Genealogy Chat

I am thinking of creating my own genealogy site, i am planning to provide resources that will aid us in our quest. Can anyone that has already done this themselves give me some tips. Regards Pat

Same here - so any ideas would be great. We bought a book at the weekend "Build Your Own Web Site" by David Karlins ISBN 0-07-222953-5 which seems to be simple enough to understand. Sue

thanks for that, i have that much information to share, well i will be weighing up my options to see whats out there, good look with your project, dont expect it to happen over night though, i image it will take several months to getting working how you want, Regards pat

You can build websites, with very little knowledge of website design. This is one site, I've come across where you can build your websites for free: http://members.freewebs(.)com/ I haven't used it personally but it seems OK.

Hi Patricia, I have my web site up and running now. http://worldzone.net/family/reddesktop/ hopefully that comes out ok. You can click on their advert on my site. It's free or you can pay. The free part is very good and you can do loads with it without using PC speak. It took me about 2 weeks to understand everything but once you get the hang of it, it's good. I tried loads of others but they didn't do what I wanted or never answered my queries. My site is still a bit amatuerish but an attempt to put my family on the net just in case. John PS any questions just ask

thanks for that Andy and John, I will working on the building of i around Christmas because i want to collate as much data as i can, i will let everyone know when it is up and running, i am just gonna check out the links you have both provided now. Kind regards Pat

Andy just to let you know that link is broken.

John Hey i am impressed, your site is great, if mine turns out like that i will be happy, and the photos are a nice touch. I will check out the link that you have advised me on.

Hello Patricia, I have my own website, but I am rewriting it. I think it is better to keep it simple with no fancy graphics and flash. After all, we are creating information sites, therefore, in my view, everything should be easy to read and quick to load, and work on any browser. My current one is at www(.)bissett(.)org(.)uk The new one will be in tables as opposed to frames, and consist of a title at the top, links down the left, and plain text in the main bit. I prefer dark text on a light background, but I have seen sites the other way round. This is personal taste, but try to make sure the contrast is fine. Have you tried reading yellow on green, I am sure you know what I am getting at.

Could I suggest that as we get our sites up and running, we each include links to the others` sites? I will happily include links to others` personal sites. I have made a note of the ones I have found on here already. I am also including links to sites that I have found particularly useful, including this one.

Carol The format is great, you site is nice and easy to maneover around, its nice to be able to put a face to a name. It may be an idea to start a thread so everyone can post their own sites. I suppose you will have your work cut out now redesigning it. Good Luck Pat

I would agree on keeping simple especially if you are new to the design of web sites. Too often you come across sites where they think that they must use every colour and font on every page! As well using ridiculous combinations of font and background colours. I would say get the content first and then juggle around with the design later. There are a number of programs available for converting GEDCOM's to HTML. Either look on Cyndi's List under software or just look on other people's sites and see what they are using. www . myfamily . com is an easy way to run a site with family tree, pictures etc and also is password controlled so you can limit access. Very handy for sharing information within a family / group. Their software for displaying family trees is much better than Genes Connected. Family Tree Programs like LEGACY (I use it) will export the tree (or part of it) as HTML. Martin

Patricia, Have just tried my own link and it works fine. Stupid question but are you removing the brackets? Andy.

Andy What a plonka i am, totally forgot, please forgive i am brain dead, too much beer last night LOL

Just got into andy, i have saved it on my favorites, thank you very much for that. pat

Yes Martin, I agree. Get all your content sorted first. You will then know how many link pages you will need. As for colours, the contrast is important. I tend to always use black text, but I do get it wrong sometimes, that is why I am rewriting it. I dont use a package that converts trees to html, I prefer to do that myself, and keep all my pages on my harddrive, rather than floating around in someone elses webspace.

Hi Patrica Iam not very good with computers. However i was collecting so much information ,documents etc. I thought that the best way to display my information for everyone else to see, was to show it. I did not know how to start or where to start. I belong to AOL and they do free home pages. You can use them for any subject you want. In time ive started quite a few homepages and i just linked them all together. I would say that a web site is a lot better than home pages. It looks a lot better for a start. My home pages are not that good and as you know that they will never be finished. I must say that i have had many emails because of the home page but ive not found any relations. All the best to you and good luck. http://hometown.aol(.)co(.)uk/arkellcads/myhomepage/family.html Sarah

Hi everyone, I am a freelance web designer and keen genealogist. I have my paternal family tree online and my maternal one in creation (in between jobs) as it's 10 times the size of my dad's. So, if anyone needs a hand with their websites or some info, just email me and I'll try and help you out (free of charge, of course!). Tracy

Hiya, It all depends what you want from the website. I have my family tree on Tribal Pages, which allows you to scroll between generations and siblings etc. You can upload a GEDCOM file, photos and include and edit details. It's really easy to use and FREE. However, you can't customize your pages and include pages of text, etc. I also started a site on Tripod/Lycos (again FREE) but realised I wouldn't be allowed as many pages as I wanted, although one big advantage of this site is that Lycos is very keen that you should be submitted to the major search engines and I was there after only a couple of days! A site builder package is included and again very simple to use. Another free option I tried was MSN Groups...again very simple to use...and you get a message board and chatroom if you want them. Eventually I took the plunge and started a 'proper' website using Fasthosts and their site builder package with links to the Tribal Pages Family Tree. I haven't been working on it for very long, but people are welcome to see what I've done www(.)picknett(.)co(.)uk. I'm failrly clueless about web design, so it's a question of learning as I go along, but if I can do it, anybody can! Sue

Thanks for the feedback Patricia John