Jump on the Family Tree Software Bandwagon.

I think that I shall never see a picture in my family tree, to shamefully parody
Joyce Kilmer, but actually all the best family tree software enables the amateu
r family sleuth to upload lots of lovely family snaps to their family tree proje
ct. In fact all good ancestry style family tree software packages are like intel
ligent interactive filing systems. Every individual entry has its own informatio
n package (both text and images) and its own place within the branching structur
es of our genes passage through generations over time. Every person when born be
comes a separate but linked new cell within the bigger picture of ancestors from
tens and even hundreds of years ago. The key feature of family tree software is
how it helps the researcher organize and display family information.
This presupposes that you have begun your family tree cultivation project with a
rummage through the attics, document boxes and photo albums of your nearest and
dearest. You should also do all the local searches that you can, in advance of
trying out any family tree software.
.
People appreciate the World through their five senses, but primarily visually an
d aurally. Family tree software that enabled you to smell your ancestors would p
robably be a sense too far but amateur genealogists really appreciate more than
just text, with video clips and audio tracks being good enhancements to the fami
ly tree experience. For British family tree software the top down branching char
t is the most informative type of family tree organization. At the top of the ch
art is the oldest traceable family 'root' and at the bottom are present day fami
ly members and indeed the genealogist in person. It is a matter of personal tast
e whether a side to side, left most ancient to right present day, style of famil
y tree is chosen.
There has been an explosion of interest in genealogy in the last decade culminat
ing in and encouraged by the TV program 'Who Do You Think You Are?' The Internet
and ancestry websites can give their members access to all kinds of official do
cumentation. Anything from census information and birth certificates, marriage d
ata, to death certificates. Local parish records are fascinating not only for th
e individual family genealogist but also for social trends seen for example in m
igration and military data. Ancestry websites offer free membership for a period
of time or for a certain level of analysis. This 'taster' allows customers to tr
y the family tree software on for fit before committing money to further in-dept
h analysis.
People looking to discover exactly who they 'think they are' can move between fa
mily tree software packages thanks to what are called GEDCOM files. This is a fi
le format that is the same for all the major ancestry websites so that any proje
ct started in one can be transferred to another, via an 'export' function in the
initial software and an 'import' function in the destination software. Yes you
can re-pot your family tree and the look of it will not be affected because the
file format of the output of family tree software is a PDF file, the almost univ
ersal publishing file format.