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Archiver > TMG > 2003-07 > 1059638645


From: "Michael StGeorge" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Fonts in Pedigrees
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 03:05:45 -0500
References: <NHBBLBBIBEJLNKIDFHLMOEALCBAA.alcurrie@telus.net>


----- Original Message -----
From: "Allan B Currie" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 5:13 PM
Subject: RE: [TMG] Fonts in Pedigrees

> Indented descendancy and compressed pedigree charts are my
favourite means
> of distributing information to family members, none of whom
has a genealogy
> program. These charts can contain all the basic names, events,
dates and
> places that most people want to know. When properly indented,
they are
> easier to read and they occupy less paper than 4- or
5-generation pedigree
> charts or narrated descendancy charts. The ability to email
them in word
> processor formats that my family members can read and print is
a great
> advantage over sending multiple sheets of paper by snail mail.

Al,

I have been corresponding offlist with someone about this
matter. Here is what my correspondent said:

"I think that the key to creating a workaround for the TMG
Indented
Descendant Report Word-wrap/hanging indent problem lies in
MSWord, or
possibly WordPerfect.

"It looks like TMG does not use tabs at all. It uses box/line
drawing
characters and spaces pre-pended to each individual's name, DOB,
address,
etc. These line/box drawing characters (and others) may be found
in the
Courier New expanded font set these days??

"There may be a way to create a large macro to use the advanced
'Find and
Replace -Special' features of Word to slip some TABS in between
the line
draw characters and the text on each line of the IDReport. Then
"hanging
indents" might work to minimize the word-wrap problems.

"Surely, if these changes turn out to be simple, Velke could
slip them into
the RTF output and still have things aligned satisfactorily."

I have spent a lot of time playing with this the last couple
days. As you saw in the attachment I sent you privately, I was
able to edit the indented desc chart so that the text appeared
to wrap to the next line with the vertical lines intact.

It took some doing even on two lines. This is why some sort of
find and replace solution or macro would be necessary.

But I am not sure that wrapping text to the next line is the
best solution. I think there is an aesthetic in both the
indented desc and compressed pedigree charts to having all the
information on one line for each person.

When you print an indented desc chart to your word processor,
how many lines wrap?

Do you have a problem with setting the paper size and
orientation to legal (8.5x14) and landscape? If the lines are
still so long that they wrap, perhaps the only solution beyond
this is to use short places, no modifiers, abbreviated months,
etc. I know you don't want to use abbreviations, but perhaps
sending along a sheet with all the postal codes for states and
nations would help. The TMG Reference Manual has a nice list of
the most common ones in the appendices.

I still agree that TMG would only be improved with at least
having this option of wrapping text with hanging indents, but
until then we may be forced to improvise. I prefer the TMG
indented charts to UFT's even so. I'd really like to see FTM's
indented desc chart. My correspondent sent me a sample but after
a second look I am not sure this is an indented descendant
chart. The lines start with a generation number but there are no
connecting lines and the generations are not indented. Could you
send me an example of FTM output for indented descendent?

-Michael

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