Passion and Paths: The New “Get Started” Page
As we know, The Family History Guide has a lot of content—although not nearly so much as sites like
FamilySearch, Ancestry, etc. And when we compare those huge websites to the sum total of family history, such as all the family photos, documents, and records kept in the world, those sites pale in comparison.
Occasionally someone new to The Family History Guide will try to grasp the whole website at once and decide 
it’s just too tall a task. But there are better alternatives to the “learning it all” approach. Two things to emphasize are 1) finding what you are passionate about in family history, and 2) finding the path toward your passion.
Get Started
With those two points in mind, we have re-designed the Get Started page in The Family History Guide. It now has three simple parts:
- Find Your Passion and Paths
- Learn about the Projects
- Start a Project
Here is a sample screenshot:
1. Find Your Passions and Path
When you click any of the linked items in Step 1, the following text appears:
These options help you start thinking about what your family history passion might be, and the links that are provided help you get started finding the paths to pursue.
2. Learn about Projects
This section takes you to the About the Projects page in The Family History Guide. There you can learn about Projects, Goals, Choices, and Steps, and how to use them as pathways in your learning and research. The just-in-time learning system puts you in touch with the resources you need on your paths, where and when you need them.
3. Start a Project
Projects are where the bulk of the learning and work is done in The Family History Guide. You can start a Project from Step 3 in Get Started, or you can use the top menu at any time to directly select the Project that interests you.
Whether you’re new to family history or have been around the block a few times, The Family History Guide can help you find new family history passions and paths by making your journey easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable.
Bob, I love this post! It made me realize that the reason I went crazy over The Family History Guide immediately when I saw it, is because it was my passion to find resources for people that I wanted to help in the FamilySearch Library. I was training not only patrons but also the staff at the library. My passion for that was key! I knew when I saw it I could become a better teacher and trainer with it and I could help our Library staff do the same. We needed a learning system. That was my dream and having all the staff on the same page would also help every patron that came in for help.
I believe 100%, that you cannot dive in and do it all at once! But once you find your passion and realize that is where you should start, you’ll quickly find yourself quite taken with what the Family History Guide has to offer. Passion motivated us to dive in!
Well said, Bonnie – thanks for your passion to help others!