Types of website

The Project supports many types of website including those described here:

HTML websites. These are free-standing websites whose pages use HTML coding, still the main language used in website creation. (They may also include Javascript and style sheets.) They are the most portable type of website. Members can simply upload a site from their computer to the Project server using a standard transfer program (such as Filezilla) as they have probably done for their existing website. Easy-to-use software and many genealogy programs will produce an HTML site ready for upload. Some software can also upload straight to a website. A project called ONSweb has been developed to help members with little or no knowledge of HTML to produce a freestanding HTML website from scratch for their one-name study:

• ONSweb includes both an instructional website and a template or skeleton website. The aim is that after working through the instructional website you will have the basic skills and knowledge of HTML to create a website. Website creation starts with a skeleton website called myONSweb containing template pages and a menu system but no content. With ONSweb you will learn how to insert your own content into the template pages of myONSweb, how to add new pages as you need them and how to edit the menu system.

• Web pages created using the myONSweb templates are free-standing, which means your whole website will be easily moved from your computer, where you will create it, to a web server from which it can be viewed by anyone with a computer and Internet connection. Your site will also be easily transferred or copied from one web server to another.

•  ONSweb is available at no charge to Guild members. The instructional program and the skeleton site can be accessed via the Wiki page Creating a website using HTML.

CMS websites. These are websites that use Content Management Systems such as MediaWiki or WordPress. It is possible to integrate TNG (see below) with both WordPress and Drupal CMS systems.

• MediaWiki. This is the software used by Wikipedia and many other websites and provides a simple way of creating web pages. Trusted viewers can be allowed to edit the pages as well as the site owner, or they can be restricted to just one person.

• WordPress. This is the most used CMS in the world used by multinational organisations, media websites, small businesses and genealogists alike. The software is installed on the Project webserver and can be used free of charge.

TNG websites. The Next Generation software enables website creation and editing by the upload of a GEDCOM file produced by most genealogy programs. Members’ TNG websites collectively will have the potential to make all their data sets work together, to form one huge data set linking to the sources contained in them. And that is just the first step; it will be just one example of how the data held by the Guild and its members can be really made to work by the innovative use of information technology. Participants will pay a one-off licence fee for the use of the TNG software.

Each TNG site you have needs a licence from the author. The Guild will send you a link to purchase one, for sites under this type. If you want a site which you will manage (as below) you will need your own licence to effect upgrading.

You can have your own stand-alone TNG site, but you will become responsible for its set-up and upgrading. The project team will not be able to assist you if things go wrong. You should be aware you will not have access to our server’s cPanel.