Photo Lines app

Version 1.04 - updated 28 April 2024

This app is designed to help you create Photo Lines that can be added to any WikiTree Profile.
The standard use would be to visually document your paternal or maternal lineage.

Some members might like to add a === Photo Lines === subsection, but this is optional.
NOTE: The current version of this app only retrieves the photo attached as the Profile Picture for each person.

STEP 1: Whose Photo Lines do you want to create?

YOUR WIKITREE ID:

(e.g. Marcoux-336)

You are NOT currently logged in to apps.wikitree.com.
To access the data in your Family Tree, you need to login.

Login with the same information that you use for WikiTree.

Scroll down to read about What's New

Other apps by Greg Clarke • Contact the author • G2G post • What's New?

Scroll down to read the FAQs

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. What's the primary purpose of this app?
A. The primary purpose of this app is to allow WikiTreers to easily create a Photo Lineup of their direct male or female ancestors that they can then easily add to their Bio on their profile page..

Q. Where do you get the pictures?
A. The pictures for each ancestor come from the photo attached to their Profile page, the one set as their Primary Photo. Also, any images uploaded to the ancestor's profile page - OR - that have the ancestor tagged into them are available for swapping into the Photo Line.

Q. What if I want a different picture for an ancestor?
A. As of April 25, 2024, you can now click on any picture (in Step 2 - Customize) and choose an alternate picture. You no longer have to change the Primary Photo.

Note: If you did change the Primary Photo set to an ancestor, the app will use the new one as the default photo the next time you run the app.

Go to your Images tab,
upload a new photo, or select one that is already there.
Then, scroll down to the section where you can click on the person's name and hit the button to SET AS PRIMARY PHOTO.

Q. What is COMBO mode ?
A. Combo mode will show both your Paternal AND your Maternal lines in one row - with YOU being the monkey in the middle, and your parents, and grandparents, etc.., radiating out from you.

Q. Why are you showing me generic silhouettes of some of my ancestors?
A. Those ancestors don't have Primary Photos attached to them - either they don't exist :-( OR you just haven't uploaded them yet and set as primary.

Q. What if my ancestor's picture is really blurry, or is not a photo but a source?
A. In that case, you can click on the photo when you're in STEP 2 : Customize, and choose the generic Silhouette image instead, or any other image attached to your ancestor.

Q. Do I have to show those generic silhouettes ?
A. No, you can select the option to HIDE ANCESTOR in the NO PROFILE PHOTO? setting, and then only those with actual Primary Photos attached will show up in your Photo Lines.

Q. So ... how do I get this beautiful Photo Line into my Profile ?
A. Once you've gone through steps 1,2,3 of the app, and customized the Photo Lines the way you want, then

at Step 3,
click the COPY button to select all of the WikiText that has been generated for you.
- (You can also use your mouse to select and copy it, if you want to go old-school.)
Now, switch tabs in your browser to your Profile page
and go into EDIT mode.
Find the spot where you want your Photo Lines to appear, and then PASTE it. (CTRL + V or CMD + V, or right-click in the edit box and choose PASTE from the pop-up menu)
OPTIONAL: You might like to add a === Photo Lines === subsection header before the Photo Lines WikiText so that it appears in its own area of your profile.

Q. Wait a second ... one of my parents is coming up Private .. what's with that, and how can I fix that ?
A. If your parent's (or grandparent's) profile is a Private WikiTree profile (i.e. they are Living people, but maybe not active WikiTreers), then an image uploaded to their profile page will also be marked as private. However, if they are OK with you using their image, there is a way you can make their picture public so that it shows up on your page. (Thanks to Sandy Patak who passed along these steps.)

Add your parents profile photo to a Personal Space Page

The personal space page must have Privacy set to Open. Once that's done, then any image included on it will also automatically be made open or public.
To create a personal space page, click here.

To add the photo to the space page, take the image id and add it anywhere on the space page.
example: [[Image:Dodrill-70.jpg|250px|William Dodrill]]
ALTERNATIVELY: You could upload your parents photo to your own profile, and then edit the WikiText that is created by the app to use that photo, or any photo from WikiTree.

Q. There's a photo that has my ancestor in it, that's uploaded somewhere else in WikiTree - can I use that in my Photo Lines ?
A. IF your ancestor is tagged in that photo, then it should popup as an option when you click on your ancestor's photo in STEP 2 : Customize (new feature as of 25 April 2024, option to swap alternate photos for your ancestor).

Tag your ancestor in a photo by
- Clicking on the photo you found on WikiTree, to open up to the Photo information page.
- Add to the "In this image:" section by clicking on the [add/edit] link,
- This should auto-scroll you down to the EDIT IMAGE DETAILS section ..
- Find the Add a person or thing: line, and enter your ancestor's WikiTree ID in there
- THEN (don't forget this part!) - click the SAVE CHANGES TO IMAGE DETAILS button

Q. Sometimes my row of photos don't appear even or all photos the same size, why is that ?
A. IF you have a lot of photos in a row, or a narrow screen, the Wiki Table that holds the photos will try and adjust itself to optimize what you can see on the screen with a minimum of scrolling. To do that, it can't always keep everything at the same size, or in view. Viewing the same profile on a wider screen will probably look fine. IF there are noticeable problems that don't seem to be caused by auto-formatting, contact Greg, the author, so it can be fixed.

Q. There's something new on the bottom of the page in STEP 3 - what's that ?
A. Thank you for noticing. That is the same code that generates the Photo Lines in HTML format. If you want to share your Photo Lines across the web, on your own website, or in a blog post, you can copy that HTML and it will show the same Photo Lines that you just customized.

If you have other questions you'd like answered, please contact the author!