Hi Alicia,
I'm a big fan of the good old pen and paper - I have two enormous roll-out charts, one for my father's side and one for my mother's. I ruled them up on heavy duty 160gsm paper with lines across for separating each generation, and I make new additions in pencil so I can correct them if I need to. I find they make so much more sense to me - I can instantly see where everyone is, and how they fit together. They are also great for showing the tree to other people. Of course I have to re-do them every so often as I run out of space or make too many changes.
My first venture into putting it all onto the computer was through
www.ancestry.co.uk. I have about 700 people, and I love having all of them there to be shared with other researchers, and that I can add media and links to them, but know that if I give up my membership at any point that's the end of it.
I have downloaded a very simple free software package through
www.familysearch.org (PAF 5) but it only goes back a few generations and is too basic, so I keep meaning to look for something that more closely reproduces the ancestry format if anyone can recommend a good one that doesn't cost the earth.
Incidentally, does anyone know how to download the information you have on ancestry to your own computer? It doesn't seem that you can?
Good luck and keep having fun!
Caroline.
Searching for my great x3 grandfather Raffaele CIACCIA, also known as Raphael/Ralph CHURCH. He was born in Napoli around 1792 and arrived in London before 1812 with his brother Saverio CIACCIA, where they married sisters Ann and Jane FURNEAUX. He switched between CHURCH and CIACCIA all his life, which has made it difficult enough to pin him down. I want to find his origin in Italy.