Well another great "App" has finally hit end of life. Joaktree is the app that I have used on the Society website to display the family trees submitted by members for about a decade now. the creator of Joaktree stopped updating it several years ago but it was not until recently when I changed the version of PHP that it simply became to unstable to continue using. Niels Van Dantzig developed Joaktree at least as far back as 2013. However, he stopped development following his release for Joomla! 3.x. Joaktree continued on until I updated PHP after which time Joaktree stopped working correctly and had to be removed from the website.
So, Whats next?
Well, that has been a tough nut to crack. There is really only one other genealogy program that is available for Joomla! It is called SIMGenealogy. SIMGenealogy is fine as far as it goes. It is mainly designed to produce pedigrees for Joomla! but the interface is a little too cluttered for my taste, and just doesn't compare, to Joaktree. Currently I am evaluating an app that will allow me to convert RootsMagic webpages to the Joomla! format, including the links. If this works out we would lose the pedigree portion that Joaktree provided but would ultimately generate a more detailed look at the family trees so many of you have submitted. It is however a fairly pricey app so I want to make sure that it will work for us before I invest. So please stay tuned, I think the family trees submitted are an important part of the information on the website so I will eventually find a way to get them back online. Stay tuned!