Glossary

ANSI

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a standard originally defined by ANSI which assigns the binary values used by computers to letters, numbers and symbols recognizable by humans. ASCII is described in many places on the web, such as ComputerHope.com.

aspect ratio

Typically refers to the ratio of width to height of a picture or digital image. When resizing a digital image, it usually best to maintain the same aspect ratio to avoid a stretched appearance.

autorun

The operating system facility and associated files that automatically open an application or document when removable media, such as a flash drive, DVD, or CD, is inserted into a drive. Autorun is considered a security risk and it is disabled in all versions of Microsoft Windows beginning with Windows Vista.

cascading stylesheet (CSS)

A cascading stylesheet defines styles that control the format of HTML elements. An in-depth discussion of styles and stylesheets is beyond the scope of this glossary. Some Second Site-specific topics are discussed on the Stylesheets page. There are many reference guides for CSS on the web, including one at w3schools that you may find useful. The official standards are published and maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium. See the CSS2 specification for more information.

case sensitivity

In computer parlance, case sensitivity refers to how text is processed with regards to uppercase and lowercase characters. "Case sensitive" operations consider an uppercase character to be different from a lowercase character. "Case insensitive" operations consider an uppercase character to be the same as a lowercase character.

Case sensitivity affects text comparisons. If an operation is case sensitive, then "Example" is not the same as "example".

Text comparisons are performed when sorting text, so a case sensitive sort will not sort "Example" and "example" together. Using a simple character sort, uppercase letters sort before all lowercase letters, so "Example" will sort before "apple".

Most text comparison operations in Second Site are case insensitive: uppercase and lowercase characters are treated as being equal.

CD (compact disc) or CD-ROM (compact disc, read-only memory)

In general computer parlance, CD refers to a compact disk, a 4.75" diameter optical disc digital storage medium.

CD (citation detail)

In TMG, CD often refers to the citation detail, citation-specific information such as page numbers, dates of correspondence, etc.

citation reference

A superscript number following an event, a name, a relationship, or other genealogical data that references an associated item in the following citation list.

coaster

A coaster is a DVD or CD that cannot be read. When a disc cannot be read, it is better at preventing wet cups and glasses from staining the furniture than it is at storing data!

Content Item

Content Items are a subset of User Items. Content Items add content to Custom Pages and must be added to a Custom Page or they will not be visible. Examples of Content Items include Calendars and Maps. Some Chart User Items can be configured as Content Items or Page Items. The full list of Content Items is on the User Item help page. See Page Item.

conditional variable reference

A conditional variable reference is a variable reference enclosed in "<" and ">", for example, "<[PO]>". If the variable is empty, i.e., has no value or is excluded, the variable and the associated preposition and/or suffix are omitted from the sentence.

custom index

A list of links to people in your database who meet criteria you specify. You may add one or more custom indexes to your site using the Custom Index User Item.

custom sentence

A custom sentence is a sentence that has been keyed into the sentence field for a specific name or event. Custom sentences are also known as local sentences. See default sentence.

default preposition

A conditional variable reference may include a preposition (also known as a prefix) that prints before the value of the variable but only if the variable is not empty. Some variables, such as the date and place variables, have a default preposition that is displayed when the conditional variable reference does not include a user-supplied preposition.

default sentence

The default sentence for a name or event is the sentence defined for the tag type. So, the default sentence for a particular Marriage event is the sentence defined for the Marriage tag. Default sentences are also known as global sentences. See custom sentence.

deprecated

A deprecated feature is one that is being phased out. In these Help pages, deprecated usually refers to HTML elements and parameters that have been superceded by CSS parameters.

DIV

A DIV element is an HTML element that is used to create a generic block of content. Second Site uses DIV elements for a variety of content. For more information, see the HTML 4 specification.

double-excluded

Double-excluded data is stored in fields that begin with the double-exclusion marker "--". Doubly-excluded data cannot be included in Second Site output. Contrast with single-excluded.

DVD

DVD stands for Digital Video Disc, an optical disc storage media format that is similar to a CD. When used with Second Site, a DVD is a high-capacity replacement for a CD-ROM disc. Second Site does not create video DVDs that you can view using a DVD player; Second Site creates data files that you may burn to a blank DVD disc.

Exif

Exchangeable image file format is a standard for the formats of images, sound, and metadata used by digital cameras and other similar devices. Second Site loads some Exif metadata, if it is available, but it gives preference to IPTC metadata. See the Wikipedia article on Exif for more information.

flag filter

Second Site will exclude people from the web site if they do not pass a filter that is based on the values of a TMG Flag field. See the People Section. Flag filters can also be used with custom indexes.

flash drive

A flash drive is a removable data storage device that uses non-volatile memory to store data. The most common examples are USB devices. They are also called thumb drives, data sticks, and many other names.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol is a set of technical rules for exchanging files on the Internet. See the Wikipedia article on FTP for more information.

geocode

When used as a verb, to geocode typically means to assign a latitude and longitude to a location based on its address. In some cases, a mapping services will derive a set of coordinates, such as the outline of a city, state, or country, based on the input text.

Geocoding is an imprecise process that is dramatically affected by the components of the address and the database and software used by the geocoding application.

H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6

H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 are HTML elements that are used to create section headings. Second Site uses Hn elements for page and section titles. For more information, see the HTML 4 specification.

HRef

HyperText Reference, which specifies the location of a web resource and is used as the destination of a hypertext link. Often called a "web address" or "URL". See the W3C's Links page.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language, the language used to create most web pages. The HTML standard is administered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol is a set of technical rules for exchanging files on the World Wide Web. See the Wikipedia article on HTTP for more information.

image code

In Second Site, an image code is the filename portion of an image file, i.e., the image code does not include the filetype. Second Site populates various pull-down menus with a pre-defined set of image codes that represent image files that are defined in one or more Themes. Users can add to the set of available image codes by adding graphic files to the Input (-i) Folder. The filetype is omitted because Themes may provide image files in different formats, so Theme1 may use "background.jpg" but Theme2 may use "background.gif". The user chooses the image code "background", and Second Site searches for background.gif, background.jpg, and background.png, in that order, and uses the first file it finds.

input folder

Second Site creates the Input (-i) folder automatically when you make a new SDF file. Second Site appends "-i" to the SDF file name and uses that as the Input folder name. Graphic files you supply, and any other files that should be copied to the Output (-o) folder should be placed in the Input (-i) folder.

IPTC

The IPTC is a consortium of the world's major news agencies. The IPTC's primary focus is on developing and publishing industry standards for the interchange of news data. Many image editing programs support the IPTC standard for embedding metadata—textual information that describes the image—in the image file. See the Exhibits page for information about how Second Site uses IPTC-format metadata stored in image files.

ISP

Internet Service Provider, a company that provides access to the Internet. Some companies specialize in dial-up service where you use a modem and a telephone line to connect to a modem bank provided by the ISP. Many cable TV providers are also ISPs.

JSON

JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a text-based format for exchanging data. See the Wikipedia article on JSON for more information.

LatLong

LatLong (or lat-long) is a common abbreviation for latitude/longitude, geographical coordinates that are used to specify precise locations. See the Map User Item page and the WikiPedia definition of geographic coordinate systems for more information.

lightbox

On the web, a lightbox is a user interface component where clicking a reduced-size version of a digital image displays the full-size version as an overlay on the current page. The web term is based on a device used in photography for viewing slides and other translucent films. See: Lightbox.

lifespan

In these help pages, a lifespan refers to the combination of the birth date and the death date. Second Site has a few formatting options for lifespans that are explained in the Dates section.

linked image icon

Second Site displays an icon in place of an image exhibit when the user chooses "Link" for one of the external image exhibit properties. The default icon is a camera camera icon

. Clicking on the icon opens a page that displays the linked image exhibit.

linked text icon

Second Site displays an icon in place of a text exhibit when the user chooses "Link" for one of the external text exhibit properties. The default icon is an image of a document document icon

. Clicking on the icon opens a page that displays the linked text exhibit.

nesting

In computerese, nesting usually means placing one element inside another.

non-person

Many TMG users add people to their dataset that do not represent real people. A "non-person" is used to record events involving another entity such as a ship, a census, a battle, etc. Tags attached to the non-person link actual people to whatever the non-person represents. Many people use census people as part of Diana Begeman's method of using non-people to record census data. Second Site supports index people, non-people whose events are used to create a custom index, and timeline people, non-people whose events are used as entries in a timeline chart.

open source

Open source refers to a practice where goods, products or other resources are shared. The term was first applied to software source code, but has been extended to other items such as digital graphics and digital photographs. See the WikiPedia definition for more information.

Output folder

Second Site creates the Output folder automatically when you make a new SDF file. Second Site appends "-o" to the SDF file name and uses that as the Output folder name. Second Site writes all the generated pages to the Output folder.

Page Item

Page Items are a subset of User Items. Page Items create an entire HTML page. An example of a Page Item is a Custom Index. Some Chart User Items can be configured as Content Items or Page Items. The full list of Page Items is on the User Item help page. See Content Item.

PARX

The PARX variable is a Second Site variable; it is not a TMG variable. PARX is similar to PAR, but PARX does not include the leading comma and space as part of the value of the variable.

Person Page Entry

For each person in the database that is included in the site, Second Site produces a person page entry on a person page. Second Site builds as many person pages as necessary. The person page entry includes information from the name and event tags associated with that person as well as other information about the person such as parent and child relationships. The exact format of the person page entry is determined by the selected Format. When Second Site is building a particular person page entry, the person whose information is being processed is called the subject.

place levels

Place data in TMG is divided into levels, City, County, State, etc. Another name for a place level is a place subfield. Levels can be assigned labels that agree with the corresponding political jurisdictions, and so they vary from place to place and from project to project. For that reason, Second Site refers to place levels using the generic names L1 to L10.

preposition

A conditional variable reference may include a preposition (also known as a prefix) that is included in the sentence before the value of the variable but only if the variable is not empty. In the following conditional variable reference, the preposition is "and ":

<and [PO]>

See default preposition.

printer codes

TMG defines a set of text formatting instructions called printer codes such as [:CR:], [:TAB:], [BOLD:]...[:BOLD], etc. The syntax of printer codes is similar to variables, but printer codes are not replaced by data from the TMG database.

removable media

Any CD, DVD, or flash drive that can easily be inserted into, and removed from, a computer.

script

A file used by Second Site that contains VBScript statements.

single-excluded

Single-excluded data is stored in fields that begin with the single-exclusion marker "-". Singly-excluded data can be included or excluded in Second Site based on the setting of the Show Excluded Data checkbox. Contrast with double-excluded.

Split CD

In TMG, a Citation Detail (CD) field that is divided into segments using the "||" characters is often called a "split CD." The segments can be included in the citation using the [CDn] notation, where N is replaced by the segment number, e.g., [CD1], [CD2].

string

In computer parlance, a sequence of characters.

TABLE, TR, and TD

TABLE, TR, and TD are HTML elements that create tabular content. Second Site uses these elements when constructing tabular output for TMG tags. For more information, see the HTML 4 specification.

UL, OL, and LI

UL, OL, and LI are HTML elements that create lists. Second Site uses these elements when constructing menus, lists of links, lists of citations, and other items. For more information, see the HTML 4 specification.

variable, variable name, or variable reference

A variable name is a symbol that is used to refer to data whose value may change. A variable reference is a variable name enclosed in brackets, e.g., [P]. Variable references are replaced by the value of the variable when Second Site formats a sentence. When TMG users refer to variables, they are typically referring to variable references.

A variable reference can be unconditional or conditional. An unconditional reference will always create output; a conditional reference will suppress the output when the value of the variable is empty. See conditional variable reference.

virtual events

While building a site, certain features in Second Site result in the creation of "virtual events". A virtual event has the same data structure as an event that is read from a TMG project, but the source of the data is not a real TMG event. The data is typically a transformation of data that is stored in the TMG project, such as a Flag Event that is created from a TMG Flag field.

WYSIWYG

WYSIWYG is an abbreviation for "what you see is what you get", and usually refers to editing programs that manipulate something that looks like the end result as you edit. See the WikiPedia definition for more information.

XML

eXtensible Markup Language, a simple, flexible text format used to interchange data between computer applications. The XML standard is administered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

XSLT

eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations, a language used to transform XML documents into other documents. In Second Site, XSLT is used to transform XML documents into HTML tags. The XSLT standard is administered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).