Of course, you have heard of the GENDEX. You may not know, however, that one may submit names to the GENDEX index independent of software utility created web pages. Utilities such as Ged2html, Gedpage, or others are not the only way to get your names in the GENDEX. (If you have a gedcom, or utility converted html pages, you should instead go to the GENDEX site for instructions to add your names to the GENDEX)
You can make your own Gendex index file for your text pages, and as long as the links, names, dates and places are in the proper format, the Gendex server will process your gendex.txt file and add the names to the Gendex index. I usually use the WordPad text editor for making the gendex.txt files (from the menu bar, select View>Options, select the Text tab, and choose "no-wrap" so each line of your index will remain long), and remember to Save your file as File Type .txt.
As an example, take a look at a small web page I created for a correspondent, listing her family members. Go to the Gendex, Access the Index, and enter the surname REED, then drill down through the indexes 'till you find Barbary Rose REED and click on her, sending you (or just go there directly) to http://pages.prodigy.net/reed_wurts/patsreed.html. You can see that I just typed up some text for this page. [This last link and the next one will open up additional browser windows so you can compare the files more easily. To switch back and forth between the browser windows, either select each window from the Task Bar, or toggle them by Alt+Tab]
Then, look at the associated gendex.txt format file, named “gendexp.txt” in this case, at http://pages.prodigy.net/reed_wurts/gendexp.txt, which I created from the information on the page you just looked at, and take note of the format:
pagename|SURNAME|Given Names /SURNAME/|bi RTH date|Place|de ATH date|Place|
The format with the data inserted:
patsreed.html|REED|Barbary Rose /REED/|1 JUN 1866|Buena Vista,,Pennsylvania|25 AUG 1916|Underwood,,Iowa|
If neccesary, because you are indexing names from pages in multiple directories, use directory/pagename instead of just pagename. Example:
pat/patsreed.html|REED|Barbary Rose /REED/|1 JUN 1866|Buena Vista,,Pennsylvania|25 AUG 1916|Underwood,,Iowa|
This next paragraph describes an OPTIONAL feature
that can just as well be left out.And, you can also send the visitor to the proper place in the page, if you know or learn a little HTML. The "#name" anchor placed in your web page code will cause the browser to scroll down the page to the proper anchor-named place in that page. [put your mouse pointer over that last link to see what the URL with the #name tag looks like in your browser's lower URL view bar]
Code in page:
<A NAME="barbary">Children:</A>
[quotes are needed; for more on Anchors see an HTML Manual] Example:
pat/patsreed.html#barbary|REED|Barbary Rose /REED/|1 JUN 1866|Buena Vista,,Pennsylvania|25 AUG 1916|Underwood,,Iowa|
Well, if you made it this far, you should have very little trouble making an index for your names.
As long as the names/data info is in the above format, the GENDEX server can process it, adding your names to the Gendex, with a link from each name to the proper page. -- Please note that the number of spaces after the given name depends on the number of given names (there should be 2 spaces after a single given name; 1 after one middlename; 0 after two or more middle names), and that there are no spaces between place names, just commas like this - Valley Forge,Montgomery,Pennsylvania.
Also, note the 5 bars, "|||||", dividing the name, date and place fields. You must have all the bars, with the appropriate information between the proper bars, and no extra spaces in the place fields. A space in "Buena Vista" is OK because it is part of the place name. (You can print out the gendexp.txt page, from the 4th paragraph, above, for reference in creating your own gendex.txt format file for your pages.) The official Gendex Format info is found on the particular format page, through the How to Submit link listed below.
The next step after making a gendex.txt format file of the names is to put that file on your internet provider’s server with the rest of your pages. There are a number of places you can get substantial FREE web site space, such as Xoom (11MB), Fortunecity (20MB), GeoCities (11MB), Tripod (11MB) and a number of others listed at T-Planet or just type Free Web Space into a search engine.
AFTER you have posted your gendex.txt file to your server, go to the GENDEX web site and click the link, How to submit your data to this index. After reading that info, you can go back to the previous page, click Access the Index, and then click Edit Site Information.
You will have to choose a name and password for your database, and click "Submit". When the form comes up, fill out the database submitter information; name, address, etc., and the exact URL to the gendex.txt format file (in this example http://pages.prodigy.net/reed_wurts/gendexp.txt), in the appropriate boxes. At the bottom of the form, enter in the URL Prefix where your pages can be found (in this example http://pages.prodigy.net/reed_wurts/, dont forget the last "/"). The URL Prefix is the address of the directory where your pages can be found. When you have finished filling out the form, click "Submit".
Then, click the link,"to initiate loading of site data" (gendex.txt file). Afterwards, be sure to check your entries in the Gendex to make sure the links work!!! (I had to make corrections the 1st time I did this). The GENDEX server will automatically poll your gendex.txt file on a regular basis, just in case you have revised your database or added more entries.
Now, people can find your names in the GENDEX, facilitating the exchange of information!!!
If you have any ideas how I can improve on these instructions, please write to me at Reed_Wurts@prodigy.net
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