Most of the day was spent cleaning up loose ends. A feed of recently published books listed on Amazon.com was added to the catalog. Additional FHL microfilm resources were loaded. Added "Getting Your Resources Included in Live Roots" for data providers.

As I continue to develop the features of Live Roots (a process that will continue well beyond the initial launch), I'm learning new techniques that are also being applied to some of my existing sites, resulting in better performance for the server. Also today, I added an RSS feed for the Discover feature of the site for those visitors that wish to be kept up-to-date with the latest finds.

I implemented some changes that were suggested during the preview: (1) items which involve fees now have a "($)" listed after their link; (2) in the search box, if you enclose a phrase in double quotes, the site will perform a title search, (3) the first batch of FHL microfilm resources were loaded into the catalog, and (4) links to the NEGHS transcriptions have been corrected to point to their new locations. The site was mentioned on the Family History Tracing blog today.

Today my focus was on the "live" aspect of the project, adding a more detailed explanation of the "Ask a Live Person" process. Throughout the day additional genealogists were invited to preview the site. Oh, and the Genealogy Insider mentioned the project this morning.

The first day of testing went well, and some of the observations led me to make alterations on the site and add a better explanation of how to best use the services. It took me several hours to really focus in on the practical benefits, but was time well spent.

While I've pitched the Live Roots concept to many of my genealogy friends over the past year, allowing them play with it for the first time will provide me with much better feedback. Today, I cleaned up a few items and invited the first batch of testers to kick off an alpha test phase while I finish programming some of the minor features.

With a self-imposed objective of launching Live Roots by October 10th, there are just twenty days left for putting finishing touches on the site. This blog will serve to announce updates (both content and programming) made to the site before and after the launch.