For discussion of software to help in genealogical research record keeping and publishing.

The main object here is to discuss ways in which we would like computers to help us in our genealogical research, and to see what programs can do what we want to do, and if there are none that can do it, how we can fill the gap -- either by writing a new program to do it, or urging the authors of an existing program to improve it by including the missing feature.

This forum is not tied to any single program, but can discuss any existing program and how it can be improved, or discuss the creation of new programs.

Be warned -- this is not the place for novices in the use of genealogy programs to ask for help in using the basic features of a program. There are other places for that.

People who will find this forum useful (and who can make a useful input) will probably include:

* power users
* programmers
* data modellers
* programmers
* beta testers

The hope is that what will come out of this forum will be:

* useful suggestions for the improvement of existing programs

* new programs to fill some of the gaps in the genealogy software that is available.

Discussion is not limited to lineage-linked genealogy programs, but can deal with research and data analysis tools, and even the genealogical uses of general database or other software. The main criterion is that the genealogical uses of the software we are discussing should always be kept in mind.

Please remember that the web site has facilities that are useful for a software development community. You can upload files of your half-baked projects for others to bake, or at least examine and comment on.

There are database facilities we can use to record current interests and projects. You can set up a poll to ask which features users would like most in a program you are thinking of developing and revising, and so on.