New Family Group app

+50 votes
5.2k views

I've made a new Family Group app. It's based on the National Genealogical Society's Family Group Sheet, but it's also a little different. Some of the features are explained in a Notes box on the page after the data loads, but here are a few points.  

  • It's designed for printing.  
    • What you see on the screen is not the same as the printed version - some things, such as the logo and 'Notes' (help) are removed so you get a cleaner look.
    • You may need to change the settings of your printer in the browser's print dialogue (remove the 'header and footer').
    • It's designed to avoid one person's information being split across two pages. 
  • Most areas of the page are editable (click to edit)(apart from names, which will load a new family group when clicked). This editing is only for printing - no site data is changed.  (Some of the editing may involve HTML. Just ignore the HTML and edit the text).  
  • There are many options to customize the page.
  • For each person on the page, there is a link to their profile (on the left, in the 'role' words, such as 'Husband', and '3rd Child').  
  • Each name on the page can be clicked to load that person's family group.  Due to this, I think people may like to use this app not just to print family group sheets, but also to navigate the tree.
  • The Notes (help) can be minimized by clicking the box; the options can be minimized by clicking the 'x'. 
  • You don't have to log in to the apps server, but this will give you access to your private profiles.

Baptism and burial:

As the WikiTree database doesn't have baptism and burial fields, any baptism and burial data on the page comes from source citations and categories. This is not the best way to do it, but it's all we have at the moment. One way to improve this situation is to support my proposal for an Event template

A few kind people have been very helpful with testing this and giving me lots of suggestions, but it's only me and a few others.  Of course, if you see any problems or have any more suggestions, please let me know.

[Edited to: add link to Event template proposal; change the category to WikiTree Tech; fix a typo]

in WikiTree Tech by Ian Beacall G2G6 Pilot (293k points)
edited by Ian Beacall
I can't get access to app. I enter one of my "open" profile page family member numbers and it just asks if its open and "may need to log in, all of which I've done. ??
Can you tell me the ID so that I can take a look?
Brown 27155
OK. I'm going to guess that your problem is that you typed it in like that.  WikiTree IDs have a hyphen in them, not a space.  Funnily enough, I did code it to accept the name and number without the hyphen, but I didn't consider a space.  Anyway, try it again as either 'Brown-27155' or 'Brown27155' and you'll be fine.
Once you locate the ID link (just the the right of the name, date of the person, just copy it then paste it into the Family group sheet ap.
It's a lot easier to read and I especially love the biography section. It's a great app for using to tell a relative's story too.

I use Family Search to build my Family Group Sheets (simply because I can follow the generations back by clicking the parents of the relative. HOWEVER, your app is so much easier to read and is less confusing.

Any suggestions how I can transfer all my family search material into WikiTree so I don't have to manually enter everything?
Where will we find access to this app besides inside this G2G message?
Kathleen: In the top menu:  Find > Apps.  It's on that page.

Terrie: You could try the GEDCOMpare process. You might want to read about people's experiences of the GEDCOMpare process on G2G before you do that. 

Thank You Ian
Okay, I know I am technologically inept!  When I pulled up the new group sheet, it only showed my husband and myself.  How do I get the rest of the families I have entered?

I do like the clean lines and simplicity of this new form.
I: You put the WikiTree ID of any profile into the box marked 'WikiTree ID' and hit 'Go' (or just press 'Enter'). If it you want to say the family group of a private profile, you'll need to log in first by clicking the button that says 'Log in the WikiTree Apps Server'.  This takes you to the WikiTree Apps Server log in page, where you can log in with your WikiTree email and password and automatically return, now logged in, to the Family Group app.

I hope that helps.
Kudos to you. I believe this is by far the best App in WikiTree. I just finished re-reading all of the comments and questions and I must say your quick response to adding and / or fixing things is remarkably fast. Thank you so much for building this for everyone to use and for allowing me to push it to new limits. :)

Can't wait to see what you come up with next!

16 Answers

+21 votes
I like it! This should replace the current family group sheet in Family Tree & Tools.

My only suggestion, which is minor, is to make the date boxes a little smaller, and use that to make the location boxes  larger by that same amount.

Thank you for doing this!
by George Fulton G2G6 Pilot (620k points)

Glad you like it.  OK. I'll adjust those boxes.

Edited to add: I've adjusted those boxes.

Thank you! I think improves the visual appeal, in addition making the space for the place name better.

PS

I like the animation of the oak tree … it reminds me of the Whomping Willow from the Harry Potter movies.
This is amazing Ian!  Excellent work! Wow!

Thanks, Greg. 

+17 votes
The app looks great!  You have done a great job.

It looks like the Biography is now defaulted to be shown, but you can click on that section, to compress it up and it isn't shown.
by Linda Peterson G2G6 Pilot (758k points)
No, I think the biography may default to be shown for you because you've seen it before and probably clicked 'See all bios'.  It stores/remembers all your options.
I stand corrected!!  I forgot that 'show all bios' is in the header as an option!!
+21 votes
How appropriate that on this first day of Major League Baseball in the United States, you would hit it out of the ballpark again with this app. I haven't seen any issues with the app, but what I have seen at a quick glance because of the app is some omissions in my data I may have otherwise missed. For example, I've left the burial location of one of my grandmothers off her profile. The app makes a neat presentation of the data. Thanks so much for sharing your skills with us!
by Nelda Spires G2G6 Pilot (550k points)

Great.  Glad you like it. 

Definite home run!!!

I am looking at the profile for John Curtis Barlow which I made this morning. Looking at his Family Group Sheet generated by the app I see a couple of issues. 

1. When presenting the tables in the sources, the heading for the first column is omitted which shifts all the other column headings over so they do not line up with the data.

2. The line for "Father" is labelled "Husband's Father"?

Thanks, Nelda.  I've fixed both of those issues.  Let me know if you see any more problems.
I was working on my grandmother's profile today--the one I mentioned above and told you that I thought I left off her burial location/FindAGrave memorial source citation because it didn't show up on her family group sheet. Well, what I discovered was that I did have her burial information in her bio. The issue was, I suppose, that the FindAGrave source citation was formatted differently than the way your WikiTree BEE formats the FindAGrave source citation. I had the "template" in my source citation but the app wasn't picking it up. As soon as I edited her profile and changed the source citation to the way your WikiTree BEE formats it, her burial location was included in the family group sheet.

Nelda, if you give me the ID of your grandmother, I'll take a look at what you had before.  I have written it to pick up data from the tables that the BEE produces, but I'm also trying to get it from other places like other source citations and categories.  If your previous citation gave the details of the burial and the code didn't pick it up, I'll try to fix that.  (I'm not expecting everyone to be using the BEE.)

I'm also hoping to use the Event template to get this kind of data into the Family Group sheet app.  Please support my proposal

Ian, thanks. I did upvote the proposal. I think it would be beneficial for those who want to use it. My grandmother's profile ID is [[Gilchrist-1199|Lena Pearl Gilchrist (1896-1984)]]. I think the only difference was that I had the template in a different location within the citation, but maybe you'll see something I didn't.

Thanks, Nelda. I've improved the code and it should work better now to get locations and dates from Find a Grave citations.
+16 votes
Thanks Ian for another great app!!!
by Tommy Buch G2G Astronaut (1.8m points)

Thank you for all your help, Tommy. 

+16 votes
Oh, Ian, this is really great. I can certainly use this. Really nice work. Thanks so much!
by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)

You're welcome. 

+11 votes
This is very nice, thank you for developing it! I have only run into one issue so far. Entering the profile ID only does a family group sheet of the first spouse. If a person married a second time, the only way to get the results for the second marriage's family is to click on the person's name in "other marriage" or enter the spouse's name in the top box. But... if it was a second marriage for that person also, the results only show the family group for their first marriage.

There needs to be a way to specify which family to report when there is more than one marriage. Perhaps an option at the top could appear that lets you click on the spouse of interest before generating the report, if there's more than one spouse?
by Joyce Rivette G2G6 Pilot (177k points)
One other request - Instead of the "Show all biographies" checkbox, I would like to see boxes for "Show principal biography," "Show spouse's biography," and "Show child biographies." Most of the time, I would not want to see all the children's biographies but concede that there might be times when I would.

Hi Joyce.

Glad you like it. 

About the problem you mentioned, thanks for pointing that out.  I actually thought it was working as it should, but I found that a recent change I made kind of broke it. I've fixed it now and the navigation through other spouses should work as you expect it to. 

About your request.  This is possible, but you do realise that you can click the 'Biography' link for each person to see their profile?

[Edited to update my answer (fixed the problem)]

Thanks for fixing the navigation for other spouses, works great now. And Never Mind about the biographies request. I didn't realize I could open or close each one individually, so that suits my needs perfectly!
+8 votes
Great job I will try and highlight this on Mondays with Myrt if we have time as I am sure others on WikiTree will love what this does.
by Hilary Gadsby G2G6 Pilot (312k points)

Thanks, Hilary.   Glad you like it.   

+7 votes
Very nice. Good job
by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (590k points)

Thanks, Kay.  

+7 votes
Well done Ian, Thank you!
by Michael Stills G2G6 Pilot (519k points)

Hi, Michael.  You're welcome. 

Let me know if you see any problems (and please go and support my proposal).

Re: Research Note section on the report.

If one of the Family Group profiles has no info under their profile's Research Notes section (that is they have the Heading on their profile but no info underneath), then on the FG report, that person's name is followed by the name of the next profile on the same line.

For example, my grandfather Blaine Merle Culp (Culp-385) has no info under the Research Notes on his profile.

On his Family Group report, under the research notes section, his name is followed by my Aunt, Kathleen Gloria (Culp) Plasky.  It looks like this.

Blaine Merle Culp Captain Kathleen Gloria (Culp) Plasky

Either I need to put info under the heading or a line return needs to follow his blank section.

Thanks, Michael.  I'll see what I can do about that.  Honestly, my first thought was "So why do you have a 'Research Notes' section without any research notes?"  but I guess you start with a template (maybe something like the style thing I posted below)?

Marriage Date and Location Glitch.

Again, using my grandfather, Blaine Merle Culp (Culp-385)

He was married twice.  I open his FG report and I see the marriage of his first wife, Elizabeth.  I click on his second wife on the report (my grandmother, Hazel Nelson) and the new report does not show their marriage and location, I click on either his first wife or third wife and the information is there.  

I check that the marriage information for his second wife was entered correctly on their profiles and it appears that is.  But information is not appearing on the FG Report.

UPDATE: Actually, now I see that is appears on every other click regardless of whom I choose.  That is, just randomly clicking between his wives, every other click is blank.  It alternates between being entered and being blank regardless of which wife I click on.

OK. Thanks a lot for this.  It sounds very strange.  I'll look into it soon.
Re: Research Notes.  Yes, I start with a template (which has evolved over time).  I suppose I could remove it until needed.  It just goes to show that we all have different approaches to our research.  With a Wiki, I am comfortable with missing, wrong and incomplete information knowing that it will be addressed overtime and as we add more and better evidence.
Michael, I think I've fixed both of the problems you pointed out.  I noticed that you have 'DNA confirmation' appearing in the Research Notes.  Maybe the heading is at the wrong level (or in the wrong place) or have I made a mistake here?
Indeed, that is the problem.  I believe these headings may have been created when we were first introducing DNA Confirmation and no style rule had been set for them.

Thank you for figuring that out!
Ian,

Right now, when I open my father's profile in the app, his marriage section is missing the date but when I click on the link to my mother, it is filled in.   If I click on my father from my mother's data, it is missing, if I click on myself or my grandfather, it is missing.   Looks like it is missing for Males?
Thanks Michael.  That sounds strange.  Thanks for letting me know.  I'll look into it.
I've fixed this.
Awesome sauce.  Thank you sir!
+7 votes

Ian and all,

This app works great if you are working on Genealogically Defining your profiles and are using the Research Notes headings.  

In one report you can see all the needed sources you still need to find if you have included them on each profile.

by Michael Stills G2G6 Pilot (519k points)
Thanks for pointing that out, Michael.  A couple of people have told me the same thing privately.
Just a little thing to add: It's kind of important for this app that people use the correct style.  This includes the correct heading levels and use of an asterisk for each source in the 'Sources' section.  For reference (for everybody), here's the correct order:

[[Categories]]

{{Research Note Boxes}}

{{Project Boxes}}

== Biography ==

{{Profile Stickers}}

== Research Notes ==

== Sources ==

<references />

See also:

== Acknowledgements ==
Although it won't tell you about missing asterisk the BioCheck app will check the headings. It can also report all sources for a profile
+7 votes

I love it.  

Just one quibble:  Options and Notes boxes dismissing should work identically.  So, label both of them and allow a click on the label to dismiss the box (not just Notes) and leave the (x) in the corner to dismiss the box (not just Options).  

Another quibble:  Can you add a Print button?

Things I love:  Being able to edit onscreen, being able to open the next profile in your app just by clicking on the name, all those options.

by Peggy McMath G2G6 Mach 6 (61.7k points)

Thanks, Peggy.  I'm glad you love it.  

I understand what you're saying about the Notes and Options. I can add an 'x' in the corner for show, but I'll probably leave the actual function as clicking anywhere on the box to close it.  It's easier that way (for users, not just for me).

Yes, I guess I can add a Print button. 

I didn't realize that clicking anywhere inside the box dismisses the box.  I'm so ingrained in not thinking outside the box or even the label, that I never clicked anywhere else.  What you did is great.

Basically, though, I believe actions should work the same for both boxes, so, please add the (x).

Thanks, again.
I've added a Print button and an 'x' in the corner of the notes, which, as I said, is just for show.
+6 votes
Nice, Ian! This is another reason for us to make the dynamic tree an open source platform for switching between various apps and tree views, in addition to making the integrated browser extension. We need both to make everything more accessible for members.
by Chris Whitten G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Thank you. I look forward to seeing the new dynamic tree.
+7 votes
Ian, this app is wonderful! Thank you so very much for your time, effort, and expertise in its creation.
by Michelle Enke G2G6 Pilot (407k points)

You're welcome.  

+7 votes
Nice.  So much better than my db software.  Now I can easily send this type of chart to relatives.  Thank you.
by Lorraine O'Dell G2G6 Mach 3 (39.6k points)

Great.   

You're welcome.  

+7 votes
This is really nice! Thank you!
by Kim Kolk G2G6 Mach 2 (25.5k points)

Thank you, Kim.  You're welcome. 

+6 votes
Hi Ian, great app, very useful also as a troubleshooting/cleaning tool! I identified malformed text formatting across a large family group that shared a single copy-pasted source citation. Bravo! With gentle reminders from the comments here I reformatted all my Research Notes headers (had them after Sources, and they were bunched up within Sources), and again bravo, now they're grouped together in your output.

I found some stray markdown in the text (I work in Obsidian to centralise all my family bios and sources, then deploy to all the online services I use)...will be more careful markdown->wikimarkup.

I noticed text bolding in Sources retains the three single-apostrophe markup and doesn't bold. (nb: bolded text shows as intended in the Bio and Research Notes sections). I presume this is on purpose as sources are full of single and double quote marks, wild URL syntax, etc. I bolded inline source titles to enhance source list readability for myself, not recommended style, and I'm resigned to remove the bolding (eg [[Johnston-20570]].

Thanks again, all the best!
by Mark Suggitt G2G6 (9.7k points)
Mark: Glad you like it.  The bolding thing was an oversight.  I've fixed it now.  There are probably more things I've missed.  Let me know if you see them.
Hey Ian, that's brilliant! thanks!

Related questions

+5 votes
1 answer
+6 votes
1 answer
+1 vote
2 answers
+62 votes
64 answers
+8 votes
3 answers
606 views asked Mar 8 in The Tree House by Riël Smit G2G6 Mach 2 (23.3k points)
+59 votes
16 answers
770 views asked Dec 2, 2023 in The Tree House by Greg Clarke G2G6 Pilot (108k points)
+3 votes
2 answers
124 views asked Nov 8, 2023 in WikiTree Tech by Ken Parman G2G6 Pilot (117k points)

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...