By CranMalReign - Sunday, February 13, 2011
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Family trees can get complicated, and sometimes the easiest way to depict something involves lines that appear to intersect each other, but really don't.
Here is an example:

In order to keep the generations aligned, I have to cross the child/parent line of Wife Stevens with the family line of Dad Jones / Mom Smith. That makes it look like there's some sort of link there, but there isn't.
There are a few options to get around this, but none seem ideal.
1. Just plop the parents of Wife below the family line

That gets the job done, so long as you don't have any more of Wife's family to show. As soon as you do, that starts breaking down. Further, I, like I imagine many other users, want to keep generations aligned for easy reference. This approach breaks that down immediately.
2. Reverse mate order

This solves the generational problem, but introduces the problem of violating standard genogram rules by putting the wife on the left. This can cause problems with multiple spouses when trying to determine who married who and in what order.
3. Hyperlinks

That works OK, but it breaks the continuity a little. And besides, this again compromises generational alignment a little, since now we have to handle a floating Wife Stevens in limbo. This isn't to mention the extra real estate between the generations that is now needed.
4. Draw a hop

To me, this seems like the closest to an ideal solution I can get. I can maintain generational alignment, I maintain continuity, and I don't have to break any genogram ordering rules. I am basically mimicking old circuit diagram conventions. The problem with this is it's tedious and inexact.
What I would like to suggest is for GenoPro to recognize when two non-intersecting lines are crossing and provide a hop, like 1b below:

Of course, this is probably a lot easier when lines cross at right angles and not so much if people cross them at other angles... but something to think about, perhaps.
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By layosh1 - Sunday, February 13, 2011
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I'd suggest something like that: |
By CranMalReign - Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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Great minds think alike!
My (admittedly brief) search didn't come up w/ your post. Sorry for the duplicate.
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