How do I print a fan chart showing the countries/states my ancestors come from?

Kdaymayday

I work with databases. When you ask them to do something it’s with a “query”. Right now when you ask it to show you the fan chart by country it answers or “populates” the fields with each family member by: first,last,

dob, place, I.e,:town,city,county,state, country,

continent

dod

place,

I.e,:town,city,county,state, country,

continent

 

all I’m asking for is a “down arrow menu option” in which that particular query will populate the fields “without the Continent”.

 

Each family will be able to witness the clear birth path from the most recently born all the way back. You will be able to spot errors more readily as well.

 

Therefore, no one will have the urge to “delete” the continent temporarily for this view of the fan chart.

 

They will only do the request if there is a large faction of people who realize what a boon this would be to people of all levels of expertise.

 

Please sign it. It is exactly what you were requesting as well.

Kdaymayday

I’m only referring to Family Search and the ability to view and print a fan chart without the standardization including the Continent

 

Pedigree pie doesn’t have anything to do with this. That would be a separate request for them to, after I log in with my family search login, feeding their software application with my FS data, they would have to make similar additions of a query without the continent. You measure the Percentages stared in your DNA report to their array of data in the form of percentages.

 

 

Chris Schmink

I appreciate what both @Margie Beldin​ and @Kdaymayday Kdaymayday​ are trying to do very much. My concern is that some of the terminology both in this group as well as the request to the FS Team could muddle up the request for the change process. FamilySearch's fan chart very definitely shows country lines. While confusing to probably everybody outside of the United Kingdom (and maybe even to them??), every definition of the United Kingdom I have found designates the UK as a "country." Confusingly, some also refer to its subdivisions (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) as countries. However, the capitol of the UK is in London, and many of the laws of each of the four subdivisions are still determined by the "country" known as the United Kingdom. So FamilySearch is correct. And if they had to go through the programming to narrow the chart down further to subdivisions (such as the U.S. states), then they could also subdivide the UK. By the way - the UK is not the same as "Britain" is not the same as England. 😵

 

Also, the request posted to the FamilySearch team could further complicate understanding of the request. It says:

 

"...but your standardization ends at Continent rather than Country, therefore if they are from a varied path of Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Isle of Man, they will never see it, it will be just purple and the UK - If they have people in Southern Ireland, it might say the Republic of Ireland, but that's about it. We are just asking for a drop-down table which lets the data be shown without the Continent (United States, UK, Africa, etc.,)."

 

In that first line, the standardization does not end at the continent level - it does in fact end at the country level. . Great Britain is not a continent as stated in the last part of the above quote - it is part of the continent of Europe. And the United States in that same list is also not a continent - it is part of North America which includes Greenland, Iceland, the U.S., Mexico, etc., including the additional countries commonly known as "Central America" all the way down to the tip of the continent of South America. There are only seven continents in the world (North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia). It might be helpful to re-word the request so they don't misunderstand what's being asked for. Additionally, the listing in that first sentence with the Isle of Mann as part of the UK is also incorrect. Per the official web site of the Isle of Mann, "The Isle of Man is not, and never has been, part of the United Kingdom, nor is it part of the European Union. It is not represented at Westminster or in Brussels." (And some of us wonder why we're confused?!? LOL!)

 

I agree - I think it would be great if the FamilySearch fan chart would drill down to the "state" level (in U.S. terms), which would then also allow them to subdivide the U.K. into its four (not five) "countries" even though the U.K. is itself termed a country (don't ask me! 😕???). Maybe it's an upper-case "Country" while the four subdivisions are lower-case "countries"??? (Just kidding, and glad I'm not standing anywhere near a citizen of any of those four in terming them "lower-case countries"! The punch in the nose might hurt worse than COVID-19. LOL!) Seriously, I'm just hoping some of the confusion of terms here and in the separate request don't side-track the request itself due to failure to fully understand what's being asked. Perhaps also leaving out references to DNA and Grandma's Pie might help reduce any confusion on their parts, since the request isn't really about either of those - just the FS Fan Chart. Just my 2¢. GDR! (Grinning, Ducking, and Running)

-- Chris (now leaving the room to go cut grass and breathe the yellow-tinted air filled with pine pollen)😎

 

 

MABeldin

Thanks, Chris, for trying to get things explained clearly. Frankly, if they don't want to honor my request to print out a fan chart showing the countries, it would be nice if they would at least allow us to print out a purely B&W version, no pastels, no shading, just black lines on white background. Then, at least, we could color in the fan chart the way we want it to be. The way it is set up, we are "stuck" with what they think we want instead of letting print the chart for our needs.

MABeldin

Shoot! Hit the enter key! To continue: I have grandkids who would probably be very happy coloring in each ancestors shape with the country (England, Scotland, Ireland) or US state but I can't even print a black and white fan chart. I can get one at Treeseek (I think that is the one) but it is shaded for the paternal ancestors in each generation. Yes, it will work but why can't I just get a black and white fan chart?

 

Kdaymayday

Over to the right click options - print - Choose black and white instead of color

Kdaymayday

I stand corrected - I'll delete everything. Sorry I even brought it up.

MABeldin

Thanks, I have tried that and it is okay but it does not come out very clear, it is still shaded.

Chris Schmink

@Kdaymayday Kdaymayday​ - No! Please don't "delete everything." I was really serious when I said I support what you're trying to get accomplished. I'd like to see it happen as well. I was just concerned, like another contributor, that there may be some confusion. And @MABeldin, I believe @Kdaymayday Kdaymayday​ just showed us the simple solution that's been sitting there all along with her b&w (actually grey scale) fan chart. It's controlled at the printer level, not on FamilySearch. When you print it, just print it in grey scale (or B&W depending on what your printer selections give you), and because of the light pastel colors, the worst you'll have is very light grey anywhere. Kids won't even notice that! Then you can supply your own color chart instead of the one supplied by FamilySearch/Fan Chart view, or even let the kids determine the colors for the list of countries you put on the side of the chart, or from even doing some very basic research of their own from your tree to see in which countries their ancestors were born. As soon as I saw that post, it hit me: "Duh! It's been there all along! How many times have I chosen between color and B&W or grey scale before printing a document?"

 

Thanks to you both!

 

-- Chris

Chris Schmink

@Margie Beldin​ and @Kdaymayday Kdaymayday​ - I just realized that you CAN get a completely white background within each of the people's segments on the chart. Print it as a "Family Lines" chart, not a "Birth Country" chart. The only color on it will be the borders between generations, corresponding to an ancestral line. And if you print that in B&W or grey scale, those won't even look that much different. But every one of the pie pieces will be black print on a completely white background for each actual individual.

 

You can then actually show the grand kids (or whoever it is someone might be working with) the tree view also, which then subtly gets the kids used to seeing that view also, where they then obtain the country of origin. It amounts to beginning research even at a very young age. What do you think?

-- Chris

MABeldin

Mine does not come out white.

Chris Schmink

Ooops - my mistake. The preview of the chart shows B&W, but once I went to actually print it, the colors showed back up. HOWEVER - when I actually printed it in B&W, the light greys are so subtle, that I doubt a younger child would notice particularly. Too bad it doesn't have options for what you're wanting exactly, but at least you can get close. Sorry.

 

For your consideration, what you see attached here is the image just slightly processed in a basic (very basic!) photo editor. I adjusted Gamma a bit to wash out some of the grey, then adjusted Contrast to get rid of all of the grey in the individual cells but bring back the dark black names. This is the outcome - completely black and white. Unfortunately the lines are now gone because they washed out during the slight processing, but they could be drawn back in with a ruler from the center outward for the children to color within. Just an idea.

-- Chris

MABeldin

Thanks, Chris, I really appreciate yours and everyone's efforts to help on this. I can go to Treeseek.com, sign in, and then print a B&W shaded tree of 7 generations. I try gray shading and B&W on my HP Photosmart printer and got weird results--partial black lines dividing the different generations and shading. So, tho TreeSeek is not perfect, like you said, the shading is subtle enough for the kids (I'm too much a perfectionist) that they won't care.

 

I think what makes me frustrated, is we are encouraged to involve our family members and especially the younger family members. I thought I had a good idea to show the kids where their ancestors came from but then ran smack into a wall cuz of what I considered a simple request-a B&W chart. Or, even the opportunity to print out a fan chart by country.

 

I was watching a video from RootsTech 2020 where a group of 4 brothers (Elders) who oversee the FamilySearch Dept and were demonstrating how they discuss the FS needs at their meetings. One member pulled out a paper fan chart colored by country and made it sound like all you had to do was tap a button and voilà, you get a fan chart showing the countries of origin. Even that is not possible, and it seemed pretty crummy for him to show it and give the idea that it was possible for us to have one also.

 

I'll use TreeSeek to get a chart that may do some of what I want.

 

Thanks EVERYONE for your help. I really appreciate all your efforts!

 

Huntley Andy ‘77

Late comer here. I take the electronic version from TS and download it to local Staples web printing desk. They laminate it for next to nothing. I also recommend browsing the other TS products. For my talks and teaching assignments on TFH, I display my 13 generation fan chart...data goes back to establishment of Jamestown. Very reasonably priced and quick. The "kids" love it. It's about 5' x 3'. amazing Christmas gift.

MABeldin

Thanks for that information. We no longer have a Staples but the people at our local printing store have been very helpful.