This is clearly a rip-off of a CSS design from Zen Garden. Even the images are similar (slightly adapted using my mad MS-Paint skills). I also used some of the graphic headers (i.e. the "So what is this about?" graphic). The thing is, I liked this design so much that I decided to grab it and tweaked it to fit my preferences. This is why it currently sucks. I'm an engineer and not a designer so I'm still learning the tricks of the trade and how to make things "pretty" as well as functional (hopefully). Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this is all very legal. What you are seeing, (provided there aren't browser issues), is the beta version for the design of ChronoMaps.com. The objective of this website is to create a place where (my) family can get together and coordinate with each other on various genealogically related projects.
Anyone that makes it to this site is welcome to join in the beta testing. At first this might sound like a really cool and technical task, but I assure you it is quite mundane. At the time of this post, I have a forum installed as well as a copy of PHPGedView.
The forum is here to help facilitate communication. It does little good to have a repository of GEDCOM files and sundry genealogical data if there is no way to contact the individuals who submitted them and exchange notes. Otherwise it is just a smaller version of the FamilySearch IGI. The biggest problem I have with most genealogical work today is that it is duplicated. A lot. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you're obviously new to genealogy and will soon know of this joy. This forum exists to help family researchers to get in touch with each other and ask questions about research done, sources, help, or even just for entertainment. Currently the forum is open to any discussion as it is still in testing.
PHPGedView, then, is obviously here to fulfill the genealogy data aspect of the site. Ideally, this will help alleviate some of the duplication problems that exists in genealogical work. While the site will eventually allow for individuals to upload their own GEDCOM files, also accessible will be a global tree that contains the collective "wisdom" of all of the files.
For many individuals there is conflicting data such as name spelling, dates, places, et cetera. What I hope to see for this global tree is an adoption of a standard for this information to reduce confusion. These differences in information usually stem from typing errors, erroneous sources (which have since been cleared up), or simple misunderstandings. In tandem with the community, researchers can compare notes on the individuals in question and hopefully come to some consensus. Of course there will be times where the answer is ambiguous and that would be noted. But with this universal tree, newcomers and veterans alike will be able to acquire most, if not all, of the work that has already been done and thus can know where to put their focus.
Why participate? Well, the only way to convince other people to use this site is if people actually, you know, use it. Right now I need people willing to play around with the tools currently available and to offer suggestions for improvement and comments on what you like or dislike. I make no promise that it is bug-free right now, but there are so few things up that I would like to think that bugs should be relatively few. So play around! Try uploading a GEDCOM of your own or try out the forums!
At the moment, there are no requirements for accounts, etc. At some later date I may restrict them to individuals related to a line of research on the site, but that is a long ways off yet and every user at that date would be grandfathered in anyways, related or not.