gramps/help/C/preface.xml

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<preface id="gramps-preface">
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User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Alexander Roitman
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<!-- $Id$ -->
<title>Preface</title>
<para>GRAMPS is a software package designed for genealogical
research. Although similar to other genealogical programs, GRAMPS
offers some unique and powerful features, which we'll discuss
below. </para>
<para>GRAMPS is a Open Source Software package, which means you
are free to make copies and distribute it to anyone you like.
It's developed and maintained by a worldwide team of volunteers
whose goal is to make GRAMPS powerful, yet easy to use.</para>
<sect1 id="why-gramps">
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<title>Why use GRAMPS?</title>
<para>Most genealogy programs allow you to enter information
about your ancestors and descendants. Typically, they can
display family relationships through charts, graphs, or
reports. Some allow you to include pictures or other media. Most
let you include information about people even if those people
are not related to the primary family you happen to be
researching. And they may include features that let you exchange
data with other programs and print different types of
reports. </para>
<para>GRAMPS has all these capabilities and more. Notably, it
allows you to integrate bits and pieces of data as they arise
from your research and to put them in one place -- your
computer. You can then use your computer to manipulate,
correlate, and analyze your data, rather than messing with reams
of paper. </para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="whats-new">
<title>What's new since 1.0.X</title>
<para>If you are new to GRAMPS, it may not be important for you
to know how GRAMPS version 2.0.0 (the object of this manual)
differs from previous versions of the software. You may
therefore elect to skip this section.</para>
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<para>However, if you are already familiar with GRAMPS and are
interested in the new aspects and features of version 2.0.0,
please read on.</para>
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<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>Berkeley database backend</term>
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<listitem>
<para>We've adopted the Berkeley database format (BSDDB) as
the default for GRAMPS. Berkeley is the most widely used
open source developer database in the world.</para>
<para>This change allowed us to overcome issues of
performance and memory requirements that beset version
1.0.X. With the new back-end, database sizes of up to a
hundred thousand people no longer present a major
obstacle.</para>
<para>The default extension for GRAMPS' BSDDB database files
is grdb. The new format is open and fully documented in the
developer's API reference distributed with the source code
of GRAMPS. </para>
<note id="default-format">
<title>Preferred format</title>
<para>The preferred and default format for &app; is the
new BSDDB format.</para>
</note>
<para>A consequence of the new database back-end is that the
&quot;saving&quot; function is no longer necessary (or even
possible). Now, once you approve changes, they are
immediately applied; this means that clicking
<guibutton>OK</guibutton> in the Person, Family, Source,
Place, Media object, or Event editor immediately records
changes to the database. </para>
<para>In previous versions, you could &quot;quit without
saving.&quot; This option no longer exists per se; however,
in version 2.0.0, you can achieve the same effect if you
abandon or &quot;cancel&quot; all changes and then
quit.</para>
<para>Also, it is now possible to undo recent
actions.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>Other database back-ends</term>
<listitem>
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<para>Along with the BSDDB backend, we've incorporated
&quot;in-memory&quot; database handling for the GRAMPS XML
and GEDCOM formats. This means you can now open files in
those two formats and work with their data without having to
first create a new database and import data into it. Since
this approach requires GRAMPS to hold all the data in
memory, it is only useful for small databases (depending on
available memory size).</para>
<warning id="gedcom-editing">
<title>GEDCOM Editing</title>
<para>Please keep in mind that some information in a
GEDCOM file may be lost during import into GRAMPS. Simply
opening and viewing the file will not change it. However,
if any changes were made and they were not abandoned upon
exit, exiting GRAMPS will save the data, with the possible
data loss.</para>
</warning>
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</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Desktop integration</term>
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<listitem>
<para>We've improved the way GRAMPS integrates with the GNOME
desktop interface common to many Linux distributions. All file
formats recognized by GRAMPS are now registered as mime types;
each has its own icon and has GRAMPS as its default
handler. Thus, if you double-click on any file having one of
these formats, GRAMPS will launch and open the file.</para>
<para>We've also added support for GNOME's &quot;recent
documents&quot; function and have incorporated this function
within GRAMPS itself.</para>
</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
<term>Interface improvements</term>
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<listitem>
<para>We've made numerous changes in the interface. Most of
them are subtle and incremental improvements, and all of them
cannot be listed here. The most notable are:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Removal of alphabetical tabs.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Ability to add/remove/rearrange columns in list views.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Removal of the Save function and addition of Undo.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Proper window management.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Support for Tip of the Day.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Person-dependent context menus (right-click) in
Pedigree View, listing parents, children, spouses, and
siblings.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Addition of an Export wizard.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Built-in Find function in list views.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Addition of a Date selector dialog.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Name editor enhancements: patronymic names and
non-default grouping.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>&quot;Recent document&quot; support (both within GRAMPS and
GNOME-wide)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
<term>Import and Export</term>
<listitem>
<para>We've added import and export filters for the GeneWeb format.</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
<term>Reports</term>
<listitem>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>We've added a new report: Statistics Chart. </para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>We've changed the overall report framework. All
reports now remember the options you configure for
them.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>It is possible to generate reports from the command
line, without launching an interactive GRAMPS
session.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The report API is much simpler now, making it easy to
write custom reports.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>A single code instance may be used for a standalone
report, a book item, and a command-line report. </para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
<term>Internationalization</term>
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<listitem>
<para>The approach for entering and displaying dates has
been completely reworked. The new framework allows for a
deeper localization of displayed dates than was ever
possible using the translatable strings.</para>
<para>The internationalization of names has also been
improved. Names can be grouped under a non-default
string. Patronymic names are supported, and it is easy to
program new ways to display names in the manner customary to
a given culture or language.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="typography">
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<title>Typographical conventions</title>
<para>
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In this book, some words are marked with special typography:
<itemizedlist>
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<listitem>
<simpara>
<application>Applications</application>
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
<command>Commands</command> you type at the command line
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
<filename>Filenames</filename>
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
<replaceable>Replaceable text</replaceable>
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
<guilabel>Labels</guilabel> for buttons and other
portions of the graphical interface
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
Menu selections look like this:
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Menu</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Submenu</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Menu Item</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
<guibutton>Buttons</guibutton> you can click
</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>
<userinput>Anything you type in</userinput>
</simpara>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
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The manual also provides assorted bits of additional information in
tips and notes, as follows.
<tip id="example-tip">
<title>Tip</title>
<para>
Tips and bits of extra information will look like
this.
</para>
</tip>
<note id="example-note">
<title>Note</title>
<para>
Notes will look like this.
</para>
</note>
</para>
<para>
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Finally, there are warnings, notifying you where you should be careful:
<warning id="example-warning">
<title>Example Warning</title>
<para>
This is what a warning looks like. If there's a chance
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you'll run into trouble, you will be warned beforehand.
</para>
</warning>
</para>
</sect1>
</preface>