How to Design a Family History Web Page
Tracing your family tree is a rewarding, but lengthy task. In the past, many people published books chronicling their heritage. Today, an increasing number of genealogists are turning to the Internet to share family history information through exchange sites like Ancestry.com and their own websites. For those wishing to set up a website of their own, there are many options.
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Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Internet service
- Scanner
- Digital camera
- Photo-editing software
Instructions
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Many web hosts are free of charge, but place advertisements on your pages. Choose a web host. Web hosting companies are numerous. When making your choice, consider the level of service you require. Depending on your web designing skills, you can choose a minimalist host, with which you write all html, a host that provides a full template or any level of service in between. You must also consider buying a domain name, finding a host that registers your name as a part of the package or signing up with a company that gives you a sub domain of theirs.
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Design your opening page. Frequently, a family history website has an opening page containing a family narrative. These begin with the oldest traceable ancestor, usually a man, his home, migration history and immediate family. If there is an image (a photo or painting) of this person, showcase it on the opening narrative page.
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Grave site photos bring a piece of family history to those who cannot travel to family cemeteries. Create a page for each traceable branch of the family tree. Include scans of photos if available, photos of headstones or places significant to the branch you are chronicling on this page. Keep the photos small, and easy to load. Link them to a photo gallery later.
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A site map is like a map and compass to your web site. Make a site map (an index page with links to every page on the website). Family history web sites can become large and difficult to navigate. A site map, linked from and to each page, can help your family find exactly what they need.
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Scan the old photos in your family album to share with the rest of the family. Add a photo gallery page. Organize photos by family branch, and use thumbnails on the gallery page. You will need at least two sizes of each photo. Use photo-editing software to resize the scans. Link the thumbnails to larger-sized photos. You will probably need to resize these for the web as well.
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You may want to protect personal information. Decide how private you want your web site to be. You can set password protection for certain pages or entire directories. Give the people you trust the passwords, or supply a hint that only family members could understand. The HTML Writer's Guild web site provides instructions.
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Tips & Warnings
Purchase genealogy software to help with the task of organization. Some programs produce web pages for you.
This is a huge undertaking. You may want to give another family member access to the site as a helper.
Keep up to date on current scams. Some thieves use information gleaned on family tree web sites to impersonate long lost family members.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit family tree image by Judy Ben Joud from Fotolia.com www and internet image by mbs from Fotolia.com head stone 2 image by PeteG from Fotolia.com Compass image by Monika 3 Steps Ahead from Fotolia.com old album image by Alexander Kosenkov from Fotolia.com door lock. handle and key hole of door image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com
