Snippets

We are very fortunate in having list members who are actively engaged in other genealogical projects. Look out for regular List Members:

• Gareth Hicks  runs Genuki Wales website full of information and also a Help page.  His Cwmgors a'r Waun site,  is slanted towards Welsh genealogy.
• Dai Bevan is admin for the Dyfed Mailing List where you will find experts on many subjects willing to help. Dai also has a Duffryn-Clydach website
• John Ball who contributes photographs of areas of Wales on his personal website John's Homepage. John is administrator of the excellently run Powys List.
• Jeff Coleman who maintains our Glamorgan Mailing List and gives detailed help with family history requests. Jeff is particularly knowledgeable about the Swansea valley.
• Jill Muir runs this website and the Welsh Chapels and Churches Photographic Web site and helps as Joint List Administrator for the Glamorgan List. She has a website on Transcribing Gravestones.

Creating a Family History website.

Family history is a great hobby, but its drawback is that it generates loads of paper. Some collected as photocopies, some you purchase like birth marriage or death certificates, wills and newpaper cuttings. Then there are the many photographs that you are given or borrow to copy those belonging to relatives. Where can you keep backup copies of all ths material? Having a website for your data is a great way to show your relatives and attract other researchers.

Deciding what to include.

• Why are you providing a web presence and who is website meant to serve?
• Is the genealogy website for your relatives and friends or for other researchers? Is it to advise others how to set about Family history? Will it have stories and photographs?
• What constraints do you have, like the limits on time, money, or other resources.

You need a plan of action.

• Draw up a plan of what you would like. Make this simple to start with, but realise that most likely your website will grow.
• Write a list of needs. Write down all the things you would like to have on your website.. Take a sheet of paper and write more and more ideas, just as they come into your mind.

Things You'll Need.

• Website building software.

Currently I am using Microsoft's answer to Dreamweaver. This program is called Expression Web 4 Professional. These days you can download this program EW4 freely from Microsoft.

You will also find on Cheryl Wise's pages downloads of free templates to use with this program.  Likewise there are excellent templates on Pat Geary's websites. Pat has one on Rootsweb and Freepages here.

• Family trees
• There are many good Family tree products available. I use the latest Family Tree Maker which synchronises with Ancestry.co.uk  There are many other like programs available.
• Family pictures
• Collect your images together and scan those you wish to share on the internet.
• Website hosting
• Heart Internet in the UK is apparently good for both hosting and for domain names, as are 1and1.co.uk. Bluehost.com is a great website host. They are based in Utah, USA, and they offer a great deal.
• Domain name There are heaps of places such as Namecheap;1&1 Ionos etc.,



Hosting your website.

Some free hosts are fine if you can manage to put up with the adverts that pay for the freedom!! If your website is a genealogy one, then you are in luck as you may host this at  Rootsweb Freepages and get Free Unlimited Web Space and upload your Gedcoms to Rootsweb-Ancestry's World connect. They already house tens of thousands of websites for the genealogy community. With a subscription to Rootsweb Freepages comes a subscription to Free-Help which is a mailing list devoted to helping you with any queries regarding your website.

 Gedcom files on Rootsweb-Ancestry's World connect, can be linked from a family history website.

Using the web building software.

You will need an understanding of writing valid html and CSS.  The web design program Expression Web is the successor to Frontpage and is a very good tool for helping you to learn both html and CSS. These will help you build quality standards compliant websites.  See html Cheatsheet and How CSS Works.

My ISP is Plusnet which is a very good dependable company and  is based, as is their Support line, in Sheffield UK. They are knowledgeable and very helpful, giving 24/7 support.

My online friend Patricia Geary has a really good website which will help you with basic information on web design.

 Pat answered a query that I had on Freepage Help Rootsweb Mailing List, and she has helped me to learn so much about web design. She is a special person and is still helping me and many others to build or amend code in their websites. Pat has several websites and has a great site for web creation help. Take a look at Genealogy Web Creations. Pat is also List Admin for  Expression Web Mailing List a mailing list for users of Expression Web.

  I learnt html from Sue Emerson about css and many other things for web creation.

Since then I have taken part in an online course with Cheryl Wise, and there I continued to learn from three tutors, Pat Geary, Tina Clarke and Cheryl Wise.

Here are some useful sites too where you will find Tutorials:

• Microsoft Expression Web Beginners Tutorial
• Yahoo Groups - Expression Web
• Expression Web - a companion website for the Expression Web Mailing List
• Access FP
• By Expression