FAMILY TREE GENERATOR
• Would you like to discover how to create a family tree, for publication on your website or blog, or for sharing digitally with family? • Would you like to be able to pan across the entire tree, viewing your direct lines and the branches for extended fam
Learn how to create your own online family tree with software developer & genealogist Tony Proctor’s innovative free program
Software developer Tony Proctor is the author of a specialist product that has recently undergone a major revision: SVG Family-tree Generator v6.0 (known as SVG-FTG). As Tony says himself, while the name is not simple, the program provides an appealing and useful application for sharing family trees digitally.
Tony Proctor: ‘SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is a data format for displaying shapes and lines in a web page, which is not well-known [in genealogy circles], but it has the advantage that it never goes fuzzy under high magnification.’ This means that you can zoom in on details and individuals on your family tree and view them with great clarity; while also being able to zoom out to view the tree in entirety.
The SVG-FTG created trees are ideal for including on a blog or family history website. Images may be hyperlinked, and a list of blog posts in which a person on your tree has been tagged are also easily revealed by hover text to visitors to your site, so that they can explore and read about your family research and stories.
A number of applications can be added, if required, to make the tree do things for the user, and so provide a richer experience for family members. Power-users of SVG-FTG can also add to the repertoire if they wish.
These features of the software were important to Tony as the main reason he wished to develop SVG-FTG was to make it easy for his family members to join in and enjoy learning about their shared family history, and as a software architect he understands that similarly minded users may wish to develop the experience.
How to get started with the SVG Family-tree Generator?
• You will need internet access.
• The software is Windows-based, but the output can be displayed in any modern browser.
• Visit http://parallax-viewpoint. blogspot.com/2021/03/svgfamily-tree-generator-v60.html (Alternatively use the shortened url https://familytr.ee/svgftg)
• From here you can download the distribution kit, which includes the installation files, documentation and sample files.
• Have your family history in a GEDCOM file, ready for importing to SVG-FTG.
You may also input your family tree information manually if you prefer.
• Gather your digitised photos or documents, again for adding to your SVG-FTG.
Take in the Youtube Tutorials
See the video tutorials on using SVG-FTG at www.youtube.com/c/ Tonyproctor
First view the ‘Installation’ video, and follow the step-by-step
instructions for how to install SVGFTG. Then view the ‘Getting started’ video, where you will see how to open an existing tree, upload a GEDCOM or create a new one. Tony Proctor has created a playlist of 11 videos, each varying between 6 and 18 minutes long, and together providing a comprehensive set of guides to: installation and getting started (as mentioned), plus settings, timeline reports, applications, viewpoints, images, notes, tree designer, ancestral links and GEDCOM.
We advise viewing the videos as you go along, pausing to implement the next step in installing and creating your own SVG-FTG tree. Depending on your level of expertise, SVG-FTG may involve some level of learning curve, but with the video guides and helpful Facebook group, you may easily ask for advice.
GEDCOM export
Lastly, with version 6.0 of SVG-FTG GEDCOM export is also supported. This is really important as not only is SVG-FTG a means by which to display your family tree online, you can also edit the fields – so being able to export the latest version of your tree for back-up or use on other applications is ideal.
We would love to hear from Family Tree readers with examples of the SVG-FTG trees that they create. Please share your links and examples with helen.t@family-tree.co.uk and we will share them with readers in a future issue.
About the software developer
Physicist Tony Proctor has been a software architect since 1987. He is Former Vice Chair and Acting Chair of FHISO (http://fhiso.org/), and has been involved in the recent GEDCOM 7.0 developments (see page 8 of Family Tree News this issue) Follow his blog at: http://parallax-viewpoint.blogspot. com/