// ALSO BUILDING 08 - 2026
FamilyStories
An interactive, time-based weave for a family's history: each person is a thread running down the years, and the moments their lives crossed are where the threads braid together.
What it is
FamilyStories captures family members' lives as an interactive, time-based weave - each person a thread running down the years, and shared moments the places where threads braid together.
Why I built it
I've been sorting through decades of family photos and assembling the history and stories behind them by hand for years. I wanted a tool that could visualize the interactions between different family members' stories as threads within a larger weave, and make it easy and fun to catalog images and stories that contribute to the bigger family story. This is very early stages, but I've landed on a rough version of the interface that feels right. Next up is organizing and storing added files in a clean, cohesive system that's accessible outside the app (likely Google Drive), and integrating audio and video alongside text and photos.
How it works
Right now it's a set of single-file HTML/CSS/vanilla-JS prototypes - no build step, no framework, state saved to the browser. The "weave" itself is hand-authored SVG: each person is a thread on a vertical time axis, and couples braid where their lives joined. It's a working sketch of the idea, not a finished product yet.
- Threads run down a decade grid, each person their own color, with events placed at their year.
- Couples cross and swap lanes at a shared moment, so "their lives joined" is something you see rather than read.
- Planned, not built: storing added files in Google Drive so they live outside the app.
- Planned, not built: audio and video alongside the text and photos.