Thursday, April 23, 2009

Book Release: Webmasters Guide to TNG 7.0

This is one of several press releases I've received in the past week or so. My apologies: I've been remiss on posting them in a timely manner.

John Pfost is pleased to announce the release of his new book the Webmaster’s Guide to TNG 7.0: From Novices to Experts. This book provides all of the information needed by genealogists to easily build and manage dynamic, database-driven family history Web sites using "The Next Generation in Genealogy Sitebuilding.” TNG - as it’s commonly known - is the world’s preeminent software for creating custom, feature-rich, expandable, secure, and collaborative family history Web sites.

Unlike conventional desktop genealogy programs that build Web sites by converting GEDCOM files to HTML Web pages and then uploading all of the pages to a Web server, TNG allows users to upload a single GEDCOM file to a database hosted on a server. Web pages are then rendered dynamically based on requests by site visitors. Using cutting-edge technologies, the data is easily packaged for fast and efficient display including individual pages, family pages, family trees, media galleries, specialty reports, and more. More importantly, when the data changes – such as when you locate additional family members or extend the knowledge about your families – you do not need to regenerate all of the Web pages from the GEDCOM file and then re-upload them. You or your designated site users can modify the data directly in the database.

TNG comes with a number of pre-built templates that can be applied as-is, or customized in countless ways. You can change the theme, colors, layout, graphics, menus – pretty much anything that you wish – to create a stunning presentation and unique user experience. Even without any modifications, you will not end up with a canned and stilted Web site typical of those produced by desktop genealogy programs. What’s more, you are provided access to all of the source files so that you can further customize and enhance TNG to suit your needs. You do not need to perform any computer programming to work with TNG, but rather can simply tweak some code to achieve any desired result.

Because of the vast capabilities of TNG, many users find it somewhat challenging especially early on. The Webmaster’s Guide provides step-by-step procedures to get you up to speed quickly and efficiently. You can easily have a TNG-based family history Web site up and running in a weekend. What’s more, you’ll learn how to extend TNG’s capabilities to achieve nearly any existing Internet functionality. You can, for example, integrate slideshows, Wikis, forums, blogs, guestbooks, or integrate TNG with common content management systems. And, this is all in addition to controlling and managing your data – your genealogy – in a secure, user-friendly environment.

John has posted a couple of white papers that introduce TNG:

** “Introducing The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding” - provides a brief history of genealogy Web sites, an overview and description of TNG, a listing of its notable features and functions, a discussion of the underlying technologies, and a description of the system and personal requirements to implement a TNG Web site.

** “Getting Started with The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding” - provides a detailed description of the products and services one would need to develop a dynamic TNG-based family history Web site. It describes the key components - TNG, the Webmaster’s Guide, a domain name, and Web services hosting provider - that are required, as well as the many additional resources that are available.

You can download these papers from the TNG-Resources site at http://www.tng-resources.com by subscribing to the TNG-Resources newsletter and then accessing the Additional Resources page.

For additional information about the Webmaster’s Guide to TNG, visit www.tng-resources.com or email info@tng-resources.com. For information about The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding, visit http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php.

No comments: