A Guide to Publishing Genealogy Web Pages with Legacy
- By Jim Terry
- Technical Support, MyHeritage Ltd.
Generating Web Pages • Forcing Lowercase File Names • Customize Legacy to Automatically View Web Pages • Uploading Your Genealogy Web Pages to the Internet • File Transfer Protocol Utilities
Web Page Samples
Ancestor •
Descendant •
Pedigree •
Family •
Individual
Project tab
Who to Include tab
What to Include tab
Graphics tab
Formatting tab
Title Page tab
Links tab
Misc. tab
- Legacy has the most comprehensive Personal Web Page Creation system of any family
history program. It lets you choose between five different styles of Web pages including:
Ancestor Book, Descendant Book, Pedigree, Family Group and Individual. The Pedigree style
creates a vertical pedigree chart that can be navigated with the mouse. All styles include
a Table of Contents, Name Index and content pages that are extremely customizable. All
individuals are extensively cross-linked between all pages.
Legacy also allows custom HTML embedding for advanced users who want to add buttons and other features. Web pages can include links to other sites and downloadable GEDCOM files.
The first step in getting your genealogy on the Internet is to generate your family history Web pages. The second step is to upload those pages to your Web site. This guide will walk you through these steps using the Kennedy database (sample.fdb) and uploading to the Internet using a utility called WS_FTP Pro.
1. Open the sample genealogy database. From the Legacy Toolbar, click on Internet and select "Create Web Pages."
2. A Web Page Creation dialog screen appears with tabs for Project, Title Page, Who to Include, What to Include, Formatting, Links, Miscellaneous, and Graphics. On the right side are radio buttons for selecting your Web page style: Ancestor, Descendant, Pedigree, Family Group or Individual. Choose the style you want.
3. Click the "Project" tab." The Project Name is the name of the folder where your Web pages will be saved. You can give your home page a customized title as well as a title for each subsequent page. If you have a street or e-mail address, include it on this tab. You can also customize your introduction here.
4. Next click the "Who to Include" tab. By default the starting person is the current (highlighted) individual in Family or Pedigree View. The options available vary with the Web page style you choose. If you are creating Ancestor or Descendant style Web pages, you can choose a different starting person by clicking the Charge button and selecting a new person from the Name List. You will also be able set the number of generations to be included. If you are creating Pedigree, Family Group or Individual stype Web pages, you can include everyone in your family file by selecting the first radio button. To include specified individuals, families, or lines, mark the "Selected Records in the Focus Group" radio button, click the View/Select Focus Group button, and make your choices.5. Next click the "Other" tab. Check the items you want on your Web pages. Check the Suppress details for Living people option to ensure personal information about you and other living individuals is not included. If you wish to include a GEDCOM file, click the Select button and locate it on your drive.
6. Next click the "Graphics" tab. Select the kind of background, buttons, arrows and dividers you want on your page.
7. Next click the "Formatting" tab and select the way you want names and headings to appear on pages and in the index. Case for File Names: It is strongly advised that you select the option to "Convert to lower case letters" file names of your pages and graphics. This option, plus the FTP utility option to force filenames to lower case at the time you upload your completed web pages, will help make sure that all your links work. This is important because some web servers are case sensitive and any slight variation in case will result in broken links. (See Forcing Lower Case Filenames.)
8. Next click the "Title Page" tab and select an image.
9. Next click the "Links" tab and add the address to your home page. This tab lets advanced users customize the links on the top and bottom of each page.
10. Lastly click the "Misc". tab and add information that will help Internet search engines, like Altavista and Yahoo, index your site. Adding information here is important if you want others to be able to find your Web pages. In the keywords box you may want to list all of the surnames you are researching (e.g. Alden, Allerton, Brewster, Mullins, Warren).
11. Now that you have selected who and what to include, the style, formatting and graphics, you can store these options by clicking Save button. They can be reloaded later when updating your Web pages.
12. To generate your Web pages click the Create Web Pages button. If you have customized Legacy for your Internet browser, you can see what your Web pages look like as soon as they are created. (See Customizing Legacy to Automatically View Your Web Pages.)
Uploading Your Genealogy Web Pages to the Internet
1. Before you try putting your Web ages on the Internet, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP will make certain that you have server space for your pages and will tell you what directory to use.
2. The are many utilities for transferring files over the Internet. One of the easiest to use is WS_FTP Pro which is available at www.wsftp.com on the Internet. (See File Transfer Protocol Utilities.)
3. Start WS_FTP. The initial screen will look similar to the sample below:
4. Click the New button. In the New Site/Folder dialog box select FTP Site and enter the name of Internet address. This can be the host name. Click the Next button.
5. Enter the host name in the Host Name dialog box. Check with your ISP if you are uncertain what to put here. Click the Next button.
6. In the Logon Information dialog box enter your User ID and Password. Click the Finish button.
7. You will be returned to first WS_FTP screen. Make sure the connection setup you just created appears in the list and is highlighted. Click the OK button.
8. In a few moments, you will connect to your Internet site. The left half of the WS_FTP window shows the folders on your computer. The right half of the WS_FTP shows the folders on your Web server.
In the left window you will need to browse to C:\LEGACY\WEB\ to find the pages you generated. The folder will have the project name you entered earlier. Web pages are the files the have a .htm extension. Pictures have either a .gif or .jpg extension.
9. Click the Options button and set WS FTP to force lower case file names. (See Forcing Lower Case Filenames Filenames.)
10. Highlight the files on your computer (left window) that you want to transfer to the web server (right window). Click the right arrow button in the center.
11. When the transfer is complete close the WS_FTP Pro window. If you have difficulty, contact your ISP.
1. Check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) if you have questions about upper/lowercase filename requirements.
2. When selecting options for creating Web pages, make certain to uncheck the Uppercase All Filename References box (Internet, Create Web Pages..., Formatting tab, Convert to Lower Case Letters option).
3. Most FTP utilities have an option to force lowercase filenames at time of transfer. (For example, with WS_FTP click the Options button, select Sessions Options, check the box to Force Lowercase Filenames, and click Save.)
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Customize Legacy to Automatically View
Your Web Pages
You can customize Legacy Family Tree to display your Web pages in your Web browser as soon
as they are created. Here are the steps:
1. Start Legacy. From the menu bar select Options and from the Options Menu select Customize… .
2. From the Customize dialog box, click the Launch tab.
3. The top line of the Launch tab asks "Which Web Browser would you like to use with Legacy?" Click the Change button.
4. In the Default Browser dialog box, find the folder where your browser is located. Highlight the browser's executable file in the left window and click the OK button. (For example if you have Internet Explorer, the Browser field will now show the path and name C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\IEXPLORE.EXE.)
5. Click the Save button to exit the dialog box.
6. When you finish creating Web pages you will get a message box that asks you "Would you like to view the Web pages in your browser?" If you click the Yes button, you can immediately view what your pages will look like when uploaded to the Internet.
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File Transfer Protocol Utilities
The following FTP utilities are available from the Internet by downloading. This list does
not constitute an endorsement by Legacy Family Tree and is provided only for your
convenience.
3D-ftp (www.3dftp.com)
Awesome program at a great price. This is our favorite and the one we use to maintain our LegacyFamilyTree.com website. A 30 day evaluation download is available so you can try it out.CuteFTP (www.cuteftp.com)
Evaluation version of this popular Windows client with drag and drop, broken download resume and more. Some features disabled after 30 days.
WS-FTP (www.ipswitch.com)
Very popular FTP program for Windows. Download a free trial version from the producers.
Additional FTP programs can be found at www.thefreesite.com/Free_Software/FTP_freeware/ .
Jim Terry works for Legacy Family Tree and Skagit Valley College (Whidbey Campus), where he teaches beginning computers and computer genealogy. He is a former professional genealogist and public relations practitioner.