RootsChat.Com
General => Technical Help => Family History Programs, Tree Organisation, Presentation => Topic started by: stevgal on Monday 25 February 13 21:50 GMT (UK)
-
Hi all,
I use 'Tribal Pages' as a 'host website' for my family tree at a cost of around £25 - £30 per annum. It does have a lot of good features and allows photograph upload etc but I have found that it does seem to be very 'US based'.
Are there any other similar websites that are more 'UK based' that anyone would recommend - and do you think what I am paying represents value for money - as there are very limited search facilities associated with the site? Any comments or advice very welcome
Regards
Stevgal
-
Stevgal, I have a tree on Tribal Pages that doesn't cost me anything! Not sure how that works, I've had it for ages and don't really use it but I leave it there in case I want to remotely check it from elsewhere. So on that basis I'd say you're not getting value for money. I also keep a limited tree on Genes Reunited which only costs me £10 a year and allows me to contact other members.
-
Hi Roobarb - I just checked it again and I didn't realise that there was a free option!!! Having had a look it does restrict the info you can include on the site so I suppose the reason I'm paying is to allowme to upload more detail, photographs etc. I'll have a look at Genes re-united - can you upload photographs etc on that site?
Stevgal
-
I have a paid tribalpages tree and a couple of unpaid trees with them. It is not a site for research but a site to keep your tree on. There are several options at different prices. I think tribalpages is very good value.
-
You can upload photos to Genes Reunited although I've never done it. I don't keep my full tree on there because my intention is to find close matches. If you decide to do so, be aware that if you have common names you'll get tons of Hot Matches!
-
Just be careful with tribalpages if you decide to go from paid to free. If you have too much data, or too many photos, it simply cuts out the excess. Photos wasn't a problem, but I ended up with a lot of hours' work typing the data back in. And all I did was miss the payment deadline!
-
If you were to revert to a free tribalpages tree from a paid site it would be best to buy a disc of your tree from them before you do so. This will give you a working copy of your tree. Not expensive neither.
-
Could I ask a question of all of you who have experience with Tribal Pages please?
I have just upgraded on TB as I was offered a 50% discount on it. I have had a tree on there for a while but not much detail on it.
I have a lot of photos and documents which I have been promising myself to get altogether properly and this seems a good time to do so with TB.
My concern is, yes I can keep the annual subs going on it for x years but what if I ever want to change to something else? How easy is it to download your tree from there? Been looking on their forum help pages/forum, but not really clear. Lots of confusion from what I can see on this topic when googling.
I understand you can back up on the site daily, but that is backing up on the site! Not the same as downloading onto your own computer or downloading and adding to another software programme.
What I don't want to find, for different reasons to pinefamily, is that I try to download elsewhere...and I lose all my notes/document links/photos/sources etc :'( Although, from what I have also read, if you download your gedcom file, it is text only. You then need to do something else to get to photos etc. ??? I am lost.
Thought it best to get it clear now before I commit too much time and effort.
Would appreciate your thoughts and experiences on this :)
Monica
-
I believe they do offer a back up service of some sort on dvd, but I have never looked into it. When you go into the edit option, you will see an option to "backup/download". I think you can save your tree in gedcom format. Someone wiser than me on here will confirm one way or the other whether photos are saved as well.
-
As I mentioned in reply #6 you can purchase a DVD copy of your tree from tribal pages, if you are a paid member. It is a copy that gives you the ability to view your tree in full, including photos, on a computer that is not connected to the internet. It does not cost a lot. You can also upload or download gedcom file.
-
Thanks for the comments pinefamily :)
Have seen the bit about the DVD which I think works well as a visual back up.
Just wondered about being able to transfer notes etc.
Monica
-
Notes "should" transfer in the gedcom format, depending on where you you use the gedcom file afterwards. Once again, I wait to be corrected on this......
-
You are right, notes should transfer as text. As long as they have a corresponding field to go to on the other side (?).
I saw this morning this post http://tribalpages.com/tribe/forum?f=2&v=1&mid=66874&rid=66874
Re photos in particular from that post:
Note: gedcom is a TEXT-ONLY format that does NOT copy your pictures. You have to download them separately. For that you can use a freeware "website ripper" to copy the images subdirectory of your website.
Monica
-
The photos on your site should already be on your computer anyway, just not attached to your tree.
-
They sure are...and in three other safe store place (some of my most cherished things, right up to today). I think I was just wondering in my head, if I spend a while attaching photos, images of BMDs/censuses etc, whether there would be away to transfer them together.
From what I am learning with your help, think the answer will be no. However, the DVD record that youngtug mentions would be THE main record of all my effort ;D if I was to move away or at least downgrade from an annual subs....I think! Thinking out loud I am on this as it is not something I am knowledgeable about at all!
Monica
-
It would be worthwhile to get a dvd, as long as the format and presentation is of a suitable standard. I wonder if there is a sample to see somewhere on the site. I will investigate and get back to you.
-
This is their blurb for the dvd:
"Get a complete copy of your family tree website to keep forever or to give as a gift. If you like your website at TribalPages you will love the DVD. The DVD will contain your entire website and can be viewed on any computer without connecting to the internet. It will contain every page and picture and will look and feel exactly like your website.
Family, Ancestor and Descendant Views for every name
Printable Reports: Ancestor, Descendant and Family Group Sheets
Photos and Albums
Birthday and Anniversary Events
Stories, Sources and Citations"
Sounds impressive, but I would like to see the format still.
-
The DVD does sound good. If you take it to be as it reads, it should give you your TB tree as a 'read only' version of the online one. Like you, would like to see more about it and others experience of it (including postage to the UK etc!). Also, whether you are able to copy this DVD to give to other family members etc.
One thing that does seem to shout loud and clear from their own forum, and reading the posts on there, is that the TB Admin are not very good sometimes at responding to queries ::) so most of the help posts on the forum come from other people's experiences rather than the 'official' admin support.
Monica
-
The DVD is fine,, it works like the online version of my tree. I got 2 for the price of one [offer] About £20 including postage if I remember correctly. The membership cost me about £15 for a year. I have made one query online to the admin and was answered immediately, the problem was my fault so I cannot say how good they are at fixing a fault of their own. I have also had a few contacts from other tree holders but am not inundated with requests to look at my tree. The security can be tailored to suit yourself.
-
Thanks for the feedback on the DVD, youngtug :) Good to know your experience overall is positive.
Monica
-
Funny, after browsing on the tribalpages site for information about their DVD's, I received an e-mail offering me 50% off, effectively two for one.
Coincidence or not?
-
I just got that too ;) Something in the air obviously! Need to load everything on properly (images and notes) before moving on to the DVD.
Having fun with the site though and finding it quite straightforward to load on the images and anotate etc.
Monica
-
Yes, me too. I am a better researcher then recorder, and have a lot of info to add to tribalpages before I can get a DVD.
-
To return to the original question for a sec:
For £30 you can buy a domain name and a year's unlimited hosting and put your tree on your own website.
Advantages:
You have your own domain name eg fredsfamilyhistorypages.co.uk
You have complete control of your data - if tribal pages goes bump can you get all your data back in a suitable format? Is commercial use being made of your data? What if the service is unavailable?
You can use your domain for other stuff (like email, file storage etc etc)
You can use whatever software you like to manage your on-line tree (be it read-only or edit-online)
It is more search engine friendly than tribal pages
Disadvantages:
You need a basic understanding of installing web-based software and security (but the essentials aren't difficult).
Take a look at something like Webtrees (http://www.webtrees.net/index.php/en/) for more detail.
Paul
-
I'm new to all this and a bit confused.
To make my own website do I need to understand all the software etc? I've googled a bit and seen this kind of thing http://website.1and1.co.uk (http://website.1and1.co.uk) that does it all for you.
What does the tribal page do? Do you need to have a website already?
I want to be able to have somewhere to keep all the information that other family members could look at when they want to.
Sorry if I'm asking silly questions, I'm not very technologically minded at all :)
-
OK this might help a bit....
You need somewhere online (a 'website') to store your info for others to look at. If you want this website to have a custom name, for example 'the-smith-family-history.com' you need two things:
1 A domain name (the 'location' www.the-smith-family-history.com for example).
2 Some web space to 'host' or simply 'hold the content of' your domain name.
You mentioned the company 1&1 - they can sell you a domain name and provide space to use with that name. You can also register a domain name with one company and have it hosted on another.
For example I 'bought' the domain name www.digdeeper.org.uk off one company (I think it cost a couple of pounds for two years) but host it with another company (that costs about £30 per year in this particular case).
So, assuming you have a domain name and some webspace - you now need some family history software to display (and maybe edit) your data.
In simple terms, you install this program to your webspace, upload your data to the same webspace and away you go.
Using a 'service' like Tribal Pages or Ancestry.com removes the need for buying a domain name or renting web space - they do all that for you, you just upload your data and off you go. The disadvantage of using a service is that you're stuck with their way of doing things and so don't have full control of your data and what happens to it.
Hope that's some use, shout if you need further explanation!
Paul