familytraits.co.uk

shirreff · #1 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 11:18

hi guys,
i have updated my site, it is still not up there with the best,
i will keep on improving.
i have tried to improve the download speed and added a form, i am still new to building sites so i am still learning fast and enjoying it.
http://www.familytraits.co.uk

Legacy_Staff · #2 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 12:11

Simple, informative, ergonomic, useful, helpful, functional.
Bullet points backed up by detailed info.
It doesn't look like a professional design company did it but, on the other hand, it isn't pretending to be something it's not.

What's not to like?

minute44 · #3 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 13:53

Yeah, i can agree with squirrel. THe site does it's job.

Possibly a little bit too much text on the home page but it's OK.

Your code is a little bloated but again.. it's not a major concern. Most of your validation errors (there are 13 all together) are just to do with missing end tags. No hardship to fix.

I like the idea too. My sister did some research on our family tree several years ago and found out that Damon Albarn from Blur and the Gorillaz is a cousin of mine... You never know what you might find out.

Good luck.

shirreff · #4 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 14:16

thanks, i use webplus 9 to generate the site so i guess that it is down to that program not producing the code right.
I only know a little about html, any advice would be greatly recieved.
I will study the code but i don,t know if i will find the missing tags.
also you say it's a little bloated. do you mean the amount of text in the code?
I am led to believe that it will help search engines find my site.

minute44 · #5 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirreff

thanks, i use webplus 9 to generate the site so i guess that it is down to that program not producing the code right.
I only know a little about html, any advice would be greatly recieved.
I will study the code but i don,t know if i will find the missing tags.
also you say it's a little bloated. do you mean the amount of text in the code?
I am led to believe that it will help search engines find my site.

As far as SEO goes, It is a complex thug of a monser that Rob is the expert on so I'll let him take care of that side of things for you...

I know it seems daunting but you really ought to look into coding stuff by hand. Use Code view in Dreamweaver to get you going. It's really good because it closes tags for you and colour codes everything so it's easier to read through.

I, and others on here will be happy to help you out with this stuff, no probs.

When I said your code was bloated I meant that with proper CSS it could look more like this....

Code: Select all

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
    <div id="container">
        <div id="header">
        <!--IMAGE-->
            <ul id="navigation">
                <li>Home</li>
                <li>Resources</li>
                <li>Scotland and Northumberland Services</li>
                <li>Prices</li>
                <li>Contact Us</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
        <div id="content">
            <h1>
            Genealogical Research Services - Research Your Ancestors - 
            Build Your Family Tree - Genealogy UK
            </h1>
            
            <ul id="points">
                <li>Have you hit a brick wall researching your ancestry?</li>
                <li>Maybe you would like someone to build your family tree?</li>
                <li>Or perhaps you want to start tracing your ancestors and don’t know where to start</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
        <h2>
            At Familytraits we can help you to get over that wall or provide you with a 
            complete package.
            If you would like to do all the work yourself we also provide a family tree starter pack.
        </h2>
        <h2>
            Our aim is to have your research completed within 5 weeks for Scottish records and 10 
            weeks for English records.
            You will receive copies of all the relevant documents, a high quality print of your 
            family tree and a very useful CD ROM.
        </h2>
        <p>
            You may ask yourself what genealogical services we can offer to assist you in your 
            research. At familytraits we are proud of our professional genealogical services and 
            are confident that we will be able to help you no-matter what your UK research 
            requirements may be. We provide a full range of UK genealogical services from family 
            trees to selected individual research. Included in our genealogical services 
            are- Family Trees, UK Census Returns, and UK vital Records Research. Multiple Line 
            family trees and starter packs for Family Trees.
        </p>
        <p>
            When researching your ancestry it is inevitable that you will reach a point where the 
            Internet is unable to provide the information that you are looking for, it may also be 
            the case that you are unable to visit a relevant record office. This is the time that 
            you begin to look  for a researcher to do the work for you. Here at Familytraits we 
            want to help you with your research.
        </p>
        <p>
            Family History and genealogical research is undertaken for England, Scotland and 
            Wales from 1837 onwards and specific, pre civil registry record searches are carried 
            out in the archives and repositories of Scotland ( pre 1855) and Northumberland 
            ( pre 1837). We are happy to help you with the smallest of tasks. We can work 
            alongside the research that you are doing and help out when needed. You may require 
            help with a particularly elusive ancestor in a certain census year. Or you may be 
            looking for someone to undertake your complete family history. Our aim is to provide 
            you with all your requirements, leaving you a satisfied customer. We offer a flexible 
            range of services that can be adapted to suit your specific research requirements. 
            You can order English, Scottish and Welsh vital records, for example, birth, marriage 
            and death certificates from 1837. Census data for England, Scotland, Wales, The Isle 
            of Man and The Channel Islands from 1841 to 1901.
        </p>
        <p>
            UK television programs such as the BBC`s very popular" Who do You Think you are" have 
            inspired the nation to dig up their roots and research their ancestry with the aim of 
            building their own family trees.
            Research can be a time consuming interest but don’t let the occasional brick wall in 
            family trees put you off, were here to help you in your UK research with our professional 
            genealogical services. The growing interest in research in the UK has resulted in 
            Genealogical services and hobbyists leaving the GRO Office for England and Wales 
            inundated with requests for certificates for family trees. UK genealogical services 
            have also seen an increase in requests and although we cannot guarantee a specific 
            delivery date for you we will do our best to deliver prompt and efficient Genealogical 
            services. You may want to hand out family trees as presents to members of your family 
            so be sure to allow plenty of time when you contact us with a research request or 
            enquiry.
        </p>
        
        <h2>Family Trees</h2>
        
        <p>
            You may choose between a standard one line investigation, that is, direct ancestral 
            line research of one surname traced backwards one generation at a time. Or multiple 
            line research. Where additional surnames may be specified.
        </p>
        <p>
            This service will trace your family back to the early 1800’s. This is a general 
            guide as sometimes progress during research can come to a halt due to illegitimacy, 
            immigration or emigration for example.In such cases you will only be charged for the 
            work that has been carried out. Research is meticulously co-ordinated and evidence 
            collected and cross checked at every step of the way to ensure there can be no doubt 
            as to correct lineage. 
        </p>
        
        <h2>You will Recieve:</h2>
        <ul id="recieve">
            <li>Copies of all birth and marriage certificates, census returns and parish records where applicable. </li>
            <li>A full report listing all sources </li>
            <li>A ‘narrative’ tree listing your ancestors relationship to one- another. Vital dates, that is, birth, death and marriage. </li>
            <li>Places of geographical origin. Occupations, with explanations where appropriate. </li>
            <li>A master copy of your ancestral pedigree, i.e., full family tree illustration. </li>
            <li>As well as suggestions for further research </li>
            <li>On multiple line research you will receive all the above for each surname. </li>            
        </ul>
        
        <p>
            All we need from you is any relevant information regarding each surname to be 
            researched. We must have one or more of the following to begin researching. 
            Full name, location and birth date and / or marriage date of one of your ancestors, 
            starting with a grandparent would be ideal. If you have a full name and close 
            “guesstimate” of location and/or date, this may suffice
        </p>
        
        <h2>Family Tree Starter Pcak.</h2>
        
        <p>
            Take advantage of our special offer starter pack. Want to trace your family history? 
            Don't know where to start? Then let us help to get you started on this fascinating 
            journey of discovery.
        </p>
        
        <p>
            Give us the full name and location of the birth or marriage of one of your ancestors 
            from the first half of the 1900’s and you will receive at least two birth or marriage 
            certificates, census returns for 1901 and advice on what steps to take next.
        </p>
    </div>
    <div id="footer">
        <h3>Back to top.</h3>
    </div>

</body>
</html>

See, Loads lighter.

That will validate as well.

Your job is to learn CSS and make that code look sexy in a browser window... Enjoy.

darudeuk · #6 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 15:37

My post was deleted??? or you started yet another thread, if so its not changed much.. still ugly and dated.

needs alot to make it stand out from the rest.

Apart from that good idea.

Legacy_Staff · #7 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 15:42

Not what you asked for, but just had a thought...;

If your advertising on the web, you're expecting your clients to have web access. Instead of the cd option (or as well as maybe), why not turn the file from your cd into a web page for the client with a downloadable file with all the gubbins inside.

My guess is you're already more than half way there with what you're sending out and you'd just need to finish it off and upload it.
You could offer a free period of, say a month, followed by a small charge for hosting the site thereafter, depending on the amount of time your client may wish you to provide it.
Maybe sell the page file to the client as well so they can host it themselves.

Sorry if I'm blethering; Just having a little 'outside-the-box' moment.

(Blethering moments offered free of charge. No v.a.t. applies)

shirreff · #8 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 16:13

are you talking about the site or me.

shirreff · #9 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSkwirrell

Not what you asked for, but just had a thought...;

If your advertising on the web, you're expecting your clients to have web access. Instead of the cd option (or as well as maybe), why not turn the file from your cd into a web page for the client with a downloadable file with all the gubbins inside.

My guess is you're already more than half way there with what you're sending out and you'd just need to finish it off and upload it.
You could offer a free period of, say a month, followed by a small charge for hosting the site thereafter, depending on the amount of time your client may wish you to provide it.
Maybe sell the page file to the client as well so they can host it themselves.

Sorry if I'm blethering; Just having a little 'outside-the-box' moment.

(Blethering moments offered free of charge. No v.a.t. applies)

good idea.
Possibly. A lot of people publish there tree for the world to see, yes I could set up a page with there tree on, they pay to have it there after a month and any new clients can view it as samples of our work, briliant.

shirreff · #10 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by minute44

As far as SEO goes, It is a complex thug of a monser that Rob is the expert on so I'll let him take care of that side of things for you...

I know it seems daunting but you really ought to look into coding stuff by hand. Use Code view in Dreamweaver to get you going. It's really good because it closes tags for you and colour codes everything so it's easier to read through.

I, and others on here will be happy to help you out with this stuff, no probs.

When I said your code was bloated I meant that with proper CSS it could look more like this....

Code: Select all

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
    <div id="container">
        <div id="header">
        <!--IMAGE-->
            <ul id="navigation">
                <li>Home</li>
                <li>Resources</li>
                <li>Scotland and Northumberland Services</li>
                <li>Prices</li>
                <li>Contact Us</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
        <div id="content">
            <h1>
            Genealogical Research Services - Research Your Ancestors - 
            Build Your Family Tree - Genealogy UK
            </h1>
            
            <ul id="points">
                <li>Have you hit a brick wall researching your ancestry?</li>
                <li>Maybe you would like someone to build your family tree?</li>
                <li>Or perhaps you want to start tracing your ancestors and don’t know where to start</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
        <h2>
            At Familytraits we can help you to get over that wall or provide you with a 
            complete package.
            If you would like to do all the work yourself we also provide a family tree starter pack.
        </h2>
        <h2>
            Our aim is to have your research completed within 5 weeks for Scottish records and 10 
            weeks for English records.
            You will receive copies of all the relevant documents, a high quality print of your 
            family tree and a very useful CD ROM.
        </h2>
        <p>
            You may ask yourself what genealogical services we can offer to assist you in your 
            research. At familytraits we are proud of our professional genealogical services and 
            are confident that we will be able to help you no-matter what your UK research 
            requirements may be. We provide a full range of UK genealogical services from family 
            trees to selected individual research. Included in our genealogical services 
            are- Family Trees, UK Census Returns, and UK vital Records Research. Multiple Line 
            family trees and starter packs for Family Trees.
        </p>
        <p>
            When researching your ancestry it is inevitable that you will reach a point where the 
            Internet is unable to provide the information that you are looking for, it may also be 
            the case that you are unable to visit a relevant record office. This is the time that 
            you begin to look  for a researcher to do the work for you. Here at Familytraits we 
            want to help you with your research.
        </p>
        <p>
            Family History and genealogical research is undertaken for England, Scotland and 
            Wales from 1837 onwards and specific, pre civil registry record searches are carried 
            out in the archives and repositories of Scotland ( pre 1855) and Northumberland 
            ( pre 1837). We are happy to help you with the smallest of tasks. We can work 
            alongside the research that you are doing and help out when needed. You may require 
            help with a particularly elusive ancestor in a certain census year. Or you may be 
            looking for someone to undertake your complete family history. Our aim is to provide 
            you with all your requirements, leaving you a satisfied customer. We offer a flexible 
            range of services that can be adapted to suit your specific research requirements. 
            You can order English, Scottish and Welsh vital records, for example, birth, marriage 
            and death certificates from 1837. Census data for England, Scotland, Wales, The Isle 
            of Man and The Channel Islands from 1841 to 1901.
        </p>
        <p>
            UK television programs such as the BBC`s very popular" Who do You Think you are" have 
            inspired the nation to dig up their roots and research their ancestry with the aim of 
            building their own family trees.
            Research can be a time consuming interest but don’t let the occasional brick wall in 
            family trees put you off, were here to help you in your UK research with our professional 
            genealogical services. The growing interest in research in the UK has resulted in 
            Genealogical services and hobbyists leaving the GRO Office for England and Wales 
            inundated with requests for certificates for family trees. UK genealogical services 
            have also seen an increase in requests and although we cannot guarantee a specific 
            delivery date for you we will do our best to deliver prompt and efficient Genealogical 
            services. You may want to hand out family trees as presents to members of your family 
            so be sure to allow plenty of time when you contact us with a research request or 
            enquiry.
        </p>
        
        <h2>Family Trees</h2>
        
        <p>
            You may choose between a standard one line investigation, that is, direct ancestral 
            line research of one surname traced backwards one generation at a time. Or multiple 
            line research. Where additional surnames may be specified.
        </p>
        <p>
            This service will trace your family back to the early 1800’s. This is a general 
            guide as sometimes progress during research can come to a halt due to illegitimacy, 
            immigration or emigration for example.In such cases you will only be charged for the 
            work that has been carried out. Research is meticulously co-ordinated and evidence 
            collected and cross checked at every step of the way to ensure there can be no doubt 
            as to correct lineage. 
        </p>
        
        <h2>You will Recieve:</h2>
        <ul id="recieve">
            <li>Copies of all birth and marriage certificates, census returns and parish records where applicable. </li>
            <li>A full report listing all sources </li>
            <li>A ‘narrative’ tree listing your ancestors relationship to one- another. Vital dates, that is, birth, death and marriage. </li>
            <li>Places of geographical origin. Occupations, with explanations where appropriate. </li>
            <li>A master copy of your ancestral pedigree, i.e., full family tree illustration. </li>
            <li>As well as suggestions for further research </li>
            <li>On multiple line research you will receive all the above for each surname. </li>            
        </ul>
        
        <p>
            All we need from you is any relevant information regarding each surname to be 
            researched. We must have one or more of the following to begin researching. 
            Full name, location and birth date and / or marriage date of one of your ancestors, 
            starting with a grandparent would be ideal. If you have a full name and close 
            “guesstimate” of location and/or date, this may suffice
        </p>
        
        <h2>Family Tree Starter Pcak.</h2>
        
        <p>
            Take advantage of our special offer starter pack. Want to trace your family history? 
            Don't know where to start? Then let us help to get you started on this fascinating 
            journey of discovery.
        </p>
        
        <p>
            Give us the full name and location of the birth or marriage of one of your ancestors 
            from the first half of the 1900’s and you will receive at least two birth or marriage 
            certificates, census returns for 1901 and advice on what steps to take next.
        </p>
    </div>
    <div id="footer">
        <h3>Back to top.</h3>
    </div>

</body>
</html>

See, Loads lighter.

That will validate as well.

Your job is to learn CSS and make that code look sexy in a browser window... Enjoy.

you sure know your stuff, but why does the site need to be validated.
I think in the future i will do a course on html and if anyone can recomend a good correspondence course that would be great.

moojoo · #11 (**permalink**) Jun 14th, 2006, 18:21

Dislike the code but the site itself is fine. Less is usually more and in this case I think it works out just fine. Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to pick all these peoples brains for good codeing tips and practices.

Legacy_Staff · #12 (**permalink**) Jun 15th, 2006, 02:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirreff

good idea.
Possibly. A lot of people publish there tree for the world to see, yes I could set up a page with there tree on, they pay to have it there after a month and any new clients can view it as samples of our work, briliant.

A greyskwirrell would never have come up with an idea like that.

LearningToProgram · #13 (**permalink**) Jun 15th, 2006, 05:02

You asked why a site has to be validated... There are way too many reasons to list here, but here is something I hope you find helpful.

Webdesign is made up of several languages. Most people think all they need to learn is HTML, but actually HTML is very outdated and isn't proper for use in all browsers. Some examples of Web languages are, HTML, XHTML, XML, ASP, PHP, JavaScript, VBScript, CSS, and much more .

For your use, XHTML would be a good thing to learn. It will teach you the basics of CSS as well as having a nicely coded site that you can edit very easily and make your loading times faster. Also, you will find that once you learn this language that you can do a lot more with your website and it will unlock a lot of new possibilities.

Anyways, This isn't the proper place nor time to go on all about XHTML and its uses, but anyone here would be more than happy to explain in the proper forum or via PM I am sure. (I have found them very nice). But one thing I must say about your site... Thank you for having a Geneology site that isn't a black background with bright green/yellow text. You don't know how thankful my Gran is.

minute44 · #14 (**permalink**) Jun 15th, 2006, 08:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirreff

you sure know your stuff, but why does the site need to be validated.
I think in the future i will do a course on html and if anyone can recomend a good correspondence course that would be great.

Why Thank you... I do what I can...

The reason for validation is to ensure that your code is fully browser interoperable. This however isn't set in stone. I have recently found out that a site I was working on has one or two display issues in the opera browser. These are small issues to do with margins and padding but issues none the less.

I assure you, Try using the code I specified with some CSS. Have a play around and see what you can make it do. If you like I'll do a post later with a version of that code with some CSS styling. I've gotta talk to my host first though... I've lost my FTP server details...

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