Cyndi Howells - Planting Your Family Tree Online: How to Create Your Own Family History Web Site

Planting Your
Family Tree Online

How to Create Your Own
Family History
Web Site

Cyndi Howells
Creator of Cyndis List

Amy Johnson Crow, CG
Series Editor

Rutledge Hill Press
Nashville, Tennessee
A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
www.ThomasNelson.com

Copyright 2003 by National Genealogical Society and Cyndi Howells.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Rutledge Hill Press, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

All Web site addresses in this book were verified prior to printing.

The following items mentioned in this book are registered trademarks or service marks:

Active Server Pages, ActiveX, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, AlltheWeb, AltaVista, Amazon.com, America Online, Ancestral File, Ancestral Quest, Ancestry, Ancestry.com, Ancestry Family Tree, Angelfire, AOL, Apple, Arachnophilia, ASP, Atomz, AT&T Worldnet, AutoScripter, BBEdit, Bobby, Bravenet, Brothers Keeper, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Coffee Cup, CuteFTP, CyberSpyder, Cyndis List, CyndisList.com, Dreamweaver, Earthlink, Eastmans Online Genealogy Newsletter, Family History Center, Family History Library, Family Origins, FamilySearch, FamilySearch.org, Family Tree Maker, Fetch, Fortune City, FreeFind, FrontPage, FTP Explorer, GED2GO, GED2HTML, GED2Web, GED2WWW, GED4WEB, GEDClean32, GEDCOM, GedHTree, GEDLiving, Gedpage, GeDStrip, GENDEX, Genealogical Publishing Company, Genealogy.com, Genealogy Home Page, Genealogy Site Builder, Generations, GeneWeb, GeoCities, Google, HotDog, IGI, International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, Inc., Internet Explorer, Iomega, Java, JavaScript, Kinship Archivist, Legacy, LinkAlarm, Linux, Macintosh, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia HomeSite, The Master Genealogist, Microsoft, MISSING LINKS: A Magazine for Genealogists, Mozilla, MSN, MyFamily.com, National Genealogical Society, NetLingo, Netscape Navigator, Network Solutions, NoteTab, Opera, Oxy-gen, PAF, Paint Shop Pro, Pedigree Resource File, PerlGed, Personal Ancestral File, phpGedView, PicoSearch, PKZip, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Register.com, Relatives, Res Privata, Reunion, RootsMagic, RootsView, RootsWeb, RootsWeb.com, Second Site, Shockwave, Sparrowhawk, Stuffit, TextPipe Pro, Tripod, uFTi, UncleGED, Unix, UpFront with NGS, U.S. Copyright Office, USGenWeb, Verisign, Visual Basic, Windows, Windows Media Player, WinZip, WS_FTP, XReplace-32, Yahoo!, Zip Disk, ZipIt.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Howells, Cyndi.
Planting your family tree online : how to create your own family history web site / Cyndi Howells.
p. cm. (National Genealogical Society guides)
Includes indexes.
ISBN 1-4016-0022-0 (pbk.)
1. Web sites. 2. GenealogyComputer network resources. I. Title. II. Series.
CS21.H76 2003
929'.1'028567dc22

2003020410

Printed in the United States of America

03 04 05 06 07 5 4 3 2 1

To those in my family who came before me and paved the way, no matter how difficult the path, so that my life... would be

Contents

CREATING AND MAINTAINING WEB SITES, ALONG WITH A PROJECT TO WRITE A BOOK about that process, are not endeavors I could have done alone. Throughout the years, the constructive criticism I have received from visitors to my own Web site has served me well and given me the ability to see my site as others see it. Without this useful input, my site wouldnt work as well as it does today. For this book, several people helped me with technical details, proofreading, and feedback, generously sharing their time and giving me invaluable advice. My thanks go to Sam Behling, Ann Fleming, Pam Porter, Bob Velke, and the editorial team for all their help. And while I was focusing on the book, my house and Web site would have fallen apart if it werent for Krista McCauley and Michele Ingle, both of whom I am exceedingly lucky to have in my life. Of course, none of this would be possible without the unlimited help, support, and faith of my husband, Mark.

INTRODUCTION
Who Should
Read This Book?

WHETHER YOU HAVE BEEN A FAMILY HI STORIAN FOR A FEW MONTHS OR for several years, odds are that you have thought about publishing the results of your research. You may have thought of writing the definitive book about your own family. Or of printing a set of charts and forms for each of your cousins. You may even have thought of trying your hand at creating a photo album or scrapbook filled with family anecdotes and photos.

Have you given any thought to publishing on the Web?

We genealogists begin our family history adventure for a variety of reasons. A death in the family prompts some of us to start asking questions about our ancestors. Others of us set off down the family history trail after we attend a family eventa wedding, reunion, or holiday gathering. We enthusiastically interview the elderly members of our family, recording every detail and fact they can recall about our ancestors. We contact long-lost cousins and network with others on the Internet, gathering everything we can find about our family. We invest in genealogy software and begin the process of entering thousands of names, dates, and places into our own personal genealogy database. Many of us also start playing with snazzy new techno-toys like scanners and digital cameras.

Next, we reflect, slowing down to take stock of what we knowand what we dont know. We read books, attend seminars, and join our local genealogical society in an effort to learn everything we can about family history research. We begin to organize our files, to put order to the chaotic bits of data and family memorabilia that we have collected along the way. As we look to the past, we think about the future and recognize the need to preserve the family records and treasures we are working so hard to collect, our family letters, diaries, Bibles, and photographs. We set some research goals and consider more thoughtfully why we pursue these genealogical mysteries. Thats when we realize we are hookedgenealogy has become our life.

Are you at the point that you want to share what you know with your cousins? Do you want to publish your research for other family members to treasure long after youre gone? If so, you should read this book.

Planting Your Family Tree Online is designed to take you step by step through the process of creating your own genealogy Web site. Each chapter in the book leads you logically through a new aspect of your family history Web site project. Each chapter can also stand on its own as a reference for key concepts as you continue to work on your Web site. So even if you already have a genealogy Web site, this book can help you develop and maintain your site. If you follow the steps outlined throughout this book, you will have a wonderful Web site that honors the memory of your ancestors. In these pages youll discover all the terrific ways that having a family history Web site enhances your research and brings your family members (both living and dead) closer to you.

The subtitle for this book could have been All the Things Cyndi Learned the Hard Way. As I show you how to plan, create, and personalize your family history site, I share with you all the dos and donts Ive learned from my experiences creating and maintaining Cyndis List, my own comprehensive genealogy Web site. As Webmaster of Cyndis List, I review the thousands of genealogy sites that are linked from my index. In these pages, I tell you about the successes and failures I see every day so youll know what to emulateand what to avoid at all costs. Youll learn how to make your site easy to use, index, reference, and maintain.