* Creating a website options

[Jonesy]

I am currently experimenting with creating a website from within Family Historian, and have a few questions.

Using the Ancestor Outline as the primary page type, is it possible to show an individual's date of death, but not the cause of death?

Also, I have a detailed note recorded against by grandfather's record; it's a sort of 'the story of him'. But I only want this note to appear on his own record on the website. However, the note also appears on all his descendant's pages. Can this be surpressed?

[Jane]

I am not clear why you would use an Ancestor Outline as the main report type, this will result in a lot of repeated information.

You can turn off Notes and Attributes on the Report options.

What you might want to consider doing is adding Ancestor outlines just for key people to the Table of Contents rather than using them for everyone's main page.

[Jonesy]

Hi Jane,

Sorry, I should have explained. I'm currently working on creating my own personal website, which will include a family tree page that I've also created.

From that page, will be a link to the nameindex and individuals' pages, created by FH. It's these I'm experimenting with at the moment.

When you say turn off notes, I assume you mean for all records only? And can you specifically turn off a death cause attribute?

[Jane]

Yes for all records, if you really want to you could simply create the page you do want the note on separately and replace the generated one. I still don't understand why you want to use an Ancestor outline for every page. You can add them for a few people and link the from your existing web site while keeping the single pages to link to from them.

[Jane]

If you want to remove the cause of death, you could simply make a copy of your Project and delete all the causes, also don't forget to set all your living and private flags for anyone who needs them.

[tatewise]

Can we just focus on the Publish > Create a Website wizard.
At Step 3 - Choose Report Template what Primary and Secondary Page Types have you chosen?

As Jane says, if you choose Ancestor Outline then there will much repeated detail for every person, unless you reduce the number of Generations to 1.

Yes, the Report Options apply to every record, and can inhibit various classes of Note, but cannot inhibit Death Cause.

For those kinds of tailored adjustments, the only solution is to create a Copy of your Project, then edit that copy to remove specific data, and use the Publish > Create a Website wizard on that edited copy.

[Jonesy]

Can we just focus on the Publish > Create a Website wizard.
At Step 3 - Choose Report Template what Primary and Secondary Page Types have you chosen?

Primary is Ancestory Outline, no Secondary. I'm only using FH to create a name index page, and pages about individuals (obviously - the name index has to point to those pages!). The index.html page created by FH will be replaced with my own creation, so it doesn't matter what's on it.

As Jane says, if you choose Ancestor Outline then there will much repeated detail for every person, unless you reduce the number of Generations to 1.

What would be a better type of page for individuals, to avoid duplication?

[Jane]

Either Individual Summary or Individual Narrative Report or Family Group Sheet. Most people use the default Family Group sheet for Primary and Individual Summary for secondary.

[tatewise]

Yes, that is why there are (for Web, CD or DVD) variants for two of those Reports, which are recommended for websites.

You can also avoid duplication with Ancestor Outline if as I said you set Report > Options > Generations to 1.
What criteria led you to choose Ancestor Outline?
What are your objectives for the Individual report type?

BTW: What features are you adding to your own nameindex.html that the FH version does not have?

[Jonesy]

Thank you both. I'll continue to experiment with different types of report for the individuals' information.

BTW: What features are you adding to your own nameindex.html that the FH version does not have?

Not much; just a menu bar and formatting to match the rest of my website I'm working on.

[dewilkinson]

I have been experimenting with the FH web site creator and my first attempt can be found at:
http://www.wilkinsonransomefamilytree.co.uk/.

I have created a stand alone Home page (index.html) and css file which I have to copy into the FH Web Site folder. I have also customised the menu bar to make it more friendly and I use Notepad++ to replace the lines of code defining the menu bar in all the html pages in one go. I replace four lines and do each line separately. It takes about 30 minutes for the whole process.

[tatewise]

David, take a look at how_to:make_family_tree|> Make a Family Tree CD/DVD or Website especially:

• how_to:make_family_tree:step_8_final_details|> Family Tree Wizard ~ Step 8 – Final Details about the Advanced button, where if script is added to the <body> section, then may only need to delete the FH menu lines.
• how_to:make_family_tree:alter_css_default_styles|> Family Tree Tips ~ Alter CSS Default Styles that says to keep custom scripts in a custom subfolder, as that folder is NOT emptied by Website wizard dialogue, so no need to repeatedly copy them into FH Web Site folder.

Are you aware of the Improve Website or CD DVD HTML Plugin?

[dewilkinson]

Mike,

I have experimented with the advanced button on step 8 of the wizard, but that just inserts code, unless I am missing a trick. What I am using Notepad++ for is replacing code thus to improve the cosmetic look of the menu bar.

Default

Code: Select all

<li><span><a href="index.html">Home</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_contact.html">Contact</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_statistics.html">Statistics</a></span></li>
<li><span class="fhmenuend"><a href="_nameindex.html">Index</a></span></li>

My replacement

Code: Select all

<li><span><a href="index.html">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Home</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_nameindex.html">Index to Everyone</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_contact.html">Contact Details</a></span></li>
<li><span class="fhmenuend"><a href="_statistics.html">Website Statistics</a></span></li>

If there is way to do this replacement in all html files within the wizard I would appreciate any tips on how to do that.

[tatewise]

You are correct that the wizard only inserts HTML code.
Inserting your code including the <div id="menubar"> and </div> below the default menu bar would simplify the Notepad++ action to just deleting the first <div id="menubar"> to </div> and thus be immune to any FH changes.

[DCA]

I was interested to find this topic and I hope this is the right place to add a follow up along similar lines?

I am also trying to change the html code in the "individual" pages created by the website creator. I am revamping and extending my site and the prospect of making individual manual changes to several hundred html pages fills me with dread!

I have looked at the options provided by the website creator, report generator and the "Improve Website or CD DVD HTML" plug in, but they only seem to allow you to tweak or add in the odd bit of code in specific places. This will not serve my purpose

Ideally, what I would like to do is to make some wholesale chages to the"master" code to include a re-write of the menu bar, moving and re-formatting information on the page and (to some pages) adding information and text which is not currently stored on FH. This will include both adding and deleting code. Hopefully, these changes can then be saved and carried through to the website creator finished product, leaving me to just make some minor changes to a few dozen pages, finish off with some adjustments to the .css file and then upload the files.

I have a strong suspicion that it is not going to be possible to access the "master" html file as I can't find it anywhere in the FH programme files, but if anyone has any suggestions or advice I would be extreemly grateful. Thanks in advance.

[tatewise]

You are correct; there is no master HTML file that you can edit.
The only options are to write a Plugin, or use a programmable text editor such as Notepad++, to alter the HTML pages produced by the FH Wizard, OR find some other tool convert the GEDCOM into web pages such as TNG or GedSite.

Globally replacing the menubar code should be quire simple.

Without knowing the specifics, it is difficult to advise about any other changes, and depends on how well versed you are in HTML, CSS, and programming Plugins/Editors.

Whatever you do will need to be repeated every time you use the FH Wizard to update the web pages.

[DCA]

Hi Mike, thanks for your prompt reply.

I am grateful for your confirmation that there is no master HTML file I can change, but I do feel a bit of a fool now , because whilst continuing my trawl through the forum, I have just found a very similar post How do I add links to the menu bar when I create web pages (10783) I made 6 years ago when I was first setting up my website, effectively asking the same question. Jane responded with a link to "Nodesoft - Search and Replace" which I seemed to think worked at the time, so I will have a look at that again. Obviously I am having a senior moment...............!

I am generally ok at HTML and CSS coding, but have never found the time to learn how to write plugins. I'll put it on my "to do" list.

Thanks again

[dewilkinson]

In case it is any help I use Notepad++ to replace lines of html to tidy up my menu bar. As long as the following is done in order it works fine and only takes a few minutes for 1800+ files. I have to do each line replacement separately.

Code: Select all

Original

<li><span><a href="index.html">Home</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_contact.html">Contact</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_statistics.html">Statistics</a></span></li>
<li><span class="fhmenuend"><a href="_nameindex.html">Index</a></span></li>


Change to

<li><span><a href="index.html">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Home</a></span></li>
<li><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="_nameindex.html">Index to Everyone</a></span></li>
<li><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="_contact.html">Contact Details</a></span></li>
<li><span class="fhmenuend">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="_statistics.html">Website Statistics</a></span></li>

[Valkrider]

@dewilkinson

Why all the empty span tags (or is this just poor coding in FH)? They make invalid html. They are intended to add styling to the links but no styling is applied.

Rather than using those &nbsp you would be better off creating a CSS class of left padding and applying that to the elements with your Notepad++ changes. Non-breaking spaces are not reliable on all screen sizes for adding space around an element.

[dewilkinson]

The spans put a nice dividing line in the menu bar in between each item (see image), so they are not redundant, they are also in fact the default that FH generates. I could use padding in the CCS file but just haven't bothered to do it.

Capture.JPG (34.44 KiB) Viewed 11276 times

[Valkrider]

I am sorry but they don't there is no style code in those span tags. Try deleting them and see what displays then. See https://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_span.asp particularly the bit under 'Style and Usage' #2. They need to have a style statement too. It is likely that your li element has the vertical lines in its CSS definition.

[dewilkinson]

I already tried removing the spans and the vertical dividers disappear. I am am happy with what I have and thats that, end of discussion.