The time finally arrived. I spent countless hours on this computer looking at family tree pages from other people and I'd had enough. It was time to create a family tree page of my own.
I used a free program that automatically creates family pages. The work was not too difficult, although it took a little time and patience to figure out what I really wanted. The most useful program was GedPage (on AOL at GedPage or on the Internet at http://www.frontiernet.net/~rjacob/gedpage.htm) which takes a GEDCOM file and --- voila, just like that -- converts it all to a nice, neat Website.
All I had to do was upload to a host site. (Internet providers usually offer Web space for your site. AOL members can go to the keywords of "My Space" to learn more about producing Web pages of their own.)
Having converted and uploaded my site, I found constant little ways to improve upon what was there. I posted about 20,000 names but I wanted to offer something to those who may not have an exact match with my own names or for relatives to discuss further genealogical research.
The ideal way to do this was to put links to the message boards at GenealogyForum.com right on my page. GenealogyForum.com, unlike many other sites, does not clutter its message boards with lots of self-promotional advertising. There are no annoying popup ads and distracting gimmicks like those used by the bigger commercial genealogy sites, so the pages load up cleanly and quickly.
Their message boards are divided by letters of the alphabet, making it simple to add links to a personal site. You can post any surname. It doesn't have to be "listed" somewhere, first. All in all, this was perfect for my family site.
Under each of my own surname categories, I put a link to the particular message board at GenealogyForum.com. Now, my site looks much more sophisticated and offers an incentive for others to return, even if they are not directly related to me! I recommend this to everyone who is creating their own family page. It makes your page a "cut above the rest."
(To see an example of this, go to http://www.matson.info and scroll down to the bottom of the page where the names are listed.)
--Terry Morgan
