Overview
Most of your site's content is drawn from your data file. You may add other content via User Items, including links, custom pages, and more. Top-level User Items create the site's menus.
User Items are shown in a list in the User Items section. The list expands to fill the right-hand pane of the main window. Buttons to manipulate the list are beneath the list, including: Add Item, Edit Item, Move Left, Move Right, Move Up, Move Down, and Delete.
A new GedSite file includes several pre-defined User Items, the most important of which is the Main Page item. It determines the content of the main page of your site. Do not delete, disable, or change the Filename property of the Main Page User Item.
New GedSite files also include other items. Items that are unchecked will not be included in the site; they require some attention on your part to be useful.
You can leave the User Items as is, and build a site, and the site will work properly.
If you want to add other content to your site, such as additional pages, then you add more User Items to the list. For each User Item, you choose a User Item type, and set the additional properties that vary by User Item type.
So, for example, when you add a Person Link User Item, you set a title (all user items have titles), but you also choose a person's ID number (the target of the link) and set other properties.
Some User Items are more complex than others. Link User Items are simple; the main properties of a Link User Item are a title and URL. Other User Items, such as the Image User Item, have a dozen or more properties.
Some User Items can appear in one of the site's menus, and those User Items have a "Menu" property that you can set to "Top", "MenuBar", "SideBar", or "Bottom" and combinations of those choices.
Content Items
Most User Items are Content Items. A content item does not create a page of its own. You must place it on a Page User Item as a child item. A child item appears below its parent item and is indented one level deeper than its parent.
In the screenshot above, "Search Item" is a content item that is a child of "Search Page".
Page Items
Some User Items are Page Items. Page Items create an entire HTML page. The most common Page Item is the Page User Item which creates an HTML page where you add other content via Content Items. The Exhibit Gallery User Item is also a Page Item.
Item Types
Commonly Used
- Anchor
- Anchor Link
- Calendar
- Exhibit Gallery
- Heading
- ID Lookup
- Image
- Image Gallery
- Link
- List of People
- Map
- Name Icons Table
- Page
- Page Contents
- Pedigree Link
- Person Image
- Person Link
- Search
- Text
Charts
- Box Descendant Chart
- Box Pedigree Chart
- Common Ancestor Chart
- Indented Descendant Chart
- Indented Pedigree Chart
- Interactive Pedigree Chart
- Relationship Chart
Special Purpose
- CSS (Link)
- CSS (Text)
- Extra Head Text
- Fixed-Link
- Include File
- Javascript (Link)
- Javascript (Text)
- List Type
- Variable
Adding User Items
Use the Add button under the User Items list to add User Items.
Editing User Items
Use the Edit button under the User Items list to modify an existing User Item. The Edit button opens an Edit Window.
You can also double-click an existing User Item to edit it, or select the item and then press [F7].
Deleting User Items
Use the Delete button under the User Items list to delete the selected User Item.
Editing the User Item List
Use the Up and Down buttons to move the highlighted entry, changing the sequence of the entries. The sequence of the entries determines the sequence of the links in the site's menus, and on Pages.
The Left and Right buttons are explained below under User Items on a Page.
You can also use the mouse to rearrange User Items by drag-and-drop.
Copy / Paste for User Items
You may use the Copy and Paste commands in the Edit Menu to copy User Items.
You may use the Copy and Paste commands to copy User Items from one GedSite file to another GedSite file.
For more information, see Copy / Paste User Items on the Edit Menu page.
User Items on a Page
User Items can be added to a Page User Item, and most User Items are only useful when used that way.
Use the Left or Right button to move a User Item on or off a Page. You can only use the Right button when a User Item is directly below a Page item or directly below the last User Item on a Page. When an item is directly below a Page User Item, and you move it right, it becomes a member of the Page.
You can only use the Left button when a User Item is the last User Item on a Page. Moving an item left removes it from the Page.
You may also use the mouse to drag User Items to change their location.
User Item Edit Window
User Items are modified via an Edit window. The contents of the Edit window vary according to the User Item type, but User Items share some common properties as shown below. For information about type-specific properties, see the links in the list of User Item types.
Common Properties
The following properties are included in multiple User Items.
Alignment
The Alignment pull-down menu controls whether the image appears inline, floats left, is centered, or floats right. When floated left or right, any subsequent content will flow around the picture on the opposite side.
Clear
The Clear pull-down menu provides a way to control the flow of content that follows a floated item. The option is named for the CSS parameter that controls that behavior.
| Choice | Behavior |
|---|---|
| None | If there is a floated item above the current item, the current item's content will appear next to the floated item. |
| Left | The current item's content will appear below any item above it that is floated to the left. |
| Right | The current item's content will appear below any item above it that is floated to the right. |
| Both | The current item's content will appear below any floated items above it. |
Enabled
The Enabled checkbox controls whether or not the User Item is processed when GedSite is making the site. If Enabled is unchecked, the User Item is ignored.
Title
The Title property identifies the User Item in the User Items list. For some items, the Title creates visible output, such as the Title of a Page User Item or a Heading User Item. For other items, the Title has no other purpose except to identify the item in the User Items list.
Page Section
The Page Section pull-down menu controls where a User Item will be rendered. The choices are sections of the Page: "Content", "Sidebar", "Extra", "Header", and "Footer".