Unconfigured Ad Widget

**WendyPusey** · 30-09-11, 09:42

Can't offer any help Elaine. I have my tree on TNG but my son set it all up on his own server, which has other bits and pieces on it, so have no idea as to cost.

I didn't have a clue how to set it up, but he said it was quite easy!

Using the actual family tree part is very easy to use though.

**Elaine ..Spain** · 30-09-11, 09:48

Always useful to have an expert in the family, Wendy!

I'm just hesitant to take the first step! I am very tempted to go with Simply Hosting purely because it has the offer of help with the initial set up.

**jtaubman** · 01-10-11, 08:30

TNG is fairly easy to set up, but you will need reasonable hosting as you need a MySQL database which the really cheap hosting typically does not include. $4.99 a month is pretty good a month. You will also need a Domain name if you don't already have one.

**Caroline** · 01-10-11, 09:49

Originally posted by Elaine ..Spain View Post

I've thought about this for a long time and have decided I am going to go for it - something to keep me busy over the winter months!

I intend to have a go with The Next Generation Sitebuilding software which seems to be one of the most popular around - just hope it's not too complicated and i actually understand what I should be doing.

My concern is the hosting. On TNG website they recommend Simply Hosting- disc space 1000MB - 49.80$ a year. One of the things that appeals is the offer of free TNG installation - something which I may well need some help with!

Would I be paying over the odds here at 50$ year - would I need help with the initial installation or is it reasonably straightforward - should I go with Simply Hosting to start with until I have it set up and then move somewhere cheaper. I've got it in my head that once I have the website set up and online then I should be able to do what I want with it (although I might be a little over confident here!) - it's the initial setting up of the website which is my concern.

Any advice?

I use Simply Hosting. I didn't need their help for installing TNG, but it was good to know they were there in case I did need help. With the extras, I find it very good value and the site has been very reliable. The first two volumes of the FTF magazine are also there in my space using Joomla which you can also install through them. so lots of room!! I also get my domain name from them as at the time it was cheapest that way - and may still be.

If you time it right, you can get a good deal with them - my daughter pays less than me for more, as they happened to have a very good deal when we signed her up!! Setting it all up was straightforward, I just clicked OK at the appropriate moments. Although my TNG template has changed now, you can always stick with their defaults.

**Guy** · 02-10-11, 06:36

The answer depends on whether you can justify the ongoing costs by the initial help you get.
Remember you will carry on paying the fee long after you have stopped needing help.

Rootsweb offer unlimited webspace free of charge, many other providers offer varying amounts of webspace free of charge.

The only person who knows whether you have been overcharged is yourself, is the fee worth the assistance?
Cheers
Guy

**Caroline** · 02-10-11, 06:44

Originally posted by Guy View Post

The answer depends on whether you can justify the ongoing costs by the initial help you get.
Remember you will carry on paying the fee long after you have stopped needing help.

Rootsweb offer unlimited webspace free of charge, many other providers offer varying amounts of webspace free of charge.

The only person who knows whether you have been overcharged is yourself, is the fee worth the assistance?
Cheers
Guy

It depends on whether you are aiming to do more than upload HTML pages.
As jtaubman said above, TNG needs MySQL as does Joomla and its associated software.

**Elaine ..Spain** · 02-10-11, 06:48

Thanks for the comments.
The credit card came out yesterday and I am now running TNG on Simply Hosting.
I took the easy way out and clicked the button which asked Simply Hosting to set it up for me and an email came back within an hour or two that it was up and running.

It's going to be a steep learning curve - I am falling over at the first hurdle at the moment, but that might have something to do with the fact that I was trying to work through things at 10 o'clock last night with a bottle of wine by my side!
Onwards and upwards!

**Raven** · 02-10-11, 11:24

good luck Elaine xxxx

**kiwi** · 20-10-11, 21:13

Elaine, its a pity you dived in so quickly. You missed at least one alternative to TNG which is at least as popular, and has many additional features. That is webtrees (webtrees.net). It also has links to people able to offer installation/maintenance/hosting solutions to help you.

webtrees has one major advantage over TNG, in that it is developed by a strong team of people, rather than the one-man approach of TNG.

**Elaine ..Spain** · 21-10-11, 07:52

I'd not heard of that one Kiwi.
Hopefully your post may benefit other members thinking of creating their own website.

**Eric Hatfield** · 07-11-11, 07:42

I am interested in trying something like this. Did you ever get it up and running?

**Elaine ..Spain** · 07-11-11, 07:53

Yes I did Eric - click on the link in my signature.

Still very early days yet and all I have really done is upload my GEDCOM to it, tidied up the notes which went with it and uploaded a few photos. I am working through the photos on my computer at the moment, doing some photo restoration and getting them into some sort of order before adding those to the site as well.

I am also looking at adding some "notes of interest" to some of the people in the tree - for example where I have found court records, newspaper articles etc. and trying to work out the best way of doing these, e.g. pdf document, adding as jpg/word docs or simply adding the information in the notes.

Once I got started (my initial stumbling block was an email with passwords which ended up in my junk mail!) I found it relatively easy. I used Simply Hosting who installed the software for me and once the GEDCOM was uploaded everything seemed to fall into place.

There is also a very good TNG forum where you can ask for help from the "experts".

I am surprised at how quickly my site has been indexed by search engines and have already had one very useful contact who found me via the web.

**borobabs** · 07-11-11, 12:20

Its looking good Elaine ,,,I like it

**margaretmarch** · 08-11-11, 08:31

Just caught sight of this thread and looked at your website - it's brilliant, well done and what a huge amount of work must have gone into finding all the information. Also good to know it attracts others who are connected and can add to your knowledge.
margaret

**Elaine ..Spain** · 08-11-11, 13:34

Thanks Babs & Margaret.
I'm really a beginner as far as the website is concerned. There are other members who use the same software and have developed things further than I have at present.
Maybe they would like to post links on here so you can have a look at what they have done.

**Eric Hatfield** · 09-11-11, 00:07

Yes, I agree, it is looking very good.

Were there many different pieces of software you could choose from?
Have you found TNG easy to use?
Did you have many choices about page design and site layout, or was this more or less how it came?

(Sorry about all the questions, but it is great to get first hand knowledge, as it will help me greatly.) Thanks.

**Elaine ..Spain** · 10-11-11, 08:47

Originally posted by Eric Hatfield View Post

Were there many different pieces of software you could choose from?
Have you found TNG easy to use?
Did you have many choices about page design and site layout, or was this more or less how it came?

TNG was really the only piece of software I considered seriously - some of the members here have websites created with this and they look good!
I was not aware of webtrees, which Kiwi has mentioned in post #10 - I think I may have considered that as well if I had known about it.

TNG is quite easy to use if you are happy with the basic templates. All I have done so far is upload a GEDCOM file which was exported from Family Tree Maker - and apart from adding a few photos and tidying up the notes sections (to make sure there was nothing there that I didn't want published on the web!) then that's my contribution to it so far - but still a lot more work to do.

There are not many designs to choose from. Go to their webpage - click here - click on the demo tab at the top of the page and select Public interface, you will see templates 1-8 at the top of the page. Clicking on each one will bring up the basic template. I have used template 8. I did modify it very slightly (the menu on the left hand side where is says Mom's side and Dad's side and this did mean having to edit the basic templates which are in gobbledegook code, accessed via the Simple Hosting control panel on the web. A bit scary to do as I really have very little experience with html coding. For anyone who wants to keep it simple, then I would suggest you choose a basic template which you are happy with and which needs no amendments.

**PhotoFamily** · 10-11-11, 13:10

Know anyone who has a collaborative tree online? Are there ways of delegating responsibility to different team members while preserving some tree branches for others?

**Eric Hatfield** · 11-11-11, 10:57

Thanks Elaine, that was very helpful.

Unconfigured Ad Widget

Announcement

Building my own family history website!

Building my own family history website!

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment