The following announcement was written by Synium Software of Mainz, Germany:
Synium Software proudly announces the availability of version 5.3 of MacFamilyTree. Starting today, Synium starts the Public Beta cycle of this newest incarnation of their Mac genealogy program, making MacFamilyTree 5.3 Beta 1 available for download.
As with their other Public Beta releases, a host of improved or new features becomes available for the user. Most importantly, for version 5.3 the developers at Synium completely redesigned two core components of this highly popular application:
Our new Kinship technology within MacFamilyTree now perfectly handles highly complex family relations. The entirely rewritten Reports are based on WebKit and make the creation of individually defined lists of persons, families, events and places a snap. You can select which types of events are included in the various reports, you may further refine their layout, look and feel interactively and see the results on screen - right as you type and drag with your mouse.
But Synium did not stop here: in addition to these massive improvements in MacFamilyTree's core technologies, the new version features Person and Family Bookmarks, an enhanced Search with support for complex search strings, as well as an interactive 'Events List' for easier navigation on the Virtual Globe which has also received some tune-ups in performance and in the graphic display of locations. Finally, MacFamilyTree's preferences now sport an option to resize excessively huge pictures during import, so that you won't clutter your database with RAW versions of your digital photographs.
Other enhancements include several tweaks to MacFamilyTree's user interface and overall usability.
If you prefer to carry the wealth of your genealogy research with you at all times, you should have a look at the new version 1.2 of 'MobileFamilyTree', our companion application for the iPhone and iPod touch: with MobileFamilyTree 1.2 you can browse all the persons and families within your MacFamilyTree database. MobileFamilyTree even visualizes your Family in a graphic chart on your iPhone. Information you retrieve 'on the road' will be synchronized back to your Mac when you are at home again.
MacFamilyTree 5.3 Final is expected to ship in early October and it will be a free update for all customers of MacFamilyTree 5.
New And Improved Features in MacFamilyTree 5.3 Beta 1:
- Virtual Globe now sports an Events list for easier navigation: click on any event in the Events side pane and immediately jump to the vividly highlighted geographic location.
- Improved Search to now support combinations of multiple search strings: search just like in Google or Spotlight on your Mac.
- New Family and Person Bookmarks to easily tag the various instances you are currently working on, or to which you want to return easily. Quickly navigate between those Bookmarks while performing your complex research.
- Optionally downscale huge pictures while adding them to your tree; you don't necessarily want to import ditigal photos in RAW format to the MacFamilyTree database.
- Entirely new, WebKit-basd Reports you can now interactively customize: Person, Kinship and Distinctive Persons Reports, Lists for Places, Events and Birthdays. You define which information you require. The new Reports also offer the same flexibility towards font styles and sizes which made MacFamilyTree's reporting feature so popular already.
Other Fixes and Improvements:
- Rewritten Kinship Report now more accurately handles complex inter- and intra-family relationships over multiple generations
- Improved quick navigation labels precisely define the context in which you are currently working or browsing
- Better handling of date format inconsistencies and individual notations for incomplete date entries and/or modifiers
Supported Languages:
During Public Beta testing, we only provide US English and German localizations. More languages will be available with the final product. We currently support the following languages with the latest stable release (MacFamilyTree 5.2.6):
- US English, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish
- Many other language versions are due to be released as subsequent free updates
System Requirements:
MacFamilyTree 5 requires Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher, a PPC Macintosh with 512 MByte RAM (1024 recommended), ATI Radeon 7500 or NVidia GeForce 4 MX graphics chipset or better and a minimum of 16 MByte video memory. All Macintosh computers with Intel processors and Intel's GMA 950 graphics chipset or better are supported.
MacFamilyTree 5 is fully compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Note: Safari 3.0 or newer, which is available for free at Apple's 'Downloads' section, must be installed for MacFamilyTree 5.3 to work.
Pricing and Availability:
MacFamilyTree 5 can be purchased for $49.00 USD, upgrades are $25.00 USD. Demo is also available for download. Update from all previous versions of MacFamilyTree requires valid registration key from previous versions. For customers who purchased MacFamilyTree 4 on, or after August 14th, 2007 the upgrade to MacFamilyTree 5 is free. Registration codes will automatically work with MacFamilyTree 5.
The companion application MobileFamilyTree allows you to link your iPhone or iPod touch with MacFamilyTree on your Mac. MobileFamilyTree is available separately from the Apple App Store for $4.99 USD. With MobileFamilyTree you can browse and edit all persons and families in your family tree everywhere and at all times.
Although this Public Beta of MacFamilyTree 5.3 has been submitted to heavy internal testing, crashes and even the loss of data cannot be completely ruled out. Beta versions of MacFamilyTree 5.3 should not be used in a live, or production environment, and users are advised to test at their own risk.
I started using MyFamilyTree several weeks before the Beta version was available. I liked it, although some of the navigation was a little clumsy, and at about 250 people, the "virtual tree" no longer worked correctly. It was easy to transfer all my existing records to the Beta version, and all the problems I had encountered have been fixed. I've been waiting years for software that would handle my family's complex tree - this is the first I can recommend, and at a much lower cost than previous programs.
Posted by: KHerm | September 22, 2008 at 11:58 AM
Sorry - I incorrectly stated the name of the program - it is "MacFamilyTree", not "MyFamilyTree".
Posted by: KHerm | September 22, 2008 at 12:00 PM