For app develops it’s perilous because so many other apps are doing certain things wrong that if they start doing it right, then other apps or websites might not be able to read their users’ data. For users who try to clean up their GEDCOM file, as I advised in Parts 1 and 2 of my “ Replacing Family Tree Maker Series,” it’s perilous because other apps might ignore or mangle some of their data, even when they are correctly structured. It’s perilous because so many apps don’t follow the standard in various ways. But I acknowledge that complying with the standard is fraught with peril, both for app users and developers. I can’t say they comply with something if they don’t, simply because they’re using a deviant structure that a majority of apps use. My purpose when testing apps, therefore, is to determine how well they comply with the GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard, and I merely report how well they comply. And how many apps do you know export media as embedded binary objects, which was one of two options in 5.5? There are other changes included in 5.5.1 as well, like the addition of lat and long coordinates, so if apps include them, they support 5.5.1, even if their GEDCOMs are labeled as 5.5. If an app supports the UTF-8 character set* or includes fields for email, fax, or web address, then it at least partially supports 5.5.1. Tamura Jones has made this point many times*. But 5.5.1 is just a draft, you say, and 5.5 is the most current standard (dating to 1995) why 5.5.1? Well, because it’s actually the current standard, whether app developers admit it or not. The checklist I chose was the GEDCOM standard, and the 5.5.1 version in particular. As a user and usability/compliance tester, I have to test all the apps the same way, or it wouldn’t be fair to the apps or useful to other users. The military cultivates a culture of compliance (or at least attempts to), so when I decided to test genealogy apps, I looked for a checklist.
Checklists are used at every level from the workshop to the Inspector General. Along with the regulations come checklists to help ensure the regulations were complied with.
The military has regulations for just about everything, from how to wear a uniform to how to service a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine. I was a personnel officer in the US Air Force for 20 years.
Testing Philosophyįirst, my philosophy (and a little background).
But there may be unintended consequences, both for users and software publishers, of following the standard.
Take a moment to ponder that: this series was motivated by the problem of genealogy software like Family Tree Maker (FTM) not complying with the GEDCOM standard. Jacek Malczewski, Vicious Circle, via Wikimedia CommonsAfter testing a few desktop genealogy applications for how well they handled GEDCOM files, it occurred to me that I should write an article about my testing philosophy and methodology, as well as some of the problems with complying with the GEDCOM standard.