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    How Do Use TNG?

    I have seen this software referenced here a few times and spent a few minutes reviewing this software.

    How and why do you use it? How does it compliment your use of Reunion? Why do you use this software instead of something like ancestry?
    ``````````````````````````````
    Grant

    #2
    Re: How Do Use TNG?

    I use it to present my genealogy online, but apart from some minor edits occasionally I do not use it for data entry - only for display online

    I prefer it to Ancestry because everything is directly under my control on my own domain name (and in my case which is a bit unusual) on my own web server in my basement - I truly am Master of My Own Domain!

    I do have my tree also on Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast to make use of their record matching techniques, but transfer the findings to Reunion - yes it's tedious, and it would be splendid if Reunion would make use of the API for places like Ancestry, FindMyPast and FamilySearch that RootsMagic uses.

    Roger
    Roger Moffat
    http://lisaandroger.com/genealogy/
    http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org/

    Comment


      #3
      Re: How Do Use TNG?

      Originally posted by theKiwi View Post

      I do have my tree also on Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast to make use of their record matching techniques, but transfer the findings to Reunion - yes it's tedious, and it would be splendid if Reunion would make use of the API for places like Ancestry, FindMyPast and FamilySearch that RootsMagic uses.

      Roger
      Roger:

      My current workflow has been very fragmented, sometimes working in Reunion and sometimes working on FTM and Ancestry. But my aim is to do something along the lines of your workflow. Reunion for the nitty gritty and Ancestry / My Heritage for record matching.

      If only Reunion could sync with Ancestry ...
      ``````````````````````````````
      Grant

      Comment


        #4
        Re: How Do Use TNG?

        The problem I've had with uploading GEDCOMs to Ancestry trees is that not all the important fields get uploaded. The structured sources don't go over and the NOTES field where I have biographies and family stories don't get mapped into a STORY at Ancestry. Also, there is no way to upload "over the top of" a previous tree. You have to delete the old tree at Ancestry and upload a new one. The indexing doesn't get done on the new tree for weeks sometimes.

        I use Reunion as my "book of record" data. All the other places (Ancestry, WikiTree, myHeritage, TNG, FamilySearch's Pedigree Resource File, FindAGrave) are all just views of that data, taken at some particular point in time when I chose to upload another GEDCOM.

        I use TNG as my personal web site like Roger. I have two instances of TNG running. One is my wife's one-name study of her Bishir maiden name. The other is a family site with my data and my wife's commingled (but separated on different trees). I put photos up on TNG mostly since they don't synch well to other places. Lately I've been putting watermarks on the photos I put up for the public because people copy them and put them up elsewhere without any attribution.

        That's about it!

        Don

        Comment


          #5
          Re: How Do Use TNG?

          Originally posted by theKiwi View Post
          I use it to present my genealogy online, but apart from some minor edits occasionally I do not use it for data entry - only for display online

          I prefer it to Ancestry because everything is directly under my control on my own domain name (and in my case which is a bit unusual) on my own web server in my basement - I truly am Master of My Own Domain!

          I do have my tree also on Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast to make use of their record matching techniques, but transfer the findings to Reunion - yes it's tedious, and it would be splendid if Reunion would make use of the API for places like Ancestry, FindMyPast and FamilySearch that RootsMagic uses.

          Roger
          Hi Roger.

          It sounds like you are doing what I want to do. I own the family domain name and want to use TNG for the public site but do the main data manipulation on Reunion. I'm in the process of cleaning up the data on Reunion before doing the initial upload to TNG.

          Do you have any suggestions or guidance for how to update TNG after the initial upload? Do you just do a GEDCOM export from Reunion and then import to TNG? Are there any special settings on TNG for the import?

          Any suggestions appreciated.

          David

          Comment


            #6
            Re: How Do Use TNG?

            Originally posted by BigEnso View Post
            Hi Roger.

            It sounds like you are doing what I want to do. I own the family domain name and want to use TNG for the public site but do the main data manipulation on Reunion. I'm in the process of cleaning up the data on Reunion before doing the initial upload to TNG.

            Do you have any suggestions or guidance for how to update TNG after the initial upload? Do you just do a GEDCOM export from Reunion and then import to TNG? Are there any special settings on TNG for the import?

            Any suggestions appreciated.

            David
            I almost always update my site by uploading an entire new GEDCOM file to the TNG site.

            Sometimes I will make a quick minor change directly in TNG - e.g. adding a death date for someone who has recently passed - but also make that change in Reunion so it goes to TNG in all subsequent GEDCOM updates.

            Us the TNG Import setting to "Replace All Current Data" if you do this complete GEDCOM upload.

            Roger
            Roger Moffat
            http://lisaandroger.com/genealogy/
            http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org/

            Comment


              #7
              Re: How Do Use TNG?

              Thanks Roger. Very helpful.

              David

              Comment


                #8
                Re: How Do Use TNG?

                Originally posted by theKiwi View Post
                I almost always update my site by uploading an entire new GEDCOM file to the TNG site.

                Sometimes I will make a quick minor change directly in TNG - e.g. adding a death date for someone who has recently passed - but also make that change in Reunion so it goes to TNG in all subsequent GEDCOM updates.

                Us the TNG Import setting to "Replace All Current Data" if you do this complete GEDCOM upload.

                Roger
                Hi,

                I have been using TNG as Roger described it. I do publish simultaneously Reunion's family webcards and the TNG database.

                I do make two global changes to the Reunion gedcom and replace the "?" in the birth and death date fields because Reunion and TNG interpret them differently.

                TNG assumes an unknown date "?" in death as living: so I change them to Y
                TNG assumes an unknown date "?" in birth as dead : so I remove them and leave it blank.

                Alain Farhi
                Alain Farhi
                http://www.farhi.org

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: How Do Use TNG?

                  Originally posted by AlainFarhi View Post
                  TNG assumes an unknown date "?" in death as living: so I change them to Y
                  TNG assumes an unknown date "?" in birth as dead : so I remove them and leave it blank.
                  No, in both cases TNG interprets the ? as "yes it happened".

                  So a ? in a death field tells TNG the person is deceased (and displays "Yes - date unknown") and treats the person as not living.

                  A ? in a birth field tells TNG the person is born (and displays "Yes - date unknown") which seems kind of un-necessary since the presence of the name alone would tell you that a birth had happened on an unknown date. A ? in the birth field causes TNG to think the person is not living.

                  Roger
                  Roger Moffat
                  http://lisaandroger.com/genealogy/
                  http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org/

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: How Do Use TNG? (*long* response)

                    Originally posted by gathompson56 View Post
                    I have seen this software referenced here a few times and spent a few minutes reviewing this software.

                    How and why do you use it? How does it compliment your use of Reunion? Why do you use this software instead of something like ancestry?
                    Thanks to this thread I investigated and then started using TNG.

                    I've got a working site that I'm starting to like, and as others upthread have said, it's mainly for display. I replace the data with a new GEDCOM from Reunion when I want to update it. (About 5,000 records currently in my Reunion file.)



                    I did take the time to geocode the entire TNG dataset, and have found that the mapping features are very strong compared to Reunion. You can easily and automatically batch-encode the entire database in TNG, and then fine-tune the exceptions. The Reunion way is to list all the places that are not geocoded, and then click a button to code them one at a time. The latter method is ultimately more fine-tuned from the start, but even the manual resorts to saying "You'll be amazed how quickly you get them done!" (Or, not.) The most interesting outgrowth of a world-aware database is the capacity to produce instant "heat maps" showing where persons with a certain surname experienced various life events. The scripts are well suited to making connections and producing many of the reports that Reunion has spoiled us with.

                    My motivation for using TNG is to get the information into the hands of relatives and other interested folks, and entice them into contributing at least some information about their branches of the family. I want something at hand when I'm having a face to face discussion with a niece, and while Reunion Touch is nice for that, they can't take it with them.

                    What I do not like so much is that TNG is at heart a collection of PHP scripts with some facility for using painstakingly-programmed templates. It is programmer-level difficult to modify those 15 templates, and every single one of them is too specific in its presentation. Plus, they look ugly. Being a PHP and MySQL combination, in theory it shouldn't be hard to integrate the functionality of TNG with a modern content management system like Wordpress or Joomla. There is a user-contributed Wordpress plugin that is supposed to do this, along with several alternate methods. In practice even the plugin requires rigorous attention to detail, and seems sensitive to the environment in which it is installed.

                    What makes it worse is that the TNG forums tend to be dominated by those who have mastered TNG as-is, and get cranky when suggestions for modifications and integrations are made. Hard to be upset with them, because for the most part they are protective of TNG's author and his time; but it does make it hard to have a discussion about these matters.

                    I'm planning to install a mod that treats sources exported from Reunion properly, and formats them for presentation on the Web. The author of that mod is a Reunion user, and I think is offended that TNG by default offers only the seven fields that ancestry.com supports!

                    Long response, but my bottom line is that Reunion is my canonical repository, and TNG is how I get information out in the world. Hope that helps!
                    --
                    Matt McCaffrey

                    Proprietor of the "family business" since 2015

                    Researching McCaffrey, Duffy, Garrow/Garand/Garant, Alden, Cadieux, Gagne

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: How Do Use TNG?

                      I am interested in which of the mods you installed as I also obviously use Reunion (just finally switched over from Family Tree Maker once and for all) and maintain a TNG website. Can you tell me the name of the mod? Thank you!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: How Do Use TNG?

                        Originally posted by Terry Fitzgerald View Post
                        I am interested in which of the mods you installed as I also obviously use Reunion (just finally switched over from Family Tree Maker once and for all) and maintain a TNG website. Can you tell me the name of the mod? Thank you!
                        Hi Terry,

                        I'm using "Citation Master". Turns out that it works, as long as you pay rigorous attention to detail (see my previous post), and can deal with the PHP requirement that amounts to (1) defining a template for the particular source type, and (2) actually calling that template when that source type is being formatted.

                        I got it to work by following the example files the mod author provides. You can really see the Reunion influence in how he structures his examples.

                        The other trick to this mod is making sure that the custom fields you need for a source are being imported into TNG when you send it a GEDCOM. By default most custom fields are NOT imported. Since you can create new fields with ease in Reunion and give them a custom GEDCOM tag, this becomes an issue if you actually export the GEDCOM.

                        When I send an update to my TNG site, I replace the previous version of the database, then run the secondary indexing routines. Even for a 5K+ database, this does not take much time. It also does not affect the geo-coded placename list, so overall it's a benefit and will help the Citation Master mod run correctly.
                        --
                        Matt McCaffrey

                        Proprietor of the "family business" since 2015

                        Researching McCaffrey, Duffy, Garrow/Garand/Garant, Alden, Cadieux, Gagne

                        Comment

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