Help for the Compact Ahnentafel (cAt)

The Compact Ahnentafel (CAt) has some powerful capabilities, but it can be tricky to optimize because the output can be large and the aspect ration can be indeterminate. The CAt lists the entire ancestry of an individual on a single page, at least up to 16 generations. (The limits are a bit unclear.)

The CAt lists every member of the ancestry together with the Ahnentafel Number. When the cursor hovers over a member, additional information is shown.

The width of the chart is indeterminate: no matter how many generations, a column is generated for each. Often too many columns are rendered to see them all at once, but one can scroll right and left, down and up, to find members.

Lines linking individuals to parent cannot be drawn in this view, but parents can be located through the Ahnentafel (AT) numbers: take the AT number for an individual and double it to get the father; double plus one for the mother.

This List AT view does not always print nicely. When there are a large number of columns, they will overflow the page. You can play with your browser's print function to make it smaller to fit.

View as an image. The CAt also can be drawn as an image, with several advantages.

To draw CAt in image form, click on "Draw the cAt Image". A spinner icon will appear while the generator is working. When ready, buttons appear to download the ".png file" or to "View the image" in the browser. (Note: The png download does not work with all files on all browsers. An alternative is to use the "View the image" button and then right-click on the image, selecting the "Save as" option.) Once you have the image, you can insert it into a document, print it in large scale or even mark it up in an image editor.

Printing options: The large and indeterminate size of the chart image can present challenges getting a useful printout, but there are options.

After you "View the image" in GMOL, you can print it in your browser (or print-to-pdf in your browser). Text on very large images will be too small to read, however. And the browsers that have been tested have different ways of handling image overflow.
However, this image file can be suitable for your local office-printing shop or even a sign shop. The image is generated with high resolution so it is suitable for printing where each box is several inches wide. (My local shop will print it in B&W, over a meter high, for under $10. A sign shop can print it in color on a large printer, suitable for your family reunion.-- klr)

If you want to print from your PC to your desktop printer, there are apps that will break up the image into "tiles." These pages can be printed and trimmed so that they can be taped together for a larger chart. One option for creating tiles is https://aspose.app If you make a PDF using the "Print-to-PDF" function in your browser, you may be able to print tiles when you print the PDF; look for the "Poster" button.

See tips for saving or printing for more information.