Working With RootsWeb FreePages Accounts EBook

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Patricia Geary

 

Working With RootsWeb FreePages Accounts

Working With RootsWeb FreePages Accounts

RootsWeb houses tens of thousands of websites for the genealogy community with FreePages hosting many personal genealogy sites. Once you have requested your free space and received your welcoming email, it is sometimes hard to know exactly where to start. Working With Rootsweb FreePages Accounts brings together some of the tutorials I have written on using your website space on the RootsWeb FreePages server. It explains not only how your account is set up but gives you tips on how to best use that space to create your site. The FREE EBook is available in pdf format for you to view and/or print.

Contents of the FREE EBook include:

  • Introduction
  • Getting Started with RootsWeb FreePages
    • Request Your Account
    • Username and Password
    • Getting Started On Your Site
      • Planning and Organizing your Site
      • HTML
      • FTP
      • Naming Your Pages
    • Summary and Resources
  • Understanding YOUR FreePages Account Structure
    • Setting up Your site on YOUR Computer
    • Publishing Your Sites
  • Using FileZilla
    • Configuring Site Manager
    • Publishing Using FileZilla
    • Additional Resources
  • Using RootsWeb File Manager
    • File Upload Utility
    • Personal Observation
  • Using Rootsweb Online Editor
    • Creating Your Web Page
    • Previewing Your Web Page

Download your copy of  Working With Rootsweb FreePages Accounts

Related Post:

Planning a Genealogy Website EBook 2nd Edition

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A Guide to Website Design Patterns

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Patricia Geary

A good navigation system is a MUST for any website, especially a genealogy website.
The larger your site, the better the navigation should be. Six Revisions, a blog
for web developers and web designers had a very insightful post by Cameron Chapman
titled Guide to Website Navigation Design Patterns. The article covers covers popular site
navigation design patterns. For each of the navigation design patterns, he discusses
what they are, the characteristics of each, when to use each one and the drawbacks
of each one.

Top Horizontal Bar Navigation

The top horizontal bar navigation is one of the two most popular kinds of site
navigation menu used. It is most often used as the primary navigation for a site
and is most commonly located either directly above or directly below the masthead
or banner of the site. The top navigation bar is sometimes paired with a drop-down
menu which reveals a second-level child navigation menu when an item is hovered
on.


Example of Top Bar Navigation.

When to Use Top Horizontal Bar Navigation

Top horizontal bar navigation is good for sites that only need to display a limited
number of items in the main navigation. It is the only option for single column
layouts. If the top horizontal bar navigation is combined with drop-down sub-navigation,
the the navigation bar can accommodate more links as in the site shown above. Continue reading →

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Planning a Genealogy Website EBook 2nd Edition

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Patricia Geary

 

 

Planning a Genealogy Website EBook 2nd Edition.

Planning a Genealogy Website EBook 2nd Edition

Just released, Planning a Genealogy Website 2nd Edition by Pat Geary Microsoft MVP Expression Web is a FREE 42 page EBook. The EBook is a great resource for anyone who is interested in creating a genealogy website especially if you are using RootsWeb hosting. It has been revised and updated with several entirely new sections. The Table of Contents is listed below. This Ebbok is FREE and my gift to the genealogy community.

Table of Contents

  • About the Author – Pat Geary
  • Planning a genealogy website?
    • Phase One: Gathering Information
      • Purpose of Your Web Site
      • Audience for your Web Site
      • Content of a Genealogy Web Site
    • Phase Two: Planning
      • Organizing Your Genealogy Web Site
      • Phase Three: Design
    • Phase Four: Development
      • Choose Your Web Editor
    • Phase Five: Testing and Publishing
      • Testing Your Site
      • Hosting your site
      • Publishing Your Site
    • Phase Six: Maintenance
    • Additional Articles
    • FreePages Resources
  • Organize your genealogy website
  • Creating a New Website
    • A few things to remember before we get started
    • Genealogy Templates and Graphics
    • Create a new website
    • Before publishing your site
  • Customizing Your Web Site
    • Using custom 404 pages
    • Use include files for repeating content
    • Create a site map
    • Include a consistent footer
    • Use a consistent navigation system
    • Add a Search Box
    • Link to your Genealogy Database at WorldConnect
  • Publishing your Genealogy Website
    • Publishing to RootsWeb or FreePages servers
    • Using FileZilla to Publish to RootsWeb Servers
      • Configuring Site Manager
        • General Tab
        • Advanced Tab
        • Transfer Settings
        • Charset Tab
      • Publishing Using FileZilla
      • Additional Resources
  • Maintaining Your Genealogy Website
    • Keeping Your Site Up-to-Date
    • Helpful Links
  • RootsWeb WorldConnect Project
    • Searchable Databases
    • What is a GEDCOM file?
    • Creating a GEDCOM file
    • Submitting Your Family Tree
      • Standard Setup Form Options
      • Advanced Setup Form Options
    • Accessing WorldConnect for Editing
    • Adding some style to your Family Tree
      • Header Code
      • Footer Code
    • Displaying Images and Hyperlinks within WorldConnect Databases
    • Configure Your WorldConnect Settings
      • Adding Photographs and Hyperlinks to GEDCOM Files
    • Resources
  • Getting Started with RootsWeb FreePages
    • Request Your Account
    • Getting Started On Your Site
  • Using RootsWeb File Manager
    • Using the File Upload Utility

The tutorials are based on those first published on my website Genealogy Web Creations website design for the genealogist. The take you through planning your site, designing it, publishing it, maintaining it and adding some extras to the pages. Many of the tutorials are geared towards those hosting their sites on any of the RootsWeb server BUT they will work with any hosting account.

Download your FREE copy of Planning a Genealogy Website 2nd Edition in pdf format. format and zipped for easier download. You will need the free Adobe Reader to view the EBook.

Posted in EBooks | 3 Comments

Seven Super Quick Tips for Beginner and Amateur Web Designers

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Patricia Geary

Web design is a tricky art that combines both the creative and the analytical skill sets to create something unique and visually compelling. At the end of the day, good web design is more than the sum of its parts. Beginner and amateur designers may think that web design consists of finding a web host that’s reliable and simply uploading a pre-designed template, but there’s more to it than that, much much.

The above is the introduction to a post that recently appeared online at speckyboy Design magazine.  I thought it appropriate for this blog since it deals with beginning web design which many genealogists are trying to do. It does not matter whether you are hosting your site on RootsWeb servers or are paying for hosting somewhere. These seven tips offer some good advice.

  1. Site Navigation – One of the most important aspects of designing your site is the site navigation. Your menu should appear on evey page of your site as who knows where you visitor will enter – maybe by a side door rather than the front door. Can he or she get to other parts of your site or only back to the Home Page. Spend some time thinking about and designing your Site Navigation.
  2. Typography - Eye catching fonts that are not distracting allow you to do a lot with a little. Don’t overdo it with too many font changes or use fonts that you viewer may not have on their computer.
  3. Page Layout – A clean and well organized layout will keep your visitors from getting lost and confused. Spend some time organizing your site with plain old paper and pencil before you actually start the design process.
  4. User Interaction
  5. The Color Palette -Color selection can make a big difference when it come to designing an attractive website. Choosing colors that go well together and compliment your design can take time but it is well worth it in the long run.
  6. Page Optimization – Speed and responsiveness are both a front-end and a back-end issue. Everything on your site does not have to appear on the Home page. Make sure you use good search engine optimization techniques when building your pages.
  7. Overall Focus and Goals -  Ask yourself what your site is trying to accomplish and what message you want to communicate to your audience, and you’ll have a better idea of how to proceed.

You can read Seven Super Quick Tips for Beginner and Amateur Web Designers in its entirety.

Posted in Website Design Tips & Tutorials | 2 Comments

Install multiple web designer based apps with one click

Posted on June 29, 2010 by Patricia Geary

Thanks to Chris Hanscom of Unhandled Perception for making me aware of this neat program, Ninite Easy PC Installer

Ninite lets you pick your favorite software from among an extensive list (Web browsers, messaging, media, images, documents, security, runtimes, file sharing, utilities, compression, developer tools and more), creates a batch installer for them and then installs them for you automatically.

Install multiple apps at once without toolbars or clicking Next. It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3!

  1. Pick your favorite software below.
  2. Click “Get Installer” and run it.
  3. You’re done!

Since I had just purchased a new desktop computer and still had some setting up to do, I decided to give it a try. Worked perfectly and saved lots of time.

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