Getting around the site (Frequently Asked Questions)
This is a short overview of how to get around and get the most out of this site. It outlines some of the basic navigation tools needed to make your visit both enjoyable and informative. Please keep in mind that this section is in no way a complete how-to guide. If you find any errors or want to make suggestions, you can do so here.
Click on each Toggle to see what it contains, and click on the toggle again to close it up.
What are the various menus used for?
The main menu bar appears at the top of every page, and you can use this at any time to get to other pages. Some of the menu items have drop-down elements (indicated by down arrows), and some of these have fly-out elements (indicated by right arrows). Feel free to explore all of these parts of the menu bar. Some pages have a ‘sidebar’ on the right which you can use to do various things, such as search for people, search the rest of the site, go to blog entries, and log in or out.
Other pages do not have this sidebar but do have a second, thinner, menu bar at the top. This is the ‘TNG’ menu bar, and has Person Search, Print and Bookmark functions on it.
What happens when I click on an image?
- With some images (typically icons, like the question mark at the top of this page) nothing happens when you click on them.
- With other images (typically thumbnails in tables) clicking on the image takes you to a different website in another tab in your browser. If you close that browser tab you will get back to where you were.
- With images in the TNG system (typically thumbnails of documents among the Person”s information) you will be taken to a gallery of related images (each of which you can then click on to see enlarged).
- With all other images, whether in an automatically scrolling ‘gallery’, in a ‘juicebox gallery’ (which has thumbnails), or not, if you click on one then you will see a larger copy of it in a new tab. You can magnify and move this image around, and it is said to be ‘zoomable’. Clicking near where its says “Close” will close that tab and show you your original page.
How do I find who I am looking for?
There are a number of ways, but the ‘People Search’ function provides the most straight forward method. You can search for People from the top of the sidebar, or from the top left of the TNG menu bar, using a simple ‘Surname’ and ‘First Name’ search. There is also an advanced People Search which can be accessed from a simple People Search, or directly from under the People menu.
Advanced searching allows you to search using other known facts about the person you’re looking for. To search for a family use the button on the advanced People Search, or directly from under the People menu. Either offers a way to search for a woman if you do not know her maiden (unmarried) name.
All methods present you with a list of possible matches from the database. Click on your chosen person to display their personal data page. On any page if a name is underlined then you can usually click on it to go direct to that person’s details on their personal data page.
Please Note: If you cannot find the person you are looking for, see FAQ “Why can’t I see all the information on a certain person?” below.
When presented with a list (e.g. of people) they are presented in a given order (e.g. alphabetical). The columns you can sort on are indicated by the white triangles at the top. Click once to sort in ascending order, and again to sort in descending order.
What are the symbols on an individual’s details?
Where we have a source for a fact this is indicated by a small underlined number in square brackets. You can click on this to see details of the source, which are at the bottom of the screen.
Some facts are presented in summary form, and you can see or hide the full details of the fact by clicking on the white triangle toggle.
How do I find an individual’s ancestors?
Once you locate an individual and have displayed the person’s details on their personal data page, the easiest method is to click on the Ancestors tab.
This will show you a graphical display of both the paternal and maternal ancestors. Once you have the ancestor chart displayed, you can click on the arrows located at the far right ancestor if you need to see additional ancestors.
There are a number of formats for you to choose from (Standard, Vertical, Compact, Box, Text, Ahnentafel, and Media) to display ancestors. Try clicking on the various options and see which one works best for you.
What if I want to see an individual’s descendants?
The tab marked Descendants can be used to display the descendants of an individual. There are four different formats in which descendants can be displayed (Standard, Compact, Text and Register. Again you can try clicking on the various options and see which one works best for you.
If you want to see the line of descent from the current person to an individual, click on the little tree symbol().
Is there a way to tell if two individuals are related?
Yes, the Relationship tab will show a graphic display of all the people between two relatives. To use this function, locate the first individual and then press the Relationship tab. Then use the find button to locate the second person to be displayed. Once you have the two people selected click the calculate button to display their relationship.
This is the sort of display that the relationship checker produces.
What is the Timeline function?
A timeline is displayed for an individual when the Timeline tab is clicked. The time line also shows events in history that occurred during the life of the individual or upto six different individuals. It gives you a perspective into what was going on in the world during the lives of our ancestors. You can see a live example of a timeline by following this link (if you want to get back to this page you will need to use the back arrow).
To see earlier or later dates click on either the upper (short term) or lower (longer term) section and drag to left or right.
There are three categories of event (National, County and Local). By default just Local events (i.e. those local to Holywell-cum-Needingworth) are shown, but by selecting appropriate options (or none) and clicking on “Refresh”, you can view all the selected categories of event.
What are Bookmarks all about?
As you move around you can use the ‘bookmarks’ () item on the right of the TNG menu to remember any person or (most) screens, and you can use the My Bookmarks to get back to your bookmarked people etc. at any time you choose.
Note that your bookmarks only apply to this computer and this browser, and are lost when you delete cookies.
If I see a mistake in the information presented can I correct it?
The Suggest tab allows you to send corrections, updates, comments or other information to me. Information on which individual you are referencing is automatically attached to the message when you make a suggestion using the Suggest tab. I will add any appropriate information to the offline database, and thence to the website when they are next updated.
Is there a way to print the display without all the headers and icons?
Yes, just click on the Print icon () located at the right of the TNG bar. A format that is simplified for printing is presented and you can use the print function of your browser to print the page.
NOTE: On the Individual, Ancestors and Descendants pages you have the option to create a report in ‘pdf’ format for the information you are viewing. To make use of this option you will need to have installed a program like Adobe Reader in order to view the report. If you don’t already have it, you can download the (free) Adobe Reader software by clicking this link.
Why can’t I see all the information on a certain person?
A person’s information may not be available because their details are not publicly available (see our Privacy policy), they may be entered incorrectly in our database, or we may not know about them. If you cannot find the person you are looking for but you have information about a person who should be there, then please let us know.
Thanks to Roger Mitchell, Graham Chamberlain, Jerry Liebowitz, Eddy Belew, Bret Rumsey, and Steve Winslow whose TNG genealogy websites Help pages inspired this page.
Hello,
I’ve been doing some family research and have found so much info from this site.
My husbands, grandmothers, great, great grandad; Saunders Spencer the pioneer pig breeder.
Excellent things to pass on to her! Thank you! X
Thanks for your message. I am glad when people find it useful.
If you want to sign up to receive any updates to the website click on Subscribe (top right). Unfortunately such updates are rare at the moment as I am doing other things but you would also hear every two months about our local history group meeting here.
Peter