Beta Testers Needed for new Timeline App

Question

While working through family groups, it is often helpful for me to draw up timelines of major events, such as births, marriages, and deaths of connected family members for the profile I am working on.

I have started building out a new Timeline App that will gather events that took place during the lifespan of the focus person. Events such as the birth and death of siblings, the death of parents, the birth and death of children, as well as the marriage and death of a spouse. These events help to identify any potential gaps in information, and will often send me down a new research path (aka rabbit hole in most cases)!

Would anyone care to help test this new app? You can find it here: Timeline App

Start by authenticating with the WikiTree Apps server, and then a timeline will be built for yourself as the starting profile. You launch the WikiTree profile for a person contained within an event, or even rebuild a new timeline for a new focus profile by clicking the WikiTree ID or Timeline links on events.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, or run into any bugs, please let me know below!

(2022.08.03 - Added documentation link)
(2022.08.03 [15:00 Central] - Added visible data for users to provide for debugging purposes)

Comments

Also, if you would like to start from a specific profile, you can customize the link by adding a WikiTree ID.

Example: for Ben Franklin (Franklin-1), you go to:
https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Franklin-1

---

Looking forward to this, I think it will be interesting… 

However, I don’t think it worked properly for me, I get “ ERROR: Birth of Father?!”

---

Hi L, was this on your own profile? This error should only trigger when the parent has a birth date AFTER the person in question was born.

For example, I was born in 1983, so if my father was noted as being born in 1993, we know that's can be right and the timeline will show the error :)

I may need to add in additional check if the starting profile does not have a date - so I will look at this.

---

Yes my own profile … I haven’t yet worked out how to get to other profiles, my Dad just has a year of birth entered for his DOB.

Just looked, I don’t have anything entered for my DOB field.

Now I don’t get the error just my name and no other details.

---

I love all these new apps.  It seems every time I try one I find a few errors or missing information.  Looking forward to the development of this app!  Thank you.

---

Love seeing my ancestor's life this way!  Thanks for doing this.

Answer 1

Steve, I really, really like this! Nice work!

I like your attention to detail and the attractive look.

Small typo: Marraige ...

Comments

The way you have the "Timeline" links by other names is terrific.

I wonder, would there be a way to name parents in the birth item, as an excuse to link to their timelines?

---

Great Idea to add linking data ! ..

C'est Bon .. 

---

Oi! Thanks for the proofing Chris! It all starts to blue together when looking at it over and over in the code.

This is fixed!

---

That's a great idea Chris, I am sure I can work that in!

---

Parents have been added in the birth event.

Answer 2

I really love this, too! Thanks, Steve!

Here's a little feedback so far:

* A field to enter a new starting profile ID would be handy. :-)

* I noticed that some events within the same year are out of order. e.g.

* Could you include a list of connected family members who are missing dates and couldn't be included in the timeline?

Comments

Good catch on the date order Julie. I was running across a lot of "year only" dates in testing and I am currently only processing based on the year alone and not a full date.

 I will try to refine the processing for this.

---

I came to make this same comment, but see I wasn't the first!  :D

Thanks for this Steven Harris!  I've looked at 4 timelines so far and they're illuminating.

---

Profile switching is available now. There will be an input box at the top to jump to a profile using the WikiTree ID (e.g., Franklin-1).

---

Fantastic! Looks great -- and you're including pictures, too! 

Answer 3

This looks great! Are you thinking of adding other features later on? Perhaps a box for changing the starting profile? Or, the ability to put a basic graphic?

Comments

Could we have the primary persons name put at the top?

---

Starting Profile name is at the top now.

---

That was speedy!! You Rock!!

---

Mindy, can you clarify on the graphic? Do you mean having profile images show up on the timeline, or...?

Answer 4

Nice app! I see that family members with no death date are automatically noted as living. Maybe the death year should be left blank instead? Or only say living if the "still living" button has been used?

Example: https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Olsdatter-4644

Comments

Not all profiles will have a "still living" notation, and the profile you linked to here has no notations set either. I may be able to add in some additional checks to see the ages of the profiles within events and return an warning message or "unknown" but I would imagine this would be seen better as an opportunity to add in estimated death dates.

Answer 5

This is too cool Steve! I will use this app to see what life events need to be added to a profile. Thank You.

Answer 6

This is fantastic! I did notice that when I get to my great-grandfather nothing is displayed, even though he has a profile:

https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Nelson-28396

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nelson-21398

Maybe I messed something up on my end?

Comments

Make sure the WikiTree ID’s are the same. You are showing two different ID’s above

---

Sorry, that was a bad copy/paste:

https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Nelson-21398

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nelson-21398

The first url is still showing up blank.

---

That is weird!

---

Ah, great test profile Cliff! I found the error and will work on this.

---

Awesome, thanks for all of your hard work!

---

Cliff, can you give this a try now and let me know how it works? Since one of the profiles is Private (this is causing the error) I cannot test myself.

---

It's showing up now! The only thing I'm noticing is for the Birth and Death listings, there is an "Undefined" below both. Is that a bug or am I maybe missing some data in the profile?

Answer 7

You know what would be great with this app? An Events template.

Comments

For those who aren't in the know, here is that discussion: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1401084/proposal-support-the-event-template

Answer 8

This looks fascinating. I will experiment with it some more tomorrow. I want to look closer at a couple of profiles.

When you think about adding an entry box for a starting profile, what about the timeline for multiple profiles? (From a free space page, how you might want to use timelines to figure out where to search for records see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Ogle_Illinois_Reed_Sanford#Timeline.2FLocations what we have in this case are three families who intermarried.)

Comments

And as we start to get larger families or groups of families, the ability to hide/show events for spouses, children, siblings, grandchildren?

Jonathan is correct we need an event of some type so we can see the migration as it occurs in families.

---

Actually, that would be really cool to see immediate family displayed in multiple lines, so you could see overlap in family events

Answer 9

It seems that the death of the spouse is missing.

https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Dovgan-1

Comments

Perhaps because there is no marriage date?

---

Apparently I deleted a code block on last revision and it wiped out spouse death events. I will add this back soon.

---

This is fixed Aleš.

Answer 10

I like it! On my granny's profile, her older sister's death is not included. Maybe because she died the same year as the main person?

Older sister profile:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fjaestad-5

Timeline:

https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Fjaestad-2

I have been thinking of another app idea, "my family" for any profile, showing what living family a specific person had in a specific point in time. A bit like the cc7 app in layout but with only people alive at that date visible.

Comments

HI there Maria,

The SixDegrees app now allows you to select a specific Date, and show only those connections that were alive on that date (under the SHOW menu)

---

Wow! That is something I have been thinking about for a long time! Thanks Greg, I will check it out!

---

Maria - the death of oldest sister should be included now.

---

Thank you, Steven.

Answer 11

Steve - this is GREAT!  Very nicely done. The layout looks so clean  - great use of different font sizes and styles to make things stand out and fit nicely. Very nice having the link to jump to any profile, or switch to their timeline ... I can definitely see a lot of rabbit-hole jumping happening there!  Very cool how the green dot highlighting the event you're looking at automatically moves down the page as you scroll (based on your mouse) - nice idea there!

From my own timeline, all the events you have captured are the ones that I'd expect.  The events that are not captured though are the ones related to my adoption - and since I've recently "cracked the code" on that issue with my Six Degrees app, I'd be happy to help you with that.  It'd be nice to have the Adoption date on the timeline, as well as events related to adoptive parents and siblings.  Something to add to your list for a future update.

Great work - very nice app! Kudos Steve!

Answer 12

Looks great. I think the Birth of Son etc looks repetitive. I like how the line for Marriage to Letitia, includes the name in the line. So Birth of Son, John. I think might look nicer. The timeline should probably cease with his death, rather than showing some continuance. I still think Wikitree could legitimately add Burial date as field. The details under the Death are just the same as under the Birth, at least in regard to his parents, and so, at least that section could be excluded. Once again, looks fantastic. Perhaps an option for horizontal as well as what you have here.

Comments

It would be nice to see this worked into a profile.  It would also be great to add other events, such as moving location that they were living in. Unfortunately, I realise that this would mean adding more fields.

---

Hi Ben, thanks for the feedback.

For the birth and death events, are you suggesting using wording such as "Birth of Son, John" or similar?

---

Yes. In fact, looking at it again, Birth of Son, Full name. Same for other events, have the name of the person in the title, then other details in the fine print. I initially thought, just the first name, but the full name works in the marriage listing, and if someone had multiple marriages and children by different surnames, it is probably worth listing full name. Also, I've noticed you've added births of siblings, does it also do marriages and deaths of siblings? If so, would it differentiate between the original surname, and married surname? I'm not sure. It may be difficult, because there is only one field available for anything beyond a first marriage.

---

I will look at updating the event titles.

Also, I've noticed you've added births of siblings, does it also do marriages and deaths of siblings?

Death of sibling - yes. Marriage of sibling - no. Sibling marriages are not really important when you are focused on a single profile.

However, I may be adding an option to expand to a full joint family timeline in the near future (all events for parents, siblings, and children).

Answer 13

Kennedy-9444

If dates are "uncertain" the timeline is left blank.  Seems like those uncertain dates could be included and indicated as such.  

Also, would it be possible to discern "Residence" dates?

Comments

Thanks, that answers my question for the Blank timeline of my ancestor.

Peggy, right now the time line only works of data entered in the profiles data entry fields.   The Residence date is text typed into the bio.   There has been some discussion on how this might work but it seems to big a hurdle right now.

As Chis shares above to Johnathan's question about an Events app.  You can see that discussion here:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1401084/proposal-support-the-event-template

---

Yes, I think Uncertain should show least someone starts unchecking these boxes to circumvent the timeline from showing a blank page.

---

I am not parsing any DataStatus fields (uncertain, certain, etc.). As long as there is a date that is not blank (0000-00-00), an event should show on the timeline if it fits within the focus person's birth and death dates. Even if we don't know the dates, Estimated Dates would be preferred and will work on the timeline.

I will also look into an option to display and entire joint family timeline, instead of focusing on a specific ancestor.

---

Peggy, to get things like residence dates, apps need something to kind of grab onto. We don't have these things in separate database fields so that information is in the bio if people add it there. But still, the apps need something to grab onto... Something like... tags? Or some kind of... template maybe?

Oh! I've just noticed that Jonathan mentioned this earlier.

---

It may actually be possible to grab that info by iterating through the biography, it is just not easy or developer friendly.

As much as the event template would help with this, I still have to stick by concerns noted here. One thing I would never want to do is burden potential users with an "official" template that carries rules and standards on usage just to help my own apps - there are other ways around that.

---

Steve: Yes, it may actually be possible to grab that info from the biography.  You're right that it's not easy or developer friendly.  I look forward to hearing about how we can do that, because I have spent a little time thinking about this, and my best idea was an Events template, so... I'm out of ideas.

Answer 14

Just doing a quick look at work, I'm going to have to test it more with a profile outside of myself.  

But, what this does show me, is that I want more features in wikitree profiles, to build out a more comprehensive timeline.  I want to include things like "attended school" whether it's grade school, college, trade school, etc etc.  Maybe when they went to seminary or whatever to become a decan or priest.

What I enjoy most about researching family trees and history, is learning more about the family story... rather than JUST the facts.  So, for me, getting some of those secondary facts in the timeline would be nice.  Ya know, like, was the parent going to school while also raising a family?  To go along with this, I would also love to see, either within or maybe alongside, a timeline to highlight some key events during that person's timeline?  Where they born the same year as the first moon landing?  etc etc.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.  Some of this has been in my head since I've started. I'm a geographer by schooling and thinking in timelines etc.  I've been thinking about creating story maps for my ancestors... so this sort of places into that concept.  :)

Answer 15

Great app but I found a few issues when looking at the profile of my grandfather Osias Sauve (Sauve-164). He was married 3 times and had many children so I thought that he would be a good one to check. Issues: 1) Death of wives not shown. 2) Dates in 1924 are a bit out of order - Mar & Jun are in order but Feb should be first not last. 3) Ages were usually off by one year because his birthday was in Nov (eg brother born Sep 1876 shows him as 2 but he didn’t turn 2 until Nov 1876).

Comments

Liza, most of these should be resolved now. Do you mind checking again?

3) Ages were usually off by one year because his birthday was in Nov (eg brother born Sep 1876 shows him as 2 but he didn’t turn 2 until Nov 1876).

Ages are approximated based on the year alone. I may update this in the future.

---

I just tried it again: 1) Death of wives: added, all good. 2) Dates in 1924: still out of order. 3) Ages: totally understand that they are approximate based on years.

---

Could you send me a screenshot of the date order by chance? Or even just a copy/paste of the data will help.

---

• 1924
  Age: 50

  Birth of Daughter, undefined
  04 Mar 1924
  Hawkesbury, Prescott and Russell, Ontario, Canada 

  undefined
  1924–1924 • Sauve-788 • Timeline
• 1924
  Age: 50

  Death of Daughter, undefined
  16 Jun 1924
  Hawkesbury, Prescott and Russell, Ontario, Canada 

  undefined
  1924–1924 • Sauve-788 • Timeline
• 1924
  Age: 50

  Marriage to Wife, undefined
  26 Feb 1924
  Hawkesbury, Prescott and Russell, Ontario, Canada 

  undefined
  1886–1924 • Cayen-67 • Timeline
• 1924
  Age: 50

  Death of Wife, undefined
  05 Mar 1924

  undefined
  1886–1924 • Cayen-67 • Timeline

---

Names are not showing up now for some reason

---

Name issue is fixed, I was in the middle of an update.

Can you try a hard refresh of the timeline? Ctrl+F5 in Chrome. Then let me know if the dates are sorted better, or if the issue still remains.

---

I use Safari on my iPad if that matters. I restarted my iPad and had to log in to use the app. Dates in 1924 for Sauve-164 are still out of order. Sorry.

Answer 16

It looks like Death of Spouse is not being listed. Ex: https://apps.wikitree.com/apps/harris5439/timeline/?Ligocki-11 (His first wife, Franciszka, died in 1923 -- as you listed in their marriage timeline item).

PS: This is great :)

Comments

Shawn, this should be resolved now.

---

Yes, fixed. Thanks!

Answer 17

I would be interested in being a tester.

Comments

Just go ahead and try it

Answer 18

Is this is currently limited to 3rd Great Grandparents?  I went to check on something wonky for a 4th Great Grandparent and could not.

Comments

Ah, I see..the uncertain date is marked on these profiles.

---

I am not using uncertain indicators for anything, just checking for actual dates that are not blank. If you can send me the profile info, I can look into deeper.

Answer 19

Tried date format over & over & still wouldn't "Full Save" as far as I could tell. Sorry.

Comments

Hi G, can you clarify what this comment is in relation to? The timeline app discussed herein is not editable (there is no save option).

Answer 20

I noticed when I pulled a timeline for myself that it ignores the birth and death of my older brother, is this because it happened before my birth?  He was still one of my brothers.  I may just not understand how a timeline should work but was wondering about this.

Comments

Check the timeline for one of your parents. Your timeline only starts with your birth and ends with your death

---

Yes, they are ignored if they are born before you.

In general this timeline will show events that happened during the focus person's life. If you are the focus person, only events that happen AFTER you were born, and BEFORE your death (or today).

You may be thinking of a joint family time (showing all events for all immediate connections) which I will work on soon.

---

Thank you.  That was what I was thinking was the answer after I thought about it for a while.  Just a bit slow this morning.

---

Paula, if you are using the WikiTree BEE browser extension, the Family Timeline icon on a profile will show you pre birth/post death family events.