This tab defines options used by GED-GEN. You should change them only if necessary.
Click to reset all options on the Program tab to their original, default values. If you do this, you will lose any changes you have made to these options.
Use this tab to change the way dates are formatted on your family pages.
These options are used when processing your GEDCOM file.
| Options | Description | ||||||||
| Unknown Dates | GED-GEN may encounter these constants in a GEDCOM file. Do not change them unless your genealogy software uses different terms when exporting to a GEDCOM file. | ||||||||
| Process nonstandard tags (e.g., _MEDI) | Some genealogy programs may generate nonstandard GEDCOM tags. This can occur when a field contains a nonstandard value. For example if a source media type is not one of the pre-defined values, a _MEDI tag might be generated rather than a MEDI tag.
Place a check mark here and GED-GEN will attempt to interpret such tags by removing the leading underscore character and then processing it normally. It will also attempt to map some common nonstandard tags to standard tags. For example a _URL tag is mapped to a WWW tag. This may result in more information displayed on your web pages. |
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| Use abbreviation (ABBR) field if title (TITL) field is empty | Some genealogy programs use the abbreviation field (ABBR tag) rather than the title field (TITL tag) to denote the title of a source citation. If this option is enabled, GED-GEN will use the abbreviation field whenever the title field is missing or empty. | ||||||||
| Nonstandard tag for medical notes |
This option is used in conjunction with the "Include medical notes" option on the Facts tab. Some genealogy programs use a nonstandard tag to indicate medical information about individuals. If you want to display medical information but your genealogy program uses a nonstandard GEDCOM tag, you should specify that tag here and enable the "Include medical notes" option on the Facts tab. To determine the tag to enter here, you must view your GEDCOM file with a text editor like Windows Notepad. Use the editor's search or find command to look for a word or phrase that you know to be part of some individual's medical information field. Then note the associated tag. For example in a GEDCOM file created by Family Tree Maker, the line might appear as: 1 _MDCL This is sample medical
information.
In this case the tag to enter in the "Nonstandard tag for medical notes" option is _MDCL. Be sure to include the leading underscore ("_") character. Generally, all nonstandard GEDCOM tags begin with an underscore character. However if your GEDCOM file contains something like the following, then medical information will be displayed like any other fact. You do not need to specify a tag, nor enable the "Include medical notes" option on the Facts tab.
1 EVEN
2 TYPE Medical 2 NOTE This is sample medical information. Hint: In your genealogy program when you export your GEDCOM file, select the destination file type as either "GEDCOM 5.5," "TempleReady," or "AncestralFile." This will help GED-GEN recognize medical information. |
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| Family Page References |
Select the reference numbering scheme GED-GEN should use to create unique family web page files. See the explanation below before changing this option.
Note
If you change this option, your family web page files will be named differently than in the past. If you have HTML links to your family pages on other personal web pages, you must update those links to use the new file names. Since files with different names will be created, you may wish to delete certain existing files in your destination folder before you re-generate new web pages. If you change the naming convention, GED-GEN automatically converts any family-level custom features you have defined to use the new numbers. These reference numbers associate narrative links, imported text, and group images with particular families. (See the Custom tab.) See the explanation below before changing this option. |
(This section further clarifies the Family Page References option on the GEDCOM tab above.)
GED-GEN uses information from a GEDCOM file to generate a series of files that are your family group sheet web pages. It names these files using the cross-reference identifier of the family records in the GEDCOM file. This ensures that each family web page has a unique file name.
Genealogy software programs usually associate the same cross-reference identifier with a particular family, even when you re-export a GEDCOM file. However not all programs guarantee they will refer to a family by the same cross-reference identifier. For example the John and Jane Doe family may have a cross-reference number of F024. The next time you export a GEDCOM file that same family could be numbered F005. Although the number is unique within each GEDCOM file, that family is known by different numbers between the two GEDCOM files.
This presents a problem if you maintain a link to a particular family web page from another of your web pages. It also affects GED-GEN family-level custom features, like group images, if you use the "Stored Configuration" method. For example if the cross-reference identifier changes when you re-export a GEDCOM file, GED-GEN will not correctly associate the picture of John and Jane Doe with the John and Jane Doe family page. When you define a group image for John and Jane Doe (e.g., family F024) using one GEDCOM file and then use an updated GEDCOM file to generate your web pages, the cross-reference identifiers may be different (e.g., that family could now be family F005).
Although cross-reference identifiers usually remain constant, there are times when they might change. This depends on your genealogy program.
GED-GEN offers two alternatives to avoid this limitation. Each depends on what information your genealogy program includes when you export a GEDCOM file. To determine this using GED-GEN:
GED-GEN will analyze your GEDCOM file and display information about it. You will see whether "User Reference Numbers" and "Record ID Numbers" are detected, and also whether they are unique among all family records.
If the family records in your GEDCOM file include a "User Reference Number" (REFN) tag, GED-GEN can use it in place of the cross-reference identifier to name files. This assumes numbers are unique among all family records. Your genealogy program may automatically number families, and it may allow you to number them manually. However if more than one family record has the same User Reference Number, GED-GEN will assign the same file name to two different families, and one family will seem to "disappear" because its web page will be overwritten by another family's web page.
The second option is to use the Automated Record Identification Number (RIN) tag. If family records in your GEDCOM file include it, GED-GEN can use it to name files. This is similar to a REFN tag, but is usually automatically assigned by your genealogy program.
Both the REFN tag and the RIN tag are optional in a GEDCOM file. This means your genealogy program is not required to include them in the GEDCOM file it produces. Even if it does, some programs may not always keep a particular family's REFN or RIN tag constant. So if you select one of these options, it may require a bit of experimentation to determine a suitable solution.
This example explains alternate family reference numbers when you use Family Tree Maker, Version 9.0. For information about the genealogy software program you use, please consult the documentation available with it.
When might cross-reference identifiers change?
Family cross-reference identifiers will change if you change which individuals are exported to a GEDCOM file. For example if you export all individuals to create a GEDCOM file, the families will have consecutive cross-reference identifiers. At another time, if you export a subset of all individuals, the families in the new GEDCOM file will have a different set of consecutive identifiers.
Identifiers may also change if you compact your family data file and then re-export a GEDCOM file.
How do I enable User Reference Numbers?
You can enable user reference numbers by selecting the "File | Preferences | Reference Numbers..." command in Family Tree Maker. Then select the option to use automatic reference numbers for marriages. This will assign a reference number to each family and cause User Reference Number (REFN) tags to be exported in a GEDCOM file. Unless you enable automatic reference numbers, the REFN tags are not exported.
However in the author's experience, the numbers that Family Tree Maker automatically generates may still change for any particular family. That is, some families seem to get reassigned a different automatically generated reference number. A solution seems to be to override the automatically generated numbers with your own reference numbers. Family Tree Maker will not change a number that you override. Unfortunately you must devise your own numbering scheme and apply a unique number to each desired family.
Can I use Record ID Numbers?
There is no apparent way to cause Family Tree Maker to use Record ID Number (RIN) tags.
If you will make extensive use of family-level custom features like narrative links, imported text and group images, you should select the best file numbering option before you define those "Stored Configuration" custom features for the families in your GEDCOM file. Otherwise you will have to redefine custom features for all those families each time the family record numbers change.
If you change to a different family page reference scheme, GED-GEN will automatically convert your current family-level custom feature settings to use the alternate reference numbers. For example if you are now using cross-reference identifiers (the default) and then change to user reference numbers (REFN tags), GED-GEN will map cross-reference identifiers to the corresponding user reference numbers. It does this for the families for which you already have custom features defined.
This tab contains labels used for conformance with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) standard. In general, you do not need to modify them unless you are generating non-English web pages.
| Group | Description | ||||||||||||
| Nonframes-based Browsers |
These options apply if you choose to display source citations in a frame window at the bottom of the browser. If an Internet browser does not support frames, there must be a way to view the group sheet page and the footnotes page without using frames. This is done by displaying a message followed by the separate links to each page.
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| Accessibility |
The HTML standard requires text phrases for all HTML image and table elements. In GED-GEN, images are displayed when you choose to display family group images or individual images on the Custom tab or divider images on the Attributes tab. Since images may not display in all browsers, an alternate text phrase helps your visitor determine when an image is available. The phrase is also displayed in some browsers when the mouse pointer is held over the image. HTML tables are used only for positioning text on a web page. Tables still require a summary phrase that explains their content.
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| Document Type Definitions (DTD) |
Advanced Users
GED-GEN indicates its conformance to the HTML standard by placing a Document Type Definition statement (<!DOCTYPE>) at the beginning of each file generated. Do not modify these fields unless you understand their meaning. |