Version 7

[loribragg 0]

As Wholly Genes has announced a version 7 and is showing an early version at the conference this weekend, can we get a list of possible changes? Or a report from someone who saw it demoed on what we can expect. Lori Bragg

[crowzee2 0]

I second that!!!! Who wants to tell us what they saw at Ft. Wayne this weekend?

[GenerationGoneBy 0]

I doubt anyone is home yet. The conference wasn't over until noon. Hopefully they will let us know in the next few days. HINT HINT. <G>

[Bob Velke 0]

Hi everyone,

 

We're back from the FGS Conference in Fort Wayne. Thanks to all those who stopped by to say hello or to see the preview of TMG v7.

 

Following is a list of the major points that I discussed or demonstrated as planned for TMG v7. Note that I didn't discuss all that we have planned and circumstances may change to prevent/delay the implementation of some of the features which I demonstrated. In other words, I hope that you find this list interesting but don't interpret it as any form of commitment on my part.

 

As usual, most of the planned new features were suggested by TMG users like you.

 

- TMG v7 will be native to Windows Vista and XP. Some older operating systems may be supported and a full list will be posted with the final release.

- Beginner buttons on the Tag Box and a Preference option to turn them off.

- Preference option to turn off the memo and source columns in the Tag Box.

- Revised Exhibit Log interface with buttons for major features.

- Exhibit Highlighting (as discussed by Lee Hoffman).

- Reminder field for Tag Types, Sources, and Source Types that are visible during data entry.

- New window resizing method and a Preference option to use the old method.

- Associates Window (suggested on TMG-L as a "Witness Window" but with expanded features).

- An option to assign layouts to custom toolbar buttons.

- Import/export sources.

- Import/export source types.

- Relationship Calculator supports relationships through marriage.

- Multi-level sorts on the Picklist and Project Explorer.

- Sort the Research Log by task keyword.

- Check for duplicate people during the Add Person process (and many Preference options to control the duplicate-checking rules).

- Support for the Citation Memo in embedded citations.

- A sentence code to suppress all punctuation.

- A sentence code to concatenate tags to form a single sentence.

- An "escape" code that will allow memos to include characters that TMG would otherwise interpret as special control characters (like {,[,

- A sentence preview button.

- List of Exhibits report

- Columnar List of Citations report.

- New import formats.

- New filter options.

- A variety of new right-click options to aid navigation and data entry as suggested by users.

 

I do NOT intend to expand/explain these features or discuss our plans beyond the list above. Rather, I am going to focus on development. Those who attended the demonstration are free to comment on what they saw. Beyond that, I'm afraid that you'll need to wait for the official release.

 

A release date has not been (and will not be) announced beyond "later this year" as stated in the newsletter. There will be a modest charge for the update but it has not been announced either. Those who purchased TMG v6 after 17 Aug 2007 (or 90 days before release of TMG v7, whichever is earlier) will get a free update to TMG v7.

 

Cheers,

[Neil Grantham 0]

I do NOT intend to expand/explain these features or discuss our plans beyond the list above. Rather, I am going to focus on development. Those who attended the demonstration are free to comment on what they saw. Beyond that, I'm afraid that you'll need to wait for the official release.

Bob, we fully respect this statement.

Can you comment though as to whether the Interface is getting an overhaul, or is it staying much as it was.

Neil

[Jim Byram 0]

Bob, we fully respect this statement.

Can you comment though as to whether the Interface is getting an overhaul, or is it staying much as it was.

Neil

I think that people who saw the demonstrations would say that TMG7 looks like TMG6 if that's what you are asking. There are many subtle and not so subtle changes that affect the interface. See Bob's list above.

 

btw... Your question is so general that it's difficult to perceive what it is that you're asking. What specifically are you looking for?

[John Cardinal 0]

Can you comment though as to whether the Interface is getting an overhaul, or is it staying much as it was.

Neil,

 

I am excited about this new feature: New window resizing method and a Preference option to use the old method. That's a change that has a major impact on TMG's User Interface, but may not look like a major change on the surface. As demonstrated by Bob at FGS, when expanding a window, controls that can make good use of the extra space will expand to do so. So, for example, when a window contains a columnar list, and resizing provides more width, more columns will be visible. Other controls, like buttons, stay the same size. For a more specific example, expanding the Edit Tag window provides more space for the memo text box.

 

The old method, where items in the window scaled up or down with the size of the window, is still available for those users who prefer it.

[loribragg 0]

Bob - Thank you so much for this list. I think all of us can understand the way software development works and will not hound you or take your time away from development. The software works great the way it is, so anything more is gravy!

 

Lori

[Neil Grantham 0]

I think that people who saw the demonstrations would say that TMG7 looks like TMG6 if that's what you are asking. There are many subtle and not so subtle changes that affect the interface. See Bob's list above.

 

btw... Your question is so general that it's difficult to perceive what it is that you're asking. What specifically are you looking for?

Sorry, didn't think it was as difficult a question as that!

What I meant is that as programs develop over the years and get major point releases, the interface tends to improve so that it gets more intuitive and perhaps simpler to use. I just wondered if TMG was heading the same way.

Take FTM for example, it's had a major interface change for 2008 release - I downloaded the demo and really like the look, and doubtless so will Legacy 7 due out soon.

 

Also on my wishlist would be an improvement in start up speed. I gave up arguing about it ages ago. 6.12 on my pretty specced up PC takes ages to fire up. I have upgraded to Vista, but TMG's performance is about the same as on XP in my perception.

[pktropics 0]

No mention of including circle and triangle (Δ ▲,○ ●) or other gender symbols (♂ ♀) in charts and reports in v. 7. I'm pretty happy with TMG as it is except for this one defficiency (which, I should add, is shared by all the other commercially available programs). Would it be asking too much to at least make it possible to insert these symbols into an existing name field (such as Title) so that they would then print out in charts and reports. This does not seem to be possible in the current version.

 

For those of us doing genealogies on non-English speaking groups where the gender is not necessarily apparent from the name, and where charts are the primary output, such symbols are essential. I've suggested a number of times that this capability be included - both to Wholly Genes and another commercial program - but so far to no avail. Is TMG 7 going to be another disappointment on this score? Am I the only TMG user that wants this feature? I think I must be!

 

pktropics

[John Cardinal 0]

No mention of including circle and triangle (Δ ▲,○ ●) or other gender symbols (♂ ♀) in charts and reports in v. 7. I'm pretty happy with TMG as it is except for this one defficiency (which, I should add, is shared by all the other commercially available programs). Would it be asking too much to at least make it possible to insert these symbols into an existing name field (such as Title) so that they would then print out in charts and reports. This does not seem to be possible in the current version.

 

For those of us doing genealogies on non-English speaking groups where the gender is not necessarily apparent from the name, and where charts are the primary output, such symbols are essential. I've suggested a number of times that this capability be included - both to Wholly Genes and another commercial program - but so far to no avail. Is TMG 7 going to be another disappointment on this score? Am I the only TMG user that wants this feature? I think I must be!

This is not a TMG feature, but Second Site, the web site builder for TMG, has the ability to add symbols that denote gender. They can be added to name indexes and the main person display. That feature does not extend to charts, but chart boxes can be colored by gender.

[pktropics 0]

If the programmers can programme colour into the charts (which mostly doesn't help me because I produce the charts in B&W so they can be easily and cheaply reproduced), is it so difficult to also programme symbols?

 

pktropics

[John Cardinal 0]

If the programmers can programme colour into the charts (which mostly doesn't help me because I produce the charts in B&W so they can be easily and cheaply reproduced), is it so difficult to also programme symbols?

I am not sure whether or not your comment is referring to Second Site or not. If so, I was telling you what Second Site can do today. It's quite possible to add symbols to charts, but features aren't added solely based on whether they are possible to implement. The B&W issue doesn't really apply, as Second Site produces web sites that are intended to be distributed electronically via the web or via CDs that you share with relatives. You can print the pages created by Second Site, but browsers don't print particularly well.

 

If you were referring to TMG's reporting and charting capabilities, I suspect that adding symbols is not technically difficult, but rather it's a prioritization issue. There are thousands of requests for features.

[pktropics 0]

John, I thank you for alerting me to the possibilities of Second Site. However my comments throughout refer to TMG. By and large my clients do not have access to computers, the internet and colour printers. Hard copy, B & W charts are therefore the most useful way of displaying their genealogies. For my purposes and for the majority of my work, Second Site is not yet the answer.

 

If its a question of prioritisation, rather than technical difficulty, perhaps someone closer to Wholly Genes could tell me how to get my 'druthers nearer to the top of their priority list. To me, providing greater flexibility in reporting and output formats should be a higher priority that quite a few of the "enhancements" in Velke's original post, such as (for example) "an option to assign layouts to custom toolbars." These are all well and good and may make some marginal difference to our experience of data entry; but what I'm more interested in is the output. I would prefer to see the programmers' valuable time and efforts going into to that, rather than worrying about the relative flummery of buttons and the user interface generally.

 

But who knows, perhaps I am vexing prematurely; maybe Bob does intend to put in circles and triangles, and my voice in the wilderness has at last been heard ? I live in hope!

 

pktropics

[Terry Reigel 0]

To me, providing greater flexibility in reporting and output formats should be a higher priority that quite a few of the "enhancements" in Velke's original post, such as (for example) "an option to assign layouts to custom toolbars." These are all well and good and may make some marginal difference to our experience of data entry; but what I'm more interested in is the output. I would prefer to see the programmers' valuable time and efforts going into to that, rather than worrying about the relative flummery of buttons and the user interface generally.

I totally agree with you that output capabilities are more important than interface "fummery." However, circles and triangles rate less than zero in my personal priority, while the ability to control end of sentence punctuation (one of the features Bob mentioned) and the ability to properly combine multiple citations (not one of those on his list) come very high on my priorities.

 

Just to provide an alternate view.

 

As John says, there are thousands of feature requests, and one user's fummery is another's top priority. Bob's job is to try to balance all those conflicting priorities.

[joanmc 0]

I know this isn't as functional as circles/triangles or similar symbols, however, what about coloured and non-coloured boxes which, in B&W, would show as shaded and unshaded? At least it would easily indicate male and female for your clients.

 

Joan

 

John, I thank you for alerting me to the possibilities of Second Site. However my comments throughout refer to TMG. By and large my clients do not have access to computers, the internet and colour printers. Hard copy, B & W charts are therefore the most useful way of displaying their genealogies. For my purposes and for the majority of my work, Second Site is not yet the answer.

 

If its a question of prioritisation, rather than technical difficulty, perhaps someone closer to Wholly Genes could tell me how to get my 'druthers nearer to the top of their priority list. To me, providing greater flexibility in reporting and output formats should be a higher priority that quite a few of the "enhancements" in Velke's original post, such as (for example) "an option to assign layouts to custom toolbars." These are all well and good and may make some marginal difference to our experience of data entry; but what I'm more interested in is the output. I would prefer to see the programmers' valuable time and efforts going into to that, rather than worrying about the relative flummery of buttons and the user interface generally.

 

But who knows, perhaps I am vexing prematurely; maybe Bob does intend to put in circles and triangles, and my voice in the wilderness has at last been heard ? I live in hope!

 

pktropics

[pktropics 0]

I know this isn't as functional as circles/triangles or similar symbols, however, what about coloured and non-coloured boxes which, in B&W, would show as shaded and unshaded? At least it would easily indicate male and female for your clients.

 

Joan

 

Joan, you are right, this is one of the ways around it. Others are: to manually insert the symbols; or to export to another program I have which does do circle and triangle charts (but does not have the same powerful database attributes as TMG). Both these are time consuming; however, the results are neat, unambiguous and easily understood cross-culturally. Its apparent there's little support for this feature among TMG users and developers, so its probably time I stopped banging on about it!

[RobinL 0]

On chart front, it is possible to use different frames as part of an accenting scheme. So find or create a frame that you can use for each sex. I quickly knocked up some "custom" frames to illustrate this using the same method that I described in GTMOOTMG page 245.

 

 

This works best with the UK style marriages as this causes all boxes within a genration to be the same height.

[RobinL 0]

 

This illustrates another solution (about 10 minutes of my effort) that works well for US marriage style lines.

[memawmaw4 0]

Hi everyone,

 

We're back from the FGS Conference in Fort Wayne. Thanks to all those who stopped by to say hello or to see the preview of TMG v7.

 

Following is a list of the major points that I discussed or demonstrated as planned for TMG v7. Note that I didn't discuss all that we have planned and circumstances may change to prevent/delay the implementation of some of the features which I demonstrated. In other words, I hope that you find this list interesting but don't interpret it as any form of commitment on my part.

 

As usual, most of the planned new features were suggested by TMG users like you.

 

- TMG v7 will be native to Windows Vista and XP. Some older operating systems may be supported and a full list will be posted with the final release.

- Beginner buttons on the Tag Box and a Preference option to turn them off.

- Preference option to turn off the memo and source columns in the Tag Box.

- Revised Exhibit Log interface with buttons for major features.

- Exhibit Highlighting (as discussed by Lee Hoffman).

- Reminder field for Tag Types, Sources, and Source Types that are visible during data entry.

- New window resizing method and a Preference option to use the old method.

- Associates Window (suggested on TMG-L as a "Witness Window" but with expanded features).

- An option to assign layouts to custom toolbar buttons.

- Import/export sources.

- Import/export source types.

- Relationship Calculator supports relationships through marriage.

- Multi-level sorts on the Picklist and Project Explorer.

- Sort the Research Log by task keyword.

- Check for duplicate people during the Add Person process (and many Preference options to control the duplicate-checking rules).

- Support for the Citation Memo in embedded citations.

- A sentence code to suppress all punctuation.

- A sentence code to concatenate tags to form a single sentence.

- An "escape" code that will allow memos to include characters that TMG would otherwise interpret as special control characters (like {,[,<, and others).

- A sentence preview button.

- List of Exhibits report

- Columnar List of Citations report.

- New import formats.

- New filter options.

- A variety of new right-click options to aid navigation and data entry as suggested by users.

 

I do NOT intend to expand/explain these features or discuss our plans beyond the list above. Rather, I am going to focus on development. Those who attended the demonstration are free to comment on what they saw. Beyond that, I'm afraid that you'll need to wait for the official release.

 

A release date has not been (and will not be) announced beyond "later this year" as stated in the newsletter. There will be a modest charge for the update but it has not been announced either. Those who purchased TMG v6 after 17 Aug 2007 (or 90 days before release of TMG v7, whichever is earlier) will get a free update to TMG v7.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob, I was just about to purchase the v.6.12 online, and saw this msg about a v.7 and the availability of getting the upgrade to v.7 if you purchase the v.6.12 after 17 Aug 2007......I presently do not have any version of TMG and was wondering how long I would have to wait, and should I wait, to get the v.7?????

also, I have two computers, one with windows xp and one with windows vista; I want to use the program on both computers, and I would like to know if I can enter info on one computer, make copies of the info on discs and back it up on the other computer with this program.

I tried to call the tech support number in MD and was put on hold for so long that I hung up (long distance). you guys really need a 1-800 number for tech support.

thanks, Bev

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

On chart front, it is possible to use different frames as part of an accenting scheme. So find or create a frame that you can use for each sex. I quickly knocked up some "custom" frames to illustrate this using the same method that I described in GTMOOTMG page 245.

 

 

This works best with the UK style marriages as this causes all boxes within a genration to be the same height.

 

Instructions (based on Robin's method described in GTMOOTMG) for creating and using custom frames are at:

 

http://www.whollygenes.com/forums201/index...st=0#entry30360

 

Virginia

[joanmc 0]

Thanks so much for this Virginia, Lee & Robin. I happen to have the book so could look it up but I know several of our Users' Group haven't been able to purchase one due to it being out of print so this will be most helpful. (I hope a new edition will follow the release of v7?)

 

Joan

 

Instructions (based on Robin's method described in GTMOOTMG) for creating and using custom frames are at:

 

http://www.whollygenes.com/forums201/index...st=0#entry30360

 

Virginia

[Terry Reigel 0]

Bob, I was just about to purchase the v.6.12 online, and saw this msg about a v.7 and the availability of getting the upgrade to v.7 if you purchase the v.6.12 after 17 Aug 2007......I presently do not have any version of TMG and was wondering how long I would have to wait, and should I wait, to get the v.7?????

Bev, in my opinion, there is no need to wait. From what has been demo'ed, TMG7 will add new features, but not be fundamentally different than TMG6. Thus, whatever you do in TMG6 will work fine when you TMG7, and what you learn about using it will transfer seamlessly. The only issue is that if you find some neat new feature you can't live without you may want to go back to previously edited data and apply it.

 

Bob has said only that he expects to release version 7 by the end of the year. Based on past experience, I really doubt he will say anything more specific.

also, I have two computers, one with windows xp and one with windows vista; I want to use the program on both computers, and I would like to know if I can enter info on one computer, make copies of the info on discs and back it up on the other computer with this program.

You can readily install TMG on both computers (read the instructions for installing on Vista mentioned in other threads).

 

If the computers are connected by a network, you can place the data on one of them and access it from either. Or, you can transfer the data back and forth. The easiest way to do that is by use of the backup and restore functions. The major issue with transferring the data back and forth is to maintain the discipline to avoid editing or entering data on both copies at once.

[Lee 0]

Bob, I was just about to purchase the v.6.12 online, and saw this msg about a v.7 and the availability of getting the upgrade to v.7 if you purchase the v.6.12 after 17 Aug 2007......I presently do not have any version of TMG and was wondering how long I would have to wait, and should I wait, to get the v.7?????

also, I have two computers, one with windows xp and one with windows vista; I want to use the program on both computers, and I would like to know if I can enter info on one computer, make copies of the info on discs and back it up on the other computer with this program.

I tried to call the tech support number in MD and was put on hold for so long that I hung up (long distance). you guys really need a 1-800 number for tech support.

thanks, Bev

 

Re-read Bob's last paragraph. Based on past practices, it says all that he is gonna say (I could be wrong, but I doubt it). Also based on past practices, anyone purchasing the current version within 90 days before the new release gets the new release free. Buyers of the curent version at the Ft. Wayne FGS Conference last week were promised the new verson free when it is released. I suggest that if you plan to get TMG, so ahead and get it now.

 

Yes, you can use both the current and the new version on either WinXP or WinVista and swap data from one to the other (via a TMG backup file).

 

As for them getting an 800 number, that would cost them money and right now that is the only cost of excellent text support. If they got an 800 number, I suspect they would have to start charging for tech support after a short time -- like most other software companies.

 

Lee

[memawmaw4 0]

Re-read Bob's last paragraph. Based on past practices, it says all that he is gonna say (I could be wrong, but I doubt it). Also based on past practices, anyone purchasing the current version within 90 days before the new release gets the new release free. Buyers of the curent version at the Ft. Wayne FGS Conference last week were promised the new verson free when it is released. I suggest that if you plan to get TMG, so ahead and get it now.

 

Yes, you can use both the current and the new version on either WinXP or WinVista and swap data from one to the other (via a TMG backup file).

 

As for them getting an 800 number, that would cost them money and right now that is the only cost of excellent text support. If they got an 800 number, I suspect they would have to start charging for tech support after a short time -- like most other software companies.

 

Lee

 

 

Lee, Terry, and Bob, thanks for the input about the v.6.12 vs waiting for the v.7

if I need any more help, I'll not hesitate to ask,

thanks allot,

Bev