Answering a Comment: More on SmartDraw

Today in my comments to be moderated, I found this from Ben Sayer:

Hi, Karen. Thanks for sharing news of this tool's application to genealogy.

What would you say are the reasons one might use SmartDraw instead of the capabilities of their existing genealogy software to create diagrams?

Why are computer fillable forms the "holy grail" for you?

I find the forms in genealogy programs to be rigid; they cannot be edited, or if they can, it isn't easy for me.  SmartDraw forms can be edited, modified, changed around.  And easily, too!  Besides, which -- heresy of heresies -- for my St. Augustine project, I'm not using a program, I'm using paper forms.  I am an old-school scholar who responds best to paper.  

My St. Augustine project has specialized needs: for instance, I needed a form which would show a godparent and all the children he or she had been godparent to, with their parents.  I didn't find anything I thought suitable in a genealogy program, but was able to create one in SmartDraw in a very short time with very little effort.  

As for why computer-fillable forms have been my holy grail:  my handwriting is horrible!  That is one of the chief reasons.  For another, I have arthritis, and it is impossible for me to write small enough for some forms -- that's another complaint I have about forms in general, that often they do not have enough room for what I need to enter into a particular blank.  With SmartDraw, if I feel that a blank or an area in a form is not large enough, I can change that.  And with some of these Spanish names, I need LARGE blanks on the forms! 

Thanks for your comments, Ben; gave me fodder enough for another blog post!  And thank you for reading my blog.

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