FamilySearch Product Page Made Clear

In a recent post I showed the new icons that were added to the FamilySearch Product Page to explain the degree of certification of each of the products that interact with FamilySearch.org's Family Tree. I thought a more complete explanation of the page was warranted. Here is another copy of the icons for reference;

Tree Share (full tree read and write) - Certified to read and write Family Tree data to match, compare, and modify records. Also includes required certification for sources, discussions, change history, and interaction with community members.

Tree Access (tree read only) - Certified to read Family Tree data to analyze, display, or print family history reports and charts. Tree Access alone does not provide any certification to write to FamilySearch Family Tree.

Sources (Tree Access or Tree Share required) - Certified to read Family Tree data allowing user to match and reference online "sources' such as records, photos, documents, and media that provide evidence of events and relationships.

Discussions (Tree Access or Tree Share required) - Certified to read, write, and comment on discussion threads for individual records in Family Tree.

Change History (Tree Access or Tree Share required) - Certified to read and list changes made by contributors to the Family Tree, sources, and discussions.

LDS Support (Tree Access or Tree Share required) – Certified that specific data and features for 'LDS members only' can only be accessed when the user is appropriately logged in to FamilySearch. Tree Access Certification is necessary for reading ordinance information,  Tree Share Certification is necessary for requesting, changing, sharing, and printing Family Ordinance Requests (FORs).

Note that each product has an icon or icons to indicate the features that are certified and the above legend describes what each of the icons represent and the product profile page show the exact text of the icon legend for the certified features.

There are several other additions to the Product Pages that help users to understand the level of certification and navigate through the pages of different products. You will note, if you visit the page, that there are products for the Web, Windows, Mac and Mobile. The top of each column of programs on the left of the page, has the words"return to opening page." This link takes the user back to the opening page and shows the legend.

At the bottom of the page there is information about newly certified products. You might notice that several of the products previously listed are missing this is because previously certified products that only use data from New.familysearch.org are no longer listed. 

If you study the list for a few minutes, you will realize that all of the products are either read-only "Tree Access" or read and write "Tree Share." You may wish to check the status of a program before purchasing it, to make sure the program still operates as the FamilySearch Family Tree program evolves. The use of Tree Share certification and Icon are displayed only after all requirements are complete for Tree Share, Sources, Discussions, and Change History.

The product description has a sub heading entitled "Product Description (provided by the partner program developers). All information about the product other than certification descriptions is in this section.

The new changes clarify the status of the products in a way that is more focused on the actual capabilities of the programs.