This page updated 2 May 2008
Version note: Applies to TMG 6 & 7,
and Second Site 1 & 2
Second Site 2.1 or later required for TMG 7
John Cardinal, long time TMG user and creator of several companion programs for TMG, has written a wonderful program to produce high quality web pages from TMG Project files. It's called Second Site, and you can read all about it on John's website. It's amazingly fast at generating the files, and offers seemingly endless options to customize the results as the user desires. A complete update, Second Site 2, recently released, offering even more tools to customize a website to your preferences.
The webpages created by Second Site can be placed on a website, or they can copied to a CD and to be shared with family members more privately. The program offers a choice of several different output styles. The one I prefer for sharing with relatives is called Narrative, and produces output similar to the Journal style reports produced by TMG, but adapted to take advantage of the linking capabilities of webpages. There are also several variations using columnar formats and bullet-item formats, for those that prefer a more structured layout. I use a variation of the bullet format for my public family history webpages.
Websites can be produced in a variety of styles, called themes in Second Site. Each theme produces different page appearance, color schemes, and graphical treatments. Within these supplied themes there are dozens of user options, which allow users to create highly personalized websites. And, adventurous users can create nearly endless customized variations.
I use Second Site in two distinct ways. I use it to create the family history pages on my own website, and I use it to create webpages to share with family members or other serious researchers. To me, these two applications require very different styles of webpages, as discussed in my article on Sharing.
If you are not familiar with the capabilities of Second Site, you might want to look at my Family History pages for an example of the brief style of output I prefer for public pages. There is an abbreviated example of the much more expansive style I use for sharing with family in my Sample webpages. I distribute this style on CDs to family members. Second Site user Keith Winters has created a Gallery of Websites created with Second Site featuring nearly 250 sites. Viewing some of these examples will give an appreciation for the wide variety of styles that Second Site can produce.
In my articles here I'm offering a few suggestions based on my experience in using the program in ways that match my style of using TMG, as outlined in many of the articles on this site. There are articles on the following topics:
General Information Understanding and using Second Site |
| Second Site Basics - getting started, John's "Six steps to Second Site" |
Refining Your Site
- a few tips on customizing your site  |
Controlling the Details - fine-tuning the details of your site  |
| Special Issues - using Split CDs, International issues, and more |
| Creating
a Minimalist Site - using Second Site to create a "bare bones"
style site |
|
Advanced Techniques
Some advanced techniques I've found useful |
|
Using Custom
Languages - a custom language can produce exactly the style you
prefer
|
|
Customizing
Themes - when Second Site's myriad options still don't do just
what you want
|
I'm by no means an expert in use of Second Site. If you need help in finding the best way to apply the program to your application and preferences, I would suggest subscribing to the Second Site e-mail list on RootsWeb. It's monitored by helpful users with lots of experience in using the program. And don't forget to consult John Cardinal's very helpful and comprehensive Second Site website.
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