OVER 2 YOU, 159 (09/12/03)

PASSPORT PHOTO PRINTER

Can anyone suggest software that will automatically generate for printing, a set of 35mm by 45mm passport size photos? My Adobe, Coral, and Ulead programs do not seem able to do this.

Colin Harris, Rugby.

Adobe Photoshop Elements will create sets of passport-sized photos. Go to File > Automate-Picture Package II. Note that the Passport Office may not accept inkjet prints, as they are generally less permanent than conventional photographs.
Tony Kent, Newark, Notts

In Photoshop open the image required on the screen. Open Image and make picture the correct size and choose say 100 dpi. Open File New and make size 8 inch by 11 i.e.A4 and pick 100 dpi and White. A blank image will appear. Click on the original small image and drag it onto the blank 8 by 11. Repeat as required. Go to Layers and click on flatten image. Save with new name and print the montage on photo paper.

Jim Chambers, via email

I suggest that Colin Harris try the freeware program 'Pix Resizer at http://bluefive.pair.com to resize his photo's.

L.Oanh, via email

Adobe Photoshop has a "Tiling" facility in the printing mode. Once he has one photo of the correct size this tiling will print as many as possible on the one sheet all of the same size.

Brian Ely, Braintree, Essex.

Presto PageManager, which comes bundled with Epson scanners, has the facility, under its "print catalog” to print pictures, in a selection made by the user, on a sheet of paper of size chosen by the user, in numbers of rows and columns specified by the user, with cell sizes determined by the user, which will give Colin Harris the function he is looking for.

Harry Metcalfe, via email

Use any version of PaintShop Pro. The original photograph should be cropped and adjusted to the required size and saved. Then select file/print multiple images. This will present a graph-lined blank page and the single open picture. Using the mouse the picture is dragged onto the page and placed as many times as required. As the original is already the correct final size, so will be the on-screen presentation. Finally go to file/page setup, make any selections as needed there, click on the printer box and make sure the printing resolution is correct (1200dpi or greater for preference,) back out selecting OK, and then go file/print Bingo, one sheet with several identical passport-sized photographs.
Alan Weston, Harrogate, N. Yorks

The Qimage package from www.ddisoftware.com has a complete set of format choices and a custom feature that allows the user to set up any format for any given page size. Micrografx Picture Publisher also has facilities for collecting, storing and printing pictures of any normal size, as well as thumbnails. An alternative may be in his Printer Setup, e.g. my Epson Stylus Color 740 has a "Pages per sheet" option in the Preferences section. This will print up to 16 pages on each sheet of paper, each of which can be a "page" from his photo software or other application.
John McIntyre, Farnham Surrey

FAMILY TREE PROGRAMS

I have started to research my wife’s and my own family histories. I would be grateful for recommendations for suitable software, for a complete beginner to use, particularly when researching information obtained from Public Records Offices etc.

Robert Russell, via email

Most of the commercially available packages seem to be fairly evenly featured
(and priced). I use Family Historian from Calico Pie (http://www.family-historian.co.uk/), which is well documented and has an active email support list. As a free alternative he could try downloading Heredis from http://www.myheredis.com/ Whilst searching the Registers at the Public Record Offices for birth, marriage and death certificates it is essential to be organised so as not to repeat searches. A simple table in Word or Excel with each year broken into the four quarters with a place for the information being sought is effective as long as you keep them.Online the best sites are http://www.census.pro.gov.uk/ where one can search the 1901 census by name and/or location and
http://www.1837online.com/Trace2web/ where one can search the Index of Registers in the comfort of one's own home. BMD certificates can be ordered online from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

registration/general_register.asp

The staff (and often the other users) of the Family Records Office in Myddleton Street, London are very helpful and patient.
Sue Cross, via email

I have been using Family Tree Maker by Broderbund to record my family records. It is easy to use, and provides space to record all the information. I have found the PRO a good starting point with the 1901 census, but not all the spellings are correct (check alternatives) the county record offices are also very helpful, but it is a slow process, talk to as many relations as possible while they are still alive! 
J. W. Banks.

There are any number of other programs available and it really is a question of which one appeals.  Most have demonstration downloads available so that it is possible to get the feel of the program before purchasing it. A good place to look is: http://www.genealogy.demon.co.uk. There are also several adequate freeware programs.  For general genealogy information a comprehensive starting point is: http://www.cyndislist.com/england.htm

Alan Wright, via email

One software application I find very useful is Spansoft's Treedraw (www.spansoft.org). This is essentially a drawing program, which allows the manual drawing, editing and rearranging of trees and importing of some family history software file formats. Generally avoid brightly packaged low cost family history software, any that doesn't export standard file formats such as GEDCOM or PAF, and any that include as a virtue many CD's containing mainly US data.

There are many useful websites including (all prefaced www.), genuki.org.uk, ffhs.org.uk, familyrecords.gov.uk, familysearch.org.  The last is the site of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, which gives access to the very useful International Genealogy Index (I.G.I.), which contains a vast amount of data extracted from Parish Records.
Donald Dobson

There are two British packages Pedigree and Kith& Kin Pro, I use the latter in conjunction with Treedraw. Details of KK Pro can be found at: www.spansoft.org. The KK Pro database has a very comprehensive Sources page to enable all your reference information to be identified as to type of document, location, record office, etc

One can subscribe to "Computers in Genealogy" from the Society of Genealogists in London (http://www.sog.org.uk/cig/). All types of genealogy software is discussed. Why not join your county family history society (all listed on the GENUKI Web site at http://www.genuki.org.uk/), there will be people to advise and in many cases there will be the society's own search centre with computers
Rodney Fry, Crowthorne, Berks

Brothers Keeper is the best! It has been around a long time, one can contact them for free support. It can be downloaded as freeware (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/

homepages/Brothers_Keeper/), tested, then paid for.  I have used it for many years and have no complaints.

 G Gibbs

There is a flourishing online genealogy community - try the newsgroup "soc.genealogy.britain" for starters, and also British Genealogy at http://www.british-genealogy.com which has some very good starter information - and they will be able to offer all sorts of advice.

Stuart Reynolds, via email

I suggest S&N Genealogy at www.genealogysupplies.com. I can also recommend "Family Tree Maker" which my wife and I have used for some ten years. The current version 11 costs about £30 and contains many facilities, most of which you can ignore until you are ready to use them. Do not confuse it with "Family Tree" which is a different program.

Keith Rodaway, via email

CAN YOU HELP?

Back in the 1980's the SuperCalc spreadsheet program had a facility called 'Sideways Printing'.  This enabled large spreadsheets to be printed out on dot matrix printers at right angles to the normal direction of printing, i.e. it printed 'by columns' rather than in the conventional way of 'by rows or lines'. Does any know if there is a similar facility, or an add-on that will enable me to print large MS Excel spreadsheets in the same manner?

Simon Taylor, via email

Does anyone know of clip art software dedicated to Victorian scenes and designs, or software with a large section of clip art applicable to the Victorian era?

Dave Smee, via email