About a month ago we introduced a Get Started page that is driven by common questions that people ask about family history and genealogy. The page has links to pages in The Family History Guide that answer these questions, helping you get off to a good start in your family history journey.

But what if you are new to The Family History Guide? Help has arrived: we have added a third button on the Home Page, for The family History Guide Tour …

The purpose of the Tour is to help you see at a glance what’s inside The Family History Guide and what you might want to explore.

When you click the Tour button, a separate panel opens, like the one shown below (there is more content in the panel than is shown in the example). The basic ingredients of the Tour are Categories and Topics.

Categories

The panel is divided into the following categories:

• Basics—This helps you understand the purpose of The Family History Guide and how to navigate it.
• Projects—The purpose and structure of the Learning Projects is explained, including Goals, Choices and Steps for FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast.
• Countries—This shows how to access the various country pages in The Family History Guide, and how you can get started doing research with them.
• More—This category includes links for Activities, Social Media, Faiths, the Online Tracker, and More Features.

Topics

Click the green links in each category to learn more about the topics. There are 16 topics in the Tour, and you can go through them sequentially or skip to those that interest you most.

Here’s an example for the first link,  “About The Family History Guide” …

You can click the additional links inside the topics to learn more. Many of them will open screens in The Family History Guide so you can see examples, while the Tour panel is kept open for your convenience. When using the Tour on a smartphone, you will need to tap the Back arrow to switch between the Tour panel and The Family History Guide screen.

Introducing Others to The Family History Guide

The Tour is an easy way for people to see what’s in the website. When you refer others to The Family History Guide, be sure to mention the Tour. It’s easy to use and a great way for them to catch the vision of family history and The Family History Guide.

Teaching with the Tour

If you are teaching or mentoring others in family history, the Tour can also be a valuable instruction tool. You can use it in presentations or in one-on-one help to show the points you want to cover. Learners can easily pick up where you leave off and continue their own exploration of The Family History Guide.