2009-05-20 Dealing with FTW TEXT

choices

FTW TEXT for Developers

FTW TEXT problem

The FTW TEXT article explains what FTW TEXT is, and The FTW Problem shows the problem it causes; other genealogy applications generally do not support or even expect FTW TEXT, and the results is that innocent users are left hanging.

Most FTW users who exported their data to FTW TEXT believe that they exported their data to GEDCOM, and are very surprised when GEDCOM-supporting applications choke on their ostensible GEDCOM file.

Family Tree Maker 16 must be still be thought of as a current version of Family Tree Maker.

versions

FTW TEXT has been a misfeature of Family Tree Maker for Windows for a long time. FTW is supported up through Family Tree Maker for Windows version 16, the last version of Family Tree Maker Classic. That version was released in 2006.

Its official successor, Family Tree Maker 2008 was released on 2007 Aug 14. However, the quality of Family Tree Maker 2008 and Family Tree Maker 2009 is such, that many who’ve tried it switched back to Family Tree Maker Classic. The practical upshot of that is that Family Tree Maker 16 must be still be thought of as a current version of Family Tree Maker.

current problem

Thus, despite the fact that the last version of Family Tree Maker Classic is some two years old already, the FTW TEXT problem can not be dismissed as historic. It is a current problem.

GEDCOM readers cannot process FTW TEXT… …FTW users are likely to blame the other vendor for that failure

vendor position

illegal

The Family Tree Maker makers know very well that their additional file format is not GEDCOM at all, that it stands no chance of passing any GEDCOM validation. They know that GEDCOM readers cannot process FTW TEXT, and are likely to choke on the overabundance of illegal GEDCOM tags instead.

no promotion

They known all that, yet they do not identify FTW’s proprietary format as such, nor do they try to convince you of the superiority of their unique format, as vendors so often do to promote their proprietary formats.

passing off

They do quite the opposite: Family Tree Maker tries to pass its proprietary format of as GEDCOM through a deliberately dishonest and confusing dialog box and help file. These are so dishonest and confusing that if you were to take Family Tree Maker as your guidance in the matter, you would conclude that its proprietary FTW TEXT format is real GEDCOM, and that GEDCOM is not!

blame

That is why, if another vendor fails to import the ostensible GEDCOM files that FTW produces, FTW users are likely to blame the other vendor for that failure - and that is something that does not make that other vendor happy.

approaches

There are three basic approaches to dealing with FTW TEXT

Ignore it
Support it
Just recognise it

Ignore FTW TEXT

reasonable approach

Ignoring FTW TEXT is the default approached, practiced by all vendors that simply decided to support GEDCOM without knowing or caring about FTW TEXT.

Ignoring FTW TEXT is also a perfectly reasonable approach. After all, FTW TEXT is just some proprietary format of Family Tree Maker. It is not some industry standard used by many products. It is merely some proprietary format specific to one single product. Moreover, it is not just a proprietary format, it is even undocumented format. It is actually so undocumented that someone else had to name the format for them.
Why would anyone bother to try and support that? Surely it makes much more sense to invest your resources into further improving your GEDCOM support instead.

the other product gets a bad rap because of FTW’s deliberate deception…

unaware

A genealogy application that is blissfully unaware of FTW TEXT is likely to produce a few error messages and then abort the import attempt.
The FTW TEXT Problem documents how several current genealogy applications respond when you present their GEDCOM reader with an FTW TEXT file.

The clearest message a user can hope for from such an application is an unambiguous statement that the file is not a GEDCOM file. Sadly, although that is a crystal clear and completely correct message, it is likely to confuse the user who is still convinced that FTW produced a GEDCOM file.

These users are likely to call the support line, complaining about how the product cannot even import a GEDCOM file; thus, the other product gets a bad rap because of FTW’s deliberate deception…

proprietary

It is perfectly acceptable to ignore one vendor’s proprietary format. Therefore, FTW TEXT is something other vendors should not even need to know about. Not supporting FTW TEXT and simply reporting that it isn’t GEDCOM is the right to do.
That is perfectly correct and reasonable reasoning, but fails to take into account what makes FTW TEXT different from other proprietary formats: Family Tree Maker actively misleads its users into believing that FTW TEXT is GEDCOM.

The unsuspecting user has no reason to believe otherwise. In fact, through the misleading terminology that FTM uses, users that investigate what goes wrong are likely to come to the erroneous conclusion that FTM really supports GEDCOM, and that the other application’s GEDCOM support is at fault, because it does not support long tags.

Support FTW TEXT

practical solution

There is a very simple and practical solution to user complaints about failing to import ostensible GEDCOM files because the application does not support long tags; add support for it. All the Your application does not read GEDCOM complaints that FTW TEXT causes will disappear once the application adds FTW TEXT support to its GEDCOM reader.

why

Genealogy application vendors have shown little enthusiasm for new file formats intended to replace GEDCOM. Several vendors have arguably shown little enthusiasm for GEDCOM itself. So why would they bother to support FTW TEXT?

Vendors may not be eager to provide an export function that lets users take their data elsewhere, but every vendor cares about its reputation and about winning customers. From their position, it seems to make more sense to care about import than about export.

first impression

Importing a GEDCOM file from their current application is often the first experience that new users have with a new product. If they experience an unexpected import failure because they unwittingly happen to have an FTW TEXT file instead of a GEDCOM file, it is not FTW but the new product that makes a bad first impression. Users are likely to blame the vendor of the new product they are trying, to immediately decide that this first experience with that product will be their last, and move on to try something else.

Vendors do not want to be blamed, do want to make a good first impression, and do want an opportunity to convert trial users into regular ones.
Several vendors will rather support FTW TEXT in their GEDCOM reader than lose customers because the misperception that Family Tree Maker creates.

easy

An additional consideration is that support for FTW TEXT to an existing GEDCOM reader is relatively easy. Supporting FTW TEXT explains how to do it.

FTW support

The practical result of fitting FTW TEXT support into a GEDCOM reader is that the application reads FTW TEXT just as easy as GEDCOM. That sounds like it exactly what those competing vendors intended; they just want to make it easy for users to import their files.

Silent support for FTW TEXT as if it is GEDCOM is a serious mistake.

mistake

It is not really what those vendors want. Silent support for FTW TEXT as if it is GEDCOM is a serious mistake. All the vendors that have decided to do so have effectively put their collective stamp of approval on a proprietary format of a competitor, and raised it to the level of an industry standard - an industry standard control controlled by their rival.

Few vendors like it when a competitor controls their industry’s standard, yet that seems to be what these vendors are building towards. Upon reflection, perhaps that FTW TEXT support wasn’t such a good idea after all…

Vendors that want to sing songs from the Big Compatibility Chair should follow the Tears for Fears philosophy: Shout! Shout! Let it all out!.

choice

Supporting FTW TEXT is a tricky choice, but not necessarily a mistake. For some vendors, it is best to support it, for others it is best to reject it. That choice has to be fit the product, the audience and the development resources.

Tears for Fears philosophy

Silently supporting FTW silently is a mistake, in more way than one.
Vendors that want to sing songs from the Big Compatibility Chair should follow the Tears for Fears philosophy: Shout! Shout! Let it all out!.

A vendor that goes the extra kilometre to support its users should not keep silent about that, but clearly show and document that support, and proudly highlight it in their feature lists.

solve and educate

A vendor that supports an additional proprietary format to prevent rejecting their user’s files should never pretend it is processing a regular standard format, but clearly state that it processing a non-standard format, let the user know that it is solving a problem created by deceptive practices of another vendor. Solve the problem and educate the user; inform them about the proprietary format foisted upon them, and reassure them the program is handling it.

Then, if anything does go wrong, the users are likely to forgive that, because they understand that support for that proprietary format isn’t a basic feature, known the vendor made an effort anyway, and known that the other vendor is to blame for foisting that format on them.

impression

A vendor that silently supports FTW TEXT as if it is GEDCOM while other vendors reject those file because they are not GEDCOM is not likely to be thought of as a strong market leader, but as a weak and easily duped also-ran.

Additionally, as explained in Supporting FTW TEXT, there is a good and bad approach to adding FTW TEXT support to a GEDCOM, and the bad approach hurts the quality of the GEDCOM support; by supporting FTW TEXT without identifying it, a vendor creates the impression is that took the bad approach, that it lowered the quality of its GEDCOM for it, which suggest it does not care much about that.

A vendor that takes their FTW TEXT support as an opportunity to inform and educate the user, does not just solve the immediate problem, but also helps its users to avoid that problem in the future. Such a vendor does not only score points for being so helpful, but will also be seen as a protector of cross-vendor compatibility against the evil forces of proprietary formats.

Recognise FTW TEXT

two basic approaches

The two basic approaches to FTW TEXT are to either ignore its existence or add support for it.

Both approaches make sense; vendors should not need to support a proprietary format, but the ability to import any format is a good thing too.

Both approaches have their problems; application that do not support FTW TEXT are likely to produce cryptic error messages, and application that do support it often make the mistake of supporting it silently and hurting their own GEDCOM support.

third approach

There is a third approach, in between ignoring and supporting FTW TEXT; add some code to recognise FTW TEXT and then produce an appropriate error message.

This approach makes perfect sense. It avoids the problems of both basic approaches; it avoids cryptic error messages, does not elevate a proprietary format to a standard, and does not slow-down or lower the quality of the existing GEDCOM support.

real beauty

The real beauty of this approach is that it matches the actual problem exactly, that it addresses the problem without doing anything else. FTW misleads users into thinking that the FTW TEXT file it makes is a GEDCOM file, and this approach simply sets the user straight by informing them that their ostensible GEDCOM file really is an FTW TEXT file.

The application does nothing but correct the misperception that FTW created. The error message informs the user clearly and correctly about the nature of the problem. Its help file and FAQ can elaborate on it, and provide suggestions for solving it. Vendors could even include Ancestry.com’s support number.

benefits

The application does not perpetuate the misperception that FTW TEXT is GEDCOM nor raise its status by supporting FTW, but clearly states that it is a proprietary format. Thus, the vendor does not let its application be blamed for FTW’s deception, but makes the user aware that FTW deceived them.

This way, the vendor is not going to get many support calls about the product’s seeming inability to read a GEDCOM file, but effectively directs potential user complaints back at the source of the problem.

recognition recommended

Most applications that ignore FTW TEXT do so because the vendor is not aware of its existence.

Vendors that know about it but do not want support it, may want to detect it anyway to ensure an accurate error message, supported by help file, FAQ and other documentation that it makes clear that the problem does not lie with their product, but with Family Tree Maker.

Vendors that decide to support FTW TEXT will want to do so without slowing down or negatively impacting the quality of their GEDCOM reader. They will also want to show and document their FTW TEXT support as something extra they do to help their users out of of a problem.

Thus, both products that merely want to reject FTW TEXT with an informative message and product that are willing to accept and process it need to correctly recognise both GEDCOM and FTW TEXT, and distinguish between them. How to do that is explained in GEDCOM Magic.