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Genealogy Web Page Tutorial

Adding Content

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Content

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Now that you have your surnames on-line, the next step is to decide what additional content you would like to add to your web site.

As you are considering what to add to your personal web site, please think how wonderful it would be if everyone who had a web page gave something to the genealogical community by devoting part of their web site to something helpful to all genealogists. If you do so, you will attract more visitors to your site which will give you a greater chance to find that cousin and make those connections you are hoping for.

True success story: I volunteer to do lookups on a CD I own. I found my previously unknown second cousin when she wrote asking for a look-up on her great-grandfather who, although she had no idea at the time, was also MY great-grandfather. It was a very exciting day when we found each other, and especially when I found that she had 13 (yes, 13) additional generations to add to my family tree. And I had information she had been seeking. Good deeds do return rewards!

Before putting any content on the web, be sure the documents are not copyrighted.

Things to include are probably things you have gathered during your own research. They may be the key to someone else's research. If you include something unique on your web pages, you will encourage visitors to your site.

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HTML

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Now that you have decided what you want to include on your web page, how do you actually get it onto your page?

There are a number of editors available that can be used to create a home page. They vary in degree of how much HTML knowledge is required.

HTML is the coding used to create a web page. It is simply a tag you put around a word so that that word appears as you tell it in a browser. HTML is not a true computer language because there is no logic involved. It is not difficult to learn - even for non-computer type people.

There are some wonderful HTML tutorials on the web:

• Create it ~ 101
• HTML Goodies

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Off-Line Editors

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The following editors vary in degree of HTML knowledge needed. Most require little knowledge of HTML. These editors are not necessary for the creation of a web page, but make it easier if you are not interested in learning HTML.

Web Publishing Software:

• Adobe PageMill
• Allaire HOMESITE - requires HTML knowledge
• Corel WEB.DESIGNER
• BBEdit: Bare Bones Software the most popular HTML editor for the Mac
• AOLPress
• Microsoft FrontPage

Word Processors with built-in Web Publishing Facilities:

• Adobe PageMaker
• Corel Office Professional 7.0 (including WordPerfect)
• Corel Ventura
• Lotus Smartsuite97 (including WordPro)
• Microsoft Publisher
• Microsoft Office (including Microsoft Word)

Also, both Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer have HTML editing features. Click File, then edit page in Netscape. In Microsoft, click Edit on the toolbar. Refer to the help instructions for each browser editor.

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Layout

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You probably have an idea how you would like your web site to appear. Try to organize your information so it will be displayed in a logical manner that is easy for the visitor to your page to navigate.

There are a couple basic ways to lay out a web site. Most web pages are a combination of the following:

• Sequential organization. One page leads to another like turning pages in a book. Genealogy Web Page Tutorial web site is sequentially organized.
  
  
• Hierarchical organization. It begins with the index page, which links to other pages. Pages are nested by category. This allows you to choose a topic and follow it to a sub-topic. Genealogy Roots is an example of a hierarchical web site. Follow the link for Pennsylvania Civil War Volunteers.

If you are still not sure how you want to organize your web page, take some time to visit other genealogy pages for ideas.

Your goal should be a web site which is easy to navigate, easy to view, and available to the widest range of browsers. The Web Design Group gives excellent advice about how to make your site accessible to as many people as possible. After all, you don't want to exclude a possible cousin from visiting your web site because your web site in not accessible to all computers.

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