The family assistant is a view in the Mac genealogy database software, MacFamilyTree. It consists of three panes:
- Person Chart
- Person Information
- List of Persons
The person chart is a graphical representation of the relatives of a focal person. The focal person is indicated graphically by a rotating, multi-pointed star aura. Related people are connected by arcs. The arcs are labeled with joined rings if the joined people are partners. Those rings will indicate a divorce by having a black circle with a slash. There is also a selected person which may or may not be the focal person. The selected person is indicated by a rotating, dashed line aura. The selected person has a plus sign icon that can be used to add connected people (partner, sibling, or children).
The fields in the person information pane populate with the information for the selected person. Those fields can be edited. The pane also includes the ubiquitous arrow which, if clicked, will take you to the edit view for the selected person.
The list of persons pane is just that. The focal person in the person chart is the focal person in the list of persons. There is a search box in this pane that can be used to quickly move the person chart to a different part of the tree.
The following configuration options exist for the family assistant view:
- Number of ancestors to include in the person chart (0, 1, or 2)
- Number of descendants to include in the person chart (0, 1, or 2)
- Person coloring by generation or gender
- Include people not in the same genetic lineage
- Show photos for people when present (instead of the man or woman icons)
- Speed of animation
This screencast video, Mac Genealogy Software MacFamilyTree Family Assistant, demonstrates all of the above features.
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