Genealogy Publishing Option

      Where additional information is needed, please send your request via email to Gerhard Ruf. If any information on this page is not clear please ask for clarification. 

      Initially we are providing only limited options. Eventually more options will be available. We will create a basic home page for you with the text that you provide. An optional picture or graphic that you like can be placed on the home page. We will use GED2HTML to generate basic web pages from the GEDCOM file that you provide. In the future we plan to provide different looks to your genealogical information by using other HTML generation programs such as GEDBrowser or GED2WWW. You may choose to include or not include notes and sources and/or omit information on living individuals yourself or we will do it for you. The information will be placed on the web at either the UVPAFUG group web site or at www.my-ged.com. Your web home page address will either be http://www.uvpafug.org/xxxxxxxx/ or http://www.my-ged.com/xxxxxxxx/, where the x's represent a name of your choosing up to 8 characters long. A link to your home page will not be publicized until you are happy with the way it looks. Publicizing your home page includes listing the site with various general search engines, participation in the GENDEX index and other genealogical information listing sites including Cyndi's List. 

Basic Steps
• Choose a name to be used to access your web home address. 
• Provide text for your Home Page. This should include a title, and possibly a few paragraphs explaining the purpose, possibly an invitation to share information, and how to contact you. 
• If you would like a background that is other than white, choose either a background color or texture for your web pages. Remember that text will be in black and links will appear blue or purple. (This step does not apply to publishing at www.my-ged.com.) 
• Prepare a GEDCOM file with the ancestors you want presented. You may either email this as an attachment, bring it to a users group meeting, or mail it to Gerhard Ruf on diskette. We recommend that you remove your notes and detailed information on living individuals from the GEDCOM file. You may want to use a shareware program, like GEDCLEAN or use a similar feature in your Genealogy database program to clean living individuals from your GEDCOM file before you send it to us. Here are some basic considerations for when you create your GEDCOM file. If you have trouble figuring out how to limit the information when you create your GEDCOM file, just send us a file of your whole database and we will remove all notes and leave only the names of living individuals for you. 
• If you want us to remove living individuals from your GEDCOM file. You may 1) provide a general rule, like remove everyone that does not have a death date and is less than 95 years old, or 2) send a list of names (with birthyear) that you want removed, or 3) a general rule as noted above, with a list of names (with birthyear) to be treated as exceptions. 

      Both of these services are free. We recommend using both of these services. They 1) give you complete control over your submission (You can replace or delete your file at any time), 2) agree never to sell your information with either subscription fees to the site or on CDs, and 3) participate in major searchable indexes. Www.my-ged.com participates with other sites in the GENDEX index. WorldConnect has its own extensive global index. 

      To use www.my-ged.com you must create an account with the owner of the site, Dave Wilks. He requests that you send him a GEDCOM file as an attachment, the title to be used on your home page and text that you would like on your home page. You may optionally send pictures in a specified format and size to be included on your home page and/or tied to individuals in your database. Once you choose a name for your database and send the above information, he will give you a password. You will be able to update your published information or the text on your home page at any time. At your request all your information will be removed. Your home page address on the web will be something like http://www.my-ged.com/xxxxxxxx/. 

      Go to www.my-ged.com and look around the site and see what others have placed on their home page and how the information is presented. Check out a sample page. People have submitted GEDCOM files with as few as 10 and more than 100,000 individuals. He provides instructions for how to participate and has a page of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to help you. 

Basic Steps
• Choose an account name. 
• Choose a title to home page. 
• Write the text for your home page. 
• Create a GEDCOM file without information on living individuals. 
• Send the above via email. 

      If you need assistance with either or both of these please email webmaster@uvpafug.org. 

      An excellent overview in constructing your own genealogical web pages is provided by Cyndi Howells at Cyndi's Genealogy Home Page Construction Kit. She guides you through the steps involved and provides you with many links for help in accomplishing them. You can also get help from books like Richard S. Wilson's Publishing Your Family History on the Internet. 

Basic Steps
• Determine on which computer (server) your pages will be located. Some companies offering space also provide significant assistance in creating your web pages. Some sites do not provide enough flexibility for what you want to do. 
• Choose the information you want to present and plan your home page and site layout. 
• Learn some basics about HTML and create your web pages. There are a number of freeware and shareware program that will convert your Family History information for presentation on the web. Many will create indexes and surname lists. Choose one that will create the file that allows you participate in GENDEX - Genealogical Index. 
• Upload the pages to the server. 
• Check your pages and links with different browsers and at least one HTML validation service. 
• Advertise your web pages with various search engines and genealogy sites. Don't forget to let us know the address of your home page. 

      We will be happy to give you as much help as you would like in publishing your genealogical information. Once you feel proficient at this we'll even give you the opportunity to help other members of the group. If you have any questions about this information please contact us.