myfamily.com

Latest Photos & Videos

Clicking on the ‘Photos & Videos’ tab will take you to the Latest Photos & Videos page, which shows the most recent items and albums. For each item, this page will show you the number of times it has been viewed and the number of comments added to it. You can also filter to see only photos, videos or albums. The “Albums” view is pictured below.

Album View

Clicking through to an album will show you all of the photos and videos that it contains, the comments that have been left on it, and all of its tags. From here, you can add more items to the album by either uploading new ones or selecting some that have already been uploaded to the group. You can also select to feature the album in the homepage slideshow.

Single View

Clicking through to a single photo or video will display the item, along with the title, description and all comments.

2.5 introduces new navigation controls for photos and videos. In the example above, the user is given three navigation options:

All Photos & Videos
Use this one to navigate through all of the photos and videos on the group.

All Photos & Videos from Nicholas Jones
Use this one to navigate through all of the photos and videos uploaded by Nicholas Jones (i.e. the person who added the item that you’re currently viewing).

Baby Pics
Since this photo is part of the ‘Baby Pics’ album, you can use this navigation option to look through that specific album. If this photo was also in other albums, it would have separate navigation option underneath Baby Pics for each additional album.

Editing Details

Now, when editing an album, you can also easily edit all of the items within that album, including titles, descriptions, date taken and tags.

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Welcome to the new Discussions section. While the notion of discussions remains the same, the presentation has been completely redesigned. Take a look.

All Discussions Page

When you click on your group’s Discussions tab, you’ll be taken to the All Discussions page (above). It displays a list of the latest discussions, contains links to the most active discussions and features a “tag cloud” of the tags most frequently used in discussions. Let’s look at all of these in detail…

Discussions

For each discussion, the following will display:

Title & Message
The title and message of the discussion. Clicking on the title will take you to the single view of that discussion (more on that below).

Creator & Date Created
Who created the discussion, and when. Clicking on the creator’s nickname will take you to their profile page.

# of Views
The number of times that the discussion has been viewed.

# of Comments
The number of comments that have been made on that discussion. Clicking on this link will also take you to the discussion, but directly to the comments area.

By default, discussions are displayed from newest to oldest. Notice the down arrow next to ‘Date’ in the screenshot above. Clicking on ‘Date’ again will reverse the order so that discussions are displayed oldest to newest, and the arrow will be pointing upwards. This reversal can be done on any of the four sorting options:

Recent Activity
This sorts discussions based on when the last comment was added to them.

Date
This is the default sorting option, based on when the discussion was created.

Title
Sorts discussions alphabetically, based on their title.

Author
Sorts discussions alphabetically, based on the person that created it.

There is also a filter option that let’s you display only certain discussion categories. Clicking on ‘Filter’ will display a drop-down menu where you can choose between All, News, History, Recipe, Review and Other.

The final tool on this page lets you toggle between full view and list view (pictured below).

Active Discussions & Tag Cloud

Most Active Discussions shows a list (up to 15) of the discussions that have been commented on the most. In this example, “It’s a boy” has been commented on the most times, so it is the most active discussion in this group.

Similar to the homepage, the All Discussions page also includes a tag cloud, but this one only pertains to tags that are used on Discussions. Clicking on any of these tags will display all of the discussions that contain that tag.

Single Discussion Page

When you click through to a single discussion, you’ll see the entire discussion, all comments and tags, and links to other relevant discussions.

Discussion Comments

A key difference between comments on 2.5 and 2.0 is that we’ve removed the ‘reply’ functionality in order to simplify things. Now everything is a comment, and they will always display in a list from oldest to newest.

The profile pictures that accompany comments are also much bigger in 2.5.

Additional Discussion Info

The Single Discussion page contains additional information:

Discussion Data
Shows you when the discussion was created, who created it, and the number of views and comments. It also includes a link to edit the discussion or delete it (along with all comments). Only administrators and the creator of the discussion will be able to see these two links.

Tags
All tags on the discussion are shown here, along with the ability to add more or delete existing ones (by clicking on the small ‘x’ next to the tag). One key change we have made to the tag feature is that unless you’re an administrator or the creator of the item (discussion, photo, video, etc.), you will not be able to add tags to it.

Most Recent Discussions By Member
Lists the discussions that were created by this member, in order of recency.

Most Recent Group Discussions
Lists the most recent discussions added to the group, regardless of who created them.

Write/Edit Discussion

In addition to being able to create discussions directly on the homepage, you can also add them in the discussions section by clicking on the ‘Write New’ button. The only difference between the two locations is that here, you can add tags to the discussion at the same time that you post it. This is also what you’ll see when editing an existing discussion.

We’ve removed the ‘Text View/HTML View’ toggle from 2.0. Now, if you want to add HTML to your discussion, you can simply type it into the Message box rather than having to switch over to ‘HTML View’. We’ve also included our HTML Guide to this page.

You can still file any discussion you create as News, History, Recipe, Review or Other.

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Our database guy worked his magic, and we now support the migration of 1.0 Files and Albums to 2.0. If you have been waiting to migrate because you needed these on 2.0, now’s the time to do so.

Migration Request Form:
http://help.myfamily­.com/signup/

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As before, only administrators will be able to access the group settings, and can do so by clicking on the ‘Group Settings’ link found on any page.

Group Details

The Details tab is where administrators can change the name of their group and set up a unique, custom URL. Custom URLs are still only available on groups with Essentials subscriptions.

Homepage Announcement

This is where you’ll set up your Homepage Announcement (known as the Welcome Message on 2.0). We’ve added a counter that lets you know how many characters you have remaining before you hit the 4,000 limit. We’ve also put together a brief, collapsible HTML guide that shows you how to add simple HTML formatting to your announcement.

Group Memberships

The Memberships tab lets you set your invitation and commenting permissions, as well as edit Member Types for anyone on the site. The term ‘Guest’ from 2.0 is being replaced by the term ‘Limited Member’ in 2.5.

By default, administrators and members can invite people to the group, and limited members will be allowed to post comments. However, administrators can choose to prohibit members from inviting and limited members from commenting.

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The New Homepage

At first glance, the 2.5 homepage may not look much different from the one on 2.0, but many of the features have been enhanced to be more informative and easier to use. Let’s take a closer look at every element that makes up the new homepage…

Homepage Announcement

As before, group administrators will be able to write a Welcome Message that displays on the homepage. In 2.5, we’ve renamed this feature the Homepage Announcement. It will still support HTML and be limited to 4,000 characters.

Homepage Publisher

While there was a similar publisher on your 2.0 homepage, you could only upload one item at a time and you couldn’t add a new photo to an album. The new publisher does not have these limitations, as it allows you to upload multiple photos and videos into albums (yes, you’ll be able to put videos in albums) without ever leaving the homepage.

As promised, uploading photos and videos is much faster on 2.5. And once your upload is complete, you can go directly to a page where you can create titles, descriptions and tags for everything you just added.

Activity Feed

There are many key differences between the new activity feed and the What’s Happening module from 2.0:

- When a comment is added to an item, that item (along with all previous comments added to it) will now accompany the new comment. Take a look at the example above. You will notice that no comments are alone within the feed, which you would see frequently in 2.0. By grouping everything together, it makes the activity feed much more informative and gives a clearer picture of what is happening within the group.

- Rather than being a static list, items can move to the top of 2.5 activity feed as soon as comments are left on them. For an example, take a look at the activity feed above. The album “Spring 2009″ had appeared at the bottom of the feed because the latest comment was three days old. However, when Wendy commented on it again, it was moved back up to the top of the feed because her comment was the most recent activity to occur within the group.

- Uploading photos into a new album will no longer appear as two separate items within the activity feed, as it did in 2.0.

- Whenever there are more than four comments on an item, the comment list collapses to save space. You can easily expand the list by clicking on the ‘See more comments’ link.

- A new page control replaces the older/newer buttons that appear at the bottom of the 2.0 activity feed. It will allow you to easily jump around between pages in the feed.

Slideshow

The new homepage slideshow allows you to feature entire albums on your homepage. A small overlay displays the title of the photo (only if it has a title) and the navigation tool lets you browse through the photos in the slideshow, as well as pause it. You can also turn it into a full-screen slideshow with just one click. If you do not select an album to display on your homepage, then it will simply display a slideshow of 20 random photos from the group each time you visit the page.

Recently Online

This is an enhancement of the Member List from 2.0. It features larger profile pictures and displays the status of group members. Clicking on the nicknames of any of the members listed will take you to their Profile Page. What appears on that page depends on the profile privacy settings of that member.

Tag Cloud

This displays the tags most commonly used within the group. The bigger the tag appears in this tag cloud, the more often it is being used. Clicking on one of these tags will take you to a page that displays all items on the site with that tag.

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Account Settings

The Account tab is pretty simple. You will go to it only when you need to change your login information, such as username and password. This is also where you will change your account email address, which is where all of your notification emails will be sent.

Profile Details

The Details tab is where you will add/edit specific information about yourself, including your name, birthday and multiple email addresses, physical addresses and phone numbers. In 2.5, we’ve also given you the ability to include your maiden/given name, write whatever you’d like about yourself in the ‘About Me’ text box and add websites to your profile.

Since the only required information on this tab is your first and last name, you can share as much or as little as you’d like. And aside from your name and ‘About Me’ box, you can hide your profile details from members of certain groups (see “Profile Privacy” below for more details).

Profile Picture

This is where you will set up your profile picture for 2.5. Remember, the profile picture you choose here will be used in all of the groups you belong to.

Because profile pictures in 2.5 are larger than they were in 2.0 (and because many users have multiple profile pictures across their various 2.0 sites), you will need to set up a new profile picture in the 2.5 version. Of course, we’ll remind you of this again when the time comes.

Profile Privacy

In the Privacy tab, you will be able to hide your full profile from members of any of the groups you belong to.

In the above example, Wendy belongs to two groups, The Jones Home and The Moreno Family. The members of The Jones Home are her siblings and parents, so she has no problem showing them all her contact information and allowing them to write notes on her profile page. On the Privacy tab, she allows members of The Jones Home to see her full profile.

Any member of The Jones Home will see this profile page…

Group Nicknames

Just like in 2.0, you can use a nickname for any of the groups you belong to. The Nickname tab gives you one consolidated place to edit all of your nicknames.

Email Notifications

Notification preferences have also been given their own tab in 2.5. Your event and activity notification options will not change, but you will be able to choose whether or not to be notified when someone writes a new note on your profile page.

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The New Profile Page

Pictured above is an example of the all-new Profile Page. It will replace your Dashboard as the first page you’ll come to after logging into myfamily.com.

In v2.5, you will have one profile for all of the Groups (a.k.a. Sites) you belong to instead of an individual profile for each Group, which is currently how profiles work in 2.0.

Why We Made This Change:

To Give You More Functionality
In 2.0, you could only change your site Nickname, site Profile Picture and select which personal information to display on each site. Switching over to a global profile allows us to expand on profile features and add functionality that many have requested. (i.e. “Give me a place to display a website,” “I want somewhere to write more about myself,” etc.).

To Make Profiles Easier To Manage
Individual site profiles were also quite confusing for many users. People had difficulty finding their profiles, determining where and how to edit them, and understanding how their changes would be reflected on their sites. A single profile removes the confusion that existed when dealing with multiple site profiles in 2.0.

To Help Us Implement Future Functionality
Currently, administrators of 2.0 sites can only edit the Nicknames and Profile Pictures of members. In order to expand on administrative rights, as well as build other profile functionalities, we needed to transition to a single profile.

Now, let’s walk through the Profile Page in detail…

Global Navigation Bar

While not exclusive to the Profile Page, I wanted to address a few things about the new global navigation, which exists on all pages:

- The ‘Profile’ link will always take you directly to your Profile Page, no matter where you are on myfamily.com.

- The ‘Family Groups’ link is similar to the site drop-down list on 2.0.

- This navigation bar will remain visible as you scroll up and down pages. In 2.0, it stays pinned to the top of the page.

Status Updates

You can now use Status Updates to quickly and easily let everyone know what you’re up to. Your status will appear on your Profile Page and also in the Recently Online list on the homepage of your Family Groups (as pictured below). Don’t worry, we’ll reveal more about the new homepage in a future update.

You can write whatever you’d like in this space, but all status updates are limited to 140 characters and do not support HTML.

Profile Picture

When you choose a Profile Picture, it not only displays on your Profile Page but it also serves as your Profile Picture for every Family Group you belong to. In the current version of 2.0, you have to manually set up a Profile Picture for each Group you belong to. In the new version, you’ll only need to set up one Profile Picture.

Profile Details

The Profile Details consists of two parts:

About Me -
This box can be used to tell people a little bit about yourself, or whatever else you want to use it for (allows for some HTML).

Information -
This is where you can list more specific information, like your Email Addresses, Physical Addresses, Birthday, Phone Numbers and Websites. You’ll be able to control who can see this information (more on that in our next post).

Family Groups

Similar to what you’ll find on your Dashboard, your Profile Page gives you access to all of the Family Groups you belong to. Instead of an alphabetical listing, they are listed in order of when you last visited them (so Groups you visit more frequently appear towards the top). As before, it will tell you the member count for the Group and the last time you visited it.

Profile Notes

Family members and friends can leave notes directly on your Profile Page. This allows for more 1-to-1 communication between users outside of the Group environment. You can choose to receive email notifications when someone writes you a Note, and Notes support HTML, so you can embed photos, videos, etc.

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As you probably already know, we’ve been working hard on a major update to the myfamily.com 2.0 service. Our entire team has been devoted to this project, which is why there hasn’t been any new features added to the current version for quite some time. We really appreciate your input and feedback and of course your patience during this long period of development.

Why The Major Update?
We decided to invest so much of our time and energy into building this update because of these three main reasons:

1. The site needs to be much faster.
2. We need to be able to develop and release new features and functionality much more quickly.
3. We want to make the site much easier to use.

New Architecture
In order to make the site faster, we needed a new site architecture – a new foundation if you will. While this new architecture was a big undertaking that took several months to develop, it will significantly increase the speed and performance of myfamily.com now and into the future and will also allow us to achieve all of the goals outlined above.

New Design
While our developers worked on the new architecture, our design team began addressing usability issues we’ve heard from users, mainly that the site is hard to navigate and finding features and functionality isn’t as easy as it should be. The new design we’ve created is significantly improved, making navigation and overall site usage more intuitive and informative. By making the site easier to use, we anticipate that your family members will visit the site more often and contribute more frequently. While we hope you like the new design, we certainly don’t think we’re done. We expect to continually improve on this front.

What’s Next?
We’ll be sharing the first release of v2.5 exclusively with our Community Site members. If you not already a member of the Community Site, click here to join. Members of this site also get updates and previews of v2.5 before anyone else.

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Check out http://next.myfamily.com to see what’s coming soon to myfamily.com, and come back in the upcoming weeks for more updates.

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Baseball and Eggs have been added to the site theme library of Essentials sites.

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