The Story Behind This Site

It started with a client project

A few years ago a client asked me to build their family tree. They had photographs going back generations, handwritten notes, names, dates — everything. I assumed the hard part would be organising it.

The hard part was the software.

The big-name tools are impressive, but they're built around subscriptions to things my client never asked for: record databases, newspaper archives, DNA matches, endless hints. All they wanted was a good-looking tree the family could sit around and correct with a pen. Every feature stood in the way of that.

The free tools had the opposite problem — cramped layouts, fifteen-year-old interfaces, watermarks stamped across anything you export. Not something you'd pass around at a family lunch.

So I started with paper

I'm a designer and developer in Australia, and I still work on that client's tree today. The same thought kept nagging at me: recording a family's story is about as universal as a need gets, so why is the tooling either bloated or ugly?

This site is my answer, in its simplest form. Printable templates, free, no account, no watermarks, sized for A4 so they actually print. The resources I wish I could have handed my client on day one.

Why free?

Because a printable chart isn't a product — it's a sheet of paper, and family history has enough paywalls in front of it already. If a blank pedigree chart gets three generations written down at Christmas lunch, that costs me nothing and means something to you. Good trade.

Why I'm going slow

It's fair to wonder whether a site giving away templates is just AI content farming, so let me be straight about it.

I've been building family tree tools by hand for years — I hand-coded a free family tree maker in Nuxt long before this site, and still use it to host trees for clients. These templates come from that work: my own designs, shaped by watching real families use them. I do use AI to build faster. I don't use it to do the thinking.

AI can make almost anything you ask for, and that's the trap — what you can ask for isn't what people actually need. I could generate a hundred templates overnight and not one of them would help the family trying to get three generations onto paper.

So I'm taking my time. Put good templates out, see which ones people use, listen to what's missing, then build the next piece carefully. I'm still learning this field, and I'd rather learn it properly.

If you want a say in where it goes, grab the Genealogy Starter Kit — I read every reply.

Who runs this?

Just me. I'm keeping my face off it because the templates matter more than I do. If something's broken, a template won't print right, or there's a format you wish existed, email [email protected] — you'll get a reply from an actual person.