My TNG experience

Background
For many years, I have maintained and expanded a family history web site by coding every line in html. Before that, I had a family history environment on my computer, written in BASIC. That still has some unique features, but Qbasic has all but disappeared, and I have not tried to convert my program to Visual Basic. My web environment allowed me to share my information, and I could create exactly the look I wanted. I have now got to the stage where I have lots of information still to be added, but am acutely aware that it is not portable in any way. I was well advanced in the planning towards writing my own PHP/MySQL suite of programs, but when I found Darrin's software, I knew I had found my solution.

I have not totally given up on writing my own Genealogy program, but for now, TNG allows me to regain control of all my information and media.

Decision to Purchase
My main concern was whether I wanted a web only environment for all my data. I have lots of photos and other info, and will probably fill my 1G hosted space before I load everything. I wanted the option to add and amend data on my laptop even if I was not connected to the web. I have decided to instal a web server on my laptop for this purpose, even though the process is not for the faint-hearted. I explain the process on a separate page because it is too convoluted to include here. See the link to the right. I thought this would be easy, so I decided to proceed.

When I was searching Google for genealogy web environments, TNG repeatedly was mentioned. There were a couple of others, but they were either old, or did not have the large community of support that TNG has. It also has the advantage of integration with DRUPAL, which is a possible attraction for the future.

I also looked at computer based genealogy software, but nothing seemed to have the web environment that I was looking for. I have used PAF software in the past, which is where my starting GEDCOM came from, but that was not suitable for where I want to go.

Pricing and support by the author seems good, so in I leapt and purchased TNG.

Web Hosting
Just a few words about web hosting and Domain names. You need to spend a few dollars to host your copy of TNG. Normally, your ISP (the Company you pay for your home or work internet connection and Email account) will not include the ability to run PHP/MySQL programs of your choosing. You need the features that paid hosting provides. There are many good providers out there, but I use and recommend www.myriadnetwork.com. They are not the cheapest (I pay about US$150 pa), but are reliable, and include Cpanel, which is a suite of tools to manage all aspects of your web environment. They provide the web server, PHP and MySQL, all ready to run.

The next thing you need is a Domain name (like www.jansquire.com). This is more professional looking, and you will need one if you buy web hosting. I use and recommend www.namecheap.com. Any dotcom name you like, if it is available, for about US$10pa. It does take a bit of time to understand how everything goes together, but it is knowledge which will put you in the top 10% of web users, and you will be on your way to managing all aspects of your web environment.

If you are saying to yourself that this is looking too hard, I can say I felt like that once. The steps you need to take are easy to learn, and are explained on the web sites. If you have a problem, someone else has been there before and written about it - Google will find the discussion. It really is easy, but if you have a few hundred dollars to spare and want to pay someone to get everything set up, then it is hard and I can help (Email me).

Installation and set up
This part is quite easy. The problems I had were because I did not read every word carefully as I worked through the installation. Read the page at the download link, download the TNG then open the 'readme.html' file

Customising

Using on my Laptop and backing up

Getting search engines to crawl my site

Closing Down my Old Home Page

Integrating with Drupal???

Using the site - tips, issues, etc