Thursday, October 13, 2011

Ancestry.com's DNA Group Layout


Comparing the FT DNA Group layout to Ancestry.com. 
Ancestry.com has a more user friendly layout. It's more ascetically interesting to look at. The ability to add photos make this site more interesting and accessible to non DNA geeks. It's a very basic site which makes it easier to use than FT DNA.  You can compare results between members, add files, photos and videos. You don't have to have tested with ancestry.com to join a group. The cons are a smaller database of individuals to compare with; as opposed to a larger database at FT DNA. Of course Ancestry.com's mission is much broader than FT DNA. They are not solely in the DNA testing business. This is reflected in the group layout at ancestry.com which is much less scientifically oriented, and more personal. FT DNA, with it's scientific orientation, provides many tools for  advanced analysis of DNA results. The charts and statistical info are useful tools for in depth analysis. I think that FT DNA is best for large surname studies. The Ancestry.com group model is best for small family group studies.
A downside to FT DNA is that many people use it as a quick easy way to discover their family history. Some members have not done any traditional genealogy research. This makes finding a common ancestor with matches difficult. I find myself researching match's family histories in order to find the common ancestor. This can be time consuming and frustrating. I don't have any experience with matches at Ancestry.com but assume they have done some research using the databases at Ancestry? I have heard of people having successes using both sites. The most important thing is completing  some research before testing, and hopefully having a someone else to test against in the database.

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