User Items Section

Overview

User Items represent the optional content in your site, including charts, custom pages, links, and more. User Items also determine the contents of the site's navigation menus: each User Item can be an entry in one or more of the site's menus.

These items are called User Items because there are lots of different types of items, and one thing they have in common is that it's up to you, the user, to add them to your site. The other site content is created from your TMG database.

A new SDF file includes pre-defined User Items. Three essential items are the following links:

Main Page
Surname Index
Master Index

They are all Link User Items, and they each add an entry to the site's MenuBar.

New SDF files also include other items. Items that are unchecked will not be included in the site; they require some attention on your part to be useful. For example, a new SDF file includes two predefined charts. They are placeholders intended to indicate by example how to add charts to the site. The titles and subject IDs, essential to creating useful charts, should be adjusted by the user.

You can leave the User Items as is, and build a site, and the site will work properly.

If you want to add other content to your site, such as more charts, or custom pages, then you add more User Items to the list. For each User Item, you choose a User Item type, and set the additional properties that vary by User Item type.

So, for example, when you add a Person Link User Item, you set a title (all user items have titles), but you also choose a TMG ID# (the target of the link) and set other properties.

Some User Items are more complex than others. Link User Items are simple; the main properties of a Link User Item are a title and URL. Other User Items, like all the chart types, have a dozen or more properties.

All User Items can appear in one of the site's menus, and so all User Items have a "Menu" property that you can set to "Top", "MenuBar", "SideBar", or "Bottom" and combinations of those choices.

User Item Types

Item Type	Description
Link	Links are used to add links to the menu. You can link to pages on your site or to any web resource. Second Site includes some special Add commands to add links to on-site pages such as the Main Page and Surname Index page. For those pages, the URL is set by the program and cannot be changed. For more details, see Links.
Person Link	A Person Link is a special link where you designate the TMG ID of a person on the site, and Second Site constructs a link to the person page entry for that person. For more details, see Person Links.
Chart	Second Site offers seven different chart types: Descendant Chart Pedigree Chart (Compressed) Pedigree Chart (Paged) Pedigree Chart (Wide) Relationship Chart Timeline Chart VCF Chart You can add as many charts as you like, using whatever chart types you require. For more details, see the links above or the Charts page.
Custom Page	Custom Pages allow users to add pages with custom content. Custom pages follow the overall look of the site and include the header, footer, navigation menus, and other elements of site pages. You can add as many custom pages as you require. For more details, see Custom Pages.
Custom Index	Custom Indexes are pages that contain a list of people who meet criteria you supply. Each name that appears in the list is a link to the person page entry for the given person. You can add as many custom indexes as you require. For more details, see Custom Indexes.
Exhibit Gallery	Exhibit Galleries are pages that contain a list of image exhibits. The list includes a thumbnail version of the image and the image caption. The exhibits can be filtered to create logical sets of images. For more details, see Exhibit Galleries.
Place Index	The Place Index is an index that lists people by the locations of their events. Unlike other User Items, you should only create one Place Index User Item: all Place Index items other than the first will not work properly. For more details, see Place Index.
SubPage	SubPage User Items provide a mechanism to group other User Items and create a multi-level navigation scheme. For more details, see Grouping User Items. The SubPage page includes more details and examples.
SubPage Heading	Heading User Items provide a mechanism to add headings on SubPages. Subpages include the full page header, menus, etc., but if you want to split the SubPage contents into sections, you may add a Heading User Item to define the section title. For more details, see Heading User Item.
SubPage Picture	Picture User Items provide a mechanism to add a graphic to a SubPage. For more details, see Picture User Item.
SubPage Icon Description	Icon Description User Items may be used to create icon legends where you describe the meaning of the icons you use on your site. Include one Icon Description User Item for each icon you wish to describe, and group the Icon Descriptions under a SubPage. Second Site will assemble the contiguous Icon Description User Items into a table where the icons appear in column 1 and the descriptions in column 2. For more details, see Icon Description User Item.
SubPage List Type	List Type User Items provide an optional mechanism to alter the default apperance or structure of a list on a SubPage. For more details, see List Type User Item.
SubPage Text	Text User Items provide a mechanism to add text and HTML to SubPages. Subpages usually include a list of other User Items such as links to charts or custom pages, but if you want to add other content you can use a Text User Item. For more details, see Text User Item.
Chart List	A Chart List User Item is a convenient way to make a page of links to all the chart User Items. If you define all your charts on a SubPage, you do not need a Chart List User Item. If you add Chart User Items in multiple Subpages or in some other discontiguous User Items, then you may want to add a complete list somewhere. If so, you can use this User Item.

Item Type

Description

Link

Links are used to add links to the menu. You can link to pages on your site or to any web resource. Second Site includes some special Add commands to add links to on-site pages such as the Main Page and Surname Index page. For those pages, the URL is set by the program and cannot be changed. For more details, see Links.

Person Link

A Person Link is a special link where you designate the TMG ID of a person on the site, and Second Site constructs a link to the person page entry for that person. For more details, see Person Links.

Chart

Second Site offers seven different chart types:

You can add as many charts as you like, using whatever chart types you require. For more details, see the links above or the Charts page.

Custom Page

Custom Pages allow users to add pages with custom content. Custom pages follow the overall look of the site and include the header, footer, navigation menus, and other elements of site pages. You can add as many custom pages as you require. For more details, see Custom Pages.

Custom Index

Custom Indexes are pages that contain a list of people who meet criteria you supply. Each name that appears in the list is a link to the person page entry for the given person. You can add as many custom indexes as you require. For more details, see Custom Indexes.

Exhibit Gallery

Exhibit Galleries are pages that contain a list of image exhibits. The list includes a thumbnail version of the image and the image caption. The exhibits can be filtered to create logical sets of images. For more details, see Exhibit Galleries.

Place Index

The Place Index is an index that lists people by the locations of their events. Unlike other User Items, you should only create one Place Index User Item: all Place Index items other than the first will not work properly. For more details, see Place Index.

SubPage

SubPage User Items provide a mechanism to group other User Items and create a multi-level navigation scheme. For more details, see Grouping User Items. The SubPage page includes more details and examples.

SubPage Heading

Heading User Items provide a mechanism to add headings on SubPages. Subpages include the full page header, menus, etc., but if you want to split the SubPage contents into sections, you may add a Heading User Item to define the section title. For more details, see Heading User Item.

SubPage Picture

Picture User Items provide a mechanism to add a graphic to a SubPage. For more details, see Picture User Item.

SubPage Icon Description

Icon Description User Items may be used to create icon legends where you describe the meaning of the icons you use on your site. Include one Icon Description User Item for each icon you wish to describe, and group the Icon Descriptions under a SubPage. Second Site will assemble the contiguous Icon Description User Items into a table where the icons appear in column 1 and the descriptions in column 2. For more details, see Icon Description User Item.

SubPage List Type

List Type User Items provide an optional mechanism to alter the default apperance or structure of a list on a SubPage. For more details, see List Type User Item.

SubPage Text

Text User Items provide a mechanism to add text and HTML to SubPages. Subpages usually include a list of other User Items such as links to charts or custom pages, but if you want to add other content you can use a Text User Item. For more details, see Text User Item.

Chart List

A Chart List User Item is a convenient way to make a page of links to all the chart User Items. If you define all your charts on a SubPage, you do not need a Chart List User Item. If you add Chart User Items in multiple Subpages or in some other discontiguous User Items, then you may want to add a complete list somewhere. If so, you can use this User Item.

Adding User Items

You can add User Items three different ways.

You can select one of the entries from the Add Menu
You can use the [Add...] button in the User Items section
You can use the [Duplicate] button in the User Items section to make a clone of an existing User Item

Editing User Items

Use the [Edit...] button to modify the definition of an existing User Item. The [Edit...] button opens an Edit Window.

Use the [Delete...] button to delete the selected User Item.

Editing the User Item List

Use the [Up] and [Down] buttons to move the highlighted entry, changing the sequence of the entries. The sequence of the entries determines the sequence of the links in the site's menus, and on the SubPage pages.

The [Left] and [Right] buttons are explained below under Grouping User Items.

You can also use drag-and-drop to rearrange User Items.

Grouping User Items

User Items can be grouped together using SubPage User Items. Grouped items are displayed on a dedicated page which emphasizes the relationship between the items in the group and reduces potential clutter in the main menu.

Use the [Left] and [Right] buttons to move User Items in and out of SubPages. You can only use the [Right] button when a User Item is directly below a SubPage item or directly below the last User Item in a SubPage. When an item is directly below a SubPage User Item, and you move it right, it becomes a member of the SubPage.

You can only use the [Left] button when a User Item is the last User Item in a SubPage. Moving an item left removes it from a SubPage.

User Item Edit Window

User Items are modified via an Edit window. The contents of the Edit window vary according to the User Item type, but all User Items share some common properties as shown below. For information about type-specific properties, see the links to the type-specific help pages in the User Item Types table.

Common Properties

Title

The Title determines the text for links created from User Items, and the Title of any associated web page.

URL or Filename

For User Items with a URL property, the URL determines the HRef of the associated HTML link. For User Items with a Filename property, the Filename determines the filename of the page Second Site creates to hold the content, and the Filename is also used as the HRef for any links that lead to that page.

For Filenames, the user does not enter the filetype; Second Site determines the filetype based on other program settings. The usual filetype is "htm", but advanced users may modify the filetype by overriding 2nsite.ini settings.

The Menu property determines which menus will include a link to the User Item and can be set to:

Top
Top, Bottom
MenuBar
MenuBar, Bottom
SideBar
SideBar, Bottom
Bottom
None

The menus are described below. For choices separated by commas, the link will appear in both menus.

The "Top" menu is a list of links that appears above the page header.
The "MenuBar" is the main navigation area and appears immediately below the header.
The "SideBar" is intended as an alternative navigation list; the location varies according to the page Layout.
The "Bottom" menu appears just above the page footer.

Some User Items do not support all the Menu choices. Link items, for example, can not be set to "None". The "None" choice doesn't make sense for a Link item; the User Item would produce no output.

When a User Item is contained by a SubPage, the Menu setting is ignored.

Button Image

The Button Image property determines the image associated with a User Item. The Button Image property is set to an image code which Second Site uses to determine an actual image.

The image is selected from a pull-down menu that includes all the standard names for Second Site images (including some that are not appropriate for menu buttons) as well as the file names of any GIF, JPG, or PNG files in the Input (-i) folder.

The list includes the standard codes even if the Theme does not include those images. This behavior simplifies the process of changing Themes; the code remains in place, and if the new Theme includes an appropriate image, the image will be recognized.

Note that the Styles.Button Images property also affects whether or not button images are used in menus.

Enabled

The Enabled property controls whether or not Second Site generates the content associated with the User Item. When the checkbox is checked, the item will be processed.

You may change the Enabled property via the Edit window for the User Item or via the checkboxes in the User Items list.

If an enabled User Item is contained by a disabled User Item, Second Site will still process the enabled item, but there may not be a link available to reach it. You can use this technique when you want to create pages that are not linked via menus or subpages.

Description

The Description property controls the description of the chart, page, link, etc.

For User Items associated with a page of content, the Description will appear prior to the page contents on the generated page.

For User Items that appear on a SubPage, the Description will appear next to the link to the item on the SubPage.

Head Tags

The Head Tags property supports page-specific content that is included in the output page's HTML <HEAD> element. It has a similar purpose as the Extra Head Static Content property.

To supply page-specific styles, you can use the Head Tags, but you must include the HTML <STYLE> element:

<style type="text/css">
p { font-family: "times new roman"; }
</style>

The Head Tags content will be written to the page after the Extra Head Static Content value. This was done deliberately because for most <HEAD> element content, such as CSS style rules, the last-supplied content takes precendence in the case of a conflict.

Main Content

The Main Content property is a way to supply additional content for the main content area of the page in addition to the primary content that is implied by the User Item type.

For example, for a Chart User Item, the main content of the page is the chart. Using the Main Content property, you can add additional text before the chart.

Extra SideBar

The Extra SideBar property is a way to supply additional content for the SideBar area of the page. This content will appear after any menu content that is directed to the SideBar, and before any content supplied via the Extra SideBar Static Content property.

Extra Content

The Extra Content property is a way to supply additional content for the Extra Content area of the page. This content will appear before any content supplied via the Extra Section Static Content property.

Clear

The Clear property provides a way to control the flow of content that follows a floated item. The option is named for the CSS parameter that controls that behavior. Clear is an option on a subset of the User Items that are used on SubPages: the Heading, Picture, and Text User Items.

Editing Page Content Properties

In most User Item Edit windows, the Description, Head Tags, Main Content, Extra SideBar, and Extra Content properties are edited via a list. Click on the item in the list, and the current contents will be displayed in the multiline textbox to the right of the list. you can edit the text directly in that textbox, or click on the textbox and then press [F7] to activate the Edit Window.

If you want to include a backslash character as data in the Description, Head Tags, Main Content, Extra SideBar, or Extra Content properties, you must enter two backslashes; backslash characters must be doubled to be consistent with backslashes in content that comes from the TMG data. Use "\\" to produce "\" in the output.

Performance

If you have many User Items, more than a hundred or so, some operations in Second Site 2 will be somewhat slow. For best performance, collapse SubPages that contain many items.