Hi everyone! This is segment (Part 3) of Project 1: Getting Started. Under the AC (Ancestry) tab on the home page of The Family History Guide. Here is the link to the page we are working on to customize our Homepage.
Last week we covered the first 2 Goals. Today Go to Project1: Getting Started. 3: Customize Your Homepage. Step1: In the Home page click on the Customize your Homepage.
Sign in to Ancestry then https://www.ancestry.com/ this is where you can select from a variety of widgets and also see how to add it or remove them. You can also rearrange your sidebar to suit your needs. See image below for instructions.
The Family History Guide will also show you how to explore Ancestry's products in Step 2.
You can even add Quick Links to your home page to in Step 3. Here's how right from the page in The Family History Guide:
"In the My Quick Links box, a) Click Add a Link; b) Type or paste the URL of the link you want to save as a Quick Link; c) Type a name for the Quick Link; and d) Click Save to add it to the list. To remove a Quick Link, including any of the defaults. click the trash icon for the link and click OK."
I have found in working with many people at the Library that most of us go straight to the search features on a Homepage. The Homepage is thought of like a front door to get inside. We click on the search button like ringing a doorbell and go immediately in. But in reality the Homepage can be a very good tool as you go forward. The thing is, you don't have to customize your Homepage, but if you do it could be helpful.
I like that you can change it, because if you are working on a particular research project in a given area, you may find yourself having to return to a certain link or widget over and over again. Why not add that widget or Quick Link and then remove it. Then you can add something different for the next project if you like.
I like this feature in Ancestry as it offers a lot of variety that I have not found in other big databased companies so far. All allow you to do various settings and preferences, etc., but Ancestry offers more for the Homepage than I have run across at this point. I have had times when I have been working in Sweden or in Wales or a particular state exclusively for a few months. This is when I feel it would become beneficial to make these change to the Homepage for quicker and easier access to what I need. It makes me think of Life Hacks. You don't know, what you don't know, but if you do know, you can choose to use it or not!
What I love a lot about the Family History Guide is that it points us right to these important features that we didn't even realize existed. Now we know about it and can choose to use it and make discoveries about how it will work for us as individuals.
The illustration above is from Ancestry.com Adding, Removing and Arranging Widgets. Customizing The Homepage.
No comments:
Post a Comment