I have been contacting quite a few family members lately to ask for family information for my tree. Many of then have been great about passing on the information and even finding other information I never asked for and lots have been really interested in seeing the information I have.
I have been looking at Ancestry, My Heritage or even putting it on my own website (although that may be too much hassle the moment). My question is what one would you recommend to put up some basic family information? Something like name, birth, death and marriage. I would obviously want to keep dates private for living people, but be able to show them to family members. I have asked anyone on the tree for permission to put up this information, so no issues there (to be honest most of them put more information on their Facebook page ).
Also what is the best way to do this? I know FH doesn't do this automatically (like FTM does with Ancestry) but I presume I would have to make a gedcom with the information I want and upload it and then at a later date delete that one and upload an updated one. Or is there another easier way?
There is an article in the knowledgebase about most of the options for getting your data online.
I have two websites as linked in my signature. One uses my own Wordpress plugin the second uses a custom query in FH the result of which I save as a CSV file that I upload to the site, this just displays BMD information in a table and this may be more like you are after.
You are talking about online Family Trees that are offered not only by Ancestry and My Heritage but also FindMyPast and ZoomPast and others, which are mostly free with no subscription required. TNG is another option.
See fhugdownloads:website|> Downloads and Links ~ Website Generators for further details. ZoomPast is very novel & safe.
They are largely unlimited in size but do NOT support automatic bulk upload of Media images.
The exception is MyHeritage that does bulk upload Media, but its free version limits the number of Individual records.
The how_to:exporting_gedcom_with_multimedia|> Exporting a Family Tree with/without Media explains the process of exporting via GEDCOM, removing sensitive data for living people, and using the Export Gedcom File Plugin to convert the GEDCOM to a dialect accepted by the target product.
An alternative is to use the built-in FH Publish > Make a Family Tree CD/DVD wizard that produces web browser pages of FH Reports connected by hyperlinks, and can include Diagram images, etc, etc.
The output can be saved on a CD or a USB stick and sent through the post to play on a Windows PC or Apple Mac.
Alternatively, the FH Publish > Create a Website wizard is very similar but intended for uploading online.
There are many examples of what is possible in links:family_historian#family_historian_version_6|> Member Web Sites > Family Historian Version 6.
See how_to:make_family_tree|> Make a Family Tree CD/DVD or Website for further details.
When you have reviewed some of the options you will no doubt have more questions.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
I pretty much knew about all of the options (although hadn't heard of Zoompast), I was looking for advice on what ones were best/easiest from peoples experience of using them. I just want the information there so that some of my relatives can look at their family using their tablet, laptop or phone without too much hassle for them. This was why I thought online (Ancestry, MyHeritage etc) rather than sending a file via email or post.
Sorry, it was not clear you were aware of all the online options.
When you ask about ease of using them, do your mean uploading GEDCOM or from other family members' perspective?
You also asked: what is the best way to do this? that I tried to answer.
One consequence of using Ancestry or FindMyPast is they have many T & C that give them rights to your data so privacy is an issue, and they try and encourage involvement with other trees and their online records via 'hints'.
Whereas ZoomPast has no such axe to grind so the data remains relatively private and I find its 'fish eye' method of navigating trees fascinating.
The main drawback from all those is the lack of Media images, unless you take time to upload by hand, but that must largely be repeated when you upload a new GEDCOM.
However, if you can save Media images online somewhere, ZoomPast will accept Media linked by URL and display them automatically, which makes uploading new GEDCOM much easier.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
I asked for recommendations and then asked what was the best way to upload the information (GEDCOM) or was there an easier way.
Your answer pretty much answers my question. I'll have a look at ZoomPast and then do it once including media for those who have helped so far. Hopefully I will have got to where I want to be and in a position to do a more final version on my own website (or where ever I decide) for the others who hopefully help with the rest. My tree is mostly back as far as it can go without some luck and a fair wind, so it is mainly padding out some of the more recent family, like some long lost aunt's and uncle's children and grand children.
I know GEDCOM upload doesn't make a navigable website, Unless of course you go down the Ancestry etc route. I haven't decided how I will finally keep my tree online or if I will. I may have a website similar to yours, Jane's or Colin's, I may decide FH is not the way to go and change to FTM or RM and put it all on Ancestry constantly updating. I just don't know where I will end up, maybe FH7 will have a few little gems hidden inside that solve all of the questions I have ever had on here, who knows.
I was only looking for a way to put the information online at the moment because some relatives wanted to see the tree. Let's face it if Ancestry hadn't decided to bin FTM I would probably still have been there with my tree on Ancestry, looking for solutions to other questions that FH does and FTM doesn't .
We don't want to lose you, but presumably you know that FTM is available for Ancestry but from Software MacKiev?
Regarding own websites, those three use three quite different methods:
Mine uses the FH Publish > Create a Website wizard and my Improve Website ... Plugin;
Jane uses The Next Generation (TNG) and WordPress;
Colin uses Wordpress and Tablepress;
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
I have no intention of leaving FH, I was really only saying I didn't know what I would be doing with my tree in the future especially re putting it online. I picked the three sites because they all looked different and I presumed they were built in a different way.
I have said a few times before I came to FH after Ancestry announced it was dumping FTM so I still have a copy of FTM 2014.1 by Mackiev. Then again I did put the redo of my tree on hold expecting FH7 to have shown its head by now, so moving wouldn't be an issue anyway . I do wish companies wouldn't announce new programs are in the offing when they are obviously nowhere near ready RM8 and FH7 being the latest examples, I could have had my redo done by now.
@jelv, the https://wiki.webtrees.net/en/Main_Page refers to https://wiki.webtrees.net/w/images-en/Ged551-5.pdf.
That is the GEDCOM Standard Draft Release 5.5.1 dated 2 October 1999 and has been superseded by a full release dated 15 November 2019, see fhugdownloads:contents:gedcom_standard_release_5.5|> Utility ~ GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5 and 5.5.1.
FH primarily uses GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5 (not 5.5.1) so you will need to use the Export Gedcom File Plugin with Export Mode: (Sdr) Standard GEDCOM Draft 5.5.1 (the word Draft will be removed in the next version of the Plugin).
That will not only produce the correct dialect of GEDCOM but also suitably formatted Media.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
William,
Take a look at tribalpages.com. As you can see from my signature below, I have two trees on there.
A basic tree is free, and a quick look on the site will give an idea of costs of other versions, each with various limitations.
The FH export plugin will allow you to export a gedcom from FH, which is suitable for uploading to the Tribalpage site.
There are three levels of security on each tree, ideal for sharing and collaboration with friends and relatives.
Security levels are:
1. Available to everyone for Viewing, with all living indiviiduals hidden.
2. Anyone with this level access, can View everyone, including living individuals.
3. Administration level. Anyone with this level can View and Edit the underlying data.
The GEDCOM dialect supported by TribalPages is not very comprehensive.
See plugins:help:export_gedcom_file:tpt_tribalpages_tree|> Export Gedcom File ~ (TPT) TribalPages Tree.
A great many fields are not supported, such as Age, Address, Cause, Custom Id, and Period & Interpreted Date fields. Media are not uploaded.
The biggest omission is multiple instances of facts such as Census, Occupation, Residence, etc.
So only the 1st occurrence of such facts are uploaded, unless you use the Export Gedcom File Plugin that synthesises custom Events for the 2nd and subsequent instances.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
FH primarily uses GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5 (not 5.5.1) so you will need to use the Export Gedcom File Plugin with Export Mode: (Sdr) Standard GEDCOM Draft 5.5.1 (the word Draft will be removed in the next version of the Plugin).
That will not only produce the correct dialect of GEDCOM but also suitably formatted Media.
Yes, I used the Export Gedcom File plugin. The media I directly transferred from the FH media directory to the website server and used the option (FILE~REL) Multimedia via Relative Link Records. It's all working properly - just slowly, particularly when viewing charts.
Websites will be a bit further down the road for me. As I said earlier I am just looking to put up some basic information for some of my relatives to have a look at. Thanks very much for the suggestions though, I will keep them in mind for later, once I complete the re-do of my tree. Hopefully in FH7 although I think that is more wishful thinking at the moment, so I may make a start now and make any changes once it is released.
I have discovered that Geneanet https://en.geneanet.org/ is very good at displaying a Gedcom file, especially the individual "profile" which displays in a similar but better "comprehensive" manner (no jumping around to find all the bits of info) to the original Rootsweb WorldConnect.
This aspect of the site is free and you can invite others to view. The only downside is that unlike Rootsweb they have to subscribe, but again that is free.
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