Changing colors

[mlmetz5612]

I want to color my mother's side reds and father's side blues so that any list will show them that way. Treetops shows ALL the men blue, etc. If that change is not possible, what are some hints for working around it? Thanks for your help.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Changing colors

I want to color my mother's side reds and father's side blues so that any list will show them that way. ... If that change is not possible, what are some hints for working around it?

You have only two choices for colors in lists like Treetops; color coded by sex, or not. To switch between them, go to the Reunion menu, select "Preferences...", click on "General", and select the List color mode you prefer.

There's no way to have different colors for your paternal and maternal ancestors.

[ByronSpoon]

Re: Changing colors

I want to color my mother's side reds and father's side blues so that any list will show them that way. Treetops shows ALL the men blue, etc. If that change is not possible, what are some hints for working around it? Thanks for your help.

Regarding specifically the Treetops sidebar, notice there is a pair of tabs at the top, one for each spouse of a couple. So in your example, if you were to navigate to your parents' card and select the Treetops sidebar you would see only your father's treetops or only your mother's treetops depending on which tab you select. So distinguishing by color would seem to me to be unnecessary.

To distinguish your father/mother branch for the People sidebar, you could set flags for each person corresponding to your father/mother branch, and then add flags as a column the list view popout window for the People sidebar.

But as Dennis says, there is no color option for what you are asking.

[Joan Foster]

Re: Changing colors

To distinguish your father/mother branch for the People sidebar, you could set flags for each person corresponding to your father/mother branch, and then add flags as a column the list view popout window for the People sidebar.

But as Dennis says, there is no color option for what you are asking.

I really would like to be able to use color-coding options for various lines. Per suggestions often made in this forum, I have just one master file. This now has my family line, my husband's, my son-in-law's, my daughter-in-law's, and other associated families, all tied together at one point with a marriage. Now in my list of people, I would like to know, without repeatedly having to go the actual cards, which one of a number of Phebe Carpenters or John Scotts (with appropriate dates) belongs to which one of these very distinct lines. It would be a wonderful addition to have the option to color-code, either by the sex as it is now, or to designate a color (or pair of colors) to the ancestors of a selected person. This would help not only the original poster to this thread, or those who wish to distinguish lines by grandparents for filing purposes, those researching a location, or a one-name study, or as I'd like, the various lines of my immediate family. Maybe as an option under preferences for a future update?

[Bob White]

Re: Changing colors

I would suggest that you put this in the Wish List forum. That will get your idea into a list of things the Leister group might consider in future updates.

[Jan Powell]

Re: Changing colors

I have just one master file. This now has my family line, my husband's, my son-in-law's, my daughter-in-law's, and other associated families, all tied together at one point with a marriage.

Would numbering help? You could add relative, ancestor or descendant numbers to each person. I have all my husband's, my son-in-law's and my own relatives on the one tree. To distinguish each branch I use relative and ancestor numbers. I start each set of relative numbers with each grandparent and use his/her surname as the identifier. I note that numbers can be used on the card or under the name.

[mlmetz5612]

Re: Changing colors

You have only two choices for colors in lists like Treetops; color coded by sex, or not. To switch between them, go to the Reunion menu, select "Preferences...", click on "General", and select the List color mode you prefer.

There's no way to have different colors for your paternal and maternal ancestors.

Thanks for the news, even though it was not what I wanted to hear. I will try the flag idea.

[mlmetz5612]

Re: Changing colors

Would numbering help? You could add relative, ancestor or descendant numbers to each person. I have all my husband's, my son-in-law's and my own relatives on the one tree. To distinguish each branch I use relative and ancestor numbers. I start each set of relative numbers with each grandparent and use his/her surname as the identifier. I note that numbers can be used on the card or under the name.

Thank you. The number idea is worth exploring. It seems to fit the way I think.

[mlmetz5612]

Re: Changing colors

I would suggest that you put this in the Wish List forum. That will get your idea into a list of things the Leister group might consider in future updates.

Wish List! Right on!

[Joan Foster]

Re: Changing colors

Wish List! Right on!

Yes I put it in the Wish list. It suits my mind and my needs, and I have wished for it for a long time. Seems especially desirable with the new People sidebar.

[Joan Foster]

Re: Changing colors

Would numbering help? You could add relative, ancestor or descendant numbers to each person. I have all my husband's, my son-in-law's and my own relatives on the one tree. To distinguish each branch I use relative and ancestor numbers. I start each set of relative numbers with each grandparent and use his/her surname as the identifier. I note that numbers can be used on the card or under the name.

Having discalculia, no numbering system is very useful to me. However, I use the automatic prefix of ancestor numbering by names of grandparents as do you. (My brain just tunes out the attached number except as general idea of distance from the source.) However, so far as I can see, these numbers can appear only in the Family View, so I still have to navigate to the card to see them, and the card's information already shows me which family it is.

The People Sidebar is where I really feel the need for color-coding lines (this blue John Smith is from my husband's line, those orange ones are from my daughter-in-law's, etc.) when the given date range is appropriate for either. i use the people sidebar extensively for quick navigation, as I suspect most users do. Colors at a glance would be wonderful. (The multi-columns in the Index of previous Reunion versions solved this navigation issue for me, but with the new layout, there isn't room for more than name and dates, and the People Lists, while useful, are in still another window. My file is about 4500 people, not extremely large, but large enough to contain many duplicate names and far too large to remember dates except generally.)

[alan]

Re: Changing colors

The multi-columns in the Index of previous Reunion versions solved this navigation issue for me, but with the new layout, there isn't room for more than name and dates, and the People Lists, while useful, are in still another window.

Hi Joan,

The People List from the sidebar can be enlarged and the columns extended. When you select People and the list opens, click on the little double orange icon at the base of that window and the people list will become a separate "floating" List of people.
Now if you go to the little yellow icon (box of cubes) at the bottom of this list you can select up to 12 columns and insert various headings and info you need. Unfortunately
the choice of colours aren't available.

Alan

[Joan Foster]

Re: Changing colors

Hi Joan,

The People List from the sidebar can be enlarged and the columns extended. When you select People and the list opens, click on the little double orange icon at the base of that window and the people list will become a separate "floating" List of people.
Now if you go to the little yellow icon (box of cubes) at the bottom of this list you can select up to 12 columns and insert various headings and info you need. Unfortunately
the choice of colours aren't available.

Alan

Thanks Alan. This is the separate window I meant, and it takes real estate. (I love the Sidebar's real-estate savings and utility.) This list, as well as the sidebar, would also be helped by having colors selected by user to suit needs. I note someone mentioned Mary Hill's filing system in this thread. My wish is that the user could select a specific person and ask for that person's ancestors (or descendants?) to be colored user's choice. Colors could be a help in my situation, Mary-Hill filing, one-location studies, surname studies - I can can think of lots of possibilities, especially as user's file grows larger. Or user might prefer the sex coloration as at present, or no colors at all, to be chosen in Preferences. I think this might also be a real aid in some marking/unmarking situations as well. I have put an earlier post for user-determined color choices in the wish list.