It occurred to me after making the previous video, that you may not be getting the highest resolution version of document images when you download them from Ancestry.com. If you aren’t selecting the 200% resolution version you’ll want to see this video to learn how it’s done.
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Other Software
Want Faster Image Downloads from Ancestry.com?
If you aren’t using Ancestry.com’s advanced viewer yet you need to see the results I got when I tested it—sorry, no support for Mac browsers. As the chart below shows, an image that took 21.9 minutes to load with the standard viewer on Internet Explorer 8 took only 6.9 minutes when using the advanced viewer. Firefox did even better, loading the same image in only 1.7 minutes with the advanced viewer. The test image was a 1920 census page at 200% resolution.
The accompanying video will show you, click-by-click, how to install the advanced viewer. It will also demonstrate the features you can use once you have it installed.
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Is Family Tree Maker for Mac Too Expensive?
“Why is the Mac version of Family Tree more expensive than the Windows version?” I’ve read the question in the comments here and on Twitter. Here’s the scoop and thanks to GenealogyTools member Roger, the secret to a significant discount:
The Mac version price is higher because in bringing Family Tree Maker back to the Mac, Ancestry have had to pay to convert the program (a process called porting). They’ve got to pay for this expense and let’s face facts, Mac using genealogists are a tiny minority. That means the cost is spread across a much smaller group so the price will be higher.
We can complain, but it won’t do any good. We can refuse to buy it in protest, but that may simply lead to them leaving the market again. I think it’s better for us to have more competition. That’s why I welcome Family Tree Maker to the Mac.
On to the secret to a greater discount.
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New Ancestry.com Suggested Records Feature
Ancestry.com is beta testing a new feature called suggested records. When you’re looking at a record, it displays a list of records that other people have attached to the same person in their tree. During the beta testing it only appears for 1900 US census and WWI draft registration records.
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The Dangers of Judging Reliability by Source Presence
Relying on sources as a soundness indicator in genealogy is like trying to understand a court case, but only having the witness list and the verdict. Sure you’ll know the outcome and you’ll know who was called to testify, but you won’t be able to understand why the decision was made. You won’t know what was asked nor what answers were given by whom. You won’t have a sense of the veracity of the testimony. And you won’t be able to get your own sense of whether the right decision was made. It’s the same thing with genealogy.
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