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MacFamilyTree:
GUI Basics — The User Interface Explained
About This Tutorial
MacFamilyTree 5 has a very intuitive and clean graphic user interface (»GUI«). We made sure that you can easily collect, manage and share your family tree. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the basics of finding your way through buttons, lists and windows. Please refer to our other, dedicated, tutorials for how to make use of the various new tools and features.
Overview
This is a screenshot of how the application's main window looks after creating a new, empty family tree. The database file is still named »Untitled«, as we did not save it under any name. In our documentation, we will mostly use the »Sample Tree«, provided with every purchase and download of MacFamilyTree 5.
Leopard vs. Tiger
The appearance of MacFamilyTree's user interface may vary between Mac OS X 10.4 »Tiger« and the more recent 10.5 »Leopard«. However, MacFamilyTree works just fine under both versions of Apple's Mac operating system, so it is really easy to use even on multiple Macs with different installations. One of the more subtle differences is the way the »Docks« under both versions of Mac OS X indicate which application is currently running:
The Main Window
Whenever you start MacFamilyTree 5 and either create a new family tree or load an existing one, it is important to understand that each application window, like the one we will be describing here, always holds an entire database.
Every database may consist of an unlimited number of persons and families, including all associated information. Also, individual persons in this database do not need to be related. Subsequently, multiple but distinct »family trees« may be contained in one MacFamilyTree 5 database file!
You can keep all your genealogy research in a single database file, and — who knows? — you might later find the »missing link« between those families. Alternatively, you may create separate files for every tree. That way you can open them in separate windows too, e.g. for comparison.
MacFamilyTree's main window is split into several distinct areas:
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Window Title Bar
Here you will find our »Quick Access« buttons to easily add new persons, families and sources to your database. Also, you can create and edit »Labels« which are very useful for keeping a well structured database.
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Edit
Editors help you input and manage all the information you collect. It is here that you will add single individuals as well as entire families, sources and e.g. multimedia files like pictures and movies. Our revolutionary »Family Assistant« can also be accessed from the Edit section.
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Views
Views can be the common Ancestor or Descendant Charts, more complex Family Charts but also such stunning, interactive 3D visualizations like our »Virtual Tree« and »Virtual Globe«.
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Reports
Generate comprehensive reports about kinships, birthdays or all the events and geographic locations in your database. This is a convenient tool to prepare paper copies, handy for taking with you during field research.
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Publish Web Pages
Do you want to share your genealogy data online? Do you wish to hand out CDs and DVDs to friends and family, providing them with an easily-accesible version of your genealogy research? Then this is the place to look.
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Main View
Most of what you will be doing in MacFamilyTree 5 is achieved through functions accessible in the »Main View«. This huge central space is now only empty and gray, with the application's version number in the lower left and a »tree card« graphics on the right. The Main View will change contextually, depending on what you click on in the left toolbar and on the actions you perform in MacFamilyTree.
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Navigation Bar
Whenever you work in the Main View, starting out from one of the tools in the main Toolbar, you may move between different editors and views of items and persons. MacFamilyTree keeps track of your itinerary and will display a step-by-step »Path« of your movements. This prevents you from getting lost, but you may also use the »Steps« to quickly go back to a previous context.
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Contextual Toolbar
This is an area where, depending on the context, MacFamilyTree will offer different options and tools to rapidly access certain, frequently-needed features. You will also find View Options to change the way the current contents of the Main View looks or behaves.
Populating The Main View — Lists And Editors
Example: »Persons List«
Lists, or more precisely »list views«, are very useful and common ways of working with information in computer programs: A practically unlimited amount of single items can be gathered and sorted flexibly and dynamically.
List views usually consist of a variable number of columns and rows. The intersections of columns and rows form »cells«. In our example, every person occupies a row, whereas each cell holds specific information for the person. Clicking with the mouse on a column header will sort the entire list according to the sorting criterion represented in the header: clicking on the column header »Name« sorts all the persons by their full name, alphabetically.
Some Contextual Tools Explained
In the lower right portion of MacFamilyTree's window, in the Contextual Toolbar below the Persons Lists, you can see several symbols. These are buttons and tools you will also re-encounter in other places within MacFamilyTree 5:
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Kekulé Count
This button is a typical contextual tool. In the context of the Persons List, it makes much sense to have immediate access to processing the Kekulé count for a selected person.
»Kekulé« is the commonly used name for the »Sosa-Stradonitz« genealogical numbering system. To have MacFamilyTree calculate the Kekulé count for someones' ancestors, just select the reference person with your mouse and click the »123« icon. You will see the Kekulé count appear in its column in the Persons List.
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View Options
We chose the »eye« symbol as this button grants access to all those options defining the way the currently active view looks and behaves. Wherever you encounter this symbol along the way, make sure to take a closer look: it may offer a set of useful options for the given context.
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Search
The search field behaves like Apple's system-wide »Spotlight« search. Just type in a part of the word you are looking for: the list view will only show items containing the combination of characters you have typed into the search field. This is useful for quickly finding a single person within a tree of many thousand family members.
A Typical GUI — The »Person Editor«
Once you double-click on a name in the Persons List, MacFamilyTree takes you to the »Person Editor«. That is the place where you basically add and modify any kind of information available for an individual person. The Person Editor is a good example of an editor in MacFamilyTree 5.
Whenever it comes to managing information of any kind, the available GUI elements are mostly the same: you will have multiple subviews or »panes« combined in the central Main View. Those panes allow you to enter or retrieve information in a structured, well-organized way.
More Common GUI Elements
The Person Editor also holds most basic buttons and other GUI elements which you will find all over MacFamilyTree:
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Current Path
MacFamilyTree 5 keeps track of where you move along in the Main View and displays a chain of »steps« in the Navigation Bar. Click on one of the arrrow-shaped steps, and you will be taken back to where you were before!
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Text Fields
Text fields are probably one of the most important paradigm in computer programs: text fields may hold whatever text you enter. Whenever you need to enter information somewhere in MacFamilyTree5.
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Tabs
»Tabs« are at least two things at once: they help you switch between different subviews (»panes«), as well as they serve as »handles« when you want to customize MacFamilyTree's GUI to better suit your needs.
When you click on a tab, the associated pane will be activated and brought forward. Also, the close button to close a specific tab is olny shown for a currently active (»selected«) tab.
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»Hidden« vs. »Active« Panes
Tabs in a darker shade of blue are »inactive«, and their subviews are »hidden«. You can activate such a tab by single-clicking with your mouse. This will bring the associated subview (»pane«) to the front, for you to use it.
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… More Contextual Tools
Like before in the list view, the Contextual Toolbar holds a number of tools available. A single click on each of those buttons will take you directly to e.g. the Ancestor or Descendant Chart for the person you are editing.
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… Another List View, Notes, Sources And Labels
One very commonly used list view is the »Events« list. All person-related events like the Date of Birth or e.g. Immigration, professional and military records or specific dated documents are entered here.
In the standard configuration of MacFamilyTree's user interface, tabs for »Notes«, »Sources« and »Label« are also visible next to »Events«. Again, a single mouseclick will bring one of those panes to the front.
Common GUI Elements Continued
A few interactive elements of MacFamilyTree's user interface may be a little less obvious — although they can be found in many other application programs:
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Textfield & Pull Down Menu
Certain textfields are special: sometimes, there is a blue button with a small triangle pointing downwards on the right end of a textfield. Clicking on the blue button with the triangle will make a list appear. This list may be blank or contain suggestions for automatically completing the text entry in the specific textfield — an alternative to manually typing in the appropriate information.
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»Pop-up« Menu
Similar to the Pull Down Menu, these buttons can be clicked to produce a list with a number of options to choose from. Other than with the Pull Down Menus, Pop-up-Menus will not accept manual text input.
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Open In Separate Window
A handy feature for many of you is MacFamilyTree's ability to open everything you see in the Main View in separate windows.
With just a single click on the small »Window« button in the upper right corner of the Navigation Bar, the current contents of the Main View will open in a separate window. However, the GUI elements in the new, additional window will stay fully functional:
On Macs with multiple connected displays, you can keep e.g. the Family Assistant and Virtual Tree as well as the Virtual Globe on a second screen for quick reference and navigation, independent of the information you are editing in MacFamilyTre's main window.
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Close Current View
This button is the obvious way to close the current Main View and instantly navigate back one step in the Navigation Bar.
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Adding And Removing Items
»Plus« and »Minus« are universal symbols for adding and removing — that is why we decided to create these two buttons as the most basic tools in MacFamilyTree's user interface. In whatever context, clicking the Plus and Minus buttons creates or deletes items like e.g. persons, families, events or multimedia files from the database.
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»Close« Button (On Active Panes)
The small »X« button is only available on active panes and will close (hide) the resp. pane on a single mouse click.
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»Continue« Button (Arrow)
As an alternative to double-clicking an item in a list view or elsewhere to jump into »Edit Mode«, you can also single-click this »Arrow« symbol.
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Pane Settings
This symbol of »Stacked Panes« gives you access to quickly and selectively opening and hiding single or multiple subviews (»panes«) as well as to reset the arrangement of subviews to factory default.
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