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bluedog

Family Group Sheets - change in report appearance

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I noticed last night that the appearance of Family Group Sheets has changed from Version 7. Version 8 puts it in a table form.

 

How can I have the report in the same format as Version 7? I prefer the old appearance over the table version. Or at least how can I get rid of the table format?

 

I'm sending the report to Word for editing. And I have TMG 8 Gold. Thanks.

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Totally agree with you "bluedog". I don't like the New layout one bit. In fact, I will go so far as to say it sucks. Please provide the old ver.7 layout, at least, as an option. That was attractive, balanced and very presentable. I woundn't show a dog the new one which is all squashed together and looks like the type of layout I had in the early '90's. What is the big gain here...a few coloured lines and more compression?!! Wholly Genes have thrown presentation out the window for little if any gain. Also the inclusion of a photo is a joke.. sizing the photo to large gives a smaller image than what version 7 provided which was well positioned and I liked, and have stuck it inside a huge vacant space which makes the page look even more ugly and unbalanced. As for sizing to a small image, that is just pathetic, as you can hardly make out what the image is of and it still sits inside a huge vacant space (table). Not impressed by this backward step.

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Laurelle -

 

The v8 FGS is more in line with the traditional Family Group Sheet - which is a tabular format (Google for Family Group Sheet to see examples). There are tips in the thread here for adding more white space to the table for a less compressed appearance.

 

Virginia

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Who on earth are you kidding, Virginia. This is just short-cut coding to get a product out quickly. It is unimpressive and very disappointing from a company I had held in high esteem for over 20 years. When you decide to fix this, I will look at the product again.

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Laurelle -

 

I appreciate that you do not like the new format - but I am not 'kidding'. The FGS is the report I most often use - and the appearance is particularly important to me. I thought the v7 FGS was a bit dowdy and out-dated - and the very customizable v8 FGS a huge improvement. If you don't like the table lines you can get rid of them and get more of the look of v7.

 

Virginia

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When you decide to fix this, I will look at the product again.

Uh? You are talking to other users so your statement is not going to accomplish much.

 

I suspect that the report design has much to do with what is possible with the report manager. TMG8 has a new report manager and all report designs were created from scratch.

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Compared to what we had in ver. 7, this NEW format really sucks big time. I was almost sold on 8 until I tried the reports. Sorry, can't accept the FGS, at all. Really disappointed with this and can't understand why you think this is better????!!!! It's just plain ugly, too cramped together and as my English husband put it... "too busy"!! There is little that will change this. I have tried everything....still hate it. Ver. 7 FGS was elegant, clear, not overpowering and presented in way that made people ask me..."Which program is that? I really like it." Don't expect too much of that with Ver.8. You are forcing me to look at other programs and I never thought I'd be doing this. It's my option but I bet others, who know ver. 7, will feel the same. Sorry if you don't like criticism but it's the truth and yes, this is aimed at those creating the program who do read occasionally. I tried talking directly but was stonewalled with useless information which made no difference at all so perhaps other uses might hear what I saying and express their own opinions. I only saying this because after 22 years with TMG this is now a bitter pill, but I do care and these changes are just crazy. Wake up Bob before it's too late.

Edited by Laurelle

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Laurelle -

 

If you post your complaint on the TMG mailing list you may find other users who feel the same way you do about the v8 FGS and - with enough interest - some changes could be recommended. You can subscribe to the mailing list here:

 

http://lists.rootswe...ftware/TMG.html

 

We've had a couple of other negative comments about the FGS on the forum, but the mailing list - where there are hundreds of longtime users - might be a better place to get a sampling.

 

I agree with your husband that the default FGS is too busy. The first thing I did was to set the fonts for all options to Tahoma 9 Regular - with no Bold. Comic Sans is another good font to try. Using 1 pixel gray lines (or white no-lines) helps, along with no graphics lines top and bottom and no page numbers (both of those appear to take space from the row heights). If you send the report to Word you can easily increase the top, bottom, left and right margins in each cell to further open up the overall appearance. For me, the edits plus the ability to use color accents result in a more professional looking FGS than v7.

 

I hope you are able to work something out with the FGS. Like you, I have a couple of decades invested in TMG and would not want to move to another program.

 

Virginia

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What I like are the many new features now available in V8 reports, most of which now can be customized as described by Virginia. You may not prefer the default look which was provided. But I believe taking the time to one-time customize the formats, similar to the suggestions of Virginia, and saving that new report definition, can make all subsequent reports look more like what you want.

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Debbie -

 

Your options are for line color and fill color - not lines selectively, so you can't duplicate the v7 version. The gray fill in the example below comes close to the v7 FGS.

 

Gray.jpg blueFGS.jpg

 

Let me know if you would like the settings for either of the charts.

 

Virginia

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Virginia -

What I would like is to NOT lose functionality when I "upgrade". The family group sheet in older versions is much clearer and makes better use of space. When is this going to be fixed in ver 8?

Debbie

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Virginia -

I just looked at the sample reports shown on your website for TMG8 - the sample family group sheet looks exactly like I want it to. How do I get the appearance that your company has advertised?

Debbie

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Debbie -

 

I am just another user like you - so can't speak for TMG.

 

If you are looking at the Sample reports on the TMG web site, the FGS is the old v7 version. The example FGS there has not been updated to v8.

 

My example with the gray fill and white lines (options on the Miscellaneous tab in the FGS report) - as shown in the screenshot earlier in this thread - is not that different from v7. I do not know what functionality you have lost.

 

Virginia

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