tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64995702246642761482024-03-14T05:39:02.370+00:00FergysBlogGenealogy, searching, sources, stories, techniques, and much more...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-2639823459854946062012-06-16T17:34:00.000+01:002012-06-16T17:34:41.588+01:00Y-DNABefore we take a look at my DNA, I would like to add two books to the reading list. Both are recently published, and although they relate to UK families the principles explained are universal. In order of publication: "Surnames, DNA & Family History by Redmonds, King and Hey"; publisher: Oxford University Press, and "DNA and Social Networking" by Debbie Kennett; publisher: The History Press.<br />
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I would read the second first since it does not presume that you have some previous knowledge of DNA. They approach the use of genealogy DNA in different ways. Redmonds, King and Hey demonstrate its use in helping to determine the origin of surnames and whether they may have a common source. Kennett is more concerned with the testing procedures and the interpretation of the results, so they complement each other very well indeed.<br />
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I'm afraid that FT-DNA is the only testing company with which I am familiar, so my observations will continue to relate to their projects. Hopefully, before taking the Y-DNA test you joined/created your surname group - if only to get the discount - but now is the time to use it! Your results will be forwarded to your group administrator who will usually display them in comparative tables with others of the same surname and haplogroup. That for part of the R1a1a Ferguson group is shown below:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7YkupGslnM/T9yqvgs67yI/AAAAAAAAAHs/cV94Eq49NKA/s1600/DNA_Chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x7YkupGslnM/T9yqvgs67yI/AAAAAAAAAHs/cV94Eq49NKA/s320/DNA_Chart.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Here you can see the results for the first six markers for 4 persons, out of the 10 Fergusons who share the R1a1a haplogroup. Obviously, they are all the same, as indeed they are at 12 markers. But, at 37 markers only 3 are exactly the same, and at 67 none of us (although one member has not tested after 37 markers). Whether it can be said that people are related depends on the difference in the number of markers, the greater the difference then the further back in history you have to go to find a match. Of these 4, only 3 are likely to have a common ancestor within 8 or 9 generations, when determined at 37 markers.<br />
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From the results of the above FT-DNA will determine the probable haplogroup to which you belong, as I said, they calculate mine to be R1a1a which is called "Norse". I found extending my test from 37 to 67 markers made little difference to the comparative results at 37, in fact I had a change of only 1 marker when compared with the others. Chris Pomery recommends that 37 markers is sufficient in the vast majority of cases.<br />
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I am currently having some of my SNPs tested and will go into details of what they are next time.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2012Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-7399119767078492652012-05-09T19:05:00.000+01:002012-05-09T19:05:44.585+01:00Genealogy and DNA 2Whenever I start to look at a new subject my first port of call is usually Google, actually any search engine will do, but I tend to use Google. Such a search for "genealogy DNA" took me to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (<a href="http://www.isogg.org/" target="_blank">ISOGG</a>), and to their forum <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DNA-NEWBIE/" target="_blank">DNA-NEWBIE</a>. Both are free to join, the objects of ISOGG include education of which the forum is part.<br />
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It must be said that the name of the forum somewhat belies its content. As a newbie, I was looking for simple answers to basics questions, and too often these answers went over my head, although now and again punctuated by a ray of light! Nevertheless I do recommend both, and by sticking with the forum I did pick up much, even if I did have to use Google for terms which I did not fully understand.<br />
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Through the forum I first came across <b>autosomal DNA </b> (auDNA) which is found in the 22 chromosones which, unlike the 23rd, do not contain the sex determining ones. This DNA contains a mixture of auDNA of both the father and mother, and as such is available for both male and female testing. I suggest a visit to the <a href="http://www.smgf.org/education/animations/autosomal.jspx" target="_blank">Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation</a> to see a video of the four types of DNA.<br />
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It would seem that there are two main companies involved in auDNA testing <a href="https://www.23andme.com/" target="_blank">23andme</a> and FT-DNA's <a href="http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx" target="_blank">Family Finder</a> although at the time of writing Ancestry.com may be moving in this direction. Reading between the lines of the DNA-NEWBIE forum, I gained the impression that 23andme is probably more concerned with inherited illnesses rather than genealogy. As a result many of those tested keep their results private.<br />
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<b>Mitochondrial DNA</b> (mtDNA) is passed from mother to daughter, but is present in both sexes, so whilst a male can follow his paternal and maternal lines back, a female can only follow her maternal line. Because of the (western) norm of a daughter taking her father's surname, there is no continuity in surnames as there is in the male Y-DNA line. I will not be going further into the mtDNA, nor the auDNA, at the moment, but who knows where I am going!<br />
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I was also fortunate to buy a copy of "Family History in the Genes" by Chris Pomery, published by the National Archives 2007. Unfortunately this is now out of print, but Amazon.co.uk currently have 6 used copies available. Hopefully an updated version will be available in the future.<br />
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One recommendation is common to all sources, that is to join a DNA surname society for the name being researched. Not only does that usually mean a reasonable discount on the testing costs, but, perhaps more importantly, a depth of knowledge on the surname in question, and easily accessible lists of members with the same surname and comparative DNA results. Whilst it is possible to make your results private, I can see no point in so doing; surely the whole point is to see to whom you may be connected.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2012 <br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-77290642706218263292012-04-20T16:51:00.000+01:002012-05-09T14:30:24.903+01:00Genealogy and DNAY-DNA, mtDNA, autosomal-DNA, SNPs, STRs, Haplogroups, Clades.... Is there no end to this, and what on earth are they! Join me on the search for elucidation.
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<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">
The Journey</h3>
As a newcomer to this aspect of genealogy, my aim is to take you on my "warts and all" journey from first considering DNA testing to wherever it may lead. I am writing in real time, I have had one test, and am awaiting the results of another, and will never be more than one step ahead of my reports.<br />
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Hopefully during this process you will learn as I do, and avoid making some of the mistakes which I shall undoubtedly make during the process - So here we go!
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<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">
whY-DNA</h3>
Like most of us, I have been aware of the possibility of DNA testing for a number of years, but did not consider I had a need to undergo testing. I had no known living direct line family from another branch of my tree to prove an ancestral connection, and to determine where in the world my genes originated was not a major concern. However, last year I found my 5th Great Grandfather, Samual Furgison (sic) who married in Pardshaw, Cumberland, England in 1756; where he was from, and when he was born are two big unknowns.<br />
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Our family gossip has it that we came from Scotland, in particular Dumfries, but, for me, 250 years and 5 generations seems to be too long a time for much reliance to be placed on this 'Source'. So how did Sam get to Pardshaw? Time to think of DNA! Just where did my Fergusons come from?<br />
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As my name correctly indicates, I am male, and was already aware that men have Y and X chromosomes whilst women have two Xs, so clearly for the male line the Y chromosome needs to be analysed. If my sisters wished to have their paternal line tested then they would have to get me to test mine, or if they didn't have a brother, then a male 1st cousin, or other male descendant from the grandfather's line, to test their's.
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<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">
The Test</h3>
The selection of the testing company was the easy bit. <a href="http://www.familytreedna.com/" target="blank">FamilyTreeDNA </a> has the largest number of published individual results and, therefore, the widest number of comparisons which one can make. The next question is how many markers to have tested. These are Short Tandem Repeats (STR) variations in which can help determine whether or not there may be a relationship between individuals. Historically 12 markers were tested, but this is now considered too small, 37 is the most common, 67 rapidly growing in selection, and 111 the latest. I selected the 37 marker, although I would now select the 67, and am awaiting the results of the upgrade.<br />
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Collectively the markers are used to specify, or imply, the Haplogroup. So, what did my 37 marker test show, am I really of Scots descent, or Irish where many Fergies originate. My results show that my haplogroup is R1a1a, I'm a 100% Norse, a what?? a Viking!!!<br />
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Disclaimer: Other than paying them hard cash, I have no connection with FamilyTreeDNA!<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2012Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-56115816901477490532011-07-17T16:29:00.001+01:002011-07-17T16:31:55.656+01:00Parish Registers where art thou!For genealogy purposes the English/Welsh parish register indexes are in a mess, on the internet they are stored everywhere and nowhere. Naturally, the one needed is not there. Many have been transcribed and indexed by various Family History Societies (FHS) and to improve their finances they have done various deals with the common subscription sites. The only way to find if any of them holds the one required is to visit these sites and have a look. I will not be considering these sites, instead I will be concentrating on the free sites - why they haven't pooled their resources I cannot begin to understand.<br />
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For the sake of convenience the registers may be broken down into two categories pre and post July 1837, at which time national registration was introduced, however the registration of births was not compulsory until 1875 and prior to that date some records may only be found in the parish baptism records.<br />
<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">Post July 1837</h3><a href="http://www.freebmd.org.uk/">Free BMD</a> is the workhorse of the post July 1837 registrations, giving the GRO Reference for recorded births, marriage and deaths. Whilst these are normally regarded as the source for obtaining the certificates, they can also be used for finding parish marriage registrations using <a href="http://bit.ly/oFzqS5">Marriage Locator</a>.<br />
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<em>Marriage Locator</em> is a new site which aims to decode the GRO marriage registration code to give the registration district and the name of the church at which the registration took place. Thus, instead of having to buy the certificate the details can easily be found in the local parish registers or using sites such as <a href="http://www.onlineparishclerks.org.uk/">On-Line Parish Clerks (Genealogy)</a> which are listed under parish and church names. <em>Marriage Locator</em> was set up by the <a href="http://www.one-name.org/">Guild of One-Name Studies</a> but help with this project is open to all volunteers, please contact mary.rix@one-name.org if you have access to local records, and wish to assist.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/">UK BMD</a> is another site where volunteers have indexed the parish registers from within their counties, again from 1837. On going to the site, click the "Local BMD" button on the left and the counties which have taken part in this project can be found. Each uses a standard format and may include the reference for a local office from which a copy certificate can be obtained.<br />
<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">Pre July 1837</h3>The <em>On-Line Parish Clerks project</em> covers the earlier records as well as those post 1837. Usually it is possible to search all the records for each church, but not across all the churches in a parish. Hence it is better to try and establish the likely church for the registration. A number of the records contain an LDS film number, and it is not clear whether the LDS transcriptions have been used, or it is the reference for the microfilm in the local office - I hope it is the latter?<br />
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<a href="http://freereg.rootsweb.com/parishes/">FreeReg</a> aims to cover the whole of the UK, and probably has better coverage than other sites mentioned (except <em>Free BMD</em> post 1837). As with all volunteer projects coverage varies between different counties and parishes, however coverage has improved significantly in recent years. <em>FreeReg</em> probably gives more record details than other sites.<br />
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Of course, one site which must not be forgotten is <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/">Family Search</a>, especially since the revisions which are currently in hand. It was on this site that after a number of years of searching that I found my 5th great grandfather, born in the early 1700s <br />
<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">General</h3>When viewing all these sites it is worth remembering that they are secondary sources (unless the images are provided), and some of the originals, and not necessarily only the very old ones, can be difficult to read. The spelling of names may also vary, particularly if the informant was illiterate. Ages, especially for marriages, should be treated with care as some would have declared themselves as of "full age" when in reality they were under 21 and needed parental consent. Ages at death may be nothing more than a guess.<br />
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Finally, There are numerous small, e.g. family, sites which contain abstractions of parish registers. Many of these may be found on a CD available from <a href="http://www.onestopgenealogy.com/">One Stop Genealogy</a> . The repositories for all registration districts are given by <a href="http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/index.html">GENUKI</a>.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2011Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-66676115988011331412011-03-04T16:33:00.001+00:002011-03-04T16:43:53.529+00:00Genealogy History - LaterIn my <a href="http://ronfergy.blogspot.com/2011/02/genealogy-history-now.html">last blog</a> I talked mainly of the WW2 years, one aspect I did not really mention was that of food which was, like pretty well everything else, on ration. One food which wasn't was rabbit, these were sold by the green-grocer and were suspended from hooks from the top of the shop's window. At Christmas there were no turkeys but our parents did manage to get chickens (probably from a farm near to us) which we used to pluck in front of the fire. I remember one Christmas, when my mother was in a nursing home following the birth of my sister, my father won a goose in the work's raffle. Now whether it was my taste or his lack of culinary skills I don't know, but it was far too greasy for me, and I could not eat it. I cannot say who was more upset, me or my dad. It also provided us with what seemed to be a lifetime's supply of goose-grease for rubbing on our chests every time we were wheezy!<br />
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Rationing continued for years after the war, but in 1949 they first took sweets off ration, a day all us kids looked forward to with great anticipation. Unfortunately supply was nowhere near enough to meet the demand, and few of us managed to get any, I still think that the adults nicked them! So they were rapidly put back on ration until 1953 when rationing was abolished.<br />
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At the top of the road where I lived was a large field, on the right there was a cotton mill, and on the far side the Bridgewater Canal with the Royal Ordnance Factory on the other side. On this field there was a least one barrage balloon with the associated anti-aircraft guns and soldiers. Although we were not allowed on the field, great fun could be had wriggling under the wire fence and being chased off!<br />
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I spent VE celebrations at my aunty's in St. Helens where they had a big bonfire, and then for VJ day we had a street party at home. It was a great year for the kids, it was like having three Christmases in one year! After this time we started to have regular visits into Manchester, and saw the many bombsites for the first time. Often, on these were street entertainers, many of whom I suspect were ex-servicemen. In particular I remember one man who put a slab of concrete across his chest whilst a colleague smashed it with a sledgehammer.<br />
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At the time I was 12 yrs old there was still a fuel shortage and an uncle had a business providing peat for burning on house fires. On Friday evenings and Saturday mornings my father linked up with him to set up sales and delivery rounds near where we lived, and I was enlisted to help. This was my first introduction to the working life! I continued with this work until I was about fifteen when I found a part time job with more pay - although fifteen years of age was the official school leaving age, I was still a pupil. At home there was something of a strained atmosphere for a while!<br />
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In 1953 I was on a train going for a day out to Blackpool, when I read in the newspaper that the Korean War was over. Joined with the ascent of Everest and the Queen's Coronation this made for a momentous year, but what struck me most was that this was the first time since just after I was born that the UK was not involved in a major war. It is nice to say that since 1945 I have not experienced England being bombed, although since I was a regular visitor to Northern Ireland between 1971 to 1980, it was not the last time when I heard bombs going off. I do not wish to hear that noise again!<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2011Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-69683446112128247902011-02-04T12:57:00.001+00:002011-03-04T16:58:35.577+00:00Genealogy History - Now!History is, of course, what we are taught in schools. Or is it? If I subtract my current age from that at which I was born, then the Suez Canal had not opened, boys climbed and swept chimneys, there were no telephones, Britain still had its Empire, and no compulsory schooling. Oh! And registration of births and deaths was not yet mandatory.<br />
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This is some of the history which I was taught in school, and equally it is now the case that my grand children are being taught, in history, life as it was at the time I was born (and after for that matter). Those of my age tend to forget that this is history because, to us, it is still real.<br />
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So what was it like? Well, thank goodness, Britain still had its Empire because the second world war broke out very shortly after I was born, and for some years our only support came from its constituent countries. I was too young to remember the early part of the war, only from around 1943 onwards. I lived just on the edge of Salford, not far from the major industrial centre of Trafford Park, and the sound of bombs going off was not an unusual experience.<br />
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I was fortunate in that my father was in a 'reserved occupation' being a crankshaft turner at Gardners Diesel Engines. At this time the company employed a large number of women on the factory floor, mainly for the less heavy work. He also had to become a member of the Home Guard. He used to come home for lunch, and, often, that time, first thing in the morning, and some Sundays, would be the only times I would see him. A normal working week was then 12 hours a day for six or seven days a week.<br />
Interestingly, Gardners made the engines for the midget submarines which were responsible for many attacks on European dockyards.<br />
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Being brought up in the 'blackout', so called because nearly all street lights were off, and the few that weren't were heavily shaded, we had one benefit which today's urban children miss. We could see the stars! Admittedly, this was only in the morning as we then had double summer time - clocks were 2 hours forward from GMT., so we went to school in the dark, and to bed in daylight. Imagine trying to get a kid to bed when it's bright sunlight!<br />
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It must have been 1946 before I first saw the streets lit up. My parents took me into their bedroom which looked across the fields to a main road where I could see the lights come on for the first time. It was like our personal Blackpool Illuminations - which didn't exist then, by the way! It was about this time that I met my first banana, I knew it must be food, but had to ask my mother what to do with it.<br />
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During the blackout it was not allowed for any house light to be visible from the outside, and the ARP (Air Raid Precaution) patrols would have very stiff words, or even take to court, any householder who committed such an offence. We had black roller blinds to cover all our windows, and care had to be taken to ensure that no light escaped from the edges. At that time most houses had coal fires, and it was also an offence to allow sparks to be emitted from the chimney. These lessons were drilled into us virtually from birth.<br />
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On going to school we had to ensure that we all took our gas masks in their brown boxes. Now and again there were collections for the soldiers of things like knitted goods, and books, which we also took to school for forwarding. In our early years paper and pencils were not available; we did our work using chalk on a slate! From time to time the air-raid sirens would go off , sometimes for practice, at others for real, and we would march in an orderly fashion to the shelter at the top of the school road, with absolute, but no doubt misplaced, confidence in its security.<br />
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Our leisure time was filled with the usual street games, not only football and cricket (skipping and rounders for the girls!), but hopscotch, hide and seek, and a variety of catching games. Instead of cowboys and Indians, which we really didn't come across until later, we had war games of goodies versus baddies. It had to be so named because nobody would play at being a German! Holidays were pretty well non-existent, mainly comprising day trips to more distant relatives.<br />
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In my next blog I will concentrate on life in the post war years.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2011Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-83636652316123408942011-01-10T21:25:00.000+00:002011-01-10T21:25:59.873+00:00Genealogy websites 2011One returning from my Christmas break I started to think about a suitable blog with which to start the New Year. Initially I thought about a review of 2010, but then we've done that and got the T-shirt! So, how about 2011, and what will it bring? Since my main interests are genealogy and creating websites, the exciting happenings in website development, and the possible effects on our websites is an obvious. But first, I would like you to look at <a href="http://thewildernessdowntown.com/">The Wilderness Years</a> to do so you will need lots of memory and preferably the Google Chrome Browser, if you haven't got it, it is worthwhile downloading for this site alone. It will just about run on the latest Firefox (but not well), and I could not get it to run at all on the latest Beta version of IE9. When asked for your town, I would suggest that you enter a large city, or at least a place where Google Earth will have lots of photos.<br />
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Now that site is based on the new HTML5 coding, and I am not suggesting that it will have much effect on research sites such as Ancestry, or Findmypast, but I am certain that it will be used by people, like myself, who write their own websites. It will also be used in conjunction with another new language, CSS3, which is used to code the positioning and layout of the pages.<br />
<h2 style="color: #ffcc77;">Will this affect the User?</h2>Yes, it will! Already the latest browsers are starting to incorporate the functionality which they need in order to read HTML5 and CSS3. Chrome is probably the best at present but it is steadily being introduced into Firefox, Opera, IE9 and other major browsers. The figures below are taken from visitors to my own website.<br />
1) Browsers used:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TStnIWPBdnI/AAAAAAAAAEI/qFpxQtzKIrw/s1600/AllBrowserVisits.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TStnIWPBdnI/AAAAAAAAAEI/qFpxQtzKIrw/s400/AllBrowserVisits.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div>As might be expected IE is at the top of the list whilst at the bottom are the mobile phone browsers. In general, it is fair to say that non-IE users tend to be very dedicated in updating their browsers to the latest version, and IE users less so as the table below shows:<br />
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2) IE Users:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TStnOpj-eHI/AAAAAAAAAEM/4YSV5NCvvVU/s1600/IEusage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TStnOpj-eHI/AAAAAAAAAEM/4YSV5NCvvVU/s400/IEusage.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div>At last some three-quarters are now using IE8 but there is still over 5% using IE6 or earlier. Those users are going to have problems because only the latest browser will be able to read the new codings, and their problem is that little will be done to get the sites to display properly when using them. Even IE7 and IE8 users will not get the full benefit of the new technology, although the probability is that the sites will degrade gracefully for these users.<br />
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IE users with the XP operating system also have a big problem since it would seem that IE9 will only be available for Vista and Win7 operating systems - a change to Chrome could be their best option.<br />
<h2 style="color: #ffcc77;">Website Generators</h2>To generate my Pedigree web pages I use the HTML generator included in the <a href="http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/?Click=1069">Legacy Family Tree</a> program. I still consider this to be the best program around for these types of web pages, but it is now getting old and tired as it is written in very basic HTML. It has received a boost with the publishing of a program from <a href="http://ltools.zippersoftware.com/index.htm">LTools</a> which enables the conversion to CSS/HTML, but, in my view, will shortly need to be rewritten - this comment also applies to most similar programs.<br />
<h2 style="color: #ffcc77;">The Future</h2>This year promises to be one of the most exciting in website development for many years but for the new techniques to achieve their potential depends not only on the website developers but also relies on the users to upgrade their browsers and the software manufacturers to improve their generators - before we reinvent the wheel!!<br />
<h3 style="color: #ffcc77;">Disclosure</h3>The author is a volunteer beta tester for Legacy Family Tree.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2011Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-88294475684781023552010-11-28T16:23:00.000+00:002010-11-28T16:23:16.258+00:00A Genealogy Gem for a WebsiteEver since I launched my <a href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/Ferguson/">Ferguson One-Name</a> website some 3 years ago, I have not been very happy with the Family Group style web pages compiled from Legacy, nor did I really like the output from TNG Software. So, I have regularly browsed the web to look for an alternative.<br />
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At last, I think I have found it in <a href="http://humogen.com/">HuMo-gen</a> which is made by Hubb Mons, who says: "<i>I originally wrote this software for myself, because I was dissatisfied with the features of other Gedcom-to-HTML converters, but I readily offer HuMo-gen for use by the wider public".</i> Exactly my thoughts!!<br />
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And furthermore it is free, open source software. What more could one ask for?!<br />
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You can select what to include on the Main Index (Opening Page), as shown below:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TPJxZzeVnwI/AAAAAAAAAD4/azVKVMRdJzM/s1600/humogen2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TPJxZzeVnwI/AAAAAAAAAD4/azVKVMRdJzM/s1600/humogen2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TPJxZzeVnwI/AAAAAAAAAD4/azVKVMRdJzM/s1600/humogen2.jpg" /></a> Whilst it is written in PHP, it is claimed that no knowledge of PHP or HTML is required in order to use the program. I agree, in fact anybody used to Wordpress will find it very easy.<br />
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This shows the options available from within the program, but with only a little knowledge of PHP and HTML one can easily customise this page to include other items, for example a picture of oneself, or maybe a brief description of the site. On this page there is also a Person Search Box.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TPJvSFCr0CI/AAAAAAAAAD0/e1AYDhX45zE/s1600/humogen1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TPJvSFCr0CI/AAAAAAAAAD0/e1AYDhX45zE/s1600/humogen1.jpg" /></a></div>It is possible to select various levels of permissions, for example one can limit the display of Sources, to say, oneself, or family etc. or, as I do, publish them for all to see, as on the right.<br />
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Clicking the filing card icon next to the name produces as a range of other options, such as different report formats, and a range of tree charts. From these charts clicking a name will go to the report for that person.<br />
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As can be seen, the sources on this screen are links and these lead to others who use this source.<br />
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I think that this software is relatively new, from the HuMo-gen website I would think around 2009, so are there any snags? Well, yes, but none are terribly important and most can easily be overcome, some are specific to its use with Legacy. Like similar programs which rely on importing GEDCOMs it suffers from the limitations of the long outdated technology of this format.<br />
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For my usage, the fields for the genealogy sources are too short, but should be easy to enlarge in the MySQL database (I haven't done this yet). The PHP scripts are, understandably, largely in Dutch which makes following them more difficult for those of us who do not speak this language (I am not monolingual btw.) and in the Sources List, the descriptions have yet to be translated, but nevertheless the meaning of them is pretty clear.<br />
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I recommend that anyone trying this program should first try it on their own PC and not the web. This involves installing a stand-alone server and the manual gives a full description of how to to this for <i>XAMPP-lite. </i>This also a free open-source application. Be prepared to do some work for yourself to get the output to that which you wish, but if you do hit problems the site has a Forum which I have found to be very responsive and helpful.<br />
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I have yet to put my site on-line using HuMo-gen, but only because I wish to fully familiarise myself with its workings, and I will do so at the end of December. To those, who like me, are not happy with what has been around for a while, I would say "give it a run".<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-7487940053173662692010-10-21T21:06:00.000+01:002010-10-21T21:06:25.332+01:00Genealogy Patience Pays!!We all know of the seemingly impenetrable brick walls which we bump into on a fairly regular basis. I hit one one these with my 4th great-grandfather, Benjamin Ferguson, who, according to the 1841 census was living in Kendal, and born in 1766 in England but not in the county of Westmorland. He did not appear on the 1851 census, so I assumed that he had moved on to higher things.<br />
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Over the years I have tried to find out more about him, visiting the Kendal Archives to find his burial, but without any luck, in fact I cannot even find the christenings of his children in the Kendal Parish Registers. My research has not been helped by the fact that northern England is an outpost of internet indexing, meaning that the Union Tavern in Kendal is almost a second home!<br />
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Regularly I search new registers which come on-line, and three months ago I had a minor break through, I found a Benjamin Ferguson born in 1776 in Pardshaw, Cockermouth, Cumberland, on the <a href="https://beta.familysearch.org/">Beta Family Search</a> site. OK, the surname was spelt "Furgison", but the given names of the family were those commonly found in my family. Could this be my long lost relative? With still some way to go, I contacted Kendal Archives again to see if they had the Kendal Settlement Certificates for the period between 1770 and 1790, but unfortunately they only had those to 1734.<br />
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Every now and again I switch the main search site which I use, and this month moved back to <a href="http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=2114&id=90708">Findmypast</a>. As always, I carried out a quick check on my brick walls and nearly fell off my chair when I found my Benjamin on the 1851 census living with his, now married, daughter Mary Airey, of whom I had never heard! This time his surname was given as "Ferginson" and his place of birth Cockermouth - Eureka!! I am left with another brick wall though - where does his father "Samual Furgison" (sic), date of birth unknown, come from??<br />
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Advances can happen in most unusual ways. Like many of you I try and help other researchers whenever I can, and this week received an email asking if an Ann Owen born 1807, father George, had any connection with the Owen family of Prescot, Lancashire, in my tree. Not having an Ann in my Owen family I asked for more details, only to be be told that since her Ann and my family came from the same area she wondered if there may be a connection.<br />
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A Richard Owen born 1791 is my one of the 3rd great grandfathers on my maternal side, and I wondered if Richard might have had a brother called George who might have been Ann's father. I have not even looked at this side of my family for years, so I started by looking for his birth in <a href="http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/">Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk</a>, and there was his christening, and the names of my previously unknown 4th great grandparents.<br />
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Yes, persistence does pay, as time goes by it may not seem like it, but consistently checking records and revisiting sites which may well have been updated since last time often brings results. Now, if only I could get my hands on the person who ignited the 1851 Salford Census records and with it my 3rd great grandfather's history, but congratulations to Manchester & Lancashire FHS who have recovered so much of them.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-82818378366381903022010-09-23T13:08:00.000+01:002010-09-23T13:08:37.829+01:00Are Genealogy Fairs Worthwhile?Although I have been involved in genealogy for some 10 years for various reasons I have not visited Genealogy Fairs until this year. I have attended fairs at Stockport, York and Newcastle on Tyne, and broadly speaking my reaction has been favourable. But why?<br />
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Visiting the various companies displaying their software, books, charts etc. is interesting, but hardly earth shattering, although I have usually found two or three things which are of use to me, usually books or specific data discs. If I was asked whether I would go specifically to have a look at the wares on sale, then probably not.<br />
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No, what has been of most use has been the help available from "information providers". Whilst companies such as Ancestry, Findmypast, and The Genealogist are frequently represented at these fairs, it is not these to which I refer, largely because I am reasonably familiar with their range of services, but I do recognize that they will be valuable to those who are not. Their stands are always very busy, maybe because they often offer free access!<br />
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What I find most attractive are the genealogy organisations, the local family history societies and national organisations, such as The Genealogy Society, Local and National Archives, and many others, strictly speaking some may not be genealogy societies but concern themselves with aspects of out history, eg. The Indian Army. Following my visit to the York Fair, I am pretty sure that I have found my 5th great-grandfather from an idea I picked up at a local fhs stall.<br />
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If you are considering going to one of these fairs my recommendation would be to look carefully at which societies will be exhibiting rather than at the commercial concerns who, in general, will be there anyhow. Look for family history societies and local archivists from the areas in which you are researching. The national organisations can also give invaluable advice on where to look for information.<br />
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Finally, before going do ensure that you have noted exactly what you need to know. There is nothing worse than going to a stall and not be able to remember a name or place. Take my word for it - I know!<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-69301841927056770532010-08-22T10:52:00.001+01:002010-08-22T10:53:23.285+01:00English & Welsh Birth RegistrationBirth registrations are of great importance when studying genealogy, and for this reason I looked at the total registrations for the Fergusons as part of my Ferguson one-name study.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/THDoGw7yOyI/AAAAAAAAADc/9iVtcDxDkIw/s1600/ScreenShot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/THDoGw7yOyI/AAAAAAAAADc/9iVtcDxDkIw/s320/ScreenShot.png" width="320" /></a></div>Initially, I examined the total births, given in Free BMD, which showed an increase between the years 1841 and 1910, tending to flatten off after about 1880. I then looked at the percentage change in the birth rate in 10 year blocks, using 1841-1850 as the base point. I was shocked! The graph on the right show an increase in the rate of growth from around 25% to 28% up to 1881 and then a massive fall to an average of around 6% thereafter. Why?<br />
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My first thought was that because birth registration was not compulsory until 1872, more and more people were registering up to that date, and then the rate levelled off, but I could not believe this. So could it be due to immigration from Ireland and Scotland?<br />
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To check this, I looked at my brother-in-law's family, the Grimshaws, a family which I know to have been English born and bred from at least the 16th century. His graph showed a steady decline, even going negative at one point! My next step was to compare these results for the total registered births and the censuses (from the ONS) between 1841 and 1910/11. The results are shown in the graph below:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/THDsqUCa_qI/AAAAAAAAADk/tK-9jVBkoU4/s1600/ScreenShot1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/THDsqUCa_qI/AAAAAAAAADk/tK-9jVBkoU4/s320/ScreenShot1.png" width="320" /></a></div>Interestingly, the path taken by the rate of change for my Fergusons follows that of the total births for England and Wales (T%Change), although the changes for the Fergusons are much more pronounced before 1891. The Grimshaw results seem to be completely anomalous, Alan Grimshaw swears that this is due to an extremely high level of female births in his family!<br />
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It is also of interest that the changes in the birth rates and censuses follow the same trend until 1880 when they, arguably, diverge. It is said that both the censuses and birth registrations understated the true figures for this period and by the fall in the rate of change post 1880/81 this does seem to be the case.<br />
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To summarise, we may conclude that prior to birth registrations becoming compulsory there was significant under registration, and, similarly, the censuses did not settle down until after 1881 (and we know that even after that they were incomplete). The high figure for the rate of births for the Fergusons can only, therefore, be explained by immigration from Ireland and Scotland, and this factor, I would suggest, should also be applied when considering others with a name associated with these countries.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-30999663332792732322010-08-11T16:32:00.000+01:002010-08-11T16:32:32.101+01:00Create a Search Engine SitemapAlthough my genealogy website has been on line for many years I have not bothered to include an XML Sitemap for use by search engines, although, naturally, I had a sitemap for humans. However, to have a decent ranking it is becoming more important that an XML sitemap is included, especially for Google and Bing.<br />
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Naturally, being a genealogist, I am a reluctant payer, and I searched for a free sitemap creation program. I could not get the Google Sitemap Creator to install on my PC, so I looked at site after site using Google, all of which had a limit on their free entries of between 500 and, say, 3000 pages. I have almost 9,000 pages on my site, so they were not of much use. I then came across <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html">Xenu</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TGK6ogA5U5I/AAAAAAAAADU/jTdb1kTkBpY/s1600/Xenu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="42" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TGK6ogA5U5I/AAAAAAAAADU/jTdb1kTkBpY/s320/Xenu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Unlike the other programs which created the sitemap on-line, with Xeno you download the program, and run it on your own PC, which was when I realised that there was an unexpected bonus with this program, it has a Link Checker! Actually, this may be the main function of the program, but by this time I was suffering from tunnel vision! So I ran it, and it tested the links on my 8,600 pages in 44 minutes, identifying a number of broken links of which I was unaware - brilliant.<br />
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The XML Search Engine Sitemap was created in no time at all, and I uploaded it to the root of my site and submitted it to every Search Engine I knew. I now await with interest to see if the visits to my site increase. The program also produces a report of its activities whilst searching your pages but, probably because of the size and depth of my site, it took far too long for me to wait until it completed its work.<br />
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It was never my intention to use this Blog to promote software, however I am making this exception for <b>Xeno</b> because (a) it is free and (b) it is perfect for the job I wanted it to do, and more. I rank this program as my "Find of the year".Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-25742743121414918482010-07-13T21:00:00.001+01:002010-09-29T00:02:27.223+01:00Your Genealogy Websites and MobilesFrom the day when mobile phones first came onto the market I have avoided them! I didn't want them intruding into my private life, and that of others in public areas. A definite No, No! However, technology catches up with us all, and for a while I have been watching the growth of the internet on mobiles. A month ago I asked a friend if I could view my home page on his mobile, only to see that it split! Nothing for it - I had to buy one, not an iphone, I might add, but an economical windows.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TDyw-y5uSuI/AAAAAAAAADM/YnvOBfOeoqo/s1600/Mobile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TDyw-y5uSuI/AAAAAAAAADM/YnvOBfOeoqo/s200/Mobile.jpg" width="158" /></a></div>The image on the right shows my index page after I had made a number of changes to the coding and you may like to compare it with the PC version at <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/index.php">My Website</a>. In this view it is now not too bad, and can be scrolled to the left to see the off-screen portion, and if the phone is rotated to a horizontal position then it fits fine.<br />
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There are still some problems, the left hand column is pushed left, so is partly obscured by the background, and if the view is enlarged then the Guild of One-Name Studies blue logo pushes the footer down so that a brown background space appears.<br />
<h3 style="color: darkgreen;">Styling</h3><br />
The page was already built with the design being separate from the content using CSS, which fortunately makes changes easier, and there were quite a number to make. When designing the site I had only given consideration to the appearance when the width is not less than 800px, with mobiles we are talking about a maximum of 480px - quite a difference, and as a result the above is a compromise, as I was not willing to change the overall design of the PC version. For example the tree image is a background-image called by the CSS and not the HTML which means that its proportions relative to the space available cannot be changed, hence the left-hand column being partially obscured.<br />
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What I was able to do though, was to convert all the font and image sizes to ems so that they would change proportionately. Similarly the margins and spaces were also changed from pixels to ems and the overflow for the two columns was changed to "hidden". Unfortunately the Guild logo is already in place before the hidden statement kicks in, hence the brown space mentioned above.<br />
<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">The Problems</h2><br />
They are just presentational problems, but the main one is that mobiles do not have a hover state, which is unfortunate because my CSS based navigation comprises drop-down menus hidden in the blue bar, Sure, when the bar is tapped they drop-down OK, but they do not respond when tapped as the site is already on its merry way to the default link for each header! There is no way that I wish to change the navigation on the main site.<br />
<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">What Now</h2><br />
It is clear that the only way I can resolve the navigation is to write an app style navigation system to replace the drop-down menus for each of the sections for which they apply. It is a little more complex than this, though, as my main site has around 7000 pages which currently use my "blue bar" navigation I would like all to be accessible from a mobile. As far as I can see, this means that I am going to have to design a separate app style navigation linking back to the main and sub menus.<br />
<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Comment</h2><br />
I hope that I might have given some thoughts which may help those considering a similar project, and would welcome comments on my proposed app style navigation.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-49208240005796872192010-06-22T21:07:00.000+01:002010-06-22T21:07:53.339+01:00Genealogy Websites are Boring!So said a recent tweeter. My instinctive reaction was that part of the problem was that the designers are trying to cater for the higher proportion than average of genealogists who still use IE6. But on reflection I think this to be unfair.<br />
<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Is it True?</h2><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TCD9fOfsJ2I/AAAAAAAAADE/IMFkh47Brh8/s1600/MyPage.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TCD9fOfsJ2I/AAAAAAAAADE/IMFkh47Brh8/s320/MyPage.png" /></a>I made the basic assumption that the comment did not refer to the research aids, such as Ancestry.com, so over the past month I have made a point of looking at many genealogists' own sites. and, regrettably, I think that it is probably fair comment.<br />
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Part of the problem is that the sites are presented by genealogists many of whom, I suspect, have little or no experience of designing and coding websites. Many are, therefore forced to use sites such as Rootsweb, rely on their database program, or use a program which converts a GEDCOM into webpages. This is not a criticism, in fact I applaud the efforts made by all who seek to make their work available to others, and I know how hard they try to overcome the problems which they inevitably meet. Indeed I have used a standard template for this blog!<br />
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The image above is of <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/">my own</a> website; now I am not a designer but can code, so the design is one which I have put together from looking at pages in books or on-screen. I make no pretence about it being of a high standard, but at least I'm happy with it! I have shown this to illustrate that it is not necessary for all pages to look dull. This is true for the many different types of pages which can be added to a site, for example, forums, blogs, tutorials, biographies etc. etc.<br />
<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Options</h2>However, I suspect that the tweeter was referring to a lack of dynamic pages, and with the best will in the world, here we have a problem; which is that the family genealogy which we may wish to display basically comprises a list of names and other data. No matter what one does with it, it is still a list. <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php">The Next Generation</a> of Genealogy Software, based on PHP and SQL overcomes this by using selections of family trees from which one can link to details of each individual.<br />
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My personal favourite is the Pedigree style from <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/?Click=1069">Legacy</a> where the notes are included on the same page as the tree, which I prefer, although it is not as dynamic as TNG. It also has another problem in that it requires one page per individual, which means it is not really suitable for very large sites, I currently have around some 6000 such pages. I do include a dynamic family tree, made using <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.dftcom2.co.uk/">DftCom2</a> based on Java, on a separate page of my site.<br />
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When it comes to other formats, Descendant, Ancestor, Family Group, Individual, we are down to lists, they may be formatted differently but they are still lists. For very large sites there may be no alternative other than to use one of these options, or TNG. There are a few other programs but the user experience is similar to those mentioned. I understand some university work is being carried out on alternative formatting, but as yet this has not been taken up.<br />
<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">What can we do?</h2>At present, the best solution would seem to be to create a wide selection of attractive pages to complement the lists of genealogy data from which we hope others will contact us, and hence expand our knowledge and/or trees<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-87652147394631093042010-06-03T10:41:00.001+01:002010-06-03T10:43:58.129+01:00New - Your Family History Magazine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TAdiBszhSPI/AAAAAAAAAC8/qnh2jTZhnRA/s1600/YrFamMg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/TAdiBszhSPI/AAAAAAAAAC8/qnh2jTZhnRA/s320/YrFamMg.png" /></a></div>With Nick Barratt, best known as a lead genealogist in the UK's "Who Do You Think You Are", as Editor-in-Chief we would expect the new <i>Your Family History</i> to provide a high standard of content. The question is: does it live up to expectations?<br />
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Priced at a reasonable £3.99 (I do hate 1p change!) contains 74 pages, excluding the cover, about 25 pages less than comparable magazines, and is printed on a heavier paper. The presentation is attractive, but what about the content?<br />
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<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Statistics!</h2>After two issues the pattern is beginning to settle. There are twelve pages of advertising, two pages for the content and another two on news items. A feature I have not noticed elsewhere is a page devoted to media reviews and another four reviewing books, CDs and multimedia. Apart from his editorial Nick Barratt has an opinion page, and there is the usual couple of pages for readers to "Ask the Experts".<br />
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<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Content</h2><i>Your Family History </i>does not seem to be affiliated to any software or service provider, so I would expect the content to be free and impartial in its presentation. I am less than sure that this is always the case. In the first edition there was a two page article on <i>arcalite</i> on-line storage, and in the second a similar article about using <i>My Heritage Family Tree Builder</i> software, accompanied by a free disk. It is not clear as to whether these are advertorials, or not; specifically, it was the article on the latter which made me wonder, as it played down the necessity to pay the premium to get anything remotely useful. In fairness, later in the publication Peter Christian gives a "warts an' all" comparison of the Premium Account with <i>Family Tree Maker</i>. It would be helpful if the publisher would clarify this.<br />
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Some six pages in the first two issues have been devoted to beginners which should prove useful to them (although I did again notice emphasis on <i>My Heritage</i> in the second edition). Whilst it is too early to judge, the section on Local Archives detailed those available in south of England counties (Sussex and Kent). Since the publishers are in the north, perhaps we may hope for more balance in the future. The sections on Casebook, Social History, History Mysteries and The People's Archive provide interesting, and useful, social commentary on past lives or events, as well as giving information on the more unusual reference sources.<br />
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Finally, The "How To..." articles covered tracing shipwrecks and the aristocracy (I'm rather glad that they got the latter over with early!) and gave ample references for sources available to enable one to follow up leads in one's own research.<br />
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<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Opinion</h2>I enjoyed reading the first two issues and hope that <i>Your Family History</i> will continue to provide more specialist information, as in the "How To.." articles, in the future. In general it has a nice balance between content for the beginner, the more experienced, and for general interest. As to whether I will take out a subscription, or just purchase when something interests me, I will withhold judgement for a few more issues.<br />
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<h2 style="color: darkgreen;">Disclaimer</h2>I have no connection with this magazine, nor any other, nor have I any connection with the software mentioned nor the competitors, although I am a voluntary tester for <i>Legacy</i>.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-74070984020929752472010-05-17T11:59:00.000+01:002010-05-17T11:59:55.580+01:00Family Search - Mapping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EWP1QwBoI/AAAAAAAAACE/pnfZrcTfgp8/s1600/ScreenShot1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EWP1QwBoI/AAAAAAAAACE/pnfZrcTfgp8/s320/ScreenShot1.png" /></a></div>Last Saturday I attended the Genealogy Mapping Seminar organised by the Guild of One-Name Studies at which Judy Jones from Family Search gave a presentation on "English Jurisdictions 1851".<br />
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What is it? Since mapping is a visual tool, so is this blog. Basically it is a website enabling you to select a town in England, I have chosen Kendal, Westmorland, and show maps of the relevant jurisdictions, with links as to where the information may be found.<br />
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The map shows the boundaries of the jurisdictions selected from the Layers option below (some have contiguous boundaries).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EXPpfsYtI/AAAAAAAAACU/1CLHf_vIsPw/s1600/ScreenShot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EXPpfsYtI/AAAAAAAAACU/1CLHf_vIsPw/s320/ScreenShot.png" /></a></div>The Layers list from which the boundaries in the above map have been selected. Note that for the map, instead of selecting the Ordnance Survey Map for the background I have chosen the more colourful Google Map which can be done elsewhere.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EW9LmB7uI/AAAAAAAAACM/t_KYCouak8Q/s1600/ScreenShot2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EW9LmB7uI/AAAAAAAAACM/t_KYCouak8Q/s320/ScreenShot2.png" /></a></div>Selecting a jurisdiction on the map gives a bubble which shows general information about it. Including, in the case of Kendal, places within the Parish, the dates records began and non-conformist records.<br />
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As can be seen, at the top of the bubble are three tabs, and the second of which is shown below, and the Options on the right.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EaC2MdDNI/AAAAAAAAACc/Ypa6bVW97HU/s1600/ScreenShot4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S_EaC2MdDNI/AAAAAAAAACc/Ypa6bVW97HU/s320/ScreenShot4.png" /></a></div><br />
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It can be seen that each tab holds a number of links from which further information may be obtained. My trials using Kendal gave me immediate access to websites and information which had taken me years to accumulate by myself, to say I'm impressed would be like saying chocolate cake is only OK, the system is brilliant!<br />
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We were advised that site is not fully operational as yet. but it is available to the public from <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://maps.familysearch.org/">here</a>. Judy expressed the wish that eventually she hoped that all the new databases which Family Search are developing will be fully interlinked, so the future looks really exciting.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-11801104959689956102010-05-02T15:35:00.001+01:002010-05-02T15:38:58.450+01:00Pin it on Google EarthI was stimulated to examine whether it was possible to enter location pins onto Google Earth from my Legacy database by two articles written by Howard Mathieson<sup>1</sup> who used GenMap as his starting point. Although I have used Legacy which is an Access DB, the method should apply to any DB where the construction is known and accessible.<br />
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The method used involves extracting the required details using OpenOffice.org, putting this into a MySQL DB and using PHP to extract the data in the required format for importing into <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.earthplotsoftware.com/">Earth Plot</a> which will put the pins into Google Earth.<br />
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One interesting problem was that Legacy stores location co-ordinates (latitude/longitude) in the format Degrees:Minutes:Seconds.xxx whereas Earth Plot requires them in decimal. A wide search on Google failed to provide a PHP script which made the calculation, so I ended up having to write one! The basic PHP, including this calculation, is given in the <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/Blogs/GE.php">Map Using Google Earth</a> tutorial on my FergysWebsite.<br />
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This tutorial describes how to use the method to plot the locations of the Fergusons born before 1902 who are entered into my One-Name DB. Looking towards the future, when I will have many more records - at present there are around 1500 - I would hope to have come up with a way of plotting their movements with respect to time. I suspect that this will not be too easy!<br />
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<h3 style="color: darkgreen;">Acknowledgement</h3>1. Grateful acknowledgement is made to Howard Mathieson for his articles in the Vol 10 Issue 5 and Issue 6 editions of the Journal of One-Name Studies, the quarterly publication of the <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.one-name.org/">Guild of One-Name Studies</a> (non-members: £2.00/copy) which stimulated my interest in this subject and introduced me to Earth Plot.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-74025883143036911362010-04-06T21:18:00.000+01:002010-04-06T21:18:21.760+01:00Website Update: Complete!Finally my revised <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/index.php">website</a> is now up and running, and I would like to review some of the lessons which I learned during the process of revising a genealogy site with some 7000 - 8000 pages. This was the first major rewrite for 5 years, during which time coding techniques have changed, and visitors are looking for increasingly greater interaction and usability.<br />
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I started thinking about the design in November 2009, with the major changes being to the index pages and applying a common theme throughout the site. The headers for the Pedigree pages and some others I decided to leave, except for colour changes. I have said before, but I will repeat, design is not one of my strengths, so it took two or three weeks before I decided to use a scheme based on the colours of nature, mainly blue, green and brown, with an index page design to suit.<br />
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To write and verify the coding took another two months of work (actually three months but one was lost through illness and holidays). I like to work to dead lines, so in November I settled on 1st March for the launch, revised to 1st April, and it actually went on-line on 2nd April.<br />
<h3 style="color: darkgreen;">Relaxation</h3>I recommend taking regular breaks! In the early hours of one morning I was working away trying to get rid of a bug, and nothing which I did seemed to make any difference. I simply could not understand it! Only after a short break did I realise that the screen I was looking at was on-line and not the one I was working on using my PC.<br />
<h3 style="color: darkgreen;">Tools used</h3>The Pedigree pages were created using <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/?Click=1069">Legacy </a>modified to CSS with the excellent <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://zippersoftware.com/ltools/index.htm">LTools</a> designed for use with Legacy. For my text (HTML, PHP and CSS) editor I use <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.pspad.com/">PSPad</a><span id="goog_606707025"> which allows batch search and replace. Because I have inserted some PHP in all my Pedigree pages I have to change all the file extensions from .HTML to .PHP using <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://kensoft.byethost24.com/">Ken Rename</a>, and, finally, I also have to insert some script into the coding. This can only be done after the previous processing and hence requires the use of Regular Expressions to locate the point of insertion. To batch process I use <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.divlocsoft.com/index.htm">Actual Search and Replace</a>, but note that it cannot write the search and replace the strings for you!</span><br />
<h3 style="color: darkgreen;">Testing</h3>Arguably this is the most important bit, it is certainly the most time consuming! Because of the use of PHP, I cannot test the Pedigree pages in IE unless it is actually on the web, which is something of a pain. I do, of course, have a folder on the server which I only use for testing purposes, but there always seems to be a difference between how something behaves in that folder and real life!<br />
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Links can be tested on-line using the <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://validator.w3.org/checklink">W3C Link Checker</a>, and do remember that for a 404 Error Page all links have to comprise the full URL ie. "http://www...."otherwise even your CSS won't work. This will not quite be the end of it, though, as you, or your visitors, will probably find a few missed bugs for a few days afterwards - make sure they can readily find a way of contacting you!<br />
<h3 style="color: darkgreen;">Finally</h3>Ensure a plentiful supply of coffee, and enjoy!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-68596722060503818762010-03-20T10:51:00.000+00:002010-03-20T10:51:57.522+00:00Website Updates: LatestDuring the past month it feels like the updating of my <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/">website</a> has taken control of my life! The important bits, like the navbars, are working correctly, although they have yet to be tested in browsers other than Firefox and IE.<br />
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I am happy with the Index page, my Pedigree pages work, the Tutorials have been completed, as have the Books and Links pages. Yesterday I commenced work on the Photo Albums. During the past year I have taken a number of photos in England and Europe which need to be added to the collections, so I have have decided to split them, on a fairly arbitrary basis to Northern & Southern England, and Central & Southern Europe.<br />
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My <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/Photo_Album/England/England.php">existing albums</a> were created in flash using <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/Links/web.htm">SWF Quicker</a> and one of their templates. I considered writing Dynamic CSS based albums, but after consideration, I decided that I couldn't really improve on the Album which I am using. So apart from changing the contents and the background colour I am sticking with what I have.<br />
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After this is completed, the next major task will be to transfer my <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/fergys/">Ferguson One-Name Site</a> to my main site. On the one-name site are over 2000 names, about two thirds of which are Fergusons from northern England, and the format of the pages is that of Family Groups. It also has quite a different background style, so there is much work to be done here.<br />
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At present, the remaining eleven days for completion and testing appears to be a remarkably short space of time, so I can imagine a number of sleepless nights between now and the end of the month!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-23934614655697827132010-03-11T16:45:00.001+00:002010-03-11T16:47:27.414+00:00Genealogy Website: The Nav Bars<style>
</style> A web page can be considered as being built on layers, the first being the base, or blank page, usually white but it can be given a colour. For my new site I have put another, slightly smaller, background layer on top, followed by the data and images. In my case I consider the nav bars as being a new layer since the drop-downs must sit on top of any data and images. One point about images, IE6, and earlier, do not recognise the ".png" transparency. Google will find many scripts to cure this, one of which is to be found <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://jquery.andreaseberhard.de/pngFix/">here</a>.<br />
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<a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S5kL5Xx6BHI/AAAAAAAAAB0/r6pQcl_ZAmE/s1600-h/ScreenShot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S5kL5Xx6BHI/AAAAAAAAAB0/r6pQcl_ZAmE/s200/ScreenShot.png" width="200" /></a>To date, I have used javascript for my drop-down menus, however it is now possible to write these in CSS. Unfortunately, because to do this the latest CSS standard is used there are problems with older browsers, in particular with IE6. The image on the right is a sneak preview of a section of my new index page, and as can be seen the drop-down sits on top.<br />
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To make them display on top of images is easy, simply use the "z-index" CSS style. However for other image forms it can be quite tricky. For Flash, within the "Object" tag the line < param name="wmode" value="transparent" > needs to be included. IFrames present a different problem, and to date, despite having tested varying "solutions", I have yet to find a way of stopping the nav bars from going behind the image for IE7 and earlier. Still, I've three weeks left!<br />
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Now, the above are the easy problems, again it is IE6 which causes the real head ache, because CSS drop-down menus simply do not work! To the rescue comes Suckerfish and the <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://htmldog.com/articles/suckerfish/dropdowns/">Sons of Suckerfish</a>, which for my purposes I had to modify even further.<br />
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In my first Blog in this series I mentioned that I wished to eliminate/minimise the use of javascript, and for the navigation this has largely been achieved. As you will see to get them to work in the early versions of IE, and I no longer bother writing for IE5.5 and earlier, javascript has been a necessity, this I feel is a fair compromise. If those using IE6 do not have javascript enabled the navigation will not work, but it is still possible for visitors to get round the site albeit with more difficulty. (If you are viewing this using IE6, please upgrade, especially as you can now see our headaches!)<br />
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My final point concerns testing, I use Firefox for most of my development work and test in IE8, Opera, Safari, Chrome, Sea Monkey and Bing, these I have on my PC. As I do not have a Mac. I rather hope that if it works with Safari it will be OK (not really satisfactory, but there we go!). So how do I test in earlier versions of IE? A nice free piece of kit called <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage">IE Tester</a> enables this to be acheived.; although still in Alpha version, and not every bit works fully, it does do the job, and for me is a life saver.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-32970860795376086932010-03-04T05:15:00.000+00:002010-03-04T05:15:18.584+00:00Genealogy Website, New, Improved, & How 2Everything had been going swimmingly with my new site, until I received from Dennis of <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://zippersoftware.com/ltools/download.html">Ltools</a> a sneak preview of his forthcoming program update. He has made a couple of alterations to this program which changes the Legacy Pedigree web page output into validating CSS.<br />
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One of the functions of this program enables your own custom HTML, which Legacy allows you to incorporate into their code, to be exempted from processing by Ltools. I use this twice on a Pedigree page, for the header and footer. The changes which Dennis has made improve the logic behind the program, but in so doing tighten the way way in which we must write our code. I have detailed the couple of restrictions involved in <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/Blogs/LT.php">my tutorial</a>.<br />
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Naturally, my coding didn't comply, and since I work on the principle of "only as a last resort read the instructions", it took me a while to sort out what was going on! Basically they are that the start and end tags of an HTML section eg. a <DIV> must both be either inside or outside the custom section, and nesting of comments when using Javascript should be avoided.<br />
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The race to get <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/">my site</a> update completed by the end of March is now definitely on!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-82721130994922838202010-02-25T15:34:00.000+00:002010-02-25T15:34:51.065+00:00Genealogy Websites: New, Improved, Updated & HowMy current site <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/">Fergy's Website</a> has been in its current form for over a year, except for the Pedigree pages having been converted to CSS. I commenced work on the new site in November 2009 with a view to launch on 1 March 2010, although this was pushed back to 1 April 2010 mainly due to illness.<br />
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What I hope to do over my next few Blogs is to illustrate the objectives and problems and how these were overcome. Please do not think that this is going to be so technical it will over your head, some of it perhaps, but most can be applied with little knowledge of programming.<br />
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It is essential to draw up the criteria which need to be met for the revised site, mine are:<br />
<ul><li>It must be based on the <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/?Click=1069">Legacy</a> Pedigree Web creation function, for no other reason that I really like this layout. I have looked at formats such as <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php">The Next Generation</a>, and others, most of which require a GEDCOM upload, but, for me, Legacy was the one.</li>
<li>To maximise the use of CSS to separate out the design from the HTML data.</li>
<li>To replace the Javascript navigation with CSS, and in general, minimise the use of Javascript.</li>
<li>Where possible apply the most modern CSS and HTML standards.</li>
<li>To ensure cross-browser compliance, including IE6 - which continues to be used by a surprisingly high percentage of genealogists!</li>
<li>To redesign the Index page, which given that I do not pretend to be a designer is no mean feat!</li>
<li>To ensure W3C standards are met.</li>
</ul>Some of the above aims obviously conflict with each other, so compromises have to be made. These will be described later.<br />
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The first problem is that the Legacy Pedigree web pages are not W3C compliant and are written exclusively in HTML. Whilst I had converted the major design components to CSS, to convert all would have meant writing a program to automate this, or using a program which would use Regular Expressions to convert each tag individually - ugh! Unfortunately the first alternative I thought to be beyond my VB.Net programming skills.<br />
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However, in 2009 <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://zippersoftware.com/ltools/download.html">Ltools</a> released a program for Legacy users which validates the HTML and converts all to CSS, and it was this which I used last year to overcome this main stumbling block to achieving a major aim. Some information on the use of this tool is also given in my tutorial <a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://www.fergys.co.uk/Blogs/LT.php">here</a>.<br />
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The other items will be considered in future Blogs, so watch this space!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-66249165016147885632010-02-02T10:26:00.002+00:002010-02-02T10:31:28.000+00:00Genealogy: Out of a test tube!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a bitly="BITLY_PROCESSED" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S2fw1JeSFhI/AAAAAAAAABs/ExBH1ZdWYkw/s1600-h/Petroleum+0013.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/S2fw1JeSFhI/AAAAAAAAABs/ExBH1ZdWYkw/s320/Petroleum+0013.png" /></a></div><br />
I have many reservations about prescriptive answers to genealogy presentations, much preferring them to reflect the rich tapestry of life. However with relationships I am less than certain. This question is not an ethical question, as many types of relationship exist in the real world, as we well know.<br />
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At present there is much discussion on how modern relationships, such as same sex partnerships, a surrogate parent and test tube children should be recorded by genealogy software, and much of this discussion has revolved around the differences between "true" genealogy and family history. I would ask are we asking the right question to the right people?<br />
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Let us consider the question of web browsers. Until recently (if now) browsers were designed in accordance with the ideas of the company designers. As a consequence web designers have for years suffered in trying to design sites which look the same in all varieties of browser, notwithstanding the existence of world wide web standards. Similarly, are we not in danger of genealogy software companies deciding for us what, in their varied opinions, is the best solution as to how the many types of relationships should be handled? I would suggest that this is not the way forward.<br />
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The laws regarding varying relationships differ from country to country, and it would be wrong, therefore, for any standard to be based on what is legal in any one country, but the laws in most, if not all countries, should be considered. These days genealogy software is international, and surely the time has now arrived for a new approach to be made.<br />
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I would suggest that a cooperative venture between the national genealogy societies and the software companies be initiated to develop a format acceptable to most, but preferably all, participants. And who should pay for this? Why not the software companies by releasing their staff to attend meetings and providing the administrative back up, and perhaps supporting the attendance of the voluntary officials of the genealogy societies.<br />
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What I would like to see now is a proper international debate on this subject by genealogists and software companies, rather than comments, complaints and suggestions made by users of specific software to their supplier. As we saw from browser development, a standard may not resolve all the problems, but it would, I believe, be a big improvement on the ad-hoc arrangement we have today.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-84840256386138754222010-01-20T11:34:00.000+00:002010-01-20T11:34:22.584+00:00Lies, Damn Lies and GenealogyAs we say up north, Martha Lydia seems to have been a bit of of a lass! She was the illegitimate daughter of Margaret who later married Joe, and had three illegitimate children herself before marrying Bill, with whom she had another six children. Whilst the details which follow relate to England, the principles are generally applicable.<br />
<h3 style="color: #38761d;">Certificates</h3>One point to remember is that although registration started in 1827, it was voluntary for births and deaths until 1875, so the absence of a certificate is not unusual. For births it is also possible to give a child any name one likes. Our Martha Lydia used her own surname ie. her mother's maiden name, for her first child and that of her step father for the next two. However, She did marry using her own name and left the father's name blank, unlike another illegitimate relative who decided to invent a deceased father when he got married.<br />
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In the great English tradition of telling officials what one thinks they would like to hear, where there was a disparity in ages between the couple, or maybe one of them is a little too young for marriage without parental consent, then some age adjustment was perfectly acceptable. Whilst talking about ages, an age at death is that which the reporter of the death thinks it is, which need not necessarily be the chronological age.<br />
<h3 style="color: #38761d;">Censuses</h3>A census provides an excellent opportunity for the head of a household to demonstrate their creativity. To come back to Martha Lydia, her stepfather came from a very religious family and it simply would not do for illegitimacy to be 'exposed' on a census return! This was resolved by giving the children the same surname as his, and describing them as "son" and "daughters". It was only after Joe died that Margaret recorded the true relationship.<br />
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Ages on censuses suffer from many variables, there are those whose increasing age is not related to the passage of time, and others where an accurate disclosure would reveal an illegal act. In particular, during the mid 1800s there were the Factory Acts which increased the minimum working age and restricted the hours of work. Naturally, the age of working juveniles had to comply with the law.<br />
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During the 19th century, divorce was the prerogative of the rich, bigamy was not uncommon, and clearly did not show on censuses. Even where there was no bigamous marriage partners would be recorded as a spouse, or maybe a 'housekeeper'. It was, of course, incumbent on all to maintain Victorian standards of morality.<br />
<h3 style="color: #38761d;">Armed Forces Registration</h3>Surely the details given on registration for service in the armed forces will be accurate? Well, no, especially during the first world war. At this time there was much peer pressure to serve 'King and Country' and there are many recorded instances of people enlisting and inflating their age in order to be eligible to join up and serve overseas.<br />
<h3 style="color: #38761d;">Transcriptions</h3>Even excluding those so called genealogists whose aim to to prove that they are descended from royalty, rather than to establish the truth, personal family trees must be treated with extreme care. Genealogist may well publish trees in which they clearly state that a relationship is a probability rather than an established fact, but by the time it has been copied and recopied by those who exercise less care this probability has been transcribed into the definitive family history.<br />
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With respect to censuses the images which we see, prior to 1911, are transcriptions and are, therefore, subject to both enumerator's and transcriber's errors. Certificates are written by an official, who might be ecclesiastical or civil, and particularly during the period when illiteracy was high the spelling of names is likely to be phonetic.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2010Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499570224664276148.post-59136127891663484752009-12-13T13:05:00.002+00:002009-12-13T15:59:05.354+00:00The Genealogists' Revenge<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/SyTOng8fdmI/AAAAAAAAABM/BH9vdHZynt0/s1600-h/ScreenShot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/SyTOng8fdmI/AAAAAAAAABM/BH9vdHZynt0/s320/ScreenShot.png" /></a>For those who use Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome, and, in the last couple of months, have downloaded the new Google toolbar you may have seen a little writing pad icon, usually at the bottom left of a page. This is the new Google Sidewiki, click it and one can enter a comment which will remain attached to that page.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/SyTP1JC2Q4I/AAAAAAAAABU/NxO7KKcWhnA/s1600-h/ScreenShot1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0.3em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/SyTP1JC2Q4I/AAAAAAAAABU/NxO7KKcWhnA/s320/ScreenShot1.png" /></a>If there is an entry in the Sidewiki on a page then the icon on the left, which turns yellow on hovering over it, will be seen at the top of the page. One can also use the Sidewiki icon on the Google Toolbar.<br />
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Visitors and webmasters may have different views as to the benefit, or otherwise, of this facility, and I am not going to enter into this discussion, but rather look at how by correct usage it can advantage both. However, it is initially necessary to look at some of the controversal aspects:<br />
<ol><li>Can a webmaster switch it off? No, although I understand it does not appear on secure sites</li>
<li>Can a webmaster edit a visitor's entry? No </li>
<li>Can a webmaster delete a visitor's entry: No </li>
<li>Google says that it will check for inappropriate entries - if flagged</li>
<li>Entries are entered in a priority list as determined by Google</li>
</ol>The potential pitfalls for webmasters are obvious, but there are some steps which can be taken to minimise these.<br />
<h3><span style="color: #274e13;">Take part-ownership of the Sidewiki </span></h3><h3><span style="color: #274e13;"> </span></h3>It is necessary to first register your site with <a href="http://www.google.com/webmasters/">Google Webmasters</a>, you will need to register yourself with Google for this. You will then be given the option of including a meta tag in your script (see my Web Creation Blogs) or uploading an html script to the root of your site. There is also an automatic link to Blogger. Once done your own entry can be permanently entered to the top of the list on every page - although I have not been able to get the "all pages" check box to appear on my sites using Firefox!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/SyTbzixm_XI/AAAAAAAAABc/KdyG-PHi9HE/s1600-h/ScreenShot2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_R67mdT6JFGg/SyTbzixm_XI/AAAAAAAAABc/KdyG-PHi9HE/s320/ScreenShot2.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><h3><span style="color: #274e13;">Check all entries</span></h3><h3><span style="color: #274e13;"> </span></h3>The entries which visitors make can also be read by the webmaster using either your <a href="http://www.google.com/profiles">Google Profile</a> or from an RSS feed using the URL: http://www.google.com/sidewiki/feeds/entries/domainpath/www.MY DOMAIN.COM%2Ffergys%2F/default?includeLessUseful=true, replace "MY DOMAIN.COM with your own domain name and delete the "www." if not included in your URL. Using this is somewhat messy, so I suggest that you use a <a href="http://www.sidewikirss.com/">feed generator</a>.<br />
<h3 style="color: #274e13;">What use is it?</h3><h3 style="color: #274e13;"> </h3>If used properly then the Sidewiki offers an opportunity for commenting on, and discussing, individual entries in a genealogy website, such as: whether Joe Blogs has the correct parents. This can be done in a most convenient way compared with having to go to a comments page or sending an email, and it is open for other interested parties to enter the debate.<br />
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And why do I title this piece the "Genealogists' Revenge"? Well, when we now see our research published on a website by someone else, and without attribution, we can now claim it back! If the cap fits I advise caution.<br />
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© Ron Ferguson 2009Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01187890045344724877noreply@blogger.com1