RootsWeb FreePages Banners and XHTML Doctype

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Patricia Geary

UPDATED: February 2013

RootsWeb masthead banners are displayed on all free hosted websites. If you are using the HTML Transitional doctype and your pages already validate, you should experience no problems with the banner validating.

If on the other hand, your account is hosted on any of the Rootsweb servers and you are using the XHTML doctype, your pages will NOT validate because of the banners. Good News, there is a “fix.”To change the banner code so that it will validate if you are using the XHTML doctype create a file named “banner_select” containing only the text: XHTMLNeutral and nothing else. The file should be a plain text file and the file name must NOT include a file extension, i.e. do NOT name it banner_select.txt or banner_select.html

  • Upload the file to your misc_html directory for FreePages server.
  • Upload the file to the public_html directory for www, homepages and virts accounts.

If you are using the File Manager –

  1. Sign in to your account with FileManager
  2. Enter your username and password
  3. Select the misc_html directory for FreePages sites Screenshot RootsWeb File Manager.
  4. Click Enter File Manager
  5. Scroll down to File Upload Utility
  6. Browse to the banner_select file on your computer > Select It
  7. Click Send Files

This will change the banner code for your entire Freepages account, e.g. family_html, genealogy_html, military_html, etc. as well as misc_html. If your system will not allow you to save or upload a file without a file extension, upload the file with the extension as required by your system, then rename the file on the server. File Manager can be used to rename the file without the file extension or your ftp program.

XHTMLNeutral is actually just one of four banners you can choose from; you can use any one of the four following words in your banner_select file to choose different banners.

  • BasicNeutral [the default; it validates as HTML 4.01 Transitional]
  • XHTMLNeutral [validates as XHTML 1.0]
  • BasicGreen or XHTMLGreen [as above, but with green backgrounds]

If you are using one of the specialty banners (USGENWEB WORLDGENWEB CANADAGENWEB, or USGWCENSUS), these have not changed. You will have to decide between the specialty banners and XHTML validation.

Posted in RootsWeb and FreePages | 3 Comments

Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Patricia Geary

This week when I received Dick Eastman’s latest edition of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, I was reminded of a site I had not visited in some time. The Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records website created by Joe Beine for genealogists has been available for some time and is regularly updated.

The site does NOT contain any searchable databases but lists in an easy to use format databases that are available for searching. He also indicates which ones are free and which ones are subscriber based. The listings are arranged by state and the counties within that state. He has included death records, death certificate indexes, death notices & registers, obituaries, probate indexes, and cemetery & burial records. You can see a sample of the types of record listings available for the state of Vermont, one I use quite often in researching my mother’s family line.

Screenshot online death records for Vermont.
Screenshot online death records for Vermont.

Visit Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records

Posted in Genealogy Research Tips | Leave a comment

File Naming Tutorials

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Patricia Geary

An important part of designing your website is the name you give to each of your files. The first part is the actual file name and the last part is the file extension or the format in which it is saved. . The last part is in all probability going to be .htm or .html for the actual pages in your site. Whichever you choose will work but be consistent. Graphic files will have a file extension of .jpg or .gif or .png. Again the extension will depend on the format of the graphic image.

There are some rules you should follow in actually naming your files whether they are graphic files of html files or any other file type for that matter.

Do NOT use special characters in naming your files and do NOT use spaces. File names with spaces are going to appear with a %20 in place of the space.

Example: sarah smiths will.html will appear when viewed in a browser as sarah%20smiths%20will.html.

You should use hyphens – or underscores _ to separate words in file names rather than spaces.

Example: sarah-smiths-will.html or sarah_smiths_will.html.

Do not make your files names excessively long. sarah-smiths-will.html is better than sarah-smiths-last-will-and-testament-march-1792.html

Most web servers are case sensitive so My-File-Name.html and my-file-name.html are two different names. If you get used to using all lowercase letters in naming your files then you have one less thing to worry about.

For most servers your Home Page is going to be named index.html but make sure and check with your particular host on what it should be for your server.

The State Library of North Carolina has created a four-part video tutorial which covers the following:

Part One: Why is file naming important.
Part Two: How to change a file name.
Part Three: What not to do when changing a file name.
Part Four: Best practices for file naming.

All four of the video tutorials can be found on YouTube on the State Library’s channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/statelibrarync. I took the opportunity to watch the entire series and think that it is very well done.

Important Note: If you are working with a web editor like Expression Web or Dreamweaver, do NOT change files names outside of the program or you may break you hyperlinks to those files. Changing file names within the program will keep any links to those files intact.

Posted in Website Design Tips & Tutorials | 2 Comments

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook v 4.0.2

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Patricia Geary

Have you been using FrontPage to design and maintain your genealogy website? Have you been thinking of bringing your website code up to today’s web standards? Expression Web is a professional design tool to help you create standards compliant websites. You can download a sixty day free trial of Expression Web 4.

Pat Geary and Tina Clarke, the authors of this ebook, both of whom have worked with both FrontPage and Expression Web have brought you the tools and tutorials you need to start the migration process.

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web EBook has been revised and updated to cover Expression Web 4 and both Service Packs which have been released for EW4. Along with the EBook we have include a series of Expression Web Queries to help you in the cleanup process and three new DWT web packages which brings the total to fourteen.

The newly revised EBook is on sale for the incredibly low price of $20. until September 31st. After that the price will be $32. You can read more about the EBook and purchase your own copy of  Migrating from FrontPage to Expression EBook version 4.0.2

Posted in EBooks | 1 Comment

Major Revision Sale – Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Patricia Geary

Ready to move from FrontPage to Expression Web? Need some help in getting your site up to web standards? Take advantage of the major revison sale and purchase the Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web EBook for $20. instead of the regular price of $29. This is the lowest price ever for this EBook!

With the advent of Service Packs 1 and 2 for Expression Web 4.0 a major revision of our the EBook was called for. We are adding new material, as well as new templates and a selection of new Expression Web queries as part of the revision.

Expression Web MVP’s Tina Clarke and Pat Geary will give you instructions and tools to get you on the right track. Your purchase of the EBook also gives you access to the owners section of the site which contains additional tips and FREE templates you can use. Purchase of the EBook also gives you free updates for life. Every time the EBook is revised, we send you a mailing to access the updated version. No additional charges apply.

Obtain your Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web EBook NOW and get the updated one when it is released.

You can obtain other free ebooks and free templates at the following sites:
http://any-expression.com/

http://expression-web-tutorials.com/

http://www.genealogy-web-creations.com/

BUY Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web EBook for the lowest price ever $20.


Posted in Announcements, EBooks, Expression Web News | Leave a comment