On 16 April 2012 12:47, David Wason <[email protected]> wrote: > This is very useful - I for one would really appreciate reading more views > about genealogy software - it seems to me to be very rarely discussed here, > despite the wide-ranging experience members must have. By coincidence I contributed to a discussion on another mailing list last week concerning Family Tree Maker, Ancestry Member Trees and The Next Generation (TNG) - an online genealogy database. I'm reproducing part of what I wrote below, in case it is helpful to David or anyone else on this list: BEGINS I use Family Tree Maker 2012 as my primary genealogy program. I sync the database regularly to my tree on Ancestry.com and also export it via GEDCOM to my website, built using TNG 9. I have been researching my own family's genealogy for 27 years, during which time I have used a variety of software programs, including Legacy and The Master Genealogist as well as Family Tree Maker. I regularly download trial versions of other leading genealogy software for comparison purposes and to keep abreast of new developments. More recently I have become a professional genealogist. I use separate databases in FTM 2012 for each of my client projects. Given this background, here are my thoughts on FTM, Ancestry Member Trees and TNG. FTM 2012 is an excellent program. Things I particularly like are: 1. Chronological view of events in a person's life, including family events and timeline events if the user wishes. As a researcher, both hobbyist and professional, my number one tool for research and analysis is a chronological, sourced, view of the evidence I have about a person. 2. Sources, media, notes and tasks immediately visible alongside events with one click or tooltip hover. 3. Ability to handcraft my source citations rather than use templates. 4. Ability to link one citation to multiple events using a quick copy and paste. 5. Ability to update a citation in one place and have it automatically update everywhere else it is linked. 6. Fastfields which list the closest matches as I type surnames, places, fact details and source titles. 7. Ability to create my own timelines. I use timelines of sources, such as census dates or periods when a particular tax was in existence, to overlay my data and suggest avenues for research. 8. Extremely stable and reliable program. 9. Clean, modern user interface. 10. Powerful, flexible but easy to use reporting and charting. 11. Automatic link to historical records on Ancestry.com, providing suggestions of possible sources such as BMD, census, probate and other records as soon as a person's name and dates are added to my database. 12. Ability to sync the tree to an Ancestry Member Tree and from there to the Ancestry app on my Android smartphone. Ancestry Member Trees When I sync data to Ancestry.com I make sure that my tree is private, so that it is only visible to those to whom I choose to give access. I also tick the box to prevent any link to my data being visible in Ancestry's indexes. In my view these two things are essential to prevent people copying my data willy-nilly into their own trees, whether they are in any way connected to my family or not. It also prevents Ancestry "selling" my data to anyone. I do not find Ancestry Member Trees at all easy to navigate and they do not present data well. I do not use them for this purpose. I use my Ancestry tree: 1. as a secure means of backup from FTM 2012, from which everything can be easily and automatically re-imported into FTM 2012. 2. as a way of sharing my data with family members who also use FTM and Ancestry - they have access rights which allow them to import any new materiual I add into their own trees and programs. They also keep their trees on Ancestry private and unindexed. 3. as a means to sync data - including media - automatically with the Ancestry app on my smartphone. TNG There is no contest when it comes to comparing TMG to an Ancestry tree as a way of sharing data. The layout of a TNG website is clear, comprehensive, customisable and easily navigable. I have recently been working on a project researching multiple unconnected people where the client needed direct access to my database at short notice. I was able to sync my FTM 2012 database to a private member tree on Ancestry within a few minutes but my client found the layout pretty incomprehensible. Ancestry is designed for a connected family tree with a "home person" and does not cope well with a group of unconnected families. My client was about to leave the office and I promised him a better solution by the time he came to work the following morning. That evening I created a private TNG database, uploaded a GEDCOM, uploaded and linked media and created a series of reports which enabled my client to access all the different people and details he was interested in. By the time he came to work the next morning he had his own purpose built, customised website, complete with media and tailor made reports. He is particularly happy that he can download the information he needs direct from the website and import it into his own Excel spreadsheet. The TNG website took a couple of hours to build, as opposed to a couple of minutes creating the Ancestry tree, but the benefits to my client more than outweighed that. ENDS Caroline Gurney