Please help me find family tree software that doesn't suck!

June 15, 2018 7:45 AM

I have a sprawling Sudanese family, and I'm hoping to build a family tree that covers my relatives going back at least four or five generations (which I'd guess encompasses several hundred people). It would serve as a memory aid for myself when interacting with relatives (I'm terrible with names) and as a digitized record that my relatives could access. Sadly, I haven't had much luck with the software I've tried – everything out there seems to be really clunky and Western-oriented. Requirements enclosed.

Must-haves:

• Fairly intuitive UI
• Has an English UI
• Supports writing names in Arabic (e.g. احمد تاج الدين)
• Supports Arabic-style names - we don't have surnames, it's just a chain of names following your patriarchal lineage. e.g. Yusra (daugter of) Mohammed (son of) Ibrahim (son of) Musa and so on and so forth.
• Supports nicknames
• Can be posted to an easy-to-use website for my not-techo-savvy relatives to see
• Supports "messier" relationships, like marrying your cousin, divorce, polygamy, or marrying your brother's widow
• Supports photos

Would-likes:

• Not a web app
• Supports Mac OS (but I will begrudgingly run it in Parallels if need be)
• An easy way for relatives to comment with suggestions/updates
• Automatically syncs/backs up
• An iPhone app, so that I can add people and information on-the-go
• Is actively maintained
• Supports estimated dates/date rangers for events like births and deaths

Don't need/want:

• Record search, DNA features, or other ancestry features: Sudanese records are poorly digitized, and I fully expect to compile everything manually through conversations with relatives
• Super detailed fields: I'm limiting myself to collecting super basic information about each person for now.

Other notes:

• I'd prefer not to use something clunky, but I am comfortable with more technical things like setting up a webserver, basic coding, or working on the command line.
• I'm happy to pay for quality software.
• I'm willing to give apps I've already dismissed another go.

Thanks AskMeFi!

posted by amohield to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

I assume you've seen the Wikipedia entry Comparison of genealogy software.

I've used Family Tree Maker and Reunion, and they both are fine. They support complex dates and relationships. I don't know Arabic but I was able to create a new tree with the Arabic text you used above and Family Tree Maker accepted it.
posted by blob at 8:33 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Have you tried Family Tree Builder? It has an Arabic interface, and it's a fairly simple implementation so I don't think it would try and restrict any of the marriage scenarios you described, but I have not tried them. It has cloud sync and an iPhone app.

FAMILY Tree website
PCWORLD review
posted by the agents of KAOS at 8:43 AM on June 15, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks y'all!

I did some exploring about your suggestions, but nothing quite fit my (admittedly intense) requirements in the way that I wanted.

I've decided to just code something up myself – I'll share it if/when I finish it.
posted by amohield at 2:10 PM on July 19, 2018