In version 0.3.3 we have added a new mini toolbar (see below) and a clearer indication of multiple spouses.

Bring up the mini toolbar by clicking on a couple. From the mini toolbar you can:

• Expand the couple to see birth, marriage and death information.
• Highlight the couple.
• Horizontally align the family.
• See the ancestors of that couple.
• See the decedents of that couple.
• See any other husbands.
• See any other wives.

We would love to hear what you think – feedback at familysearchlabs dot org.

You’ve probably noticed that each time we update the pedigree viewer we provide a brief description in the blog of what’s changed. We’ve decided to also start listing where we’re going next. Our hope is that others will see where we’re heading and offer their insights or point us to existing implementations or research in similar areas.

The viewer is good at helping people see the forest of ancestors or descendants. It can be awkward however to understand relationships of individual ancestors within the forest. This is partially because the only options are to see all descendants or all ancestors of a person. It would be nice if I could use the viewer to do more exploration. For example, I’d like to go to my 3rd Great Grandpa and see his children in the context of the ancestry chart I’m currently viewing. Then see the children of the 3rd son. Then maybe I’d look at the parents of the wife of the 3rd son. All of this still in the context of the pedigree I’m viewing.

From a feature perspective here is what we’ll be focusing on in the next couple of weeks.

• Allow users to navigate anywhere in their family
• See all descendants of a person without losing context of the forest
• See all ancestors of a person without losing context of the forest
• Show one generation of descendants for a person
• Show one generation of ancestors for a person
• While doing these operations automatically prune away parts of the forest that aren’t needed for context

Here’s what’s new in version 0.3.2

• Enhancements to make it easier for users to maintain context when changing between charts
  • Enhanced transitions between trees
  • Color difference between pedigree and descendancy
  • Added a glow to the couple that currently has the focus
• Changed the option menu to the right mouse button
• Updated the tips & FAQ
• Bug fixes (multiple spouses, transitions, general stability)

This afternoon, we put out a minor update that smooths the transitions between views (trees). What do you think about moving to an ancestry or descendant view?

In version 0.3 we have tried to make it easier to explore and move between different views. In previous versions you could view descendants, but it was hard to get back to the original pedigree.

Left clicking on a couple brings up a menu that allows you to view ancestors or descendants from that point. When you click one of these options, your old view goes into the background as seen below.

You might notice some new arrows now appearing at the bottom of the screen. These arrows allow you to easily move back to the previous view.

Significantly increased GEDCOM loading speed and other performance improvements are also included in this version.

We read every email message we get and also look at the comments on this blog. Please keep the feedback coming, it has been very helpful.