Useful Genealogical Programs and Resources on the
Web
Setting up an ancestry file on the web
I started and have continued to construct my ancestry file as a file on
the
Online Family Tree (OFT)
at
Ancestry.Com (go to
http://ancestry.com/oft/ to start
a new file). OFT has a nice interface for entering information
over the web, with convenient provision for adding entries for
children, parents or spouses of an individual already in the
file. For individual entries, you can add notes and some source
information, but the number of field variables available
is much more limited than in the full gedcom specification.
A great convenience of using OFT is that you can access and update your
file from
anywhere you have access to the web.
You can upload a gedcom to OFT to get started, or simply create a new
(empty) file. If you wish, you may later "publish" your file
(that is, to make its
enties accessible to search using the
Ancestry
World Tree (AWT) search
engine). You may also download a "complete" copy of your gedcom
file to
your personal computer in gedcom format.
I "publish" my ancestry file on Rootsweb instead of OFT
because there is more freedom in the formatting the pages.
Ancestry
files in gedcom format can be uploaded to
Rootsweb.Com
(go to
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igmuser.cgi
to start). Rootsweb allows you to define a more
informative name associated with the file (the User Code), and to enter
a header, home page link, and footer that appear on each page of
your
ancestry file that is displayed. This allows you to provide a
link or two and
important information about your ancestry file. My routine is to
periodically update the OFT file with new information, download it to
my personal
computer, and then upload it to Rootsweb.
All the above are entirely free.
Other resources
GeneWeb. A free
program for examining gedcom files that has a Web interface.
GeneWeb has a great graphical interface, is fast, and has many useful
features. It allows entry of ancestral information in many
gedcom fields, although I have little experience using it for data
entry.
It is available from
http://cristal.inria.fr/~ddr/GeneWeb/en/.
Features include a variety of formats for listings of ancestors or
descendants, listings of surnames (or first names) by frequency of
occurence, and convenient calendars of birth, marriage and death
dates.
GenSmart. A nifty $25
program that checks a gedcom file and makes suggestions for web and
library resources to be checked for more information. The web
resources have links. There
is an impressive interface, it's lightening fast, and keeps a record of
tips you have checked. I especially use it to check that I
have searched all available census data for individuals, and have
discovered quite a
few overights.
KStableau. A free and
easy to use program to generate
elegant
graphical tables of ancestors or descendants of an individual in HTML
format for the web. Input is a gedcom file. Individuals in
the table are linked to basic information shown in a separate
frame. Available at
http://www.home.zonnet.nl/kstableau/.
Using program defaults, KStableau tables don't look nice on sites such
as Rootsweb.com because
banner advertisements inserted as headers or footers overlap table
placement. However, programmer Tom de Neef
provided quick advice for a fix to avoid those pesky banners.
Display using Internet Explorer works better than Netscape. There
is no problem displaying tables on sites that don't have ads.
Archives
Ancestry.Com. I invested
in an annual
subscription that gives access to US census images, US
records and historical newspapers. The subscription costs roughly
$190 and provides
immediate access to an enormous data archive. It's
great to have so much information available in one place. I use it
frequently and think it's great.
Ancestry
file:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/
Documents:
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/
Photos:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/
History links:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/
Comments appreciated; please contact Gary S.
Collins at
garyscollins(at)gmail.com.
Gary S. Collins, 11 March 2008. My main
page of
links is at http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~garyscottcollins/