Visit JewishGen’s New Website!
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JewishGen is pleased to announce our newly designed website at www.JewishGen.org. We commissioned the creation of a new landing page to serve as a launching point for the main components of the website. The site is built on a modern, secure platform, which is beneficial for a number of reasons, including:
This is not the final plan. It’s a stop-gap redesign that addresses some of the shortcomings of our website by creating a visually appealing, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate homepage that researchers can utilize to find key components on the JewishGen site. While we attracted approximately one million unique visitors to the JewishGen site last year, only a small portion of this group actually registered or became regular users. We anticipate that an enhanced website will improve these results. Specifically, we hope the new landing page will help guide researchers to:
Over the next two months, we will begin crafting a proper technology strategy, which will include our website and databases. In the meantime, however, this new landing page will immediately help researchers, while also demonstrating JewishGen's strategic focus. Thank you to everyone on our staff and volunteer leadership team for their suggestions and contributions to making this happen. Special thanks to Scott Seidenstock, Gary Sandler, and Warren Blatt. Please enjoy the site and visit www.JewishGen.org now. Feedback and suggestions will be most welcome! Nancy Siegel Communications Coordinator JewishGen.org |
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juliana.berland@...
Hello all. A few comments
about the new site as it is still being tested & developed:
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On the page https://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen/Who.html, the first sentence has a typo "JewishGen serves as-as the global home..." (I didn't check elsewhere, this was just a chance sighting.) The footer on the new design (for pages such as https://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen/Testimonials/) needs work -- it shows too many copyright dates, lists the Wordpress back-end information in 2 different places, & Richard Baum's name is not capitalized. regards, Juliana Berland On 31/07/2019 18:09, Nancy Siegel
wrote:
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Juliana Berland <juliana.berland@...>
One thing that I'm bothered by is that when you go to the new site,
there should be something at the top to allow you to login, no? I
shouldn't have to click all over the place trying to figure out
where to log in.
regards, Juliana Berland |
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Avraham Groll
Thank you Juliana. We appreciate your comment and suggestion - we are planning to add a "login/register" menu button, and hope to have it online soon. Thanks for helping us test the site and these groups - and please continue to submit feedback! Avraham On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 3:54 PM Juliana Berland <juliana.berland@...> wrote:
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Avraham Groll Executive Director JewishGen.org Edmond J. Safra Plaza | 36 Battery Place | New York, NY | 10280 646.437.4326 | agroll@... Visit us at JewishGen.org |
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Avraham Groll
Update: we have added a "login/register" button, but we are still testing it. You can view our test site here: www.JewishGen.org/New. Thanks for any further suggestions! Avraham On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 3:56 PM Avraham Groll <agroll@...> wrote:
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Mark Jacobson
Hi Avraham, Nice new website design. One thing I miss from the old version is the simple box to search for a town name. I see the link to the Communities Database and that is great, but a direct search box to input a town name to find town pages was something I liked to use for a quick search. This new message system is very interesting and seems to work well so far. It is nice not to have to go to plain text (something I would always forget and have my message bounced back to me) and have the ability to insert attachments. Mark Jacobson Past President, JGSPBCI Gesher Galicia Board member JRI-Poland Town Leader Boryslaw and Drohobycz Ukraine SIG Town Leader Belaya Tserkov Boca Raton, FL
On Wednesday, August 7, 2019, 04:10:23 PM EDT, Avraham Groll <agroll@...> wrote:
Update: we have added a "login/register" button, but we are still testing it. You can view our test site here: www.JewishGen.org/New. Thanks for any further suggestions! Avraham On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 3:56 PM Avraham Groll <agroll@...> wrote:
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Lorraine Rosengarten
Thank you for adding the login on the new JewishGen site.
Any plans for a JewishGen app? Lorraine Rosengarten |
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Avraham Groll
Thank you for the feedback, Mark. We greatly appreciate it.
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We will make a note of your suggestion in terms of the search box, and glad you are enjoying the new discussion group system. Please continue to send feedback! Avraham On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 07:20 PM, Mark Jacobson wrote:
On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 07:20 PM, Mark Jacobson wrote:
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Avraham Groll
Lorraine, Thank you for your message and suggestion. Based upon our research of what could be most useful to users, along with analyzing the costs involved in creating a properly run (and sustainable) APP, etc., we created a strategy to focus on mobile responsive interfaces (such as our new landing page on the website, and these discussion groups). An App is still something we would like to do, but it probably won't happen in the short-term (barring a significant gift to cover the development of such an App). Thank you again, and please continue to share feedback. Avraham On Thu, Aug 8, 2019 at 10:11 AM Lorraine Rosengarten <lorrosen@...> wrote: Thank you for adding the login on the new JewishGen site. --
Avraham Groll Executive Director JewishGen.org Edmond J. Safra Plaza | 36 Battery Place | New York, NY | 10280 646.437.4326 | agroll@... Visit us at JewishGen.org |
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Here are two suggestions about searching for towns that I hope can be implemented as the website is developed. If I want to look for a town that's more than 10 miles from a given place, I need to do a Radius Search. But I think the only way to get to the Radius Search page is from https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/, the Communities main page. Neither the Communities page nor the Radius Search page is on the list of all databases (perhaps because they do not involve different databases). The Communities page is accessible from https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/Search.asp, the Town Finder page.
Also, a Radius Search requires starting from a particular latitude and longitude, which makes sense. But if, for instance, I have found a good starting point by locating what I think is a town in the same area and have its latitude and longitude, I cannot copy and paste those coordinates into the Radius Search dialog. Alan Shuchat Newton, MA |
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Phyllis Kramer
alan posted: Also, a Radius Search requires starting from a particular latitude and longitude, which makes sense. But if, for instance, I have found a good starting point by locating what I think is a town in the same area and have its latitude and longitude, I cannot copy and paste those coordinates into the Radius Search dialog. but alan...the latitude/longitude is 4 digits. just type them in...no need to paste. On Thu, Aug 8, 2019 at 9:49 PM Alan Shuchat <ahs613@...> wrote: Here are two suggestions about searching for towns that I hope can be implemented as the website is developed. If I want to look for a town that's more than 10 miles from a given place, I need to do a Radius Search. But I think the only way to get to the Radius Search page is from https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/, the Communities main page. Neither the Communities page nor the Radius Search page is on the list of all databases (perhaps because they do not involve different databases). The Communities page is accessible from https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/Search.asp, the Town Finder page. |
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Ariel Parkansky
Hi Avrami,
I like a lot the new design of the home page, congratulations ! Here are some thoughts about it: - On the previous version I was able to enter directly from the home page to the JGFF, Viewmate, Kehilalinks, databases... through the submenus under databases and research just on top of the page. Now I have to scroll down, search for the right icon and sometimes navigate through 2 pages to reach the same destinations. It would be nice to keep the quick links on top for experienced users. - When I navigate to another page, it's a big contrast between the looks of the new home page and the other pages that keep the same old look. Are you planning to migrate all other pages to the same template ? Concerning the new discussion group beta, I like also its looks but I see some drawbacks to the previous version: - I cannot answer or post directly from my mail. I have to navigate to the new platform in order to do it.That means more work for the same result and that could generate less posts from the users. - In addition, I need to create a new identifier in order to post (so now I need two different ones to deal with JG). - As I post directly on the site. How will moderators control it? Will it be published until the moderator reviews it? Before, the moderators would ensure what reached the users. - If posts are available until review, the possibility to add links on the posts could have some security risks. Best, Ariel |
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Rachel Kolokoff Hopper <r-hopper@...>
Hi Ariel, I can’t help you with your questions about the new website but here are some answers for your questions concerning the new discussion group. You can send messages to this group from any email client. Just use the address: main@JewishGen.groups.io If you are trying to reply to a message that you have received, just hit reply in your email client. Make sure to include some quoted text so that your message has some context. Messages are moderated for most new members and cannot be seen until approved by one of the groups moderators. If you continue to have issues posting directly from your email client, please feel to contact me at hopko@... and I can try to troubleshoot the issue with you. Thanks for joining! Concerning the new discussion group beta, I like also its looks but I see some drawbacks to the previous version: - I cannot answer or post directly from my mail. I have to navigate to the new platform in order to do it.That means more work for the same result and that could generate less posts from the users.- In addition, I need to create a new identifier in order to post (so now I need two different ones to deal with JG). - As I post directly on the site. How will moderators control it? Will it be published until the moderator reviews it? Before, the moderators would ensure what reached the users. - If posts are available until review, the possibility to add links on the posts could have some security risks. ------------------------------ |
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Ariel Parkansky
Hi Rachel,
Thanks a lot for the answer all of that are good news, both the possibility to answer directly from the mail and that messages will be moderated before posting (that I had already discovered after validating the first message :) . Concerning the reply by mail, in the daily summary I've chosen to receive, the first big message I have is
Best, Ariel |
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Rachel Kolokoff Hopper <r-hopper@...>
Hi Ariel, Thanks for this. The notice in the blue box is configured by the groups software not by JewishGen. I actually have not seen it before. My interpretation of it is that you can reply to individual messages within the digest, but that you cannot reply to the entire digest. So, if you see a message within the digest that you want to reply to, click on that specific message’s subject & you should be able to reply to it using your email client. If you want to test it, click on a subject in a recent digest that you have received & reply with a test message. Hopefully that works! On Aug 14, 2019, at 1:19 PM, ariel_parkansky via Groups.Io <ariel_parkansky@...> wrote:
Hi Rachel, Thanks a lot for the answer all of that are good news, both the possibility to answer directly from the mail and that messages will be moderated before posting (that I had already discovered after validating the first message :) . Concerning the reply by mail, in the daily summary I've chosen to receive, the first big message I have is
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Ariel Parkansky
Hi Rachel, |
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Rachel Kolokoff Hopper <r-hopper@...>
Hi Ariel,
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Thanks for that feedback. After reading some more about the groups.io digest options this is what I have learned. 1) In order to reply to a message that is in either of the digest options you will have to use the website. You will not be able to use your email client (as you have already figured out!) 2) In the Daily Summary (which sends a once-daily list of topics posted that day) and unlike the full featured digests, the summary does not include the text of any of the messages, only the list of topics. So in this case you have to go to the website to read the messages and post a reply. 3) Full Featured Digest will group the days messages into batches of 12 and send each batch when the twelfth is posted. Any that remain at the end of the day will be sent as the final (or only) digest of the day. The digests include the full text of each message, omitting any quotes of prior messages. Full Featured Digests include, at the top, a list of the enclosed topics, clickable as links to take you to that topic on the website. Again, you would have to reply using the website. 4) However, if you wish to create a new message or a reply to a message that is NOT sent as part of the digest, you should be able to use your email client and address your message to: main@JewishGen.groups.io On Aug 15, 2019, at 6:23 AM, ariel_parkansky via Groups.Io <ariel_parkansky@...> wrote: Hi Rachel, |
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Sam Eneman
Hi Ariel and Rachel, I also use the daily digest. At the bottom of each message are options for replying. I used the "Reply To Group" to send this message. But it did not quote from the message automatically and I don't know if that is an administrator option or not. So using the "Reply To Group" option means you'll have to copy and paste portion you want to include. However, if you "Reply Online", there is an icon to quote the message.  What this emphasizes to me is the JewishGen may have to provide significant technical support (help documents, video tutorials, etc.) to ease the change for our users. Sam Eneman Charlotte NC
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Sally Bruckheimer <sallybruc@...>
I read the email in Yahoo mail, and I can reply to the group. I have the Full Featured Digest, and I can reply to any posting in my email. You will note, however, that the topic of the reply is the (incorrect) topic of the posting. I can also reply through the website if I want. I can also post a new topic from my email in Yahoo. Sally Bruckheimer Princeton, NJ |
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I receive the Daily Summary in Apple’s Mail client, usually on my iPhone. The summary email doesn’t allow for replies, but clicking on a post opens the browser (Safari) and I can see the post and the thread to which belongs (if there is one). There is a Reply option, and composing a reply leads to a choice between “Reply to Group “ and “Discard”. The format is different from what Sam attached, and this may just depend on the client and browser being used.
Alan |
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