MyHeritage.com

[Jean Price]

Hello All,

Is anyone on RootsChat using this web site?

I have read and re-read the posts on Rootschat Free Webspace, but decided that I would rather research than learn programming.

It would cost me approx NZ$60 per year, but with any luck I could get other family members to contribute to the cost.

I am also getting quite paranoid about keeping my data safe. Will it be safe on a web site? (By safe, I mean, will it always be there? On this site you can make everything private, and invite whomever you wish to join. So I do not mean name collectors).

Even though I do all sorts of back ups, I still worry that the CDROM or USB/UBS will fall over. And my paper back up is years behind.

Any suggestions most welcome.

Regards,
Jean

[suttontrust]

There are lots of sites like this now, many of them free.  The usefulness is in being able to edit the data easily and share it with others; and it also provides an online back-up of one's tree.  No website is permanent, but to my mind it's well worth doing.

[kerryb]

I guess at the end of the day Jean it comes down to personal choice.  A lot of the big websites such as Ancestry and Findmypast now offer familytree facilities.  I don't use them because call me a cynic, but I just don't trust these big companies. 

Who knows what they will do with the information once they've got it.  I like the control of having my own website and putting my own information on it. 

Creating your own website is a lot of fun and does not have to be a lesson in programming, believe me I wouldn't bother if it was.  There are a lot of packages out there that are easy to use and give you a choice of templates so you just type in your information rather than creating the bones of a website.

Have you a family history software package, a lot of those offer a website facility?  And that way you only pay for the software package, not the website facility too!

Kerry

[greenvalley]

Hi,

I'm using yourbeginnings.com, it's a free site, you are the administrator.

So you decide who can download things, or has access to certain files. And you can add facts and gedcom files after you've posted on it.

And should things go wrong, you can always download it back to your own pc so you have all the things you added on.

Greenvalley

[Ruskie]

There is also this:

http://www.geni.com/

I can't vouch for it as I haven't used it, but may be worth a look. And it's free.

[Jean Price]

Thank you all for your replies.

Ruskie, I have looked at Geni, and also a newer one called Genoom, but they seem to be family meeting place sites, rather than family history/genealogy sites.

I was impressed with MyHeritage as it took my Gedcom and 99% went on to the site. It also has face recognition for photographs. It is free but only for 1000 names, but that does not take you far at all. I have a good percentage of the descendants of one of my great grandfathers, and that is just over 3,000 people. So 2,000 of them are not there unless I take out a subscription.

Keeryb - what programme did you use to make your site? Yours is the sort of thing I am after. I have Genbox and it will make web pages, but they are static. I am being a spoilt child and want something more interactive.

I did try to register with Rootschat for a free website, but got lost when I received an email saying I had to activate within an hour. I will have to go back to Berlin Bob's tutorials.

Regards,
Jean

[kerryb]

Hi Jean

I use a package for my website called Net Objects Fusion which provides a whole number of templates to use for your website.  The most difficult thing I have found so far is choosing the template!

It does cost to buy the package but nothing like some software packages - http://www.netobjects.com/ they are currently doing a 30 day free trial on Fusion 10.

If you go to http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,170182.0.html you will find the original NOF Club where the users of Net Objects Fusion help each other out and give each other advice. 

In the past I have worked with packages where you are expected to know knowledge of html but with NOF you are able to create a site without knowledge of html or if you want you can work with it, you have options.

Kerry

[Jean Price]

Hello Kerry,

Thank you very much for your reply and the link to NOF.
As you said, it does cost, but it is way beyond my budget
Regards
Jean

[kerryb]

That's a shame Jean, it does seem to have gone up in price, when we started off with Fusion 8 it was about £60 if I remember rightly.

We started off with a as a freebie on the front of magazine.  Might be worth watching the contents of CDs on computer magazines, but it's defintely worth it.

Kerry