Volunteers wanted to test-drive TREEFIC

[Philip Endecott]

Dear Genealogists,

A few weeks ago I posted a couple of messages here describing TREEFIC,
the online family tree system that I'm building at http://treefic.com.
Many of you tried the online demos and were kind enough to send me
your feedback.

I'm now looking for a number of volunteers to help with the final
stage of testing. I want to find out how well the system works with
real users' genealogies and discover what finishing touches are needed
to make it easy to use.

If you'd like to see your genealogy displayed by TREEFIC, go to
http://treefic.com and see the "Volunteers Wanted" announcement.

(In case you missed my earlier messages, TREEFIC is an online service
that allows you to build your family tree from any web browser.
Because it operates entirely online it's ideal for collaborative
projects. I also aim to have the best-looking family tree diagrams of
any family tree application, suitable for viewing online or printing.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Regards,

--Phil Endecott - Treefic.com

[Dave Hinz]

On 31 Aug 2004 10:27:33 -0700, Philip Endecott <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Genealogists,

A few weeks ago I posted a couple of messages here describing TREEFIC,
the online family tree system that I'm building at http://treefic.com.
Many of you tried the online demos and were kind enough to send me
your feedback.

I've talked to Phil regarding Treefic, and he seems to be very receptive
to feedback and suggestions, and it looks like a very useful site.
Definately worth checking out.

Dave Hinz

[bella fortuni]

On 31 Aug 2004 10:27:33 -0700, [email protected] (Philip Endecott)
wrote:

Dear Genealogists,

A few weeks ago I posted a couple of messages here describing TREEFIC,
the online family tree system that I'm building at http://treefic.com.
Many of you tried the online demos and were kind enough to send me
your feedback.

I'm now looking for a number of volunteers to help with the final
stage of testing. I want to find out how well the system works with
real users' genealogies and discover what finishing touches are needed
to make it easy to use.

If you'd like to see your genealogy displayed by TREEFIC, go to
http://treefic.com and see the "Volunteers Wanted" announcement.

(In case you missed my earlier messages, TREEFIC is an online service
that allows you to build your family tree from any web browser.
Because it operates entirely online it's ideal for collaborative
projects. I also aim to have the best-looking family tree diagrams of
any family tree application, suitable for viewing online or printing.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Regards,

--Phil Endecott - Treefic.com

So who owns the data? You? The people who paid you to put it up?

wev

[Rick Merrill]

bella fortuni wrote:

On 31 Aug 2004 10:27:33 -0700, [email protected] (Philip Endecott)
wrote:
... I want to find out how well the system works with
real users' genealogies and discover what finishing touches are needed
to make it easy to use.

If you'd like to see your genealogy displayed by TREEFIC, go to
http://treefic.com and see the "Volunteers Wanted" announcement.

(In case you missed my earlier messages, TREEFIC is an online service
that allows you to build your family tree from any web browser.
Because it operates entirely online it's ideal for collaborative
projects. I also aim to have the best-looking family tree diagrams of
any family tree application, suitable for viewing online or printing.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Regards,

--Phil Endecott - Treefic.com


So who owns the data? You? The people who paid you to put it up?

wev

Phil says the data belongs to the originator, and I trust him. Right
now my sense is that he is in research and development mode and is
not focusing on a business model. I think no one has paid him to do
this.

At this stage I think Treefic is a one-man show, and I know that
Phil has shown himself to be very responsive and receptive to all
issues brought up. - RM

[Melchior de Contades]

Bonjour (Hello) Rick,

vous écriviez (you wrote) le (on) Wed, 01 Sep 2004 12:33:41 GMT:

RM> Phil says the data belongs to the originator, and I trust him.
RM> Right now my sense is that he is in research and development mode
RM> and is not focusing on a business model. I think no one has paid
RM> him to do this.

[Quoting]
When TREEFIC opens it will be a subscription-based system. Users will
pay a small fee, probably collected annually, to record their genealogy
on the site. As an incentive to join this test programme, participants
will receive a 25% discount on the regular price for the duration of
their subscription. The subscription rate has not been fixed yet but is
likely to be of the order of £2.50 / €3.75 / US$4.15 / AU$6.25 per
month.
[End of quote]

Hum hum.........

--
Melchior de Contades - Paris (FR)

[Philip Endecott]

bella fortuni wrote

So who owns the data?

The customer owns the data. It's the same position as a web-hosting
account, or web-based email; the service provider doesn't get
ownership over the customer's content.

(For the various editable TREEFIC demos, contributors agree to put
their contributions in the public domain.)

Do try it out!

--Phil.

[bella fortuni]

On 1 Sep 2004 10:07:09 -0700, [email protected] (Philip Endecott)
wrote:

bella fortuni wrote
So who owns the data?

The customer owns the data. It's the same position as a web-hosting
account, or web-based email; the service provider doesn't get
ownership over the customer's content.

(For the various editable TREEFIC demos, contributors agree to put
their contributions in the public domain.)

Do try it out!

--Phil.

Could you explain how it basically works? I couldn't find anything on
your site. Is it all build from scratch? Can an existing gedcom be
uploaded and the tree created? What are the size limitations?

[Rick Merrill]

Melchior de Contades wrote:

Bonjour (Hello) Rick,

vous écriviez (you wrote) le (on) Wed, 01 Sep 2004 12:33:41 GMT:

RM> Phil says the data belongs to the originator, and I trust him.
RM> Right now my sense is that he is in research and development mode
RM> and is not focusing on a business model. I think no one has paid
RM> him to do this.

[Quoting]
When TREEFIC opens it will be a subscription-based system. Users will
pay a small fee, probably collected annually, to record their genealogy
on the site. As an incentive to join this test programme, participants
will receive a 25% discount on the regular price for the duration of
their subscription. The subscription rate has not been fixed yet but is
likely to be of the order of £2.50 / €3.75 / US$4.15 / AU$6.25 per
month.
[End of quote]

That's pretty reasonable, isn't it? Besides, I was focusing on the
development period.

Furthermore, the individual's data can at their option remain
password protected. That way one
can share with family and cousins only. - RM

[Philip Endecott]

bella fortuni wrote

Could you explain how it basically works? I couldn't find anything on
your site. Is it all build from scratch? Can an existing gedcom be
uploaded and the tree created? What are the size limitations?

You can upload GEDCOMs. In the production version this will be done
online, but at the moment I'm doing it manually so that I can check
that TREEFIC correctly digests all of the odd things that genealogy
programs do to GEDCOMs - this is one reason for the current test
period. If you join the test program you'll need to email me your
GEDCOM.

You can also build online. You can try this out on the "fantasy
family" demo site (http://treefic.com/treefic/fantasy). That site
also has some online help that might explain it a bit more.

I'm not really sure what the size limits are, which is another reason
for the current test period. I'm currently accepting GEDCOMS with
hundreds or thousands of people but not tens of thousands. I expect
to be able to accept larger files in the future.

Do give it a try.

Regards,

--Phil.

[bella fortuni]

On 2 Sep 2004 04:40:42 -0700, [email protected] (Philip Endecott)
wrote:

bella fortuni wrote
Could you explain how it basically works? I couldn't find anything on
your site. Is it all build from scratch? Can an existing gedcom be
uploaded and the tree created? What are the size limitations?

You can upload GEDCOMs. In the production version this will be done
online, but at the moment I'm doing it manually so that I can check
that TREEFIC correctly digests all of the odd things that genealogy
programs do to GEDCOMs - this is one reason for the current test
period. If you join the test program you'll need to email me your
GEDCOM.

You can also build online. You can try this out on the "fantasy
family" demo site (http://treefic.com/treefic/fantasy). That site
also has some online help that might explain it a bit more.

I'm not really sure what the size limits are, which is another reason
for the current test period. I'm currently accepting GEDCOMS with
hundreds or thousands of people but not tens of thousands. I expect
to be able to accept larger files in the future.

Do give it a try.

Regards,

--Phil.

I would, but the size limit says no; my Colonial American occupation
study is 165,000+, the ged about 50 mgs.

[Rick Merrill]

....

I'm not really sure what the size limits are, which is another reason
for the current test period. I'm currently accepting GEDCOMS with
hundreds or thousands of people but not tens of thousands. I expect
to be able to accept larger files in the future.
....

I would, but the size limit says no; my Colonial American occupation
study is 165,000+, the ged about 50 mgs.

Suppose you do not export notes to the GEDCOM, what then?

[bella fortuni]

On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 17:36:02 GMT, Rick Merrill
<[email protected]> wrote:

...
I'm not really sure what the size limits are, which is another reason
for the current test period. I'm currently accepting GEDCOMS with
hundreds or thousands of people but not tens of thousands. I expect
to be able to accept larger files in the future.
...

I would, but the size limit says no; my Colonial American occupation
study is 165,000+, the ged about 50 mgs.

Suppose you do not export notes to the GEDCOM, what then?

Well I could, and drop the events as well, but that sort of defeats
the point, since its an occupation study. And with 3000+ craftsmen
recorded, I'd have no desire to do them all again. Perhaps I can break
out a decade/city segment to test.

[Rick Merrill]

bella fortuni wrote:

On Thu, 02 Sep 2004 17:36:02 GMT, Rick Merrill
[email protected]> wrote:


...

I'm not really sure what the size limits are, which is another reason
for the current test period. I'm currently accepting GEDCOMS with
hundreds or thousands of people but not tens of thousands. I expect
to be able to accept larger files in the future.

...

I would, but the size limit says no; my Colonial American occupation
study is 165,000+, the ged about 50 mgs.

Suppose you do not export notes to the GEDCOM, what then?


Well I could, and drop the events as well, but that sort of defeats
the point, since its an occupation study. And with 3000+ craftsmen
recorded, I'd have no desire to do them all again. Perhaps I can break
out a decade/city segment to test.

I didn't mean you should change your study I meant that you
could export a special purpose GEDCOM file. After all Treefic only
plots ancestors with B.M.D and a few other tidbits. - RM

[Philip Endecott]

Rick Merrill <[email protected]> wrote in message

I would, but the size limit says no; my Colonial American occupation
study is 165,000+, the ged about 50 mgs.

Suppose you do not export notes to the GEDCOM, what then?

The current limiting factor is the total number of people, not the
size of the file, so stripping notes doesn't make much difference to
me. I expect to be able to raise the limit at some point - mainly
once I have a hierarchical index page - but 165,000 is still going to
be difficult. Ideal candidates for the current testing will have
GEDCOMs containing 1000-5000 people, or will want to build a tree from
scrath, collaboratively, online.

--Phil.

[Dave Hinz]

On 6 Sep 2004 10:16:34 -0700, Philip Endecott <[email protected]> wrote:

Rick Merrill <[email protected]> wrote in message
I would, but the size limit says no; my Colonial American occupation
study is 165,000+, the ged about 50 mgs.

Suppose you do not export notes to the GEDCOM, what then?

The current limiting factor is the total number of people, not the
size of the file, so stripping notes doesn't make much difference to
me.

Is there a way to add a relationship to an existing person in the database?
I'm not seeing it. As in, "This guy I already had turns out to be the
father of person 712, so I want to link them together"? A feature like that
is pretty much going to be required to be used for a collaborative effort.

Dave Hinz

[Philip Endecott]

Dave Hinz wrote [editted]

Is there a way to add a relationship to an existing person in the database?
I'm not seeing it. As in, "This guy I already had [A] turns out to be the
father of [B], so I want to link them together"?

Hi Dave,

Yes you can do this. For your example:
1. Go to A's biography page. Press EDIT. Press "Copy this person".
2. Go to B's biography page. Press EDIT. Press "Paste 'A' as
father".

If you don't see a "paste as father" button, it's because a father is
already recorded for B. In this case you'll need to press "Remove
father" first.

There are some examples of this sort of thing in the online help on
the "Adding People with Complex Relationships" page.

Any suggestions about how to make this more intuitive would be
appreciated.

Regards,

--Phil.