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Bill Garland, email garlandw@mcmaster.ca.

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While I have made every effort to provide accurate and complete information, mistakes can and do happen. I provide no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of furnished data. Information presented on this website is considered public information (unless otherwise noted) and may be distributed or copied provided full attribution is given. I welcome suggestions on how to improve the web site and correct errors.

This entire site is subject to Copyright 1997-2020© William J. Garland garlandw@mcmaster.ca

DIY: Setting up your own web site

It's not that difficult. Here's the deal.

You use your browser (a glorified file viewer) to read text files that have html code (ie special tags) imbedded in them. The browser expects to see certain tags that tell the browser how to format the text. Example:

< HTML > 
< HEAD > 
<TITLE> I Type My Title Here </TITLE> 
< /HEAD > 

< BODY >
I can type whatever I like here, and it will be displayed on my web page.
</BODY >
</HTML>

There are many html editors that make the job easy. I use DreamWeaver but I started with HomeSite and I still use it for detail work.

The browser treats <xxx> as a command and interprets it to toss back something to your screen. The browser can read files on your hard disk or look to the web and look at files on hard disks on some other machine. That's where the internet comes in, it is the electronic highway for email, the web, chat groups, etc, as you already know. The service provider is just a company that has a computer running some software (often Apache, a Linux based product) that allows access to the files over the internet. If you put ( ie post or upload) your files there, then I can look at those files with my browser. This is such a great device for sharing genealogical information. So the jobs at hand are:

1. get a service provider to host your html files
2. prepare your html files on your own computer
3. put your files on the service provider computer for public viewing

Most likely your email provider offers a few megabytes of space for free.

There is a great web site at Web Pages for Absolute Beginners [link no longer works]. Using Windows 95/98 and Microsoft Internet Explorer, these pages will show you how to make your own web pages using HTML code. All you need is Windows 95 or 98 and a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape. You don't need any other software /programs They are designed for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS but may also be used as a reference by anyone else! I have captured this site as a pdf file(538 kb), which you may fine useful for study purposes. that takes you through the whole process painlessly. It is written for the beginner. Extremely well done. Another great source of info is Cyndi's Genealogy Home Page Construction Kit, which is part of Cyndi's List, a very comprehensive list of links on all aspects of genealogy.

Now, after you are happy with the above, you will understand the process that I use to make a web site. It is the above but I have to first prepare my content. In this case, the content is stored in my database and I need to get it into a form that the browser can handle. Here's what I do for this genealogy site (when I really should be cleaning up the basement!):

1. update my genealogy database (I use Brother's Keeper)
2. save my database to GEDCOM format
3. use GED2WEB to automatically create the online database (a big bunch of inter-related html files)
4. edit my main html files using DreamWeaver as needed, for instance, adding a few lines to my What's New page
5. create pdf files of reports and such from BK or wherever as needed using Adobe Acrobat (great for getting masses of info from any application that prints to paper into an electronic form - basically you print to a pdf file that is readable on line by the Adobe Reader, which the browser can launch - life is never simple!)
6. upload the files to my web site via FTP (part of Dreamweaver but exists as a separate program as well)

It's not that bad once you get into it. Take it one step at a time. Make a simple html page and post it to your service provider's machine. That is the biggest psychological step. The rest is detail.