I wanted to put a personal genealogy website together for my family records and a way for us to exchange information. It was in that stage for years until I found a FrontPage template from Round the Bend Wizards, which I just loved. I picked the domain gone2texas.us since all my family eventually ended up in Texas. An inexpensive web host, Go Daddy, was chosen. They offer an economy plan that includes 10 SQL databases, e-mail, 5GB space, 250GB transfer, and no ads for less than $5/month.

The template files were uploaded using WS_FTP home then modified using Expression Web 2. Pages about me, my fur kids, and others were added to personalize the site. Added search page using Google Site Search. Since I loved everything in the template, no changes to the CSS file were needed except for the "In This Section" and scrollbars. Finally, clipart was added using art from Clipart and Microsoft clipart. Free visitor counter by StatCounter.

Now it was time to include a database for my family members records. I searched the Internet for days and came across Darrin's The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding ("TNG") program. Looking through the demo I really liked what was included and the option of now 8 different interface templates. It was well worth the money. Darrin has a readme.html file that lists step-by-step instructions for easy installation for those of us who don't know PHP or SQL. His program automatically adds the tables needed. Piece of cake.

Followed the installation instructions, updated General Settings in the Admin area, and changed active and inactive tabs to match website theme using Darrin's switchcolor.php form.  The Downarrow and khaki images color was changed to match dark background color in theme. Used bullet image from frontend website for lists.  Added changes to mytngstyle.css for theme colors, links, and scrollbars.   

Moving to the index.php page.  The smallphoto.jpg (top right photo) was changed to match the primary image in the frontend website. The title.gif (to left of smallphoto) was changed to My Family History and created in Paint Shop. The bigphoto.jpg was changed to a 1920s picture of my familys hometown. The search4.gif (large search title on the top left side) was modified in Paint Shop changing the background color to match the color of the table background instead of red. It is important to keep the same file names when making changes to images since there is code in the background that changes its behavior like to print.

Added today's date above title.  Changed left sidebar with section headers then links to match existing buttons on subsequent pages and added modified date.  Added purpose for the website under the main photo, then This Day in History RSS, and finally privacy policy icons/links to indicate I respect the livings right to privacy.  The last column, added section showing name of guest or if logged in, name of user, option to log in/out, or register to site.  Added users online with TG Who's Online. Changed features section for custom pages and images used from Clipart. The "Wanted Dead or Alive" was created in Paint Shop.  Please Contact Us section was reworded and email.gif replaced with an envelope found on photobucket. Entered my copyright information in footer, added free visitor counter by StatCounter.

Topmenu.php was next.  Added today's date between title and small right photo and Welcome with IP address and number of users currently online.  Modified genlib.php to add fourth buttons and rearrange items alphabetically and add META information.  The left sidebar was changed to match the index.php sidebar and drop down button menus.  The date modified was added to the bottom of the form. 

My copyright information was added in front of Darrin's existing data on the footer.php.  Added invisible StatCounter to bottom of each page. 

Downloaded FormMail Wizard (nominal fee) so the request forms could be e-mailed to me, inserted code so users can't right click to download pictures or documents, and changed favicon.ico to match small photo.

I don't know PHP, so I was confused on exactly how I added new pages. Created a template form to add new pages to site using the following code: New Page Code. Change the instance of "newpages", the two instances of "New Pages", newpage.php, New Page, then highlight "/*Start form here to */End form here" and replace with your content. The form template might not be exactly correct, but works for me.

Added the following forms:

• Guestbook - Purchased EGuestPro, also found through Darrin's forum. Modified their CSS file to match website theme. Created new forms based on the PHP site template using iframe to reference their guestbook view and sign pages.
• Monthly view calendar - Viewing Darrin's forum I found out about the TNG Calendar. Downloaded followed installation directions.  Removed under the calendar since it displayed living members full birth date.  Additional TNG add-ons are available at TNG Mods.
• Privacy Policy - Statement of my commitment to protecting the privacy of living relatives with the help of Privacy Policy Generator and other free programs.
• Various family information pages - Narratives (stories of deceased family), Found Family Members (stories of finding family members), Most Wanted (information needed).
• Various request pages - Family Questionnaire (PDF for mailing), Request (add or edit individual information) and Privacy Request (request to have your information made private).
• Various resource pages - Resources (Internet links to genealogy information) and Web Resources (how I made the website and resources used).

Legacy Family Tree software is used to store the records of my family. Combined several family files into common GED to import into Darrin's program.

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