I want to publish my family tree on the WWW.  Please provide me a list
of Macintosh friendly software programs and/or web sites that will
enable me to succed at this venture.  The site must accommodate the
addition of photos, comments, and documents as well as enable family
members to ask questions.
Thank you.

Hi cherlyncarolcaldwell,


thanks for an interesting question that's motivated me to consider
publishing my own family tree!


The easiest solution is to purchase Roots 8, a genealogy program for
the Macintosh that consistently receives stellar reviews.  A list of
features is available, highlights of which include automatic
generation of web pages and automated mail merges to facilitate
communication between family members:
URL: http://www.leisterpro.com/doc/Top20/Features.html
You can purchase Roots 8 directly from the publisher for $99:
URL: http://www.leisterpro.com/doc/Buy.html
Roots 8 will walk you through the process of creating your family tree
and placing it online.

Alternatively, you can choose from an assortment of Mac genealogy
programs with the help of About.com's reviews:
URL: http://genealogy.about.com/cs/softwaremac/index.htm
or use RootsWeb's reviews:
URL: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mac/faq.html


You'll need somewhere to put your family tree, so you may want to take
advantage of the free web space offered by Tribal Pages:
URL: http://www.tribalpages.com/tpfeatures.html

Genealogy.com offers free space with a family tree maker:
URL: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/uhp_welcome.html
After creating a home page, click on edit your page, family tree,
create a new family tree if you'd like to try the Family Tree Maker.

Rootsweb is a third option for free webspace:
URL: http://accounts.rootsweb.com/index.cgi?op=show&page=freagree.htm
Rootsweb's family tree utilities can be found here:
URL: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igmuser.cgi

All three of these online services offer free tools of varying quality
to create your family tree.  You may want to try these before
purchasing specific software for your Macintosh, but I'd go with Roots
8 for greater functionality and ease of use than these website's
utilities will offer.


If you find that you desire greater interactivity than that allowed by
Roots or the aforementioned websites, consider adding a free bulletin
board to your website.  Quicktopic is a quality, easy-to-use way to
let your family members communicate with each other from your website:
URL: http://www.quicktopic.com/


Another option is Family History Project.  While not focused on
hosting family trees, this website includes built-in interactivity not
featured on the other sites and allows users to order printed versions
of their family histories.  You can generate a family tree with Roots
and upload it to the Family History Project, which costs $20 for a
6-month membership:
URL: http://www.familyhistoryproject.com/


To learn more about genealogy, About.com offers a free online
introductory class:
URL: http://genealogy.about.com/library/lessons/blintro.htm

Additionally, the message boards on RootsWeb are full of friendly
users ready to offer help:
URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/script/main/rw

   
I hope you find this information useful, and feel free to request   
clarification.  If you do require clarification, please allow me to
provide it before you rate this answer.   
    
Hoping I was helpful,    
    
not_you-ga 
 
 
Search Strategy (on Google): 
"genealogy websites hosting" 
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"family trees" 
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"free discussion boards"

This is the first time I have used this research method.  I'm rating
the method and the author of my response both with 5 stars.  A great
value considering the time it has saved me...as well as the headaches
of finding this information for myself.  I WILL use your service in
the future.  Many thanks.