Working with diagrams

akirk · Post by **akirk** » 19 Nov 2004 19:20

I had a vision the other night! I remember the commento n the FH website:

In designing Family Historian, our goal was to go much further than any family tree application had done up to then, in finding ways to allow users to see their data, and to work with data visually and graphically.

For me this is the major reason for purchase of the software - working through the diagram, it is so logical.

The idea: How about developing the diagram side like a painting or drawing program so that users can use familiar techniques but for genealogy.

How would this work? Imagine your diagram, if you realised that you had added those descendants to the wrong fred bloggs - select the 'cut tool' cut the line at that point (the descendants remain visible on the screen) click on the tree (i.e. on one of the lines) and drag it across your diagram to the correct ancestor, let go and the branch will snap to that new ancestor.

Similarly to export a branch, click on it, right-click, choose export and off you go...

to delete a branch select it, right click and delete.

This approach - seeing the diagram boxes as objects which can be manipulated would cover the requests from others to move boxes around on the tree (if they are linked the lines move with them) but in addition it would allow the software to become the computer equivalent of your dining room table when you lay out index cards and move them around to find where they should be...

It would totally free the user to be able to work graphically.

I think that the software is already fantastic - quite a revelation compared to others, but would love to see it get better still in that regard, I am sure that an approach like this would transform it.

Maybe version 3.0!?!

Alasdair Kirk

ID:656

akirk · Post by **akirk** » 23 Nov 2004 09:41

And another wild thought...

I think that the merge and compare mechanism is fantastic, but there are times when you actually just wish to add lines you don't already have above and below your current tree.

Therefore, assuming that the program now works in teh way described above, how about being able to open two different Gedcom files at the same time and then you could drag and drop parts of trees from one to the other - all very visual!

Alasdair Kirk

P.S. is there a desire to be able to open more than one gedcom file at a time!?

Tombaston · Post by **Tombaston** » 23 Nov 2004 18:24

You already can open more than one GEDCOM at a time, just open another instance of FH.

akirk · Post by **akirk** » 25 Nov 2004 18:06

Yes you can open more than one, which I do, but if we were to be able to drag and drop, is that easier between two instances of FH or between two windows - I don't know how the programming would work!?

Also it may be that having the ability to open two gedcom files in one instance of FH would allow the user to do other wonderful things as yet unexplored - e.g. at the moment the merge / compare facility is a very strong part of the program, could there be other tools which could develop out of being able to open two files?

just thoughts...[grin]

Alasdair Kirk

CARRIE · Post by **CARRIE** » 15 Feb 2005 19:33

I would like to be able to amend a record whilr in a digram. ie add a date. or if it is blank put unknown. at the moment you seem to have to come out to amend each individual record.
thanks

Carrie[evil]

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 15 Feb 2005 20:17

Carrie you can amend any data you want with a diagram open. Just use the properties dialogue.

Family Historian User Group