The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding, Version 4

Darrin Lythgoe has created genealogy software that you can upload and install on a Web server. You then upload your genealogy information in GEDCOM format to the same Web server, along with any pictures you wish to use. You can also enter data manually, if you prefer. Unlike most genealogy Web pages, the information is not stored as normal HTML files. Instead, it is stored in a database on the Web server, and pages are dynamically generated "on the fly" when a viewer visits your Web site. Your genealogy information is stored in MySQL database tables and dynamically displayed in attractive fashion with PHP (a scripting language). Darrin calls his software "The Next Generation."

Using a true database for storage and dynamically generating Web pages as needed has numerous advantages over static Web pages:

• Generating pages as needed saves a lot of disk space on your web site. There are no HTML pages to store, and you don't even need to keep the GEDCOM file on your site. Most Web hosting services charge for the amount of disk space used; so, this can be important to anyone with a lot of genealogy information to share.

• Using a database instead of the GEDCOM file makes the information more easily searchable. Visitors to your Web site may search by last name, first name, Soundex, metaphones (an enhanced Soundex), birth year, and several other options without wading through enormous lists of surnames or individuals. Visitors to your site are using true database searches instead of the more limited searches available with search engines.

• Pedigree and descendancy charts are capable of showing an indefinite number of generations.

• Multi-language support. When multiple languages are present, visitors have the ability to change the language for all core pages. The Web pages are automatically generated when the visitor asks for information; you do not need to upload separate HTML pages in advance for each language.

Of course, to use this software you must have a Web server that supports PHP and MySQL. PHP is a hypertext preprocessor, which is a server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages. MySQL is the world's most popular open source database and is typically found on Linux servers although Windows, Macintosh, and other versions are also available.

If you have genealogy pages hosted on RootsWeb, Genealogy.com, Tripod, GeoCities, Angelfire, or any of the other free Web hosting services, you probably will not have access to PHP or MySQL and, therefore, will not be able to use The Next Generation. However, many commercial hosting services that charge $5 to $20 a month for their services will give you access to PHP and MySQL. You can find a hundred or so such hosting services by using any search engine.

You do not need to be a PHP and MySQL expert. However, if you have never heard of these terms before, you probably need to do some reading before installing this software. You will need only a basic understanding of these technologies; you do not need to be a guru.

The Next Generation (or TNG) runs on most any normal Web server, including Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Macintosh. In fact, you can even run it on your home computer for test purposes, assuming you have already installed PHP and MySQL (Home computers normally do not have these free programs installed when purchased.). There is no limit to the number of names that can be in the program's database. At least one TNG one user stores about 1,250,000 names in TNG's database. If your database is a few hundred thousand names or more, you may need a rather fast processor and a lot of memory in the server. If your database is less than 100,000 names, you probably do not have to worry about processor speed or memory size.

Version 4 of The Next Generation has added many new features, including:

• Relationship Chart: See a graphical representation of the relationship between any two related individuals.

• Timeline: Graph and compare the lifespans of an unlimited number of individuals and save it as long as your window stays open.

• Improved Admin Interface: Allows easier access to all data categories and tracks updates with admin change log.

• Expanded user information, plus let visitors register for their own user account.

• RSS newsreader page (see my "Blogs Explained" in last week's newsletter for info about RSS files)

• Branches: Label different sections of your family tree and associate user permissions.

• Surname Prefixes: Choose to manage and sort surnames independently of any prefix (i.e., "van", "de", etc.).

TNG is available in a variety of languages. The public and administrative display messages have been translated into Danish, Dutch, French, Norwegian, Swedish, German and Spanish, and the public messages have also been translated into Finnish.

The source code for TNG is also included. Actually, all PHP scripts are merely text files, so the code is easily accessible. You may make any changes you'd like although any modifications you make obviously will not be supported by the author.

One item that really impresses me is the manner in which the display pages may be customized to have the "look and feel" that you wish. I looked at quite a few sites built with The Next Generation and found that most of them did not resemble any other sites built with the same software. To see what I mean, look at several of the sites listed at http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/usersites.php. In addition, Darrin Lythgoe’s own Web site contains his genealogy information and his wife’s, all generated by "The Next Generation." You can see that at http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/.

You can also see two demos: one shows how TNG pages look before any customizations are made. The other shows the administrative interface of The Next Generation, including the Setup & Configuration, the Data Import, and all other administrative functions. Both are available at http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/demo.php. You will note that the administrative interface is really easy to use.

I would suggest that you spend some time using the program as a normal user, both on the demo site (search for a last name of Smith) as well as on some of the sites listed in http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/usersites.php. You will quickly learn that the sites have the look and feel of searching databases on the big sites, such as FamilySearch.org, NewEnglandAncestors.org, and MyFamily.com.

The Next Generation costs $27 (US). Once purchased, you download the software, unzip it on your own PC, customize the installation parameters to match your Web server’s requirements, and then upload the result to your Web server. Assuming that the PHP software and MySQL database are already functional on your Web server, you upload the GEDCOM file and import the data into TNG. You also can manually enter your data although I suspect that GEDCOM import will be the preferred method for most people.

This program is a winner! It allows you to share your genealogy information online in a manner that matches what you want. It does not look like a "cookie cutter report" as created by so many other genealogy programs. The Next Generation is easily customizable in ways that I have not seen in desktop programs that create simple HTML pages that you upload to a Web server. TNG is a bit more challenging technically than an off-the-shelf genealogy program, but you may find this to be a very worthwhile difference. You do not need to be a software developer to install and use TNG although you should be comfortable with configuring software and with uploading files via FTP to a Web server.

For more information about The Next Generation server-based genealogy software, to look at some example sites, or to purchase the software, go to http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php

Comments

[Roger Moffat]

I have had this installed on my Macintosh since January 2003 - it is a fantastic bit of work by Darrin. The support is amazing, with eMailed questions sometimes answered within minutes, usually within a few hours and always inside of a day or thereabouts.

I have a number of sites using it - my own genealogy with quite a number of pictures linked to it, the genealogy file of the Clan Moffat Society with some 65,500 people in it, a database that is being compiled with genealogy information for the surname Houliston, and most recently our genealogy society has decided to start using it to put members' sumbitted genealogies online

http://roger.lisaandroger.com
http://houliston.lisaandroger.com
http://genealogy.clanmoffat.org
http://trees.wmgs.org

These are all comfortably running on the same PowerMac G4 I use every day, including writing this message.

[Gary B. Ruppert]

Two years ago, the Maryland Genealogical Society began placing 50 years of collected member pedigrees on-line. Darrin Lythgoe's program, The Next Generation (TNG) has been a god-send for this project. We have in the neighborhood of 400 "trees" totaling 20,000 individuals thus far. TNG has worked flawlessly and Darrin has provided superb support for this product. MdGenSoc has many thousands of GEDCOMs yet to upload and we're looking for a long relationship with TNG!

[Michael Kaiser]

TNG seriously rules. I've used both Family Tree Maker and Legacy and I hated the websites both of these otherwise fine programs produced. Static HTML pages for hundreds of family groupings is not the way to go. With TNG everything is dynamic and I can still use my favorite offline database to track my information, uploading any updates onto my website with the click of a button. And the owner has yet to fail me when it comes to technical support. Highly recommended!

[Roger Moffat]

On my Clan Moffat Society site http://genealogy.ClanMoffat.org the TNG setup will replace over 112,000 HTML files that had to be created, copied to CD, then copied off the CD to the web server - transferring that many files over the LAN (the server is in our basement) was tedious and frustrating at best.

Now if only Google knew that I'd moved all these files to a different place

Roger

[John Lyon]

I recently set up TNG on my website, integrating it with a free "content management system" I use to manage my site, and I am very pleased. In fact, I will use this as my primary repository of my Uncles family tree information, which means I've saved around 60 dollars, since I didn't need to upgrade to the OS X version of the Mac program Reunion.

The best thing, for me, about having the family information online with TNG is that I can make changes within the application, and there are no additional steps required for that information to be available to visitors. No exports, no web page creation, no uploading...Pure simplicity.

[Derrick Pitard]

I can't recommend this program enough. I especially love its versatility. There are many poorly presented sites on the web--which isn't merely an aesthetic comment, but a comment on difficult they are to negotiate. TNG gives so many different constructive ways to access the information that playing around on the site is fun, not a nuisance.

A second plus about this is that it is very easy to update the website. I use Reunion for Mac: I just update my database on Reunion, export it as a regular old gedcom to my site, and its all done inside a minute (I have 7000 people on my tree). Incredibly easy.

There are lots of other benefits I could list: security works well, for instance; and Darrin's support is outstanding. If you enjoy the work of customizing your site, this is a great bit of software.

[Dave Clark]

I agree wholeheartedly with Derrick Pitard's comments above. Customizing this program to create your own genealogy website was truly a fun experience. There is a little bit of a learning curve to climb, but it pays big dividends. It is easy to update both the database and the software. Darrin makes small changes from time to time which are easy to incorporate. He sends an explanation of every change- usually needed to fix some minor glitch or to improve the way TNG works. Great software, like a great novel, is not written; it is re-written. Much like your genealogy website is a work in progress, TNG is constantly evolving and incorporating new features like the recent Ahnentafel display that was added to the pedigree page.

On our website http://forney.clark.genealogy.home.comcast.net we discuss the process of creating the site
with TNG and running your own server. One caveat: keep good records if you make changes/modifications to the actual TNG program. It will greatly facilitate the updating process.

Dave Clark

[Cees Kloosterman]

I am one of the happy and very satisfied users of TNG. Look at my Kloosterman genealogy at http://www.kloosterman.be and everybody can see for themselves why I am so satisfied with Darrin Lythgoes TNG program.
A great genealogy program, very fast, well done, with a lot offpossibilities and of course the languages. I'm getting a lot of compliments about my site. I always refer them to Darrin and tell them that without his excellent program, after sale service, support and your help with the TNG scripts I could not have made such a professional looking website. It is the best program I have seen yet for genealogical websites and the price is a bargain!! You can quote me on that!"

[Brent]

It's too bad TNG doesn't conform to web standards. It's great that Darrin uses list tags to display the navigation links. But it would also be great if he replaced the HTML table tags that display the data with CSS. It would make the pages download faster and be more accessible to people with sight and mobility disabilities.

[Alan Telford]

Hi,

I've been really impressed by your database on the Clan Moffat socitey site. What's the typical size of when installed? I understand this will vary a huge amount depending on the amount of records/graphics data you load, I'm just interested in a ball park figure,

thanks

Alan