In my previous post I talked about how to install PHPGedView and now I want to tell you about my favourite features in this software.

One of the most common questions I am asked, when someone contacts me via my website, is how are you related to the person I am researching.  Using PHPGedView I can quickly bring up a chart which shows the relationship between me and another person in my tree.  Here is an example:

How am I related to Francis Henry Chapman?  I look up Francis Henry Chapman.  This is his profile page below.

This is the welcome page.  It is very customisable.  I have chosen the background and border colours and the blocks of content which I want to have on here.  There are many you can choose from – GEDCOM Statistics, Welcome, GEDCOM News, TO DO List, Charts, HTML and Advanced HTML, Favourites, and Logged In Users.

 

If I want to share part of my tree with someone who has contacted me then I can clip the part of my tree that I want to share and send it to them as a .gedcom file.  Using Francis Henry Chapman as an example again;

I chose the second box from the top – Add this person, his parents and siblings.

I want a .gedcom file so I leave the first option set to .gedcom.  A .zip file will be smaller to download so yes I want it zipped and with the media files included.  There is no need for privacy settings on this file because all the people included are deceased and because I’ve chosen who I am giving it to.  If there was anyone in the list that I didn’t want in the file I can remove them now by clicking the x on the right hand side next to their name.  All the sources, repositories, and media are included.  Now that I have everything set as I want it I can click the Download Now button and email the generated file to my contact.

For me using PHPGedView means I can collaborate on my tree with my sister, maintain ownership of the data and photos, I can set up tasks and assign them to the members who are collaborating with me or just keep the list for myself as a reminder of things to do in the Research Assistant section of the software.

These are just some of the features I enjoy using with PHPGedView.  Would you consider using PHPGedView for your online family tree?

Stay tuned for my next post which is called Connecting Cousins.