TNG Features

NOTE: For all sample links that lead to the Administrative Demo, please use the following login: username = demo, password = demo. All database actions have been deactivated, so feel free to try whatever you'd like.

New & Improved in TNG 14:

• Import: The inner workings of the GEDCOM import have been improved to make the process much more robust. Unresponsiveness issues have been addressed, and "resume" operations should be seamless. Also, support has been added for some GEDCOM 7.0 features. Media included with a zipped GEDCOM file can now be extracted at the time of import.
• Admin Home Redesign: The look and feel of the Admin home page has been modernized. Menu items are larger, and excess text has been removed. The redundant left-side menu has been removed, and rotating banner images display at the top. The number of mods installed is also now visible on the Admin home page.
• Connections: The Relationship tab has been supplemented by an advanced relationship/connection search, powered by the Connections mod (by Michal Jarocinski). This will allow you to quickly find more connections between two individuals, including those that include one or more marriages/pairings along the way.
• Style Upgrades: The size and font of most form fields has been increased to 14px. Rounded corners and extra padding have been added to most tables, and a drop shadow has been added on some tables. These and other elements combine for a softer, more modern look and feel for all pages, both public and admin.
• Media: Several here too, including: 1) Image tags may now point to places, families, sources, repos and citations (in addition to people). The tree selection defaults to either the tree assigned to the image or the one used for already existing media links. 2) Image tags can also be just a label (any text or name), which can optionally point to any URL. 3) DOC and DOCX files can now be viewed inline instead of being automatically downloaded (based on Michel Kirsch's "Office Viewer" mod).
• Search: The submit button on the Advanced Search page is now fixed so you never have to scroll to find it. Most search fields have also been widened, and the "Other events" list starts off as collapsed, but the form remembers ones you have used before and sorts those at the top.
• Descendant Tables: Jim Graham's Table of Descendants mod has been incorporated. Visitors will see a "Tables" option on the Descendants tab. Click through to see a tabular list of all descendants for a particular individual. Choose any row to instantly list all individuals from that generation.
• Charts: Zoom and drag functions have been added to several more charts. Also, birth and death years are now displayed on the fan chart.
• Report Generator Overhaul: The report builder interface has been redesigned to be more modern, easier to use, and more functional on mobile. The Custom SQL box has also been enlarged.
• Backups: Backups can now be created as SQL files (the old method will still be supported). They can also be downloaded with a download icon. Backups may also include DROP and CREATE table directives. A restore operation may be made to drop all existing records or not.
• Additional Genders: Other gender choices can now be entered on the Admin/People pages.
• Alternate Birth Events: A list of acceptable "alternate birth event types" can now be maintained in the settings, and users may choose the alternate birth event for each individual from the Edit Person page.
• Mod Manager: Many improvements, including 1) The source code has been restructured to improve the Mod Manager internal structure. New diagnostic error prefix is included on messages in Mod List. 2) Michel Kirsch's "Analyze only install mods" mod has been incorporated. 3) A fixed-position header now applies to all screens and includes the table column header line.
• Compatibility: Pro-active changes will make sure TNG remains compatible with the latest versions of PHP and MySQL.
• Plus more than 90 other fixes and improvements! See a complete list of all changes here.

No HTML pages to generate
Other genealogy web site tools create a set of finished ("static") HTML pages, sometimes one or more for each person in your file. You may end up with hundreds or thousands of web pages to upload and maintain! What if you have changes in your data? Sorry, you'll need to recreate and reload all of those pages all over again. What if you don't like how they look? If you can't figure out how to manipulate the program then your only other choice is to make the changes to each of the thousands of pages yourself. Good luck!

TNG uses a database to create your pages dynamically, as they're requested. That means no huge load of pages to create and upload each time you have a change, and if you want to tweak the look and feel, you do it in one location and it's done for the entire site.

Very customizable
Choose a design from one of TNG's built-in templates, or purchase one at Genealogy Web Templates, or do everything yourself. You can also manipulate colors, layout and fonts with cascading style sheets (CSS) if you're up to it. A settings page allows you to easily change the values of many system variables. In addition, you can edit your template's header and footer to change what you see at the top and bottom of each page. A look at some of the many sites already running TNG will reveal a fraction of what's possible.

Still visible to search engines
Even though TNG pages are not created until requested, they can still be indexed by external search engines like Google and others. That's because the finished pages are still just HTML, and the engines have to request the pages the same way you or I would. Just remember that it sometimes takes a while for the crawlers to find your pages. Don't want them to find you? TNG will let you do that too by requiring all your visitors to log in.

Easy-to-follow installation instructions
Don't worry if you've never done anything like this before. The TNG installation instructions will take you through it in just a few minutes. There's even a video you can watch to see how it's done.

Fast, free and friendly support!
I realize that no matter how good the program is, you're going to have questions. Sometimes your server settings may need tweaking, and (heaven forbid) you might even find an error in the code. Whatever the concern, please feel free to contact me. There are no stupid questions, and I always reply promptly — unless I'm asleep! Here's an actual letter from a TNG user:

"I was skeptical of all the praise your users have given you for your support. No one provides support that good right? Well, add me to the list of sold users! No matter how insignificant my request has been you've been professional and prompt. I appreciate that. Your service will keep me as a customer far more then your product!"

Nick Flint
Flint Family Genealogy Pages

Other support options
Besides asking the author directly, you can also ask for help from other users with the aid of a user forum, a TNG mailing list and a TNG Facebook group.

Can be used with WordPress and other content management systems.
Not only does TNG work great on its own, it can also function alongside WordPress and other such systems. There are a few methods outlined for integrating your TNG pages into your WordPress theme.

Easy-to-read Individual pages
All individual and family records are laid out in a simple user-friendly format, one person to a page. With each person you'll also see links to photos, histories, headstones and other media, pedigree, descendancy, timeline and relationship charts, plus notes and sources, and family records for each marriage. If visitors see a problem, they can even use the Suggest tab to send you a message.

User Registration
Allow visitors to register for their own login. No accounts will be activated until you, the administrator, approve of the action. When you do, you can also elect to have TNG send out an automatic notification to the requestor.

Display messages translated into several languages
Most or all of the display messages have been translated into Afrikaans, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish, and a partial translation has been done in Chinese, Greek, Icelandic, Romanian, Russian and Serbian. The display messages should be fairly easy to translate into any language, since they have been separated out into their own files. In other words, you don't have to hunt through any code to find the text.

Advanced pedigree charts
TNG's pedigree charts can display an indefinite number of generations (you decide the maximum you'll allow) in several different formats for every person in your database. Attached photos and dropdown data boxes with additional information make it the centerpiece of the whole application. With a single click, jump to the individual page or a new pedigree for anyone on the chart. You can even switch parents! And if that's not enough, the standard TNG pedigree charts also allow smooth browsing from one generation to the next. Climb up and down the entire tree without ever refreshing the page.

Relationship chart
Start with any individual, then pick any other person in your tree and TNG will display a graphical chart of their relationship. If the individuals are not related within a designated number of generations, TNG will tell you that as well.

Timeline
Display a bar chart comparing the lifespans of an unlimited number of individuals from your database. Start from any individual and add any person you browse to, or others. Plus, the chart is saved until you close your browser window. Add your own events to the timeline too.

Descendancy chart
In a glance see an indefinite number of descendant generations for every person in your file (again, you decide the maximum), with links to each person's individual page. In the text-only chart, collapse or expand each generation. For each descendant listed on the text-only chart, you can also click to view a graphical tree tracing the line. Plus, switch easily between Standard and Register formats.

Register chart
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Standard descendancy chart can instantly be toggled to display in text-only or Register format, which for some means a more readable alternative. More data in many cases as well.

Graphical descendancy tracing
An icon next to each descendant on the Standard descendancy chart links quickly to a boxes-and-connecting-lines display of parents, children and siblings, from the primary individual down to the person selected. Inset photos (like on the pedigree chart) and vital years make this a valuable visual tool. See an example here.

DNA Testing
Track DNA tests taken by the people in your trees.

Mod Manager
TNG also includes a utility that allows users to easily install or remove code modifications and add-ons written by other users. Wishing for other features? You can write them yourself...or check the TNG wiki to see if someone else has already posted it. Then use the Mod Manager to install it on your site.

Printer-friendly pages
A link on each page now shows you the same page in a new window, without any headers, sidebars or page backgrounds, making it easier to create printouts of what you see without having it cluttered or pushed off the page.

PDF reports available
Pedigree, descendancy and individual pages may now be exported in PDF format.

Simple and advanced searching
Search just on first name/last name, or try the Advanced Search to limit or expand the number of matches found. Use the Advanced Search to query by just about any event in your database. Choose whether the data "starts with", "ends with", "equals" or "contains" your search terms, or match by Soundex or metaphones. Use date ranges, plus show names of spouses if desired. Even decide whether to join all criteria with "AND" or "OR".

Surnames lookup
Track down individuals by surname, but not from an endless unreadable paragraph. Instead, view names in neat columns, and limit your search only to those beginning with a certain letter or symbol. Also see a list of the top 30 surnames in your file, or choose to see all surnames on a single page.

Collaboration possibilities
Set up various users and give them each their own set of rights (see living data, see LDS data, add/edit/delete, etc.). Anyone can still visit your site, but logged-in users will see even more (as much as you want them to), and can even help you add to or maintain your data.

Submitter rights
You can choose to grant some users "Submitter" rights, meaning that they will be able to edit existing events and submit proposed changes, but these changes will not become permanent unless you (the administrator) decide to accept them. Whenever you're ready to review these tentative edits, a list of them will be waiting for you in the Admin area.

Multiple family trees
If you have multiple GEDCOM files that need to be kept separate, you can do it by putting each one in its own Tree. Visitors can still search across all trees, but maintenance can be done on a particular Tree without affecting any others. Most users will only need one Tree.

Branches
Label different sections of your family tree and grant different users different permissions to those sections, or "branches". Now your family can have edit rights to their side only, and your spouse's family can have the same for theirs. New: Now each person can belong to multiple branches.

Dynamic language switching
If you've translated TNG's display messages into multiple languages, you can have TNG switch dynamically among them. Selecting a language from a dropdown box (visible on most public pages) instantly causes the page (and all subsequent pages until the next switch) to be displayed in the new language.

Media
Upload and link several photos, documents, histories, videos or audio recordings to individuals, families and sources. Give each item a title and description as well. You can even apply an image map, allowing you to assign different links to various parts of the photo or people in the picture. For histories, you can even compose your text right in TNG, or simply cut and paste your text or HTML from another application. Browse all media at once, or search for a keyword to help you find the ones you want. Or, pick one person and cycle through their own private list. Provide (or have TNG generate) a small thumbnail to be used on the pedigree & descendancy charts, and at the top of each individual page.

Albums
You can also group your media into "albums", which can then be linked to individuals or families as a whole.

Most Wanted
Dynamically manage a list of the people and photos you're most interested in.

Cemeteries & Headstones
Set up a record for each cemetery represented in your data (maps too), then >create headstone records with photos (photo optional for those not yet located) to attach to individuals and the corresponding cemeteries. Then find headstones by browsing the list of cemeteries (organized by locality), or by linking directly from an individual record.

Track lines of descent
Click a single button and traverse all the lines of descent in your database, resulting in the ">" character being placed next to links for children who have children themselves. This proves very helpful when traversing an unfamiliar tree, as it easilly indicates which child to follow to find the next generation.

Custom Event Types
Help TNG handle all those obscure or proprietary GEDCOM tags you're using by setting up "Custom Event Types." You could even make up your own tags and still have them imported and displayed by TNG. No other package can match this flexibility!

Dates & Anniversaries
This new feature allows you to quickly find all individuals associated with any date in history, Or, search for just a month, just a year, or even a particular day (e.g., "Show me everyone born on the 7th of any month").

Places
View a hierarchy of all places listed in your database, and easily drill down through all "lesser" localities. A powerful tool in the Admin section lets you merge similar place names that refer to the same location.

'Living' and 'Private' data protected
Visitors to your site will be unable to see data for living or private individuals unless they log in with appropriate access. You can also indicate whether the names of living or private individuals should be displayed. TNG automatically determines who is alive, based on your preferences, and you may manually override that if an incorrect decision is made.

LDS tags supported, data protectable
Tags or events specific to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are supported by TNG, and this data can be restricted to certain users if desired. LDS fields are not displayed if not used, and administrators wishing to hide all LDS fields on manual input screens may do so.

GEDCOM import
Get your data into TNG in just minutes by having your desktop program write your data to a standard 5.5 or 5.5.1 GEDCOM file. TNG will then import your file and populate the database with all your information, saving you quite a bit of typing.

GEDCOM export
Allow visitors to your site to create their own GEDCOM from a subset of your data. If you'd rather not, it's just as easy to disable this feature. As the administrator, you can also export your entire tree to a GEDCOM if you'd like.

Manual data entry
No GEDCOM? Plan on using TNG as your primary genealogy program? In that case, you may still enter all your data by hand through the user-friendly Admin screens. Even if you did import a GEDCOM, you may find this feature useful for making spot changes without doing another full import.

Backup/Restore/Optimize utility
To guard against disaster or facilitate a move to a new host, TNG also provides the ability to back up and restore each table in the database. You'll be informed of when your last backup was made and how much space it's using. You can also "optimize" each table (remove deleted records, reconstruct indexes), which can sometimes increase speed and efficiency.

"What's New" page
The "What's New" page shows the most recently added and updated components of your site, including photos, histories, headstones, and individual and family records. The best part is that it's always up to date without any maintenance from you. You control how many days back are considered "new" and how many items (max) to display in each category.

Report Generator
Create your own set of custom lists, like "Ancestors with Today's Birthday" or "Relatives Born in England". Make use of all TNG's standard and custom event types in almost any combination, or build your own custom SQL query!

Security and Spam control
Create filters to block unwanted senders or subject material. Google's reCaptcha utility gives prevents spam from bots. Form field names are also generated dynamically each time you view the page, making it impossible for anyone to automate spam through your site. User passwords are enrypted.

Free updates
While there may be a small charge for major upgrades, all minor updates are free. As soon as those improvements happen, you're eligible to get them at no extra charge.

Easily change any text message
All display messages in TNG have been separated into their own dedicated files, which means you won't have to go hunting through the code to find what you want to change. It also means that translation into other languages doesn't have to be a headache.

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More questions? Contact Darrin directly at darrin@lythgoes.net.
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