Yes! Please keep this discussion going! Legacy sourcing is a
constant topic in this list and a frustration for many users.
Legacy could make major improvements in this area and probably make
the cost back many fold in the marketplace.
Dick Nixon
On 10/3/06, Dennis L. Bailey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I'm new both to genealogy and Legacy but not to historical
research. Therefore, I applaud the statements Geoff Rasmussen makes
about the importance of carefully citing sources in family-history
research. I'm frustrated in my attempts to use Legacy in doing
that. I understand that citing sources requires a conformity to a
recognized standard of style and a consistency in adhering to that
standard. However, I'm on the verge of giving up unless someone can
help. Here is one of the problems.
Legacy seems to use the citation template for a book and to require
that all kinds of sources be adapted, stuffed, or forced into that
single author-title-publication template. To enter a new source, I'm
finding it necessary to work constantly with both the style manual
(Mills) and the webpage "Tips" examples while entering data, and then
I find the task is made more difficult because the little
current-source window for entering detail data--which can be
substantial, for example, in an Ancestry census cite--does not allow
one to see but a portion of the entry without having to scan the
cursor back and forth. Already I've said too much, but maybe this
suggests the kinds of problems I'm having with citations.
Do other templates exist and I've not found them? Rather than
forcing all kinds of sources into a book template, it would seem
better to provide simple blank windows for citing primary, secondary,
and bibliography data in appropriate styles. And far better, to
provide a list of the various types of sources used in genealogy
research, followed by a descriptively labeled template appropriate to
each type. At least that is a method used for data entry by academic
research softwares like Library Master and Endnote, and it remarkably
improves accuracy and consistency in data entry. This is what I'm
having trouble gaining with Legacy.
Well, here goes--my frustration is sufficient that I'm finally
willing to get my education in public.
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