We are coming up on 8 years since v. 16 was completely reprogrammed to a new database structure. In the beginning, we all felt that v. 2008 was lacking many of the features that we loved in 16. Over the years many improvements and enhancements have been made to succeeding versions and upgrades. As a result, version 2014 is a much more stable, robust, and versatile program than 2008 was. But in spite of the many improvements, there is an bedrock of loyal users of v. 16. One of the reasons often given for sticking with 16 is the reports, but there hasn't been much discussion about why the reports in 16 are better. So I'm asking those who are still using v. 16 to share their opinions. And not just about reports, but if you think there are other ways in which v. 16 is superior. Please give examples, and keep your comments constructive. Judy in Ocala

Just a few thoughts as I try to update a book produced in 2005 and updated through v.16 ... Genealogy report - inline sources are preferable for a general audience. If only endnotes are available, I won't print them. The genealogists can ask for an exception if they want, but the kindest word from the rest is "trash" and they won't flip to the pages. Photos that were added aren't worth much - too small, though supposedly they can be increased in size but only some were resized when I tested that option. When the books/reports are imported from v.16, why can't the report options - at least paper size, margins, font & size, nbr generations - be imported. Early on, I asked that question - answer was that they were using a 3rd party text processor and couldn't get the parameters, but that seemed bogus. The parameters are no doubt being saved in FTM and could be read, translated if necessary, to the new format. Descendant chart (horizontal) - text is only to the right or left of the photo. Option I used in v.16 placed the text above the photo. It took less horizontal space, looked better (OK, that's an opinion), and a large family fit nicely on a tabloid foldout. Even if I do a book now in v.2014, I'll go back and do this chart on v.16! Book - Table of Contents - if the next page starts a section and should start on the right-hand (odd) page, the blank page behind the TOC is not generated and pagination is off in the entire book. (Why wasn't this patched long ago?) Book - Place Holder - cannot set the number of pages, or I'd have used 1 as a temporary 'fix' for the TOC, or at least tried it. (Again, why is this still a problem? I know doing the new stuff is more fun, but get rid of the annoying little problems!) Smart Story used as the blank text item - this should be WYSIWYG but it doesn't work for all output options. I don't have time to retest it today, but I believe the PDF output is one where it appears the margins are adjusted by the system, or maybe applied twice. It takes a lot of back and forth to get a page to "stick" within margins for output - also somewhat a problem in v.16, but seemed to be limited to the PDF writer. Full Adobe instead of the one with FTM worked correctly when the one with v.16 FTM did not. Data entry screen - Lower part of the screen, not the chart ... select parents of one of the couple displayed, but if there are multiple marriages another of the spouses and other children can be displayed. BJ did some testing and I think determined that a 'preferred' spouse was being brought up instead of the couple that should display. I'd like to have an option to hide the Facts I'll never use so I don't have to scroll through the extras. As a global setting, it would be easy to go back and add in one if I change my mind. No doubt there's more. Development should sit down with the reports side-by-side and compare options. In fact, they should learn the old system and do this before they start coding. You're going to tell me it's too late for that, aren't you? <G> Joanne On 2/20/2015 10:47 PM, Judy in Ocala via wrote: > We are coming up on 8 years since v. 16 was completely reprogrammed to a new database structure. In the beginning, we all felt that v. 2008 was lacking many of the features that we loved in 16. > > Over the years many improvements and enhancements have been made to succeeding versions and upgrades. As a result, version 2014 is a much more stable, robust, and versatile program than 2008 was. > > But in spite of the many improvements, there is an bedrock of loyal users of v. 16. One of the reasons often given for sticking with 16 is the reports, but there hasn't been much discussion about why the reports in 16 are better. > > So I'm asking those who are still using v. 16 to share their opinions. And not just about reports, but if you think there are other ways in which v. 16 is superior. > > Please give examples, and keep your comments constructive. > > Judy in Ocala > ********************************** > List information page > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/FTM-TECH.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FTM-TECH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >