Category: Uncategorized

Okay, I previously showed you how to install TNG on your website and then apply one of their templates. That “beta” site is still live, over here. However, for the purpose of continuing the tutorial, I’m taking it off the pre-made template. This way you’ll be able to see the site as it progresses. I want to get this done this summer, but for the sake of quality and not rushing, I’m thinking about just posting one entry every Friday. That way, it’s before the weekend, and you’ll have time to ask questions about certain aspects before we move on. If I get questions, I might even do a Wednesday entry with the answers (if time permits!).

Continue reading “RMC: New Plan and New Background” →

I’m sorry to say, that I’ve changed my mind once again. Oops, that seems to happen alot. I’m still planning on the design I sketched out, but I’m also going back to the more colorful, vibrant design I had been working on before I started this whole tutorial extravaganza. We’ll pick back up where I left off, but first I’m going to show you the new background that I’m going to use, then I’ll go forward with how I design my header image.

Another thing I wanted to address was the reason I’m not currently taking on pay jobs to customize other people’s TNG templates. One of the things I learned while teaching myself to do websites was that when people pay someone to make their websites for them, sometimes they have very different ideas about what exactly each website designer is capable of. I’ve never reached farther in my web design knowledge then what I needed to use for myself. I started by learning HTML and then fell in love with CSS design. I know a little about MySQL and PHP to get by, but not enough to really dig in deep with things. It’s for this reason I don’t even try to take on “commissions”. It’s just not fair for the paying customer. If you’d like a simple CSS design, I’d be your girl, however, in my experience most people want a little more flash (literally and figuratively) to their websites. That’s perfectly fine for them, but I don’t like flash (literally and figuratively). I like simple, easy loading websites. For me, designing websites for pay or others hasn’t been something I’m confident enough in to take on yet. I’ve been thinking about taking some coding and design classes for it to be an option in the future, but it’s just not in the cards right now.

For now I want to give you a run down of my plan for the next few weeks. Yes, that’s right I said few weeks. I’m really hoping to batten down the hatches and get this done. Seeing as how I’m going back to the original new design, I think it will go much faster. I think the reason I was losing momentum was I didn’t like any of the new designs as much as I like the original redesign. Well, except for the crowded three column format I was going for. Now I have a better idea of where I’m going with it all.

POST 1: Plan Change– In this post, I’ll highlight the changes to my master plan and bring us back up to date with where we left off in the previous tutorials. I think it will include a new design sketch but I haven’t decided yet. I have some paper sketches from before that I might just work from instead of hashing it out all over again.

POST 2: New Banner– This post will highlight the new website banner. My banner is one of the most commented on aspects of my design. For that reason I want to show you with the right tools how simple it is to accomplish.

POST 3: Buttons– As I was researching the new design, I fell across a tutorial for Image Sprites. I fell in love. It’s a CSS way of having that little bit of flash (just figuratively this time). It’s a great little pop to the website. It’s a little more advanced, but with the tutorial I used, I was able to hash it out once, and now I use my example to modify for all other image sprite menus.

POST 4: My Favorite Customizations– This might actually spread across a few posts. I’m not sure at the moment. When I customize my TNG installation, I actually don’t change too many things with the core pages, just the CSS files. This is why I love CSS so much, you can change so many things with just one file. The great thing about TNG is it’s designed to read your mytngstyle.css file before the other css files. So when you put something in YOUR file, it overrides that command in all the other files. Which makes it easy as pie to customize things. If you know the right command that is, but we’ll go over that!

POST 5: TO BE DETERMINED– This is still to be determined because I am toying with the idea of making my own downloadable TNG template. The only drawback is because I use customized images in my design and that might not translate to a template. Right now, this is just a maybe. I’ll be thinking about it over the course of the tutorials.

So there’s the plan so far! I hope to have the first post up by Friday… before I chicken out! This is a little nerve wracking for me. 🙂 I’ve never tried to explain my process before!

Previous Posts:

• RMC: Part 1 is the Planning Stage
• RMC: Creating a Database and Installing TNG
• RMC: My Design Inspiration Sketch
• RMC: Programs You Might Need
• RMC: The Site Design Images-Part 1

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with TNG software or it’s creator, Darrin Lythgoe. I have not in the past or present made any profit from my tutorials about customizing TNG. I can’t promise to fix all problems that come up with TNG or your designs. A lot of web design is about trial and error. All I’m trying to do is help the people who have commented or e-mailed about this software that makes genealogy websites a lot of fun!

When viewing this website you may get a script error. I am aware of this problem. It is a conflict in my plugins that I’m trying to correct. You can hit stop script and not have anything in the page mess up. The problem is with the ShareThis! plugin. I think because WordPress added it into it’s Jetpack plugin and I had it installed as a separate plugin.

I just wanted to let you know I haven’t been ignoring the problem and I’m hoping to get it solved while I work on the new design.

Thanks for you patience!

After the very emotional 2 weeks I’ve had, I’m sitting down now to re-assess my situation. It’s been very hard adjusting to my “new normal”. So much of my day is just empty now. That means I’ve got to find other ways to fill it. So here’s some additional goals for myself in addition to my 2012 Genealogy Goals.

1. Blog Re-Design. Boy did I drop the ball on this one so far. It’s such a cop out to say, “I’ve been busy.” It’s what I have though. Now that Grandpa isn’t here for me to care for, I have to dedicate myself back to my website. It’s part of my genealogy passion and now I need to re-discover it. There are a couple of questions I’ve gotten in the last few weeks about this, so I’ll try and address those as soon as I can formulate educated, accurate responses. Remember I’m not a coder by trade, just by self learning! So I don’t want to lead you wrong. Part of my re-design is also to overhaul my tags and categories on the blog. I’ve racked up quite a bit of content here, so I just want to be able to access it better. Hopefully a new organization method and the new design can work together to do this.
2. Quilting is something I discovered the year before Grandpa moved here and just like my website, I found it hard to find time to do it. So while I still have a lot of household responsibilities that take up my time, I’m hoping to work out a way to make some quilts for sale (a new venture for me!) and get my website time in. Grandpa had even given me a tremendous idea the day before he passed away and I really want to make that happen.
3. Exercising. This one is the toughest. I’ve been averaging about 3 days a week since the end of January on the treadmill. I want to get it to 5 days a week until my weight comes down. I gained a little bit back the last two weeks, so I have to make up for that by being extra diligent. I’m hoping to get this done first thing in the morning before everything else steamrolls on me, so that I won’t have any excuses to back out!
4. Organizing. I’m actually planning a re-organization of my whole life if you get down to it. Everything from how I spend my time and money to my work area. I’ve planned a renovation for my work space to hopefully make it more efficient. I even have my Dad custom building the desk/bookcases. So plenty of room for my genealogy and coding books! Finally!
5. COMMUNICATION. This is the biggest improvement I hope to make. To be quite honest, I had been pulling away from the computer the last few months. I don’t know if I subconsciously had a feeling that I didn’t have much time left with Grandpa, or I didn’t notice how his condition was getting worse because I was so close to it. Whatever the reason or purpose, it happened. I got behind on e-mails and commenting back. I sincerely apologize for that. Part of my new methods will be to keep a calendar (in my Genealogy Binder maybe), of my month so that I have days set aside just for taking care of correspondence. It’s such a huge part of genealogy and I miss it! There are tons of family connections I want to make in the coming months! So expect me to try and be on the website more and on Twitter. I’m still not sure about maintaining a FaceBook. I cut a lot of drama out of my life when I de-activated that, so I’m still trying to decide what’s best there.

I know these are not all related to genealogy but since I plan to spend so much time on here in the future, I want to get my goals down where they’ll be easy for me to find and re-visit. Not to mention the sign I plan to make myself and hang above my new desk (when it’s made that is).

Now I’m going to share some Instagram pictures I post to my Twitter this week when I was feeling pretty emotional about Grandpa. These picture were taken with my phone, so that is why they look a bit tilted.

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/leenygirl/status/183917066259144705″]

What you see above is a tweet that automatically posts to my twitter. Back when I first started the blog, I decided to automate that kind of tweeting from my website with the Twitter Tools plugin. Lately I’ve been rethinking it.

For what seems like months, I’ve noticed that my website tweets will sometimes be missing my default hashtag of #genealogy or sometimes don’t show up at all. That may not seem like a big deal, but it really is for me. I don’t want to spam my friends, family and twitter followers with multiple tweets about the same blog post. What is the point of auto-tweeting if you have to go back behind it and either delete and redo the tweet, or post a new tweet anyway. It seems kind counter productive to me.

I usually tweet from my phone, but I might have to give TweetDeck another try if my auto-tweeting is going to stop working. Oh well, I think going the old fashioned way might be better anyway. Maybe it will slow me down and make me think through what I’m doing more thoroughly.

/Random Monday Blogging

 

A lot of the times, when I’m designing a website I’m not sure of what the final product will look like. It’s hard to pre-make images for the design, when I’m unsure of how it’s all coming together. There are two definite images I know I have to make in the beginning though. The site banner and a background pattern if there’s going to be one.

So, in this case I’ll start with the background pattern. I really enjoyed to background used on the pre-made TNG template that I used on the iLeeny Beta Site. Sorry, I just love saying that, it makes me feel all nerdy.

Continue reading “RMC: The Site Design Images- Part 1” →

Sorry for the delay, but its finally time to get our computers ready for the redesign! I have to preface this by saying that I have been doing this website stuff for almost 10 years now. This is not my specialty, but I do have some experience with the programs. Just because I’m using more advanced features and programs, doesn’t mean you have to! The important part is taking the time to become familiar with the programs you are using. The more you use them, the more you’ll learn about them.

HTML Editing Software

This is one of the most important programs you’ll need for customizing a website. If you have previous knowledge, you can get away with just using Notepad, but I like to use a program that has some built in “help”. There are many different types of HTML editing software. I use code editors, but there are ones out there called WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors. The problem I’ve found with them (years ago though), is that they are not as code friendly as I would like. When I say that I mean, it gets a little jumbled on the code side, even though things “look” okay. However, they are a great way for a new website designer to jump in and see what code does what function.

Komodo Edit: This is the program I’ve used for the past year or so. It’s free, and it has a built in code database. So you don’t have to remember what values go with what tag. It’s pretty easy to use.

EditPad Lite: This is a free program also, but it’s much more basic in terms of features. However, if you’re comfortable editing code to some degree, this is a great program. This is actually the program I recommended to my siter and she still uses today. She doesn’t need it to do a lot, just to be able to edit basic coding.

SeaMonkey: This is a WYSIWYG editor/email/browser/IRC all in one program. I actually just installed it because I wanted to find a good WYSIWYG editor to show everyone and boy did I find it. I’m kind of in love with it myself. What I really love about this program is that it is a Mozilla powered product. If you haven’t been in the web developer world, Mozilla Firefox is one of the more popular browsers among web developers. We won’t go into the whys, because frankly the discussion gets too heated for my taste!

Photo Editing Software

Adobe PhotoShop: This is the program I currently use. I got a copy of an older version from the Navy base when they were cleaning out their stores. Sometimes if you know someone, you can get some pretty cool stuff that was purchased for government use but then became outdated. They do have a more affordable version called PhotoShop Elements. I’m going to be saving up for a copy of a newer version of that. It might not have all the bells and whistles of the full Photoshop but it’s more affordable for me! (Between you and me, if I ever got rich, I’d buy the Web Premium Suite from Adobe, but that’s just me ;p)

Paint Shop Pro: Before I got onto the Adobe train, I had a copy of Paint Shop Pro. It’s always been a much more affordable program. In fact, maybe I’ll save up for that one too. Just because I’m a software junkie like that and I like seeing the differences.

Gimp: This is a free program. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to play too much with this one to see if it stands up to the other two. I played a little bit and if you aren’t looking to get too complicated, this program could definitely be your solution!

Again, I want to reiterate that you have to play with these programs and learn them. There is a learning curve, but I do have my mother using PhotoShop for her crafting, so it’s definitely learnable! :p

Next up, I’ll show you the process of how I design my banner and other images I’ll need in the design.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with these software companies. They are not compensating me for talking about them.

This is the first time in my family history adventures that I’m going to be witnessing the release of a census record. I wasn’t seriously researching at the time that the 1930 census was released, so I’m a little bit excited… Okay I’m a lot excited. I have a lot of family connections all over the country that started to lose touch around the 1940s and 1950s. So I think the 1940 census will help me bridge a gap that has been lingering for a long time in my research.

Continue reading “I’m a 1940 US Census Blog Ambassador” →

When you have any kind of redecorating project, it’s always a good idea to look around for some inspiration. My website encompasses a blog and a genealogy database, so it’s important that I plan and consider both those factors in my new design. As I was playing around in the test section I created during my TNG tutorial, I found out I liked something I never thought I’d like. Almost every website I’ve every created has had a fixed width design. This means that no matter how big or small your screen size is, I’m perfectly aware that my design is going to be certain size. Variable width designs scare me quite frankly.

I don’t know why they do. I think it’s the horror of the design falling flat in a 24″ inch monitor like mine. What if it is too scrunched in a smaller monitor size. To avoid this fear, I’ve just been doing fixed width. In my original About Me page, I wrote that I was trying to discover things about myself. That was back in 2010. Well I’ve discovered many things about myself in that time. One of them being that I like to learn, but once I’ve learned something, I’m scared of the advancement to the next level. That puts me in the stuck position.

Well, this year the training wheels are coming off. I’m making more efforts to get out there and learn. So one of the steps I’m taking is…. My new website design will be a variable width design! Oh gosh, that’s just crazy. I know, I’m weird.

My first sketch was on paper when I was going with a fixed width design. So when I switched, I decided to go into PhotoShop and hash it out there. I played with fonts and images. This is just a rough draft. The banner will get a little more ornate, and I haven’t decided how to handle the links on the side yet, but it’s an ongoing process. What I really hope to accomplish is a design that’s more easily changed out when I like.

I like the more subdued colors too. I loved the splashes of color from my previous working design, but it just wasn’t working in the long run.

Next we’ll talk about programs you’ll need in the customization process!