Family Tree Maker 2008 Reviewer's Comments

Family Tree Maker 2008 is the friendliest genealogy program on the market easily earning “TopTenREVIEWS’ Silver Award.” The design gives you a fast start on building your family tree and promotes the most vigorous growth over time—like Vitamin B-1 for your plants. The layout is efficient, the tree theme is engaging, and the prompts are effective. To take full advantage of Family Tree Maker’s features, you must join Ancestry.com, the leading online site for genealogy research, and pay the monthly fee. Here is a program that makes genealogy easy, accurate and rewarding.

Family Tree offers two additional versions, which vary in the trial length of membership in Ancestry.com:

Family Tree Maker 2008 Platinum

Family Tree Maker 2008 Deluxe 

Feature Set:  

Family Tree Maker is organized differently than other programs. Seven screens or Workspaces are available for different tasks. Most of your work will be done in the People Workspace. One screen, three views: pedigree, family and individual. You can easily customize both individual and shared facts for a person by selecting from a comprehensive list including religious rites and retirement dates. When you choose to add a shared fact, the information will automatically appear in the linked individual’s fact sheet. You’ll receive an immediate alert if Family Tree Maker detects a potential problem with your entry including unlikely dates and duplicate records.

When you subscribe to Ancestry.com, the research process is streamlined. You’ll have access to the largest and most varied genealogical sources online. No guarantee the information matches your family member, but each data source is rated on a scale from one to five to help you assess the likelihood of a match. The program will automatically generate green leaves on the names of people where more information is available. Get a leaf? It’s a five. Information online can be highlighted and merged into your family tree with a click.

Once you have several generations on your family tree, try the Places Workspace. Choose a location from a list of places generated from your family tree to see a large interactive map powered by Microsoft Virtual Earth and a list of all of the people on your tree associated with that place. Format your map as a road map, a satellite photograph or a combination of the two.

Bonus Features

• Gain understanding of the events that may have shaped the lives of your relatives. Easily add significant world events to an individual’s timeline with one click. Wars, major achievements and natural disasters are listed by year with the individual’s age at the time of the event.
• Web clipper that lets you merge data from anywhere on the Web into your tree
• A place authority with more than 3 million place names helps you correctly enter locations. County suggestions will pop up once you’ve typed in the city and state.

Ease of Use:  

The layout and design is attractive and intuitive with helpful prompts at every step: importing, adding people, researching potential new members, and reporting. Unlike other programs, the primary Workspace—People—combines the family and pedigree view along with the highlighted individual’s personal information. Click on Person to see an expanded view of the individual’s facts. The conversational language leaves little room for misinterpretation even for novice genealogists. If Family Tree Maker detects a possible error, you will see an alert and have the opportunity to correct the problem before you continue with your entry. Family Tree Maker 2008 goes beyond easy to use—it promotes efficiency and results. 

Reporting & Publishing:  

Family Tree Maker 2008 has fewer options than the top rated program for reports, forms and publishing. Choose from three charts:

1. Pedigree
2. Descendant
3. Relationship

You will have the opportunity to select a background from an extensive list including an ancient European village and modern paved road, or use your own photo. You can also add male/female silhouettes to each individual’s box or place a family photo. In minutes, you can create an accurate chart with graphic elements to create a meaningful picture of your ancestry.

Reports can be run on people, relationships, places, media and sources. To publish a book, you will have to visit Ancestry Press, the online publishing site. 

Help/Documentation:  

Family Tree Maker 2008 video tutorials are well produced, designed to jumpstart the complex process of genealogical research. Spokesperson Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com, leads you through the program and offers helpful tips for both beginners and experienced family researchers. See a preview online and receive a full length DVD with your software. Once you get started, the program has built-in prompts and an extensive searchable help section. Online, you’ll find a searchable knowledge base, user forum and customer service. 

Summary:  

A beautifully designed program seamlessly integrated with a huge database will inspire the genealogist. The emphasis is on discovery—growing your tree with minimal frustration and maximum accuracy. If you’re searching for a family program, this is the one. A young student could easily create a visually appealing project in 30 minutes or less. A parent could research ancestry forever. The cost is not in the software, but in the online monthly membership. However, this is the only program with a dedicated database, so using the two in tandem will give optimal results.