Phyllis from Ohio asked in a comment to one of my Genealogy For Beginners Kindo blog entries: “How do I put a GEDCOM on the Web?”
First, you must decide if by that you mean, display it for others to read in a page any browser can show, share it for others to search, or both.
For display, the answer can be very simple: for example on many commercial genealogy sites, such as OneFamilyTree, Ancestry.com, and others, you simply find the upload page, and click away. The server’s program converts your GEDCOM to HTML and displays it. Kindo does not yet have that technology, but I understand from the discussion boards that they are working on it.
Another simple answer: Check the help files on your genealogy program. I’ll bet there’s an HTML output option under the File>Save As or Reports> menus. Once that HTML is output, you would upload it as you normally do to your ISP’s web pages: Often that is FTP, sometimes there’s an upload page just like the ones above.
Still another simple answer: Below this are some links from Cyndi’s List to some programs to run with your GEDCOM as input to create different styles of HTML pages as output, which, again, you then upload to your personal Web space.
Links to GEDCOM>HTML programs from Cyndi’s List
Cyndi has many more links on her site than this sample list; click the subhead above to see them all:
- GED2WWW Free software to convert GEDCOM files to HTML web pages. Emphasis on producing a minimal amount of HTML. (That means smaller files, less space to store it.)
- GedHTree A program for Windows 95/98 that processes GEDCOM files to generate ancestor tree pages, family group pages, index pages, note pages, source pages and photo links in HTML format.
- GedReporter: A Free Genealogy Report and Website Generator
- Indexed GEDCOM Method of GenWeb Authoring By Tim Doyle.
- Oxy-Gen Free GEDCOM conversion software to HTML, PHP, XLS, Access, Oracle.
- Sparrowhawk A GEDCOM-to-HTML conversion program for the Macintosh.
- Transforming Your GEDCOM Files Into Web Pages By Mark Howells.
Searchable GEDCOMS
Okay, we’ve looked at lots of ways to display the data in your GEDCOM. But there’s another way to share your GEDCOM, and that’s by uploading it to a database of GEDCOMs, to be searched by other genealogists looking for the same names in the same places at the same times as you. In this case, you must be certain that some form of contact information for you is included in your GEDCOM output, so that if your fourth cousins find a match, they can also find you.
One example is the Rootsweb Database called WorldConnect. The process takes five steps:
1: Create the GEDCOM file of your family tree. (YourFilename.ged).
2: Create a user code and password for your family tree using the form in the side panel the WorldConnect Input Page, or follow the links on the main page for RootsWeb or the WorldConnect Project. This code must be unique; it must have from 3 to 16 characters (NO SPACES!) and it becomes the database’s “name”. If someone else is using the code you choose, you get a message that says, “Password is incorrect for this user code.” If this happens, enter a new user code.
3: Choose standard or advanced setup. If this is the first family tree you have submitted to the WorldConnect Project, be sure to use the standard option!
4: The next screen (see below) will have your user code at the top. Add your full name and your e-mail address. Then, clicking on the “Setup” button will take you to the setup form.
5: Complete the setup forms. You’re done! NOTE: You can also submit your family tree to the WorldConnect Project by sending your file through surface mail.
The Web has many such searchable GEDCOM databases; simply put GEDCOM SEARCH in any search engine such as Yahoo!, Google, or Excite and you’ll come up with lots of them!
So, think about how you want to put your GEDCOM on the web, and then either create the HTML or upload it to a database, or both!