Pedigree Navigation Mockup

Here’s a first-pass mockup of pedigree navigation I’ve been working on

Basically you can go backward and forward between generations, starting from the initial person.  No support yet for going to siblings or other children not on the direct line from the starting point.  That will come later.

I’m trying to do this all in DHTML.  The closest equivalent I’ve seen is the flash-based viewer from familysearch labs.  I have no experience with flash/flex myself, and I’d rather stick with open technologies if possible.

This is also my first experience using the dojo javascript framework.  I’ve used Prototype and jQuery in the past, wanted to give dojo a try — mostly I was interested in the layout / geometry manager, as well as the 2d graphics api, which I plan to use to draw connecting lines between the boxes (coming in a future version of the mockup).  So far, I’m not real thrilled with dojo, seems really heavy.  If I find a better layout manager option in jQuery, I’d prefer to go that direction.

Tested in FIrefox 3, IE7.  May work with other browsers, but no promises…