Wanless Web: How To Get Around This Site: Wanless Web

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This page will give you a short overview of how to get around and get the most out of Wanless Web.

To begin, you'll notice that every page contains a set of four icons directly under the site header, labeled 'Home', 'Search', 'Print', and 'Login' (or 'Logout'). The function of each link is straightforward and allows you to navigate to the Home Page or Search Page from anywhere in the site.

On the right hand side of the header, you will see three drop down menus. Use these to quickly access any area of the site. The areas are divided into three sections:

Find: Use this to find certain individuals, names, places or dates.
Media: Helps you find photos and documents.
Info: The info area provide some general information about the site.

I also maintain a list of Frequently Asked Questions that you may find useful.

The sections below cover the most commonly used charts and tables, providing different ways to view the data.

Ancestors Chart (Pedigree Chart)

To understand your heritage and map out your ancestors, the ancestors chart (also called a Pedigree chart) shows a graphical representation of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, etc. You should try locating yourself first to understand what this means first, then click the Ancestors tab.

By default the chart displays four generations, although this can be increased by changing the number in the Generations box. The other options on this chart (Standard, Compact, Box, Text) control how much information is displayed and how it is displayed - just click on them for examples.

Wherever you see the

icon, you can click to show the ancestors from the individual in question. When you see the

icon, moving the mouse over it will display further information and immediate descendents. Clicking on the

icon will show the next generation. Click on the image above to see an example of how it works.

Ascendants Chart

The Ascendants table (also known as an Ahnentafel Chart) lists out all the generations before you in tabular form, complete with all children and birth, marriage and death details if known. To find it, find a person and click the Ancestors tab, then click the Ahnentafel option below the tabs.

Once you become accustomed to ahnentafels, it becomes very easy to read these tables, to move up and down from parent to child and back again, and to understand the relationships of the listed people. Ahnentafels are very good at presenting a lot of information in a compact format. The numbering system is the key to understanding Ahnentafels.

The example image above shows 4 generations... click on the image to see.

Family Histories

Family Histories are very useful for displaying both lines of a parentage for any individual and will list your grandparents for as far back as is known; subsequently clicking on the individual displays all the photos and histories. To see this, click the Media option under the Ancestors tab.

Note the icons

for photo and

for history when available for an individual. For an example click on the image above.

Individual Page

The heart of the tree - each person has a page with all the information about them on it. Find a person and click the Individual tab to see it.

Descendants Chart

The Descendants chart (with photos if available) displays all family members (including brothers & sisters) starting as far back as the family tree goes down to the individual selected. Obviously the younger the individual the greater the number of generations in the descendancy chart, and the greater number of siblings in a family the wider the chart.

How to find the descendants chart?
First, display the descendants table for an individual by finding a person and clicking the Descendants tab. Then click on the icon (to the right of the person's name) to display the chart down to this person. For an example of what you would see, click the image above.

Descendants Table and Charts

The descendants table is a tabulor version of the chart described above, but lists all generations in either a 'compact' or 'register' form for the selected individual. The main difference between the two tables is the level of information listed. To see an example click on the image above.

The options under Descendants control how much information is displayed:

Generations: how many generations to display
Standard: the box chart shown in the example
Compact: same chart with smaller boxes to fit more people on one screen
Text: a text-only version (see Descendants Table below)
Register: more information on each generations, such as birth and death dates and places, but no graphical representation

Relationship

The relationship chart is a great way of understanding how you are related to other family members. Click on the above image to see an example.
To find your own relationship to someone else, first find yourself in a tree. Click the Relationship tab, Find yourself as Person 1, then Find the person you are curious about as Person 2. Click Calculate and a chart similar to this example will be displayed, showing and (at the bottom) defining your relationship to the other person.

Timeline

The timeline compares individuals across the ages, and can be populated in one of two ways.

1. Each time you look at an individual then click timeline, this individual will be saved in memory so that next time you look at another individual and click timeline, both individual timelines will be compared, and so on.

2. Populate the timeline by finding individuals manually.