Tree Building Websites

[Noons]

Which are the best tree building websites ?  Is 'My Heritage' any good.  I am not asking for endorsement, and if it is not an appropriate question on forum, please ignore. Again more personal opinion.  There seem to be so many and seem to all want continuous payment to get connected fully, after dangling lots of carrots of knowledge !   

My only fear is using the sites and if the membership (£££) lapses is the tree is lost.  I wrote to one to ask, about re-instatement rules, & continuation or transfer after death.   I would like what I do to be accessible and continuous for future generations etc (even if they have no money to keep paying ?)   

Thanks

[Erato]

Why keep your tree on a website instead of right in your own computer?

[Noons]

I was thinking that if virtual (on a website) that the whole family and extended family could see it and add to it ?  And any interested parties could enjoy.    As someone mentioned also - it doesn't expire when I do   




(Ps/ your photo ident is really lovely !)

[nickgc]

Noons,

I looked long and hard at websites for hosting for the same reason you want to (wider family access).  I had 20 years of research (although fewer than 700 individuals) and finally settled on tribalpages about 4 years ago.  Primary reason was that I could easily limit access to people I wanted to have access.

TP offers a free site, and I used that for almost 2 years.  I finally upgraded to an inexpensive paid site when I wanted to add more photographs and more detailed stories about ancestors than the free space allowed.  Your wish that family members "could add to it" (the site) is something that TP allows, but not something that I would ever do.  I have seen too many people who are willing to accept anything they hear or read as gospel, and I only permit well-researched data in my tree.

Also, with TP, if you don't pay for a year ($25-30) the tree isn't "lost".  It simply reverts to being a free site with certain size limitations imposed.  On the downside, since it a small operation (unlike so many) they don't have on-call technical support for every little problem, and rely on other forum members to help resolve an individual's problems.   I have noticed that most of those problems come from people who are novice computer users who aren't really comfortable with the technology.

Here is a link to the homepage:  http://tribalpages.com/

Nick   

[Ceryswyn]

I joined Ancestry several years ago after a bout with Genes Reunited.
I find the format on Ancestry to work best for me organizational wise (and I have a hard time with organization... hell I even spell it like an American now!) and I cannot afford to constantly subscribe to Ancestry but the benefit is that all the sources I save to my tree while I do have a subscription, I can still access when it lapses and turns back into a free account.
I can invite family members to view my tree and give them permission to edit it or not, though I only allow my mother editing access as we work together on the tree and I know she a/ doesn't really edit my tree and b/ wouldn't put anything in there that wasn't fully researched.
I've made a lot of connections with others that share links while on Ancestry and even spoke to an 87 year old gentleman recently that knew my great great grandparents!

[Noons]

Many thanks

[mongoose2]

I created my website using Legacy and after uploading edit parts of it using Macromedia Contribute.

others can be given access via contribute but like others have said I prefer them to email me with corrections or additions.
drawback is if I dont pay to have my site hosted it goes. I have been toying with ancestry but it does have the setup I like but at least it wont die when I do LOL

Barry
www.jamesfamilytree.org.uk

[Pastmagic]

I use Ancestry because I think it has the best storage. My main tree is a Private one - no one can see it except those I  invite. Using the Gedcom  facility I created a second copy with a different name as a public tree. This does not have photos docs or sources, as one of the greatest drawbacks of online trees is that people make mistakes and "steal" whole branches with associated pictures and documents.

I created a second version without documents etc by downloading a Gedcom and uploading it to myheritage, because I find their charts options better, and some of the reports you can generate are not available on Ancestry. (You can't download documents and photos this way.)

I find the Ancestry "Publish" option pretty messy and difficult to use.

PM

[portybelle]

I've got mine all over the place to cover all options!

I find My Heritage very easy to use and it is great if you want to add photos. It also makes really good book reports and family trees. Although you can only have 250 on the free online version you can have as many trees/people as you like on your pc.

I also have Family Tree Maker which is also easy to use but I don't find it so good for putting on photos. It does good reports but trees are huge if you want to print them!

Finally I upload gedcoms onto Ancestry site.

All set up as private and all free options.

Belt and braces approach I know but who wants to lose all their hours of research!