Being an avid Mac user, I’m always watching for what new Mac software is available. I read today that Saltatory Software has just released a new version of Family with a number of changes – and fixes that allow the software to be Leopard compatible. The following changes were made in version 2.3:
- You can now export your Family file to PDF, and it will still be crisp if you zoom in.
- The iSight and iPhoto/iLife integration work again in 10.5.
- You can now zoom in 120% when in the main editor.
- Updated Family bubbles to make Family files look better in general, especially in printing.
- Minor bug fixes regarding text input.
- There is a fun little fade out when you close windows
- Made it so that dragging a new connection is easier than before. Dragging a connection is not as particular about where you click exactly like it was in 2.0.2.
Saltatory’s objective is to keep it simple, while being intuitive, as well as attractive. They seem to have done a fair job at that. And the screen certainly looks cool. The above screen shot from Saltatory’s website kinda’ reminds me of published genealogies I’ve seen of my family – the ancestry going back to Greek Gods.
I’m still waiting for Saltatory to add GEDCOM compatibility. They have promised it, and when they get it added, then I’ll try out their program. Kinda’ reminds me of Version 1 of Family Tree Maker. I was sent a review copy, which I played with a bit. A few days later, I got a call from one of their PR folks who wanted to know how I liked the program. I wanted to be nice, so I told the lady that it made “good charts.” I then asked when they were going to make the software GEDCOM compatible. Her reply was, “What’s GEDCOM?” By the way, FTM’s Version 2 was GEDCOM compatible. At the very least, these folks know what GEDCOM is, and plan to add it. It’s a good thing, in that in my mind, it is the single soft important feature a genealogy program can have.
Just to give you more details, we’re fully aware of GEDCOM (both the flat file and xml formats), and we’re about 40% of the way to implementing it. Some of the interface will need to accommodate GEDCOM support, which is part of the wait, and part of the problem is with getting the format to work just right. We’re chugging along on it though.
It was important to get this out for existing customers so that they aren’t waiting on 10.5 support any longer. We kept running into small little issues here and there for 10.5 support, but ended up fixing them all right before and directly after Christmas. Luckily only a little bit of testing was required for the last little bit of problems, which is why we chose now to update Family.
Can you take a gander at Family as-is and see if there is anything else on a wish-list that you would want to see?
Chris
Saltatory Software
Chris,
Sure – since you asked, I’ll take a look. I figure if a software developer cares enough about what I think to ask me to look a little harder, I should oblige. Keep me posted on your progress. By the way, I see that iLife 2009 is now available. Are there any issues with compatibility that you know of?
I don’t know of any issues with compatibility, however I haven’t tried it out yet to find out for sure. Hopefully it will all work well, if not I’m sure we’ll hear about it in short order. Great question.