To add to what Adrian has said, one of the problems with beta testers is that they can become so familiar with a program or a website that they're no longer able to see it as a new user would. When I was in the software business I would introduce new testers during the later stages of development to overcome this problem. I don't know whether findmypast followed this strategy - possibly not given their surprise at how the new site was received when it went live. Peter > <<snipped>> > Why on earth didn't they release a Beta version? I really can't > understand how they thought the site was acceptable. > <<snipped>> > > They did release a Beta version to Beta testers. Firstly the basic > platform is what FMP used for their worldwide (i.e. non-UK) > collections. The Beta version was released to certain testers because > I've seen posts that said "In the upcoming version..." The new screens > were also demonstrated at WDYTYA Live and were allegedly well > received. > > I would *guess* that the demo screens were only the detailed > interrogation screens, which are *generally* more powerful than their > predecessors. I would also *guess* that what was not well tested was > the navigation between the detailed screens. > > It's also interesting to note that the infamous (and impractical) > census-search-by-birthplace is sabotaged not by poor coding but by the > original data, which is chaotic in the extreme. Interestingly one or > two of the censuses worked quite well with the current code, when I > tried them, suggesting that not all areas of all censuses are as > chaotic as the 1881 (say). > > Adrian B