Summary
Now that you have logged into your TNG site for the first time, one of the first things you will want to do is set up your home page.
You want your visitors to feel welcome in your new website, so there are steps you can follow to dress up the new “home”, change the homepage layout, add a welcoming paragraph, show off some ancestor photographs. You can also add a few tricks to make your website more discoverable by the internet search portals, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.
For an overview on home pages, go to the Introduction section of the tutorials and visit: A tour of your TNG site.
There are many different ways of doing this, and the basic ones will be covered in this tutorial.
Return to Tutorial table of contents.
Overview
The first time you view your home page, it will look like this:
This is the default home page for Template 4 that was created by your TNG Team. Note: this is a slightly different version than the default home page that originally comes with the TNG software which uses Template 7.
The four items below are unique to Guild Type 3 MWP TNG sites:
- The bottom of the webpage, called the ‘footer’, has different information displayed for the MWP type 3 TNG sites.
- The Guild logo and link to the Guild home page have been added to the footer.
- There is a number inside brackets, such as [0000aa], before the words “This site is powered by…” This is an important number because it is used by the TNG team to identify the subfolder where your TNG data is being stored.
- The “Maintained by,,,” phrase now includes a link for site visitors to contact you using your Guild membership number.
Home Page Templates
At the present time TNG offers 18 different Templates, and you have the option to select any one of these. Each Template offers the standard TNG features in different ways, but there are also some additional features on some Templates. All of these features are explained below. In addition, each Template offers a specific color scheme that will be used on all of your TNG pages.
Points to note: You are limited to using one the 18 Templates offered. You cannot change the layout of a Template, nor can you change the color scheme of a Template. But, you can change to a different Template at any time.
If you decide to change to another Template, your settings are not thrown away. A Template will retain the last settings, so that if you later decide to return to that Template, you do not need to start over from scratch. Each Template can then have its own settings, but there is no way to transfer settings from one Template to another.
The best place to go to review all of the Templates is to Darrin Lythgoe’s (the TNG software developer) website. Use this link, then click on each of the numbered boxes at the top of that page.
Visit the Surnames of Interest list on this site to see what Templates have been selected by other users and to check out their layouts.
Home Page Features
We will review Template 4, since this is the Template that has initially been installed for you.
The standard TNG home page features that you see here include a search facility, a list of menu links, a title, an image, a text box, and a Maintained by link, and a cookies notification pop-up window. All TNG Templates offer these standard features.
Cookies:
The Cookies pop-up window is a feature that can be disabled, so that it does not show up for any of your site visitors. To do this, go to the Setup >> Configuration >> General Settings page in your TNG Administration area, open the Privacysection, and change the Show Cookie approval message: label option to “No”. However, If Cookies remain enabled, a visitor only needs to click in the pop-up message once, and it will not appear again. By clicking on the pop-up, visitors have confirmed acknowledgement of the presence of cookies. This takes care of a website privacy legal requirement, which is especially important due to the European GDPR regulations.
However, If Cookies remain enabled, a visitor only needs to click in the pop-up message once, and it will not appear again. By clicking on the pop-up, visitors have confirmed acknowledgement of the presence of cookies. This takes care of a website privacy legal requirement, which is especially important due to the European GDPR regulations. [these two paragraphs should be moved into the General Settings section]
The search facility is where anyone visiting your home page can enter a person’s name to search for it in your database. Many of the Templates offer a list of menu links such as are seen here in the left column. But, some templates, such as Templates 6, 8, 12, and 15 save home page space by hiding these menu links under a dropdown menu bar near the top of those home pages. The home page title and text are features that you will change to reflect your needs, and how to make these changes is covered later in this tutorial. Finally, the Maintained by link is something you can change, for example, to show your name.
Template 4 also offers some additional features not found on every other Template. These include the two-tier (or two line) home page title, the option of showing a second image in the top right corner, (that will appear on every public TNG data page on your site), the four Feature Articles, and the Contact Us box and link. Feature Articles offer additional text boxes to add information, along with links to internal pages or external sites, as desired. There is also a way to have these links open documents on your site. The Contact Us feature link duplicates what is found at the bottom of the left side menu list.
Point to note: Because you cannot change any of the Template styles, you cannot change the words “Contact Us” to “Contact Me.”
Other Templates offer features not found on Template 4. Most of the significant ones will be briefly mentioned below.
Some Templates, such as 2 and 3 for example, offer different ways to change the language shown on the site. Some Templates, such as 6, 8 and 17 for example, offer different ways to present links to “His (or Dad’s) Side” and “Her (or Mom’s) Side” individuals. These links can be disabled if these features are not desired. Templates 6 and 9 for example, offer a place to add Resource links, should those be desired.
Templates 7 and 8 for example, offer different ways for News to be presented.
Templates 11 and 13 for example, offer a way to place three images side by side on your home page.
Template 12 for example, offers a way to show your top 100 surnames on the home page.
Template 15 is probably the most complex one available. It offers the ability to show multiple images with descriptions, as well as sidebar headings and text boxes in the footer.
Finally, Template 16 features What’s New photos and individuals, with links to them.
There is a further tutorial on Templates which provides additional information on how to maintain Feature Articles and His/Her side Links.