Webtrees, has anyone tried it yet?

[Wing]

For all you phpgedview fans.. it seems that webtrees is finally out of beta..

wiki.webtrees.net/Main_Page

for those that don't know.. development slowed on phpGedView as it has matured and the developers went on to create a spinoff onw known as webtrees

I guess I'll leave it up to you veterans to see if your happy with how it loads and displays your existing GEDCOMs as I know you guys have specific enhancements like displaying surname first

[Doug 周]

Wing,

Thanks for participating in the forum and writing this thread. You gave me the opportunity for some geektalk about one of my areas of interest. Yes, I am a fan of PhpGedView<=click and plan to move to Webtrees after enough revisions. I plan in the near future install Webtrees as a local on-premise program rather than on-line. I have my family tree installed on-line with PhpGedView already. My on-line site operator is anxious for someone to try Webtrees.

One of the criteria for a good software package for Chinese genealogy is handling the multiple names. Kerry discussed in another post how Rootsmagic did not handle the multiple names in the GEDCOM generated by PhpGedView (PGV). I assume (hope?) Webtrees handling of multiple names will be just as robust as PGV.

The system operator for my on-line PGV recently stated that multiple name tags are a non standard GEDCOM format. However, they are handled very well in PGV. This is why Kerry's upload of his (PGV) GEDCOM into RootsMagic did not handle the multiple names. However, a good programer will not discard the GEDCOM information (to lose data is horrors of horror!), but will incorporate the information into a miscellaneous notes file. If that is the case (hopefuly with RootsMagic), you will not have to check hundreds of profiles to see if information is (gasp!) lost. The last thing you want to do is re-enter the data you have already processed. It is always easier to <select><copy>&<paste> data from one field to another.

This is one of the reasons I recommend to newbies to start with Geni.com<=click. From there, enter your multiple names into the miscellaneous note section. You can use the nickname section also. That data will be stored into the GEDCOM. Later, after you get over 500 profiles, consider transferring to a more robust software package like PhpGedView or hopefully Webtrees. By then, you would have developed likes and dislikes with genealogy software, would have learned things like geo-tagging, face tagging, digitizing your media and documents, the proper formats for dates, places, sources, etc.

¿Do you use PhpGedView?

¿If not, what program do you use?

The downside of PGV is the lack of face tagging. Being able to tag faces in group photos is FUN . Hopefully Webtrees will have that feature.

Doug

[Wing]

Doug,

geektalk.. love it.. cos i'm one of the same and hence my interest in PGV and putting my family tree into some piece of software..
I wanted something web-based so others can also contribute.. I want my cousins to be able to update their own branches if they are interested.
Geni is attractive because it seems pretty and the interface is quite intuitive which can encourage other family members to input information.. drawback i believe is there is no chinese interface.
PGV is attactive because of control and flexibility. I can get it hosted myself, take my own backups, and I feel more secure cos the data isn't "owned" or sitting on somebody elses server.. I also like how it can flip to a chinese based interface.

i've taken your advice and started building in Geni.. i've also kicked of an GEDCOM export so I can play with it offline.

One of the things that held me back from starting on PGV was the issue of names and how best to store them.. i guess i will start that discussion in another thread as it is unrelated and not specific to webtrees.. I'm quite interested in how others are storing multiple names.

Wing


one of the things

[Doug 周]

Wing,

Actually Geni does have both Simplified and Traditional Chinese language interface. Below are quoted instructions:

Language Selector
The language selector is your primary interface for the translation engine. You can change your current language, enable inline translations, and access additional tools for translators and language managers. Click on you current language at the top right corner of any page to access the language selector window.

In Geni, currently only 14% of the site is translated to simplified. Only 2% for traditional Chinese. Webtrees is about 25% translated to simplified Chinese.
I am not sure how much of PGV is translated. However, my Chinese speaking relatives prefer MyHeritage.com to PGV. I assume that the MyHeritage Chinese interface is more comfortable. When they enter data into MyHeritage, I painstakingly hand transfer the data into PGV, despite my beseeching them to contribute to my own preferred program. Recently a relative added 200 new profiles into MyHeritage (OMG!). I am hand transferring the data individually by <select><copy>&<paste> from the MyHeritage GEDCOM. Content is king and my access is important (sigh)

Please private email me and we will accelerate the geektalk. I want to hear what type of name issues you are having. Our conversation might be a little too technical for this forum (IMHO). If we come across an epiphany, I will share by pasting the information into a new thread for the forum members.

Doug

[kerry]

I am running Webtrees on my laptop as a test system. My public site is still PGV. There's a little bit of customisation that I'd need to resolve first. But the small functional details of PGV seem to have all come across to webtrees.

There's a bit of discussion about photo tagging on the webtree forum. On Facebook, it's kind of fun and mostly harmless. Might be handy but one problem will be that there's no standard way to record this data unlike GEDCOM. Means that currently anything you did in one piece of software might not work in other programs. I'd hate to spend a lot of time working up data that I couldn't transport or preserve somewhere else.

[kerry]

I've got my webtrees version on line now. I had a few dramas that gave a minor headache but its all good now. Running in parallel for a while. If anyone's interested:

www.kerrychoy.id.au/webtrees/index.php?ctype=gedcom

I anyone is going to try a migration and they have UTF-8 data, check the forum threads on webtrees.net.

[Doug 周]

I am now using WebTrees on-line. There are a few minor bugs, but on the whole it is a very robust program. It is the sister program to PhpGedView, and most of the philosophy of PhpGedView is carried over to Webtrees.

For newbies wanting to start with an excellent genealogy program, and not wanting to use Geni initially, I would recommend having a technoGeek install Xampp and then PhpGedView onto your computer. Xampp will allow PhpGedView to run as an on-premise stand alone program. It configues your computer to be a local non-internet web-server. Then, have your technoGeek install PhpGedView. Most of the original programmers have stopped developing PhpGedView and have moved onto Webtrees. PhpGedView is matured at version 4.23 and needs little if any updating. However, Webtrees (version 1.05) already incorporates all the main features of PhpGedView, and is constantly being upgraded. There will be little need to ask your technoGeek to update PhpGedView, and you could concentrate solely on genealogy.

Later, if you want an on-line presence for distant relatives, it is a simple matter of shopping for a vendor to host your Internet site. Also, you can transfer to either an on-premise or on-line Webtrees.

How to set up a local test server for PhpGedView<=click

[kerry]

Doug,
I can't think of a reason why we'd recommend a new site to start with PGV then migrate to Webtrees. The set up process for both is similar in terms of effort and difficulty, and by avoiding the migration you avoid that sneaky character encoding / database collation problem that got me confused.

I'd say go straight to webtrees - PGV is now legacy software: stable but won't have active support - probably no more releases or updates.

[Doug 周]

Kerry,

It is hypocritical to do as I say and not as I do.

However, people are at all stages of computer expertise. In the technology field, you are at the pinnacle of computer literacy. IMHO I believe that many people interested in starting to learn Chinese genealogy are towards the bottom of the computer literacy ladder. See the transitional generation alluded to by Henry.

People are also at all stages of genealogy expertise. Having gone through your PhpGedView (PGV) and Webtrees site, again you are at the top of your game in your research. I believe most people, especially the over 150 guests lurkers who view this web site every 24 hours (see the statistics at the bottom of the front page) are just discovering how to start or focus their genealogy research to their Chinese heritage.

It will need a mild technoGeek to install PGV or Webtrees. Because Webtrees is updating regularly, you will need that technoGeek to upgrade your on-premise program. If that technoGeek graduates school or moves away, then upgrading to a newer version of Webtrees could become problematic. An on-premise installation of PGV will easily last a computerphobic end-user 3-5 years of use. By then there might be even newer and better programs, or the path to Webtrees even easier.

During that time period, the end user can use the program to help:

• Build their skills in getting Chinese characters into the computer. Determine the usage of Traditional vs Simplified characters.
  
• Determine how they want to display names of their ancestors
  
• Decide whether to use Pinyin, Yale, Jyutping, Hakka, or any other romanization techniques
  
• Learn to avoid colloquial date formats. Determine their use of Gregorian vs Chinese dates
  
• Understand the proper GEDCOM and Google Map format for places location. Start storing locations as GPS coordinates.
  
• Learn how to cite your sources (VERY IMPORTANT)
  
• Learn how to crop, display, and archive photos and display media.
  
• Work on their techniques of saving to GEDCOM.
  
• Discover how to display plural spouses, adoption, civil unions, and other relationships.
  

This is just some of genealogical work to accomplish and learn. My recommendation is to minimize the computer technology aspect and to maximize the genealogy techniques.

Much of this can be accomplished with Geni. I still stand by my original recommendation of starting with Geni. The Geni advantage is the on-line presence and the site administration handled by the employees. The disadvantages are issues of multiple names, and not owning your own data.

I feel that if you are a computer newbie without any technical support, start with Geni. If you have sporadic access to technical support, have your technoGeek install PGV, and be done with it. If you have continuous access to a technoGeek or are willing to learn the in’s and out’s of the installation, then use Webtrees.

Thank you again for your input and allowing me to expand on this topic. The nice thing is that users always have choices. Again these are just my own personal recommendations.

Doug

[Doug 周]

A major downside of webtrees is its lack of Chinese language interface. This is one of the reason I initially moved to PhpGedView. I have Chinese literate relatives participating in my family tree project. I have thoughtlessly excluded them when I moved again to webtrees from PhpGedView. Please consider these differences pending what program you choose.

As I have mentioned before, my Chinese literate relatives prefer the Chinese interface of MyHeritage.com to PhpGedView. I surmise this is because of the quality of the former program's translation. However, I cannot recommend MyHeritage program with its lack of multiple names capability and the amount of solicitations generated.

As an aside, the upside of the spam solicitation generation is that it brings more activity onto your family tree site as relatives follow links back into MyHeritage. Maybe they are following these links just to unsubscribe from the spam.

[Doug 周]

Dec 4, 2010 4:36:31 GMT -5 kerry said:

...I can't think of a reason why we'd recommend a new site to start with PGV then migrate to Webtrees....

2 years have passed since Kerry’s comment, and I now must agree with Kerry that you should use webtrees® instead of PGV as your genealogy program, whether desktop/laptop or online. Webtrees® is my software of choice for Chinese family history recording into a family tree. There has not been any development on PGV for at least 2 years, with most of the active programmers having moved to webtrees.

Webtrees® is a multi operating-system (Mac, PC) program. Because it is meant to be an online internet based program, it uses the standard web browser like Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, or Chrome to navigate your family tree. For those who have no desire to host their family tree on the internet, you can easily (and reversibly) configure your desktop/laptop to think it is a internet web-server. You then use webtrees without involving the internet.

Webtrees incorporates the important Chinese specific software needs: displaying Chinese characters, allowing surname first, handling multiple names. The program controls the digitized media, stores sources, notes, and facts in a precise GEDCOM standard. GEDCOM is the name of the only universal genealogical data file. Precision is important, since many other programs use their own unique dialect of GEDCOM.

Security is very important to the programmers of webtrees. It is secure enough that, via the internet, I WANT to encourage Chinese web-search robots to view my tree for my ancestors’ names. I feel my data is safe from hacking and unauthorized entry.

Thanks Kerry for your participation.

IMHO

[kerry]

Security is very important to the programmers of webtrees. It is secure enough that, via the internet, I WANT to encourage Chinese web-search robots to view my tree for my ancestors� names. I feel my data is safe from hacking and unauthorized entry.

Just thought I'd better update some WT thoughts but I noted one comment in this thread - I have submitted my URL to baidu for inclusion in their search bot. No reply and no apparent success - baidu still doesn't know about my site. Strange since my name does appear on baidu because of an entry on sourceforge in relation to PGV.