Family links in top of profile gone

Example?
You are still listed with that.

Checked the tree-view to see if there are any connections?

This is part of the new profile design that we're testing (Noah Tutak mentioned it in his discussion about the recent releases: "Finally, we're testing a new profile layout with some users. If you are one of the randomly selected users, you'll notice that some profile modules have been moved around to make a cleaner profile. Depending on the feedback, we hope to roll out this new profile to all users soon.") -- for some users, the immediate family is now only viewable on the Overview tab.

Thanks Michael for the info!
I just happened to have a window open on the profile before the change, and was able to do a screendump of that + the same profile after pushing "reload".

Here are the pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=227390&id=568941149&l...

I guess that makes my feedback be "negative" for that particular change!

That profile is actually a really good example of why we're considering this change -- his immediate family list is so large that it takes up the entire screen shot. You can't see any of the content in the tabs, unless you scroll down.

Relationships is the most important information we have on a profile, so I definitely don't want it removed.

Why not remove the "Immediate Family" section instead?

Don't remove either!

When Noah and I discussed this, the context for wanting to remove it is that on profiles with which you're already familiar, you don't read that section every time but it pushes all the other content down (very far down, if it's one of these historical profiles with dozens of duplicates).

I'm not committing to anything but just as a suggestion, what if we limited each row to 2 or 3 names, plus that "and nnn more" expanding link?

I was thinking yes perhaps some and then expansion for the rest.

but anyway why not just do it for historical profiles?

p.s. I see the point of not wanting long lists but also adding that in general I agree with Maria, Bjørn, and Harald on this.

I may be biased by the nature of my current habits, but that section is exactly what I read every time I go to one of those profiles - to figure out what's changed, so that i know which new relationships to cut, merge or alter.

I also frequently jump around in trees I know very well without going to the graphic tree representation, because the profiles load faster than the Flash trees - I can hit father / father / father from a profile faster than I can hit "show tree" / navigate-to-great-grandfather (usually a couple of tree loads) / "show profile". So it acts both as critical information and as my navigation box.

What about, instead of removing it, making it twice as wide, letting it own the space under the menu? I have my opinion about using space for the Facebook "like" button, and that opinion is not "like".....

I agree that moving the immediate family from the top of the page down to the middle is the biggest change that we've made. I really like everything else about the 'new' profile, and I hope you do as well.

Not having the immediate family info at the top of the page was very difficult for me too at first. Now that I have been using the new profile for a few weeks, I'm much more used to it. Please make sure that you change the immediate family module to 'text view', this is what you are used.

I'd like everyone who is in the test group to give the new format a week, and then let us know what you think. We're certainly open to further modifications.

I don't have the new experimental format, but one thing I want is to see MORE space for the About Me text. It used to be larger but then in the last format change it shrank. And now it's not deep enough--we need about another inch. Even though it opens out with a click, the first glance is all that most people see. And they need to see a bit more.

Also, could you make it so that editing About Me can be done with one click (as it is now the first time; after that you have to go through the Edit Profile links and it's time consuming)?

@Pam Wilson
Those are great suggestions. I agree with them both.

More space on About Me and formatting capabilities!

Then we can start a "pimp my profile" thread.

Don't remove the immediate family section! Expand it, move it around like Alvestrand suggests, but DON'T move it, it's very important!

I'm also all for formatting of About: BBC or anything that will not give too much clutter (I don't want the mess typical for MySpace profiles ...). Expand the default view to make it at least twice as large as the current view.

How does everyone feel about a collapsable immediate family module above the profile tabs? This would replace the immediate family module on the overview tab.

If we make this change, I think we can expand the about me module as well, maybe double it. As far as profile edits, I want to rethink it altogether, not just for about me.

Would the state of the collapsible family module be sticky, just as choice of tab is today? If so, that would satisfy my desire.

(I don't really like the tab choice to be sticky - most of the time when I move to a different profile, I'd prefer to go to "overview" - but a sticky choice on whether or not "family" tab was open or close would let me open it once and then use it as I did before the change.)

Hi Harald,
You and I and many more are the "lucky" Guinea pigs in an experiment that was started without asking any input from those of us in Geni who are very active and could have "told them so" before even starting it.
See my similar outcry at:
http://www.geni.com/discussions/6000000009915964164

The most important thing that has to show in every profile is: father, mother, all wives and other relationships that resulted in children, and all the children.

Seemingly, all of these are great suggestions that can all be implemented in the users settings.
Why don't you just make the settings more flexible in this area? I.e. have a setting for showing immediate family above the tabs (or maybe just a setting for having it expanded by default or not), a setting that changes whether or not the you stay on the same tab when moving between profiles.

I've always wished Geni's settings were more powerful in the way a user can change the way s/he views the site, maybe this is a good time to start changing that? Then again, there is beauty in simplicity... What do you guys think?

We've discussed a wide range of customizable settings, even as far as setting your own backgrounds and rearranging the modules on the page. What we always come back to, however, is that we need to create a consistent experience for our users. It's very difficult to collaborate with someone who's not seeing the same things you are.

Ok, that does make sense....

Whatever the case may be, I've noticed that the family links have changed again. This time, they're back up at the top, but collapsed so as to be hidden. You can oipen them up and then it will stay like that when you move from page to page. I like it!

Yes, we put it back (in the default-contracted form) in response to everyone's feedback.