Web Page Guidelines

The National Genealogical Society provides a set of guidelines for publishing your own genealogy web pages (see www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/guidelines_for_publishing_web_pages ). They are reproduced below, along with references to options in GED-GEN that can help you fulfill them:

Genealogical Standards

Guidelines For Publishing Web Pages On The Internet
Recommended by the National Genealogical Society

Appreciating that publishing information through Internet web sites and web pages shares many similarities with print publishing, considerate family historians...

National Genealogical Society Guideline1	Related GED-GEN Options
...apply a title identifying both the entire web site and the particular group of related pages, similar to a book-and-chapter designation, placing it both at the top of each web browser window using the <TITLE> HTML tag, and in the body of the document, on the opening home or title page and on any index pages.	Headers | Family Pages | Header Headers | Surname Pages | Header Headers | Page Titles
...explain the purposes and objectives of their web sites, placing the explanation near the top of the title page or including a link from that page to a special page about the reason for the site.	Headers | Introduction
...display a footer at the bottom of each web page which contains the web site title, page title, author's name, author's contact information, date of last revision and a copyright statement.	Headers | Family Pages | Footer Headers | Surname Pages | Footer Labels | More | Other | Revision Date Format Attributes | Copyright Notice
...provide complete contact information, including at a minimum a name and e-mail address, and preferably some means for long-term contact, like a postal address.	Headers | Family Pages Headers | Surname Pages Headers | Introduction
...assist visitors by providing on each page navigational links that lead visitors to other important pages on the web site, or return them to the home page.	Attributes | Links Attributes | Extra Links
...adhere to the NGS "Standards for Sharing Information with Others" regarding copyright, attribution, privacy, and the sharing of sensitive information.	Features | Privacy Filters
...include unambiguous source citations for the research data provided on the site, and if not complete descriptions, offering full citations upon request.	(Do this in your genealogy program before exporting a GEDCOM file.) Features | Source Citations | Footnotes Features | Source Citations | Bibliography
...label photographic and scanned images within the graphic itself, with fuller explanation if required in text adjacent to the graphic.	(Use a graphics editing program to insert labels in the image. You can also specify captions within GED-GEN.) Custom | Method | Individuals... | Image Caption Custom | Method | Families... | Image Caption
...identify transcribed, extracted or abstracted data as such, and provide appropriate source citations.	(Do this in your genealogy program before exporting a GEDCOM file.) Features | Source Citations | Footnotes
...include identifying dates and locations when providing information about specific surnames or individuals.	(Do this in your genealogy program before exporting a GEDCOM file.)
...respect the rights of others who do not wish information about themselves to be published, referenced or linked on a web site.	Features | Privacy Filters Features | Convert e-mail addresses to actual links
...provide web site access to all potential visitors by avoiding enhanced technical capabilities that may not be available to all users, remembering that not all computers are created equal.	Attributes
...avoid using features that distract from the productive use of the web site, like ones that reduce legibility, strain the eyes, dazzle the vision, or otherwise detract from the visitor's ability to easily read, study, comprehend or print the online publication.	Attributes | Layout | Page Background
...maintain their online publications at frequent intervals, changing the content to keep the information current, the links valid, and the web site in good working order.	(After making changes to your family tree, re-export a GEDCOM file and use GED-GEN to re-generate your web pages.)
...preserve and archive for future researchers their online publications and communications that have lasting value, using both electronic and paper duplication.	(Copy GED-GEN output to a CD-ROM or other archival media.)