Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Exploring RootsMagic 6 - Post 3: My RootsMagic Family Tree Website

In Exploring RootsMagic 6 - Post 2: Online Publishing this morning, I demonstrated how to create a family tree website on the http://my.rootsmagic.com website.  My site is at http://my.rootsmagic.com/rjseaver

I want to share what the site looks like, and show you how to navigate it and investigate the various options available.  Creating the site took me only about 15 minutes from start to finish after I had registered my RootsMagic site.  There are 6,900 persons in my tree on the RootsMagic website.

1)  Here is the home page of my RootsMagic website:


The picture is of my parents wedding in 1942.  There are links on the left of the picture for "Home" (this page), "Name Index," "Pedigree" and "Contact."  The "Contact" link has my street address and email address.

2)  I clicked on the "Name Index" link, and saw:



The A surnames in my tree are displayed, and a user can click on any of the other letters of the alphabet.  If I click on a surname, I receive a list of given names with links to the person (the person icon, the family icon, the pedigree icon).  I clicked on the "Able" surname in the screen below:


3)  I clicked on the "Pedigree" link on the Home Page (or any page) and saw the Pedigree Chart for myself:


The chart above is a four-generation pedigree chart showing only names, birth and death dates.  As you can see, I've color-coded my grandparents and those colors persist throughout the tree.

As you can see, the boxes are a fixed width, and the font is (I think) a fixed size, so the full names and full dates are truncated for some entries.  That is a minor problem, in my view, but it would be nice if RootsMagic had a font size option to select.

From this chart, I can navigate forward (later generations) or backward (earlier generations) by clicking on the left or right arrows shown for the first or last persons on the chart.

If I want to seem ore information about a person, I can click on the three icons next to each persons name - a Person icon, a Family icon, and a Pedigree icon.

4)  I clicked on the Person icon for my grandfather, Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942).  His "Individual Details" page opened (two screens shown):



His parents family is also shown on the page above.

The page above provides the person's name, the birth and death dates, the attached media, the Events for the person, the person's families (as a parent, and as a child, with names, birth and death dates).  Each person in the families list has the three icons to navigate to their information.

One thing I noticed in the Events list is that it does not have ALL of the events I listed in my RootsMagic database.  I have many more Events - most for Census, Occupation and Residence.  I don't know why they are not all listed in the Events list.  Perhaps I missed a check mark in a box when I created the website.  I'm sure that someone at RootsMagic can tell me, and I will revise my website when I have more information.

5)  For each Event listed, there is an Event name, an Event Date, an Event Location, an Envelope icons for Sources, and a Camera icon for images.

I clicked on the Marriage Event Camera icon and saw the marriage certificate:


The image has a caption (provided in my RootsMagic database) at the bottom.  The image goes away if I click the small X in the lower corner of the white background, or in the black space outside the image.

What I have found is that there is only one image for each Fact, even if more than one image was linked in the RootsMagic database.

6)  When I clicked on the Envelope icon for the Marriage, a list of sources opened in a popup window:



The source citations above include both the master source and citation details that I've input into the RootsMagic database for the Event.

8)  Navigating within the tree is limited to the Name Index, the Pedigree chart (and left or right arrows for later or earlier generations, clicking on the Person or Family icons in an Individual or Family Page, or using the small Search Box in the upper right-hand corner of the "Name Index" screen.

9)  On the What's New in RootsMagic 6 webinar last night, Bruce noted that the persons in this set of My RootsMagic websites will NOT be searchable by search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo.

I really like the ease of creation of the website - it's so idiot-proof that even I can do it.  I really like the tree content, the visual product, and the ease of navigation within the tree.  Plus, it's FREE as part of buying a superb genealogy software program.

What do you think?  Have you checked out my site at http://my.rootsmagic.com/rjseaver yet?  What do you like about it?  What do you not like?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/11/exploring-rootsmagic-6-post-3-my.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

7 comments:

RootsMagic said...

Randy,

The website actually does include all the images for each fact. It only displays one at a time but there are arrows below the image to move back and forth (you can also tap the image itself to move to the next image for that fact).

On the missing fact types, can you do Lists > Fact type list and edit the fact types and see if they are checked to include when publishing online? If they are, another thing to check is whether the fact has been marked as private in the person's edit screen.

- Bruce

Anonymous said...

Why are the names not searchable by the search engines? It seems like the main reason for putting your tree on the web is so that unknown cousins can find you. Is that something that will be added in the future?

Karen said...

Thanks Randy for the review and screen captures. I'm a RootsMagic fan from way back when (Family Origins). I think Bruce has really hit a home run this time.

I looked at your website and noticed the surname White. Guess what? We are cuz. Willialm White & Elizabeth Cadman are my 7th Ggrandparents. I'm descended through their daughter, Sarah who married John Brown.

Happy Holidays, Cuz

cheap football jerseys said...

For the missing fact type, you can do list > fact type list and edit the fact type, seeing all of them for inspection, including when publishing online? If they are, another check whether has been marked as private facts in the edit screen.

Justin Ortego said...

With internet associating other people with you has become easier and more convenient. I jut can't imagine what will the computer particularly the internet technology can give offers us more in the future.

Justin Ortego said...

With internet associating other people with you has become easier and more convenient. I jut can't imagine what will the computer particularly the internet technology can give offers us more in the future.

Alyssa Condon said...

It’s fun to explore our family tree using an interactive website. I need to find my grandparents’ picture so I can finally start our own family tree.