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Is it possible to color tags?

I see in the preferences witness to tags can be colored, but what about Principals?

I want to color code all my Census so with a quick look i can see which census' i have.

I saw in preferences i can make primary tags Bold or have an asterick but wanted to know if i can color code tags and how to go about doing that.

 

Thanks

Kristina

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Sorry, Kristina, no such feature exists in TMG.

 

Custom coloring in the Details window is done by the use of Accents, which are based on filters or (usually) Flags associated only with people not events/tags. The Accent will display the names of Principals matching the filter or flag value in specific colors. For details see the topic "Accent" in the TMG Help Index.

 

The ability to color Tags has been wished for by others in the past, and some users have come up with various kinds of "work-arounds" based on the existing Accent feature. The most successful I have heard about is done by creating a "pseudo" person and linking that person as a Principal to the tag of interest. If the tag does not have a person assigned to the second Principal of the tag, then one could link a "pseudo" Accent Person to that tag as the second Principal. The trick is to have a special Flag value where only this pseudo person is assigned this specific value. Setting an Accent condition and color based on this special value of this flag would have the effect of accenting the pseudo person's name in any tag linked to this pseudo person. Whenever you add a person as a second Principal, their name shows up within the text of the tag on the Details view and causes that text to take on the Accent colors.

 

For example, you could create a special pseudo person (possibly with a surname of "CENSUS") and a special Flag (possibly named CENSUSACC). This Flag would be defined to have possible values of “N, Y” where ‘N’ is default for “normal” people. Only the special pseudo person would be assigned the value ‘Y’. An Accent condition would define the display of a special color for people where this Flag has a value of ‘Y’. Then any tag linked to this pseudo person would display the appropriate colors. In your case you could link this person as the second Principal to all your Census tags. Again, this special trick only works if the tag you wish to accent normally has only one Principal linked and the second Principal slot is available. Many people have customized their Census tags to only have the Head of Household as a Principal and all other members of the household linked as Witnesses using special roles they have created for this tag. In that case the second Principal is not used and this trick would work for such tags.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

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Here's still hoping. I have made suggestions for a method that would seem to work and wouldn't seem to take a lot of overhead.

 

In the MASTER TAG TYPE LIST, you would select a color for the tag background, and the tag font. Then whenever that tag was used, it would show up in the list that color. Might not allow people to accent it based on lots of different criteria, like primary, P1, or P2, place, etc, but it would allow the tag itself to be colored based on a users preference.

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Thanks Teresa,That is a wishlist feature i am guessing- i was so excited bc that is exactly what i wanted and have been going through the master tag type trying to find the option to change the background and font! :lol:

Thank you also Michael i will try your suggestion and see if that works the way i want,

 

Kristina

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Here's still hoping. I have made suggestions for a method that would seem to work and wouldn't seem to take a lot of overhead.

 

In the MASTER TAG TYPE LIST, you would select a color for the tag background, and the tag font. Then whenever that tag was used, it would show up in the list that color. Might not allow people to accent it based on lots of different criteria, like primary, P1, or P2, place, etc, but it would allow the tag itself to be colored based on a users preference.

If only... <sigh> I'm still hoping, too. Colorizing at the MTTL level would go a long way toward making me happier. Being able to indicate say green for 1850 census, yellow for 1860 census, brown for 1870 census, etc. or to say that all occupation tags are peach or to say that all death/burial tags are black background with white text would all be tremendously helpful. The visual picture might not be appealing to some folks, but it sure could say those "thousand words" we always hear about.

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Kristina,

Yes, still very much still on the wishlist, but hopefully it will make it into version 8. We can already go there and tell whether we want to show a role for the Principal or Witness, so it makes perfect sense to me to be able to set the background color and font for accenting tags there too.

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Thanks, Michael's work around works best as we can get now,

but would definitely want it on the wishlist-would like to do exactly as Excalibur stated each census a different color so at quick glance i can see what is there and what is missing as far as census.

How do we make sure it is recognized as something on our wishlist? Has it been sent to the powers that be? or do they monitor the forums? i know zero about programming but would think this should be an easy add and extremely valuable to most.

 

thanks for everyone's input

 

Kristina

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Many enhancements added to past TMG versions have often been the result of "wishlist" items mentioned both on this Forum and on the TMG-L ListServ. So "history" shows us that the "powers-that-be" are closely watching what the "customers" wish for. However, just because we users "wish" for something is no guarantee it will be implemented. Only Bob and WhollyGenes decide what gets added to the software.

 

In the meantime, glad that the workaround (thought up by others such as user Nancy Archdekin, but used by many such as myself) works for you. And even "if" this "wish" gets added, the use of Accents to color-code certain people's names will continue to be useful.

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How do we make sure it is recognized as something on our wishlist? Has it been sent to the powers that be? or do they monitor the forums?

 

Kristina,

 

 

You can rest assured that the "power that be" are aware of this wish. :)

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