Here's what's new in GED-GEN Version 1.8.
Version 1.8.1: This minor update addresses corrections and enhancements since Version 1.8:
Description Fields: Provides a work-around for non-standard description fields exported by some genealogy programs, like Family Tree Maker 2011.
Some genealogy programs provide a description field along with date and place fields when you create a fact or event. When you export a GEDCOM file, those description fields may not conform to the GEDCOM standard. They are now displayed properly in GED-GEN output.
Header Macros: You can add certain macros to customize your page headers and footers. The macros are substituted with information about the current file being generated, and can include the file name, page title and revision date.
(See also Corrections)
Multimedia Galleries: Create galleries of the multimedia items referenced within your GEDCOM file.
Portraits: Use primary scrapbook images referenced in your GEDCOM file as individual and family portraits on your family group sheets. Portraits can either replace or supplement your settings for Individual Images and Group Images on the Custom tab.
Source Templates: Added support for the source citation templates exported by RootsMagic 4. You must enable special processing for RootsMagic Templates on the Program tab. Template processing is automatic when you enable source citations on the Features tab. (Note: RootsMagic has since changed how it exports source citations and templates may no longer be available.)
Family Page References: You can now use a custom fact tag to identify families when using Custom Features like Biography Links and Group Images. This means you can define your own fact tag to number your families, and determine how your family web page files are named. You no longer need to rely on REFN or RIN tags, which some genealogy programs do not generate.
And, whether you use a custom fact, a REFN, or a RIN tag, not every family record needs to have a tag. Family records that are not tagged are named using the cross-reference identifier.
Help: The newly restructured help system makes it easier to find what you are looking for. There is a table of contents, an index and a search facility. In addition, you can see a pop-up window that describes each and every option.
Omit Empty Labels: Hide the labels of empty fields on the family group sheet. This hides fields like Died: and Spouses: if those fields have no name, date or place information.
Child's Facts: Display facts for all children on a family group sheet, even when those facts also appear on a child's spousal family group sheet.
UTF-8 Character Set: Support for 8-bit Unicode Transformation Format (UTF-8) was added. This is a way of displaying special characters found in many foreign languages. Some genealogy programs export GEDCOM files only in UTF-8 format. All web pages generated by GED-GEN are now in UTF-8 format.
HTML in Notes: You can now enter HTML mark-up directly into your research notes.
Custom Feature Icons: The icons that appear in the index to indicate an individual has associated custom features have been redesigned. If you generated your web pages using a prior version of GED-GEN, you must first delete the existing icon files in your destination folder. The new icons will then be automatically generated. GED-GEN does not overwrite icon files if they already exist.
Nicknames, Prefixes and Suffixes: Nicknames like John "Jack" Doe can now be more widely displayed. Name prefixes like Major and Doctor and suffixes like III and MD are also handled. This depends on whether your favorite genealogy program exports "name pieces" in the GEDCOM file.
Custom Feature Sub-Folders: The web page and image files you specify for Custom Features like biography links and individual images can now reside in sub-folders. You can maintain a folder hierarchy to more easily manage your Custom Feature files.
Custom Feature Export / Import: Export your custom attribute settings and import them into another GED-GEN options set. Or, export your settings, use a text editor to make global changes, then import them back.
Formatting: Changes in formatting now allow greater control using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Many HTML paragraph <p> and line-break <br> elements formerly used to space between lines were removed in favor of using padding and margin values in CSS. In other areas, paragraph <p> elements were added so they can be re-formatted using CSS.
If you take advantage of custom formatting using CSS, you may need to modify your CSS files in light of these changes. Several new CSS class definitions were also added. You may wish to override these classes with your own styling.
Place Field Alignment: The option to align the place fields for birth, marriage and death facts no longer has an effect if you have chosen a proportional font. This option now works only when a non-proportional font is selected.
HTML Conformance: Web pages now default to HTML 4.01 Strict conformance. This enhancement may impact existing users who added customized HTML statements. Some HTML elements and attributes are "depreciated" under Strict conformance.
HTML Strict conformance is strongly recommended when using a non-proportional font in group sheet and index pages.
Source citations in a separate frame window require HTML Transitional conformance.
(See also Enhancements)
E-Mail Links: Corrected the script format when enabling the Hide e-mail links from harvesters option. The script will now appear as valid HTML.
Advanced Headers: Removed a <BR> element that interfered with PHP scripting for some advanced users. To take advantage of advanced PHP scripting like cookie management, clear the Document Type Definition (DTD) fields and add your own DTD in the Before <HTML> field, after you add your scripting code.
Circular References: Circular references now result in a warning message. A circular reference is an error in your family data, where a spouse is also listed as a child in the same family.
Family Page Title: An incorrect family page title is no longer displayed in cases where the names of both spouses are empty.
Headers | Page Titles | Family Pages | Use names of husband & wife
Month Conversion: Month names are now converted properly for approximate dates, and for facts that appear in the additional information section.
Expanded Record Size: Increased the memory capacity used when reading a GEDCOM record. This supports GEDCOM files that exceed the standard record size by up to a factor of 10.
Continuation Records: Continuation records in a GEDCOM file (concatenation CONC and continuation CONT tags) are now parsed for a wider variety of records. For example a page number record (PAGE tag) can now be longer than 255 characters.
Links to Multiple Parents: A child may appear on more than one family page depending on the child's relationship to a given set of parents. For instance a child may appear on the page for his birth parents, and also on the page for his adoptive parents. Therefore on a child's own spousal family page, there can now be links to more than one father and more than one mother.