Bob Velke

New Zealand now has its very own map. I'm afraid that you Kiwis will need to re-plot your pins on the new map, however, because they didn't survive the splitting. Sorry. Actually, now they're floating in the water off the coast of Australia

Please write to me privately with the info as only a moderator can change a user name. bvelke@whollygenes.com

A spell checker is now implemented.

As I e-mailed you on Tuesday: Your user name is "N Harvey". I do not know your password and I cannot read it but you can click on "I've forgotten my password" during the log in process and your password will be emailed to you.

I was confused by your description because I was clicking on the "EMAIL" button and that does seem to work. But you're apparently using the "Email this topic" button and I find that it doesn't work for me either. I have an update to the forum software and I hope that it fixes it. Thanks.

I would use the lowest resolution that does not compromise the point of the screen shot. I wouldn't try to show a screen layout in 640x400, for instance. And if thing that you're trying to communicate doesn't require a shot of the entire screen, I would crop it to what you need - not only to preserve disk space but download time for readers. Dunno. No, you won't be permitted to upload an attachment that would cause you to exceed your allotment.

(originally posted in the Practice Forum) We have no particular plans for polls. Maybe we will be inspired some day . Or since users know it is available, maybe they will suggest a good time to use it. Yes but there is an art to designing a good multiple-choice poll without introducing subtle indicators of personal bias or skewing the results through the wording of the choices or the unavailability of other choices. Yes, that why I've said elsewhere that I don't think that polls are a good way of developing feature wish lists, for instance. That's an interesting idea provided that it is designed by users and for users in order to get to know each other better, how you use the software, etc., and with the understanding that the responents will be limited to those who are experienced enough to access and answer an online poll If I get a volunteer to run it for a while, I'd be willing to set up a special section called "Poll of the Month" to which only that person (moderator of that section) can start a poll but anyone can respond. The monthly polls can be archived there too so we can all review the results. And those who come in late can still vote on older polls (one vote per person per poll, of course) unless the moderator has chosen to "close" a poll for some reason. The section heading can also have an button for those who want to suggest future polls to the moderator. If you'd like to volunteer to be a moderator of the new section, please click on the button just below this message to send a (P)rivate (M)ail to me, including the question and answers that you propose for the first poll. Thanks.

No. TMG has always been developed based on what researchers tell us they want. But online polls are not realistic ways of establishing development priorities because the experience level of users who are online and would participate in such polls makes them not representative of the general population of users. Also, people who want a feature are much more likely to respond to such a poll than are those who don't want it so the results can't help but be skewed. Anyway, the question is rarely "Do you want this feature (yes or no)?" It is more appropriately "Do you want this feature instead of something else?" (resources being limited) to which the answer is inevitably "Well, it depends" . The tech support staff and beta testers do have access to a wish list and if, through the course of making suggestions here, on TMG-L, to tech support, or elsewhere, you convince even one of them that your idea has merit, then they will put it on the wish list for you.

Only moderators can start a poll. I've created one for you here. Voting in polls, for one thing As a "Guest," you have limited features. You can read most forums but you can't post messages in the support forums. You can't create a custom profile, assign a picture/avatar, create a signature, view the member list, subscribe to forums, track topics, or send emails or private messages to members, among other things. Registered users can do all of those things. And if you're registered, the system will keep track of what messages have been posted since your last visit. There's no disadvantage to registering, really.

Good point!

We do have a ** ** profanity checker.

To be clear, there are three lists (or galleries) - or a total of some 40+ available avatars. You can choose among them or you can point to one that you have saved on a different server.

I'm glad to hear that you like it, Mary. Thanks and welcome!

Teresa, you threw me by responding to a Tip and Hint but, upon reflection, I guess that it is a good idea to allow it. With that in mind, I've moved "Tips and Hints" to the Other section (at the bottom of the main page). It is still moderated for original posts but unmoderated for replies. We'll see how that works out.

A few screen layouts are demontrated here in Norwegian.

Examples and instructions from Lee Hoffman about creating custom screen layouts.

Lee Hoffman's Timeline page includes a comprehensive list of timelines that have been created and submitted by users of The Master Genealogist and Family Tree SuperTools.

TMG user Bryan Wetton demonstrates custom screen layouts designed by a variety of users at this site.

TMG user Rusty Wright has produced a handy tool in the form of a "quick reference card" that outlines the function keys and shortcut keys in TMG v5.0 This file is available in PDF form and is downloadable from Lee Hoffman's web site. Scroll to the bottom of that page to find the link.

The Roots Users Group of Arlington, Virginia has produced a TMG v5.x keyboard template. This downloadable file is available in PDF or WordPerfect formats and provides a handy cut-out guide which lies over your keyboard as a reminder of the various hotkeys and shortcuts in TMG v5.x. This handy tool is available from www.rootsusers.org.

It turns out that there is a spell checker under development by the folks who make this message board software. So maybe we'll see one some day.

There's no spell checker. I've never seen a spell checker on a public message board.