FEATURES: webGED Progenitor 3 Prototype

Please keep in mind that this is an early prototype and thus lacks many of the features that would be present in any future commercial version of the product. In spite of this, it is still possible to get a realistic "feel" from this prototype of how such a commercial version would present a user's genealogy information to a web viewer.

In this preview demonstration of the web-display module, three of the "views" of genealogy data are functional, including the on-the-fly ancestors and descendants charts that will be familar to those aquainted with Progenitor 2. Still to be added are the detailed "notes" from Progenitor 2 and the addition of source citations. For this preview demonstration, a gedcom file of 367 individuals was used as input to the webGED Progenitor 3 Prototype's site-generation module. The resultant web-site as generated by the prototype was uploaded to a "personal space" on an ISP without any special server privleges and is presented here.

Most of the viewer's interactions with this prototype's features should be intuitive and thus not require special instruction. With the exception of a few optional capabilities, common GUI conventions are followed. In any case, a comprehensive outline of the prototype's functions is presented below. The few items that might require special attention are shown in blue.

Focus Individual

The display of the genealogy information is keyed to a "focus individual". The upper panel provides the means to allow the viewer to select the focus individual from the site's data set. Once selected by the viewer, the various "views" shown in the lower panel contain data related to that individual.

  1. Surname Drop-Down List: in addition to the moving through the list from the top, the viewer may incrementally jump to the area of the desired entry by beginning to type the target surname (case insensitive). A pause of over one second in the typing, however, will cause the typing of any additional characters to begin to build a new target surname.
  2. Given-Name Drop-Down List: similar operation to the Surname Drop-Down List. In the typing option, note that only the given-name should be entered even though, for clarity, the surname is also displayed as part of the Given-Name list-item.
  3. Re-Focus Button: Makes the individual identified by the Surname and Given-Name drop-down lists the new "focus individual"
  4. Focus History Navigation: permits the un-do and re-do of previous focus changes.
  5. View Choice: chooses which "view" of genealogy data associated with the focus individual will be displayed in the lower panel.
Family View

If the "Family View" is chosen, a collection of basic genealogical information on the focus individual and his immediate family relations is shown in the lower panel.

Please note that only "full siblings" are displayed. "Half-siblings" (i.e. those who share only one parent with the focus individual are not shown in this prototype) are not displayed

Clicking on the name of any individual in this "family view" will cause the that individual to become the new focus individual.

Ancestor View

If the "Ancestor View" is chosen, a chart is generated on-the-fly of the focus individual's ancestry and shown in the lower panel. The focus individual is set as the "ROOT" of this ancestry chart and is the chart's initial "highlighted individual" (displayed in light-green):

  1. Relationship Display: displays the relationship of the highlighted individual to the focus individual.
  2. Highlight Navigation Buttons: Navigation within the ancestry chart is governed by the asssociated Navigation Buttons, which affects the "highlighted individual". Note that only those buttons that are relevant to the current highlighted individual are enabled.
    • "reFocus" Button - makes the current highlighted individual the new focus individual and resets the view to the "family view".
    • "ROOT" Button - resets the current focus individual as the highlighted individual.
    • "Child" / "Mother" / "Father" / "Spouse" Buttons - moves the highlight to the relation of the current highlighted individual that is specified by the particular button.
  3. Clicking on specific individual: a simple click makes the individual the new "focus individual" and sets the view to "family". An alt-click, however, makes the individual the highlighted individual without changing the focus individual or the view.
Descendant View

If the "Descendant View" is chosen, a chart is generated on-the-fly of the focus individual's desendants and shown in the lower panel. The focus individual is set as the "ROOT" of this Descendants chart and is the chart's initial "highlighted individual" (shown in light-purple):

  1. Relationship Display: displays the relationship of the highlighted individual to the focus individual.
  2. Highlight Navigation Buttons: Navigation within the descendants chart is governed by the asssociated Navigation Buttons, which affects the "highlighted individual". Note that only those buttons that are relevant to the current highlighted individual are enabled.
    • "reFocus" Button - makes the current highlighted individual the new focus individual and resets the view to the "family view".
    • "ROOT" Button - resets the current focus individual as the highlighted individual.
    • "other Par" Button - moves the highlight to the non-linear parent of the current highlighted individual, as shown as this chart.
    • "Parent" Button - moves the highlight to the linear parent of the current highlighted individual, as shown as this chart.
    • "Sib->" Button - moves the highlight to the next sibling as shown for the current highlighted individual.
    • "<-Sib" Button - moves the highlight to the previous sibling as shown for the current highlighted individual.
    • "Child" Button - moves the highlight to the first child shown for the current highlighted individual.
    • "Spouse" Button - moves the highlight to the first spouse shown for the current highlighted individual.
    • "coSp->" Button - at a "spouse", moves the highlight to the "next" spouse of the current highlighted individual's spouse.
    • "<-coSp" Button - at a "spouse", moves the highlight to the "previous" spouse of the current highlighted individual's spouse.
  3. Clicking on specific individual: a simple click makes that individual the new "focus individual" and sets the view to "family". An alt-click, however, makes that individual the highlighted individual without changing the focus individual or the view.