Hosting your writing online

[Caroline]

The best reason for putting your family history online is for the very reason that you look up your surname on google (other search engines are available).

Lots of us have online trees but not as many of us have started putting our writing online. A blog is the quickest way, as you don't need to sort out the whys and wherefores of hosting and until you run out of space, it can be free!

The best of both worlds is to have your tree and writing together - you can always just put in a link to your pubic online tree or you could use TNG (see below) to present your tree alongside your own wordpress.org site.

Some software will create an instant online report for you which you can copy and paste over to your blog. There are many possibilities, but hopefully these suggestions will give you inspiration.

Best blog sites

The best free blogging sites - includes hosting your own website and paid blogging sites

How to choose the best blogging platform


These platforms all have a limited free usage then use a subscription feature for more bells and whistles.

Blog/website

Blogger

Weebly

Wix

Wordpress


Online magazine style

AnyFlip: Flipping Book Publishing Platform

FlipHTML5

Issuu

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The Next Generation Software (TNG) has the facility for adding stories to the people in your online TNG family tree which you upload from your own GEDCOM. You do need to organise and pay for your own web space etc. but there is lot of advice and help available.

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[Caroline]

Getting started

General advice about starting a blog/website and some specific advice about how and why to start your own site for family history.

How to start a blog

How Do I Start Blogging?

Start a great blog

7 Important Reasons Why (and How) to Start a Family History Blog

How to present your work – build a family tree website (by Paulc for Family Tree magazine)

[Caroline]

https://familyscrybe.com/ - launched at (RootsTech 2020 - Feb 26th to 29th). Blog to be launched later in 2020.

[Caroline]

Using the FTF Blog

N.B. The same restrictions apply for posting details about living people if you are using the FTF blog.

How to Guide: How to Create a Blog

Blog FAQ


While working on your blog, you will want to save it as a draft. Once it is ready for everyone to read, you will need to publish it.

Publishing a draft entry


To allow the Blog to be seen by search engines or outside FTF, you need to check your settings.

MySettings > Scroll right down the left hand menu > Blog

Blog settings - they are also accessible from the Blog menu bar.


You need to ensure that the bottom one in your blog settings is left empty please!

Guests may... View your blog... YES
Guests may...Leave comments on your blog entries... NO

It's up to you if you allow other members to leave comments.

[Caroline]

Copyright and sources

We need to be careful about copyright issues wherever we post our work, but especially on here if using our Blog where the same Ts and Cs apply to using images or text or data from anywhere.

For example, with respect to Ancestry Content, and they are all much the same, you have agreed:

To keep all copyright and proprietary notices on any Ancestry Content you download or print; and
Not to distribute, republish, or sell significant portions of any Ancestry Content.
Ancestry Terms and Conditions: UsageWe decided to keep it simple and so Our Ts and Cs state:

It is your responsibility to ensure you comply with and respect others' copyright when posting, adding attachments or linking to external media. If we are contacted by a copyright holder in respect of an infringement, the offending material will be removed, and action taken in line with our Forum Abuse Policy. We also reserve the right to remove without warning material we believe to have been posted in breach of copyright law.

Good practice for using images and quoting from other publications - always credit the copyright owner or author.

Copyright, the Internet and Why It Matters to You (US based but includes clear advice)

British Library: What is copyright?

The laws vary around the world, but:

1. If in doubt, best not to use at all.

2. Even pictures from wikipedia/wikimedia need a caption - the wording will be given there.

3. Census returns, certificates, wills should be cropped and have a caption. For the magazine we would add the copyright message in the caption, so "Image subject to Crown Copyright" or "@Crown copyright".

4. Cite your sources - you could use superscript numbers but it's easier just to list them at the foot of your article.

There are many examples in the FTF Online Magazine.