39 replies to this topic

[khaden]

Khaden, it sounds like your issue was resolved before I got back here. Is there anything I missed that still hasn't been addressed?

It is possible that the user and space limits may change in the future, but I am not in the position to make any promises. We are waiting for our costs to stabilize so we have a good idea of the budget for running the service, and we'll make some decisions after we've had more time to see the trends. We picked a minimum space/username allotment based on our estimates, and so far we are well under our estimates, so if it changes, it will only be a positive change (more usernames, more space).

Right now we are offering two accounts with 50mb each. I think it would make sense to make it 100mb total and allow users to spread it across a larger number of accounts if they wish, because a lot of sites are much smaller than 50mb. I'll put this on my list for consideration, but won't promise anything until I have more time to consider the details involved in implementing such a change.

I would really like to see the sources that I have attached to persons themselves - they don't transfer to the webpages at all. Only the sources that are attached to an individual event show up on the webpage....
I've done the html webpages since they were first available and they always transferred.
The problem is that they refer to the General Notes because I was adding material there in Family Originis long before all the events were available.

[MinchinWeb]

With the JavaScript-based websites, are the ID numbers assigned to people stable? I.e. if I make a bookmark to someone on a website, can I update my database and then the website and have the bookmark still work?

[TomH]

As long as the website is generated from the same database, the ID numbers you see used in the URLs should be stable because they are RM's record numbers. Move people to a new database and they will get new RN's.

[FOVeteran]

I just upgraded to RM6 last night--mainly for online publishing. I haven't actually finished the process of putting one online yet, but so far I have these comments/questions:

1) Re limited to 2 accounts

I have my databases broken down into maternal, paternal, husband's paternal, husband's maternal. I understand RM may have space constraints, but really how much extra space does it save to put all my data into 1 or 2 databases? I would still want to upload the same number of people. I could see it would duplicate sources and places. Could you just set a maximum limit (which might require leaving out sources or notes on very large databases) and let those of us with smaller databases put up more than two--with perhaps a higher limit or a total maximum?

If I buy a separate copy for my laptop, can I then get an additional two accounts for two more databases?

2) I can't choose the default pedigree - it should start with a home person of my choosing.

3) I can't figure out how to exclude a certain branch of the family, yet leave all the descendants, ancestors and collateral lines of one branch - specifically, since my mother's paternal and maternal lines are soooo different, I would like to separate them. They never overlap except in her parents' record and then descendants. I want to exclude all of the father's ancestors, their spouses and children other than the one highlighted, and all of the collateral lines other than the for the descendants.

4) I'm disappoined you no longer allow us to put a copy of the software on our laptop as well, as long as we did not use the copy on our desktop and laptop simultenaously--in other words, only one person uses it.

[FOVeteran]

One more thing, I would really like to be able to save a selection critera and reuse it. The only problem would be what to do with new people if you actually chose or deselected by hand.

[Jerry Bryan]

4) I'm disappoined you no longer allow us to put a copy of the software on our laptop as well, as long as we did not use the copy on our desktop and laptop simultenaously--in other words, only one person uses it.

Did I miss something? I didn't think the multiple use rules had changed in the licensing agreement. Actually (and it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if Renee wanted to clarify or otherwise correct me), I think the rule is "one use at a time" rather than "only one person uses it". For example, if a household has one computer used by both spouses, then both spouses can use the same RM license for two RM databases because only one of them can be using the one RM license on the one computer at the same time. Or if there are two computers in the household and only one of two spouses uses RM, then that's also ok because the one spouse who uses RM could only be using one computer at a time. But if a household had "his and her" computers each of which had its own RM database and each of which was being used at the same time, then the household would have to purchase two RM licenses. Renee, I really hope I've got that right. I'm not trying to speak for your company.

Jerry

[Jerry Bryan]

One more thing, I would really like to be able to save a selection critera and reuse it. The only problem would be what to do with new people if you actually chose or deselected by hand.

This wish goes back to FO days, and applies to all kinds of things - who to export in GEDCOM, who to color code, who to include in a Named Group, etc. - not just who to publish to the Web. It's still a very valid wish.

If it ever came to pass, I don't know exactly how it might be implemented. But I would hope that a selection criteria could be fairly comprehensive. For example, it might be something like "all the descendants of person #45386 including their spouses" or "everybody in the database born before 1900" or "all the descendants of person #45386 who were born before 1900". Think in terms of the marking and unmarking dialogs in RM Explorer, for example. Successive marking and unmarking with different criteria, possibly with many different marking and unmarking operations, is a very powerful tool.

With respect to selecting and deselecting by hand, I see no reason why such selections couldn't also be saved as a part of the selection criteria. For example, suppose you selected "everyone born after 1900" and also marked person #32768 and person #20042 by hand and unmarked person #15297 by hand. I would think that a sufficiently robust mechanism for saving selection criteria could save those manual markings and unmarkings, also. In fact, I'm not sure that they are any more "manual" than the other markings and unmarkings. I'm selecting a group of people but where the "group" that I'm selecting only contains one person.

Jerry

[FOVeteran]

Jerry, the license agreement seems to be fairly straightforward. Can install on one computer and that's all it says about that. There is no allowance for putting on a laptop or two devices with only one user at a time or anything like that. If I have missed something, I would like to know as well.

Re the selection process, what I meant was that as you continued to add more people in the database, they might not be included if you were choosing manually. But all other types of selections should be able to pickup new additions.

Thanks for your feedback.

[sjashe]

I have to admit, I've never worried about the licensing because it is so low-priced. Its worth every dollar and more. I've recommended it to a few others as well.


I'm still a little nervous about the online databases.. and will consider that as I go.

[alansogd]

FOVeteran-

1) I expect to increase the number of allotted accounts per licensed copy of RootsMagic in the future based on what I have seen from current account usage. You can get two more websites with a second copy, but if you are willing to wait, you should be able to get more with one account eventually. I won't promise any timeline at this point.

2) You should be able to pick any person in your database as the root person for your website.

3) Not sure on this one, actually, but I'm sure somebody else here knows if this is currently possible. I haven't dealt with how RootsMagic selects what data to export, I have been working exclusively on processing the data on the other end.

4) I just asked support what they tell people who ask about licenses, and was told: "We register the software to the household,
so as long as you own the computers, it's not a problem to put it on any computers that you own." I'm not sure what the wording is in the official license, but this is what RootsMagic staff will tell you.

sjashe-

I'm curious why you are nervous about the online databases. If you have questions about security or how your data is used, I'd be happy to answer them for you.

[alansogd]

khaden-

The website is meant to show general person sources. If it doesn't, then that's a bug that I need to look into. I'll see if I can reproduce it with my own data, and if I can't I may come back to you asking for more examples.

[TomH]

2) You should be able to pick any person in your database as the root person for your website.

More accurately, you need to set a root person in your database who is included in the set of persons selected for output to the website. If the root person is not included, I forget what happens; at one point the root person was outputted even if not selected for the website, which made no sense. I think the behaviour now is that clicking on the sidebar Pedigree link only opens on the root person if no other person's pedigree chart has been previously selected; otherwise, it opens the last one viewed.

[khaden]

khaden-

The website is meant to show general person sources. If it doesn't, then that's a bug that I need to look into. I'll see if I can reproduce it with my own data, and if I can't I may come back to you asking for more examples.

I don't even see a good place for the sources to show up when attached to the person... I have general sources to the many of the people in both files I've uploaded, but if you go here http://my.rootsmagic.com/rkhaden and go to Ray Weymouth Adamson on the Pedigree chart - he has three sources attached to his person in my database as well as the ones attached to his birth, death, & marriage events. The ones attached to the events are all there. The ones attached to his person are not. This holds true for everyone I've checked in my database.

[alansogd]

khaden, I think that the sources are actually present but are being mistakenly hidden. Do something for me: go to Ray Weymouth Adamson and click "print preview". In preview mode you should see a list of all sources for that person listed at the bottom of the page. Do you see all the sources you are expecting there? I see several that look like they are probably the general sources, but I'd like to hear from you that all your sources are present.

If you can see every source in print preview mode, that means RootsMagic is exporting them correctly, but the website is hiding them by mistake. That would be my fault. If you don't see everything you are expecting on the print preview page, then that may be the fault of RootsMagic for not exporting them.

If it's my fault, then that's great, because I know exactly what to fix If it's on RootsMagic's side then I'll have to work it out with the desktop team.

[khaden]

khaden, I think that the sources are actually present but are being mistakenly hidden. Do something for me: go to Ray Weymouth Adamson and click "print preview". In preview mode you should see a list of all sources for that person listed at the bottom of the page. Do you see all the sources you are expecting there? I see several that look like they are probably the general sources, but I'd like to hear from you that all your sources are present.

If you can see every source in print preview mode, that means RootsMagic is exporting them correctly, but the website is hiding them by mistake. That would be my fault. If you don't see everything you are expecting on the print preview page, then that may be the fault of RootsMagic for not exporting them.

If it's my fault, then that's great, because I know exactly what to fix If it's on RootsMagic's side then I'll have to work it out with the desktop team.

OK - the print feature that allows everything including the scrolled notes to print is great! I hadn't even tried to do that. Here's the result. The Endnotes printed with the three general sources first - they weren't numbered but they were in order. Then the sources that were attached to the events printed with numbers in front of them as they appear on the webpage. So, the answer is, yes, they all exported - they just aren't showing up on the webpage. I use Chrome but also tried the same with Internet Explorer. Had some strange issues with the print preview & print with IE but worked perfectly in Chrome - could be my printer.

[FOVeteran]

More accurately, you need to set a root person in your database who is included in the set of persons selected for output to the website. If the root person is not included, I forget what happens; at one point the root person was outputted even if not selected for the website, which made no sense. I think the behaviour now is that clicking on the sidebar Pedigree link only opens on the root person if no other person's pedigree chart has been previously selected; otherwise, it opens the last one viewed.

Great thought! I had excluded my root person. I will change my root person to someone included in the selected group. Thank you so much.

[FOVeteran]

1) I expect to increase the number of allotted accounts per licensed copy of RootsMagic in the future based on what I have seen from current account usage. You can get two more websites with a second copy, but if you are willing to wait, you should be able to get more with one account eventually. I won't promise any timeline at this point.

Good to hear. I do understand you putting limitations when you are offering a free account though.

BTW, it seems to me that most people actually have several database on their one website. I guess your website was only designed to be linked to. That means RM users have to find another option for their main website and link to each database. I have a GoogleSite I can do this with, but if I didn't have that option, then I might be either stuck with trying to figure out what to do, and/or paying for another website. Or if I at some point decide I don't like GoogleSites, then I'm stuck with finding another option. Have you thought about providing at least a simple landing/introduction page and then links to each database a RM user uploads?

2) You should be able to pick any person in your database as the root person for your website.

Yes, I hopefully resolved this issue. My root person was not among those selected for uploading. Duh!

4) I just asked support what they tell people who ask about licenses, and was told: "We register the software to the household,
so as long as you own the computers, it's not a problem to put it on any computers that you own." I'm not sure what the wording is in the official license, but this is what RootsMagic staff will tell you.

You know we get so much to read, I'm afraid I'm guilty of scanning. I missed the "at the same time" phrase at the end of the long sentence. I stand corrected and glad to be.

I'm curious why you are nervous about the online databases. If you have questions about security or how your data is used, I'd be happy to answer them for you.

Not sure what I said that conveyed that. What I am concerned about is sharing information I shouldn't share or that someone might not want me to share. So I'm taking my time getting started with this. I don't want family members who are still living offended by something in my database. If I don't put it there, I will lose it, but some things are sensitive to immediate descendants. I need to identify these particular facts and notes and privatize them. I'm so glad RM makes that easy to do individually and not just globally. RM has always blown the other programs away when it comes to flexibility, as well as other things. I'm rooting for you to continue to improve and make all of our family research software wishes come true.

BTW, when I was considering what other products to bundle with my new RM6, I liked all of them. What I don't like is having to export to them to get them to work. I wish they would work side by side with RM so I didn't have to go through that process. Any chance that can happen? I realize some of these are stand-alone and work with other genealogy software, but I would like to see a way to use them more as an extension or addition to the RM software instead.

[alansogd]

khaden,

There are still issues with printing, particularly in Internet Explorer, which is why the feature is somewhat hidden and nobody knows about it yet . I will make it a more obvious feature when I've worked out some of those issues. In the meantime, it looks like the site does indeed have the sources, but is mistakenly hiding them. I think this happened when I was adding support for the printing, actually. Ah well, should be an easy fix that you should be seeing soon.

FOVeteran,

I've considered multiple db support on one website, but the implementation would be a bit messy on both the site end and the desktop end. I think it is more likely that we will encourage users to upload multiple sites and in the future provide more control over how links can be added to connect them.

My question regarding being nervous about online databases was directed toward sjashe. I really should start using the quote option but haven't bothered figuring it out yet

I'm afraid I don't have any answers regarding upcoming planned features that don't relate to online publishing, but Renee might respond if she has been told anything about what you are asking.

[khaden]

alansogd,

Just wanted to post appreciation to you for basically a great new way to publish our family data. I know you are still working on it, but it's basically very easy to use and presents the material well. I know it will only get better.
Thanks so much for monitoring this discussion board and answering our questions!

[Renee Zamora]

BTW, when I was considering what other products to bundle with my new RM6, I liked all of them. What I don't like is having to export to them to get them to work. I wish they would work side by side with RM so I didn't have to go through that process. Any chance that can happen? I realize some of these are stand-alone and work with other genealogy software, but I would like to see a way to use them more as an extension or addition to the RM software instead.

Confirming enhancement request is in our tracking system.