GED-GEN

Family Tree Websites

Mike Voisin

By way of background, I have over thirty years experience as a software engineer. I enjoy genealogy as a hobby, which I started in earnest in 1994. By 2000 I published my family tree on the Internet. Unfortunately there were no software tools then that did precisely what I wanted. So I created GED-GEN, a Windows program to automatically generate a genealogy website. It converts a GEDCOM data file to a series of web pages in family group sheet format. Since 2002, people from all over the world have used GED-GEN for their websites.

ISSUE: RootsMagic and Source Records

 ISSUE, RootsMagic  1 Response »
Jun 122011
 

While GED-GEN was being developed, RootsMagic changed the way it exports source citations to a GEDCOM file. The initial revisions of version 4.0 included source templates, but these have since been removed.

As of version 4.1.1.4, RootsMagic still does not export source citations properly, either with or without source templates. In GED-GEN, please choose the option for RootsMagic and not RootsMagic Templates. See the “Special Processing” option under GEDCOM on the Program tab.

GED-GEN removes empty space and extraneous punctuation in the source citations exported by RootsMagic. Your citations and bibliography entries may be worded strangely, but all the information is still present.

TIP: Filter your GEDCOM File

 TIP  No Responses »
Jun 122011
 

If you want more control over what is generated for individuals in your GEDCOM file, use your favorite genealogy program to export only the desired individuals and/or information about them. Or, use any of the widely available programs that change a GEDCOM file by filtering such information.

For instance you could use your genealogy program to create a report listing only living individuals. You could then export the individuals in that report to a GEDCOM file and then run GED-GEN.

TIP: Family page file names may change

 TIP  No Responses »
Jun 122011
 

After you use GED-GEN to generate your family pages, you may wish to include HTML links to these pages within other web pages on your website. For instance if you have a biographical web page for an ancestor, you might have a link to their corresponding family page.

Keep in mind that if you update your family data, re-export a GEDCOM file, and re-run GED-GEN, the files generated may have different names.

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HOW-TO: Printable Pages

 HOW-TO  No Responses »
Jun 122011
 

You can print your family group sheets using the Print command within your Internet browser. You may find the way GED-GEN formats pages more readable than those created by your favorite genealogy program. Visitors to your website will also appreciate the ability to print selected pages for their own research.

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FAQ: Video and Audio Multimedia

 FAQ  No Responses »
Jun 112011
 

Why can’t I play video or audio items in my multimedia galleries?

When you test your generated web pages by viewing them on your local computer, you may not be able to play the video or audio files in your multimedia galleries. Your browser shows a question mark where the video or audio should display. Other types of multimedia files might be affected as well.

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