A genogram's options consist of lists of available tags and fields. These may be modified from the Options Dialog, which is accessed by clicking Options. It contains the following tabs:
Before going into details, read the following to get a general sense of the issues.
Q: Why did you include this stuff in the product?
A: When we interviewed users before undertaking this revision of Genogram-Maker, we found general concensus that there should be tags and fields, but considerable difference of opinion on what these should be. Since we couldn't undertake to include every variation we heard in the product, and since it was safe to assume that customers we didn't interview held even more opinions, we decided to be flexible on these issues and let individual customers decide.
Q: Do I need to understand it?
A: Only if you don't like the tags and fields that come with the product. If you're happy with the product as we shipped it, you can skip the rest.
Q: Why are these options part of the document? Why isn't it just an installation preference?
A: Well, suppose you choose to define a tag with a smiley-face on it. And you create a genogram, where happy people are labelled with the smiley-face tag. Then you e-mail this genogram document to another Genogram-Maker user. You would want them to see the smiley-faces, right? That's why the options need to travel with the document.
Q: Why is information lost when I change the options?
A: Suppose my genogram shows smiley-faces next to happy people. Then I change the list of available tags, and remove the smiley-face tag. Now there's no longer a smiley-face to show next to those happy people. That's how information gets lost.
Q: What should I do so I don't lose information?
A: Don't change the options unless you have a good reason for doing so. And if you must change the options, do so before you start constructing genograms, by creating a new default genogram.