Once you’re on the fan chart screen, you’ll see several new options. For one thing, your chart can now display 5, 6, or 7 generations. You can also choose from several display themes: Birth Country, Sources, Stories, or Photos. In each case, the fan chart still shows the ancestors’ names as well as birth and death years. However, now the chart blocks are color-coded. A key on the side tells you what each color represents. This makes the information easy to digest quickly.
For example, choosing Birth Country will bring up the fan chart colored according to where each ancestor was born. When you choose a different display option, the fan chart is color coded according to how many of that particular item (sources, stories, or photos) each ancestor has.
How the Fan Chart Can Help You
When using these new fan charts to look at your family information, you’re bound to make some new discoveries. Instead of scrolling through your tree or clicking on individual screens to gather information one piece at a time, you can now get an overview on one screen. Ever wonder how much German heritage you have? Or what your strongest ancestral heritage is? Now you can see this on your FamilySearch fan chart.
The color-coded fan chart also helps you recognize patterns you might not have seen before. Maybe one branch of your family tree is filled with sources and photos while another branch hardly has any. With this understanding, you can more effectively focus your attention on a particular family or branch. Maybe you will want to spend some time reading stories you hadn’t realized existed. Noticing some branches of your tree that don’t have sources or photos may inspire you to add some yourself!
The next time you’re looking at your family on FamilySearch, take a moment to try the new Fan Chart view. You just might see your family in a whole new way.
Give it a try!
PS to read the entire blog post on this subject, click here.
Give it a try!
PS to read the entire blog post on this subject, click here.
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