Getting Your Family Website Online

Going Online How to Establish a Family WebSite on the Internet

Greetings! One of the current trends in our Information Age is the internet. It is a trend that seems to be establishing itself as a permanent part of our society. Using a home computer, it allows information to be collected and made available around the world. In 5 minutes, one can post a page online and it can be viewed by anyone in your community (and around the world) in seconds.

One of the popular areas of internet activity is on genealogy. The World Wide Web allows for instantaneous sharing of data as never before.

Decide upon your goals/objectives.
Do you want to merely provide the basic information on your Family Reunion? Do you want to include genealogical information? Is this page going to be just for CMA or will it be ongoing?
What do we have to work with?
Will the site be handled on a home computer or at work? Is there someone on staff or in the congregation who is familiar with computers and/or webpage design?
Design and construct your website.
What will the page look like? What information do you need to include? What features will it have?
Post your site (and subsequent pages) onto a server.
You will need to upload the pages onto a server. As changes are made, they also have to be uploaded. Who will be in charge of keeping things current? How often will you update the site? Who is responsible for taking care of e-mail?

I. What do we need to create a website?

Web Space
First of all, you will need someplace to store the pages so that they can be accessed by others. This is not done on your own computer. You will need to send the pages (upload) to a remote location onto a device called a server. A server is a larger computer with special connections and software. They allow you a certain amount of space on which to load your pages. There are several sources for web space.
If you are connected to the internet through an internet service provider (ISP), they often offer a certain amount of webspace to their subscribers. They usually offer 1 or 2 megabytes of space, enough for dozens of pages of text with pictures (or hundreds of pages of text alone).

There are also several other sources for free web space on the internet. The oldest is Geocities <http://www.geocities.com>. Others include Tripod <http://www.tripod.com/> and Fortune City <http://www.fortunecity.com/>. They offer from 2 to 11 megabytes of free web space. They also offer information that helps you to create pages without knowing about HTML language. They also offer on online file uploading service, so you don’t have to bother with an FTP program to send in your pages. They have recently started more pronounced advertising, however. Usually, a pop-up advertising window will be created when you go to one of the sites from these companies. If you don't want to subject your visitors, they often offer a service level whereby the ads will not pop up.
If your page will offer some genealogy, Rootsweb <http://www.rootsweb.com/> is another source of webspace. Although they accept contributions, the space is free for genealogical sites; and you don't have to worry about pop up advertising.

Once you obtain web space for your family site, you should know the URL, or internet address. The general form has several parts. Most web sites start with “http://”, which stands for hypertext transfer protocol. It’s not necessary to understand what that means ... it is just computer language that must be included. The second part usually points to the server that holds your pages. For example, if you are using space by Rootsweb, the next part will be “www.rootsweb.com/”. The final part points to your specific web pages. For example, the URL for the Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana website is <http://www.rootsweb.com/~laterreb/>. If your space is on Rootsweb, your address will be similar to that address, except the “~laterreb” part will be replaced by your identification name that you submit. With this address, anyone in the world can type it in and will be taken to your web site.

HTML Authoring Software
Once you have someplace to put your pages, they need to be created. As previously mentioned, some servers (Geocities, Tripod, etc.) have on-line pages that help you to create a site. Otherwise, you will need software with which to create your pages.
HTML is the computer language of webpages. Chances are that you don’t know the HTML language. If you do, you can use a basic text editor, like notepad or wordpad in Windows. If you (or the person responsible for creating the pages) know HTML, chances are that you already know most of the information in this publication. But if you don’t, you might not want to learn a new “language” just to put up a web site. If you use a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) program, you don’t need to know HTML. For example, you just need to click on a couple of menu buttons to add graphics, change text size, and so on. HTML language requires specific codes to do each of these things. One of the most common (and easiest to get) WYSIWYG web page editors comes with the Netscape browser. Many ISPs offer Netscape for free when you sign up. Also, the Netscape browser and composer component can be downloaded for free <http://www.netscape.com/>. Netscape 3.0 Gold includes the browser and the web page composer software. The latest version, Netscape Communicator 4 also has a Composer component.

There are other software packages (Front Page, Hot Metal, Hot Dog, etc.) that allow you to create web pages ... some are WYSIWYG and some are not. Check with a computer software store if you are interested in another program. Since the competition for web browsers has increased, the Netscape company offers their program for free. That’s a price that should fit any organization’s budget.
Once you get online, you will find a number of links and aids at Cyndi Howell's "How to Do a Web Page” site at <http://www.CyndisList.com/construc.htm>.

Writing a page
     You will need to put a title on your page. For programs like Netscape Gold or Netscape Composer, you just need to click on the appropriate menu items and type it in. The same goes for the author of the page and keywords. In the keywords box, you’ll want to type in words that relate to your web site (like your town, the surname, etc.). Search engines use these keywords to help others find your site.
     You need to set the background. You can set it to be a solid color. You can also use a graphic that will be tiled across the page. There are numerous sites that contain background graphics that your can use. Even if you are using a graphic background, set up a solid color background that is similar to your graphic. If the background graphic won’t load, you’ll still be able to see the text. You also set the colors for text and for hyperlinked text. Be careful of the background/text combination you use. Don’t use a combination that is hard to read.
     At this point, you could start with a blank page and simply type in the desired text like you were typing into a word processor (assuming you are using a WYSIWYG editor). Any writing that appears on the page is called text. Some of the things you might want to post include: worship schedule, church groups, mission statement, staff, contact information, church calender. Once you have the basic text input, you may want to manipulate it. You can enlarge the size of the title, change the color of subtitles, set certain sections in bold print, and so on.
     You can also add graphics. This could be as simple as a clip art outline of a cross or as complicated as a moving animation of a spinning cross. There are numerous online sites offering graphics that you can copy and use at your site. Graphics can make a plain page interesting. There are several tips to remember when adding graphics.

Use small graphics ... large graphics may take too long to load.
Type in alternate text for the graphics; so that if the image can’t load, the viewer can read a text version of what the image is supposed to be.
Don’t use copyrighted images unless given permission to do so.
You can use built in features to speed up loading.

While you can use a bar graphic to separate sections, they use much more memory than the horizontal line feature.

While you can use graphic bullets (small images) to mark each item in a list, the built-in bullet and numbering features use much less memory.

     Music can be embedded in the web page (in the form of MIDI files) to automatically start whenever someone goes to your site. You might want to note that Explorer and Netscape use 2 different commands for this feature. This does require some knowledge of HTML language, but it can be found in most HTML how-to books and websites.
     Another way to add music is to use a remote site such as Crescendo. The viewer needs to install the plug-in for Crescendo (which can be obtained by clicking the button you’ll add to your site). This only takes a few minutes, but will allow them to hear Crescendo music on other sites they visit. Crescendo allows the viewer to control the music (volume, stop, repeat, etc.).
     Hyperlinks are areas (text or graphics) that are linked to other sites. By clicking on the hyperlink, you will be automatically taken to that web page. You can assign a link to either graphics or text. For example, you might have a page that talks about all of the different branches of the family. You might assign a hyperlink to the word "Lafayette” so that when someone clicks on it they will be taken to another page you’ve created that contains information on the Lafayette branch of the family. The link will be typed in as a URL ... which is the term for the “address” of a web page.
     E-mail links are similar to hyperlinks. When you click on the text or graphic, an e-mail window will pop up so that someone can send you a message. Your e-mail address can be set to be automatically inserted. When setting an e-mail link, you need to type in mailto:name@server.com, where name@server.com is your e-mail address.
     Guestbooks are pages that allow visitors to leave notes/messages. Several companies exist that offer free guestbooks. If your pages are at Geocities, they provide you with a guestbook. Other guestbook services are available at such sites as <http://www.lpage.com/>.
     Once you become more proficient at writing web pages, you might want to use forms. A form is created with CGI script. Since forms are an advanced topic, we won’t cover them.
     Frames are used when you separate the single browser screen into two or more smaller screens. This can be most useful when you want a menu to remain on-screen constantly. The problem is that some browsers don’t work with frames. Also, by increasing the number of screens, it decreases the size of each window. On a standard size monitor divided into 3 screens, you might end up with a main window that is 1/4 the size of a full screen. Many sites that use frames also have “twin” sites that do not use frames. You might want to think twice about using them. Since Netscape’s composer programs don’t allow you to create frames easily, you might want to wait till you are more familiar with web pages to consider frames.
     Java is an extension of web page language. It consists of applets (small sections of programming) that can be included with HTML language. Java enables web pages to do “fancy tricks”, like scrolling bars at the bottom, current time clocks, high-level graphics and animation. Since not all browsers support Java, and it takes longer to load, I’d recommend against adding Java applets at first. As you get more familiar with your web pages, and as the sophistication of browsers and computers increases, it may be an area you want to explore in the future.

Let’s just look at a couple of other things before we move on. If you web site will consist of more than a couple of pages, you might want to consider a style sheet. That means that you develop a style and stick with it throughout the site. For example, each page will have the background, style of text, and same navigation buttons at the bottom. It is a good idea to put a menu or navigation buttons on each page. They could have links to the main page, key pages at the site, previous and next pages, e-mail, etc.
Also, as you add information your page will tend to get long, so that the viewer must scroll down to see more information. It is usually a good idea to make the pages as short as possible ... even to the point of fitting everything on one screen. Some people don’t want to bother scrolling down and might miss something at your site. One of the best ways to compress information is to use tables. HTML is not very flexible. If you want to put a paragraph embedded with graphics, a table is the best thing to use.

One final consideration is the width of your page. Although it is common to have your monitor set at a resolution of 600x800 pixels (are perhaps higher), many viewers are still using 480x640 resolutions ... including those who are using WebTV. To make sure your site look okay to the maximum number of viewers, try to keep your information less than 640 pixels or less across.

Uploading Your Pages to the Web Server
Once your web pages are created, you need to copy them to the web space at the server. This is called uploading. If you are composing your page with Netscape, you may want to use the built-in ‘publish’ feature. If you are using web space at places like Geocities or Tripod, they have uploading pages available at their websites. If you are using web space on your ISP, you will need an FTP program.
The two most common programs are CuteFTP <http://www.cuteftp.com/> and WS_FTP <http://www.ipswitch.com/>. Both are available as shareware. You can download them for free, but they request that you send in a registration payment if you continue to use them past the evaluation date. Your web space provider will give you a user ID and password that must be put into the program. Seconds after you upload your pages, you will be able to view them at your site.

V. Features of your site

Information “Out”
     One of the first things you’ll want to do is to post the basic information on your church. You can start with text only and add graphics, music, etc. as you become more familiar with the web. Some types of information you might want to give out are: worship schedule, church groups, mission statement, staff, contact information, church calender, church news, and so on. At first, you might fit everything on one long page. As the site develops, you will probably want to use one page per subject and link them all together.
     Visit a number of Family websites to get an idea of what may be offered. A list of Acadian Surname websites can be found at the Surnames & Researchers page <http://www.acadian-cajun.com/surnamr.htm> at my Acadian-Cajun site.

Information “In”
     You will probably want to include a method for viewers to contact you. Besides listing the mailing address and phone number, you can also give your e-mail address. The simplest way to do this is to create an e-mail link (see above).
     A more complex method is to use forms. Using a form, they just fill in the blanks and it can be automaticallly sent to you. Forms require some knowledge of CGI scripts. This guide will not go into the details, but you can find more information on CGI online or in books.

VI. Miscellaneous

A. Useful sites you may want to link to
      There are a number of sites that you may want to check out. You may want to provide a Links page on your site. A Links page consists of a number of hyperlinks to other websites. A large list of websites related to Acadian-Cajun genealogy & history can be found at the Links page <http://www.acadian-cajun.com/genlink.htm> at my Acadian-Cajun site.

B. Mailing lists
     You can sign up to a variety of mailing lists on various topics. When someone sends in a message to the mailing list, it is sent out to everyone who signed up to the list.
     I have an Acadian-Cajun mailing list at Genweb. Just send an e-mail to majordomo@genweb.net and type subscribe acadian-cajun as the body of the message. To post to the list, send e-mail to acadian-cajun@listserv.northwest.com
    There are also mailing lists for surnames and geographical regions. Both Genweb and Rootsweb have large lists of such mailing lists.

C. For further information
If you need further help or have other questions, please contact me at <hebert@cheerful.com>.