wonders.
Some people are not fans of the new site. I do not like having to look for all the information where before it was right on the front page with tabs for other pages.
Some people?
I’d say 90 percent hate it.
I’ve asked Find A Grave and Ancestry to run a poll on Find A Grave Facebook page or Twitter.
Haven’t heard back. Ancestry is embarrassed. Find A Grave web team is depressed. Sad but they knew it was bad.
I rarely review an upgraded site when it first gets the upgrade unless the upgrade was as bad as Find-A-Grave’s was. They need to kill most of the ads. It’s one thing to have a few ads, but once you add as many ads as they put on the old site before the upgrade, it became an ad-fest that only encourages people to go elsewhere. Already other graving sites with fewer ads are starting to reap the benefit as some diehard users jump ship.
At best, I think more people will start using ad blocker programs. I normally don’t use ad blocker programs except on ad-fest sites. You have to be careful since some sites require you disable ad blocking on their sites, but so far Ancestry hasn’t added this restriction. Pretty sure if they are foolish enough to add it, they will find themselves in the middle of a lawsuit because they don’t monitor the ads placed by the company who puts up the non-Ancestry related ads. Too many trojans, malware, and other problems with the non-Ancestry ads.
I think it’s going to take a major CEO change before Ancestry learns why many of the changes to Find-A-Grave are a bad thing.
I only use the old site now, I tried but to many mis places ads, visual the color palette is disturbing. FYI I did put an ad blocker on my system which has helped block the ads.
If they offered an option to get rid of all ads, I would pay for it. Maybe that’s what they’re hoping for. Get us all so frustrated, we’d pay a subscription fee.
I use Adblock on my browser and have never noticed ads as a problem in the new site.
The service is provided free of charge, so you can look at it that way, as to why they have ads. However, if it is too much of an issue, use an ad-block program that will remove the ads for you, at least until they wise up and require you to turn it off on their site. Otherwise, I personally find the new site much improved over the old. But every time websites change their format, it takes people time to adjust, until they change it again, and then they complain about it again!
Find-A-Grave needs to stop encouraging volunteer managers who only do it for the numbers or to gatekeep the memorials for their personal psychological fulfillment!
Find-A-Grave needs to remove the “full control” aspect of their site, as it’s ruining the integrity of the data being disseminated by people who have no care regarding that each memorial is personal information of a human being, which is someone’s loved one! Each memorial is not a personal possession of the manager!
As someone who tries to follow Genealogical Proof Standards (GPS) when adding memorials, it’s a total turn off to continue supplying information to a site, that protrays a facade of community, but then literally perpetuates “bullying” by those who are there to just for increasing their own ego and whatever they lack in their real life. All at the expense of those of us who are actually trying to do quality volunteer work, and anonymously, to boot!