Family Historian User Group

I know that Calico Pie haven't really said anything about FH7 since they first announced it at Roots Tech. My question to anyone who was at the demonstration, what does FH7 look like? Has it been given a more modern make over for 2020 or is it just the same as FH6 in looks. I am a fan of FH but have always thought it looked a bit dated, more Windows 7 than Windows 10 if you know what I mean and Windows 7 has been put out to pasture.

What would you like to see changed? Having worked with FH since version 2, I've always appreciated its clean modern appearance and personally hope that isn't changed.

I'd personally agree with Helen - there are some decidedly odd traits appearing in User Interfaces, most of which appear to be there "because they can be". Take the new Microsoft screen shot utility - "Snip & Sketch". One day I lost the "File Save" icon - kinda important if you want to save a screenshot. I don't know how long it was before I realised that, as the UI narrowed, so the icons shifted being split between the top and the bottom, and "File Save" was now down at the bottom, away from the visual target. Quite why a two level tool bar doesn't work for the programmers, I have no idea.

And I understand from a blog from an interface guru (possibly at Microsoft again?) that they are wanting to give a gentle 3D effect to icons, etc. Hm. We went from flat to gentle 3D to bulging 3D to flat to....

I agree that the style is fine.
What bugs me is that as FH has grown new features, more and more inconsistencies have arisen such as in related dialogues and in the features supported by Expressions/Templates in different contexts.

ColeValleyGirl wrote: ↑

03 Mar 2020 13:43

What would you like to see changed? Having worked with FH since version 2, I've always appreciated its clean modern appearance and personally hope that isn't changed.

In terms of "appearance", I would want little changed. I'm not adverse to justified change, but I have never appreciated the "Windows 10" appearance; and anyway shouldn't that be a function of the OS not of the application? As a Linux user (to get away from MS/Win10), I would not want the application to "look foreign".

In terms of functionality of the interface (as opposed to functionality of the program):

• I would quite like the ability to customise the toolbars - but that would create a support problem with people having differing set ups!
• I have always thought the project window is a bit "clunky"

Overall I would prefer Calico Pie worked on enhanced program functionality.

I came to FH from TMG which really did have an old fashioned look. However it had many supporters as it was one of the most practical bits of software to use and for the most part it was easy to access and manipulate the information that had been inputted by the user.

For me, the practical use of software is far more important than looking pretty!

Brian

Personally I don't really like the new UI's that some software have gone to. I like FH just the way it is. I hope it stays the way it is in version 7.

Bill

Under the loose heading of Looks, for me the biggest improvement to FH7 will be the ability to vertical scroll the property box. For those using laptops that have a restricted screen height, the children area at the bottom of the property box is often out of sight. Undocking and moving the property box upwards helps but is a pain. The problem is much worse if like me you have customised to add several extra fields in the property box.

FH7 will solve all of that. Vertical scrolling will be available in other windows too.

Trevor

Some advice I was given by (I think) Mike Tate was that you can change the orientation of the property box and it works well on a laptop. You can have the box and source pane side by side instead of on top of each other.

Helen

I don't really think that there is that much wrong with how FH6 works, just a more modern look. I like the Microsoft dark mode/dark grey and Microsofts ribbon menu's (First image). I know I could spend time changing the colours, but themes would be a bit easier. I also think that some of the FH6 icons could do with a look at, I always find that the sources Copy icon looks greyed out and that find icons were in the main magnifying glasses. I like a bit of uniformity in the way programs I use look and at the moment darker modes work better for me. Even using the operating system theme would work well

I also find the slightly larger icons in the main screen of Heredis easier on the eye when using and easier to move around the program



Back to my original question, does anyone who was at Roots Tech remember if the new FH has had a make over or if it still looks the same?

I have to say that both those styles would have me running for the customise button -- I think they're dreadful! I can't bear grey themes -- I go for the whitest brightest I can find. Plus large icons take up too much space -- I automatically hide the Microsoft ribbon. But we're all different, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, I have a sneaking suspicion the look and feel won't change.

For me, consistency across related dialogues would be important.
See posting Add Image to Citation (17512) that identifies essentially the same Edit Media dialogue has at least four incarnations via either a Media tab or the two Show Media buttons.
That suggests that maybe each one is to some extent coded independently instead of using shared code.

It still looks the same, if you want bigger icons just select them in the preferences.

Personally I like the way FH looks and don't see a need to for new look. If you prefer style over substance you could try using Heredis instead.

Most of the colours for FH are controlled by the windows theme colours and many of the others can be customised on Preferences for the various areas.

The icon management has some other inconsistencies that annoy me.

Yes, Tools > Preferences > Display > Toolbar Size offers Small, Medium & Big.

But that only adjusts the FH Main Window toolbar and Property Box toolbars.
It does NOT adjust the Query Window toolbar, Web Search Window toolbar, Edit Media Window toolbar, Help Window toolbar, or other workspace window toolbars.

Just to be different, the Diagram Window toolbar and most of the Map Window toolbar are not within its own window but pops up in the FH Main Window toolbar. Whereas the Report Window has its tools on buttons in a sidebar.

Jane

You say "Most of the colours for FH are controlled by the windows theme colours", which ones? I ask as none of FH looks like my Windows theme. I have no intention of moving to Heredis or any other for that matter, I like FH but I personally just feel it looks a bit dated. That is my view and as I said a few themes to change the colours wouldn't be a bad thing. I did change FH to my preferred colours once and lost it all when I had a problem with my laptop (Requiring hard drive replacement) and the thought of doing it all again for the same thing to happen doesn't excite me much.

Oh and thanks for letting me know that it still looks the same.

William, if you use the Backup and Restore FH Settings Plugin after you've customised the product to your preferences, you'll be able to get the colours (and other stuff) back if the worst comes to the worst.

Helen

So a backup should keep a copy of all my settings. I always back up after I finish working with FH but when I reinstalled my project in FH after my laptop was returned from the manufacturer, only my project was installed. The settings were all back to the original way FH looked before I made the changes, including the colours, property box settings and a few others. Is there something else I should be setting in the FH back up options?

Did you change your post while I was writing my reply? I was sure your post didn't mention a plugin when I read it.

William

Yes you need that plugin too. The normal FH backup only backs up your data. That plugin backsup all the FH settings which are stored in separate files or in the Windows Registry. Very useful for your scenario of a failed hard disk.

Two last questions-
1 I take it you mean Mike's plugin and not Jane's?
2 Does the plug in back up the plugins that I have installed or should I keep a note of them separately?

And thanks for the advice Helen. Maybe CP should do away with the need for these plugins by adding it as an option in the program.

William

1: Yes
2: I can't remember for certain but I don't believe so.

Yes, my Plugin, and yes it includes Plugins, and absolutely all customisations not included in Project backups.
See plugins:help:backup_and_restore_family_historian_settings:backup_and_restore_family_historian_settings|> Backup and Restore Family Historian Settings Plugin and checkout the Backup tab.

The idea of CP incorporating such Backup features has been discussed many times before.
The question is whether CP resources should be diverted to such tools that already have proven Plugins.

Cheers Colin

Cheers Mike I will have a look the Knowledge Base

I also think FH7 should have a touch up on looks, however nothing nearly as extremely as what the forthcoming RM 8 has done. I am one of those people that need to have my software 'feel right' in order to use it. None of the major packages completely meets that standard, so I muddle about relying on functionality instead. It has been my experience that most of the people that 'like it as it is' feel this way because they have been using something so long and they aren't willing to try something new. Yes, I did used to be a software dev.....

One thing in FH's favor is that you don't see a bunch of people posting errors and being told they need to compress/reindex/clean their database regularly. This is probably due to the file structure being a text file and as such not easily corrupted. However this does introduce a few other issues in regards to how data is store but that is not going to change until the GED standards finally get a full scale update.

Clean up the little inconsistencies as miketate pointed out, put a little makeup and the UI and all should be good to go.

I truly hope CP believes the mantra ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, which is something Microsoft have never heard of.

MS office used to have a clean simple menu system, until MS decided they knew better, and tried to anticipate what the user was trying to do! Sadly, they weren’t as clever as they thought, and now with their ribbons, it takes forever, as a casual user, to find how to do the simplest thing.

They lost my custom a long time ago.

Gowermick

How's Windows 3 and Family Historian V1 coming along for you? Surely the world advances and software along with it probably the reason you are using FH6.2.7 and Windows 10 and not a quill and parchment. What would you do if FH went down the ribbon route (which works very well if you give it a chance), look for different software or get used to a different way of working with the best Genealogy software. Office is the best software at what it does, although I will agree that it is probably a bit of overkill for most people, unless you also require 1Tb of cloud back-up for around 50 squid a year included.

This seems to have grown arms and legs since I asked my original question about whether FH was updating its looks. Either way I will still be using it I just wanted to know whether it was going to look a bit more modern.

GeneSniper wrote: ↑

10 Mar 2020 13:15

Gowermick

How's Windows 3 and Family Historian V1 coming along for you? Surely the world advances and software along with it probably the reason you are using FH6.2.7 and Windows 10 and not a quill and parchment. What would you do if FH went down the ribbon route (which works very well if you give it a chance), look for different software or get used to a different way of working with the best Genealogy software. Office is the best software at what it does, ...

How many people have freely chosen to move to Windows 10? Microsoft has the muscle to get it as the default OS on new laptops, and it withdraws support for the old OS. I suspect that if Windows 7 (or even XP!) had the underlying security of a modern OS, people would not move.

As for the ribbon interface! One of the appeals of LibreOffice (and other software like Firefox/Thunderbird) is that it does not have the ribbon interface bouncing around taking up valuable screen estate at the top of the screen. (The fact that is free and well integrated with Linux is a bonus).