TNG 13 Notes

I use TNG as a web display program only. User login is required for those allowed to view details of the living, and are restricted to a branch. Changes or editing, etc. are not allowed. (Also see TNG Setup and Modifications when a "gts" modification code is give.)

TNG 13 Small Problems

• TNG 13.03 Ancestry and Descendants charts block a lot of space at the top just below the help line. At first it appears to be caused by the zoom buttons (+,1;1,-), but if you scroll down using the browser scroll, those buttons float on the page. But if you pan the diagram up, you will see that the topmost box is cut off long before you reach the top of the display area. The same happens for the Vertical, Compact, and Box charts.
• Similarly, the Ancestry and Descendant displays do not fill the white space when zoomed out. The chart shrinks within the existing whitespace.

TNG 13 Needs

• Suggestion: tngrobots.php should deliver a short "Thanks for indexing page" for any page set for noindex/nofollow when the User Agent contains any of a configurable list of keys (e.g. BingBot, MegaIndex,...). This greatly reduces work for servincing indexing Bots (PHP interpretation and SQL searches) without reducing the indexing service. This site has been using this method for a year. (gts032)
• Needs better use of space in the Individual display.
  • Multiple value events need to stay on one line if the text will fit, rather than use multiple lines. (gts044)
  • Relationship need not be displayed unless other than Natural. (gts043)
• Needs some changes for thumbnails:
  • Option to make default icons always display but block the master image. This really spices up the ancestral/descendant displays using the default image without exposing the full image. (gts032)
  • Automatically generate a new thumbnail when absent or the icon is older than master image.
• Needs to report most die() calls as 404 Not Found and log. These are always caused by artificial, external requests not by TNG itself. (gts025).
  
• Several die() calls caused by too many search options, TNG should report back to the search page with the msg parameter to help the user (gts025a).
• Needs to change thispagedoesnotexist.html redirection to a direct 404 Not Found or a direct 410 Gone response. This would reduce the GET requests and allow Bots to remove the bad link from their indexes and reduce further server workload. The administrator can use .htaccess to customize the error page. Such requests are always due to old search engine entries or bogus requests not by TNG itself. (gts026)
• Needs a general setup feature to disable any menu item despite content. (gts024)
  • Perhaps each with logged-in user and/or admin login exception.
  • Similarly, the Trim Menus option should trim any menu with no content, such as Albums.
  • Lines Statistics should be similarly blocked and trimmed.
    
• Problem: Places and Cemeteries are too strict when parsing place names. Trailing characters or comments are treated as part of the last name given such as the state or country. For example, comments in parentheses, e.g. "Austin, Texas (Westside Cemetery)". Needs a comment-like character such as ()m to stop name parcing.
• The media displays should show nothing for "Living" thumbnails or images, rather than the ugly default thumbnail.
• Needs to verify all caller supplied data including parameters, but also such as HTTP_REFERER, HTTP_USER_AGENT, HTTP_HOST, etc
  •  preg_match() is a very powerful tool for such uses.
  • Needs to reject with a direct 400 Bad Request, not just trim as in processvars.php and then give as "does not exist". This allows Bots to clear their indexes and reduce server workload. This also blocks most hacker attacks.
• Needs to suppress display of details about a living person in sources/notes on a deceased person's page (if that citation is linked to a living person as well as a deceased).
  • TNG currently links identical citations from a GEDCOM to multiple persons, and in some cases does block images, etc. with a living link. But not for citations?
• TNG converts http/https to links in Notes but not in Sources. It should do so for all displayed text.
• Needs a bulk photo import with details added later. TNG could scan a directory for unknown files and use I000n and F000n in the file name to assign to a particular individual or group. Or more elaborately scan for file name parts that match existing names, e.g. Faces-SmithJohn-1961-OregonCA.jpg.
  • Darrin said 11/2008: "TNG 7 already includes a bulk photo importer. I would like to be able to set up links based on the file names, but naming conventions just aren't reliable enough."
• TNG cannot handle long path names apparently due the fixed data field sizes.