Frequently Asked Questions
These are our most frequently asked questions.

If you can't find what you're looking for here then try our Forums.
OK ... so how much is it going to cost me?
  Nothing. We don't do this for money.
So why do you do it?
  It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Do I need anything special to see the information?
  Not really ... although a nice bottle of red wine often comes in handy.

We don't do anything flash, so as long as you have a fairly recent Internet browser you should be OK. We've tested it using Internet Explorer, FireFox and Safari, which covers the vast majority of users. There are certain annoying differences between different browsers but these tend to be cosmetic rather than catastrophic. We could spend months fiddling to remove spurious extra lines and the like, but life is too short.

Basically, what you see is what you get.
  There are two things that could spoil your experience: Inline Frames (or iFrames) and JavaScript. We use both of these in huge amounts to control just about everything.

Not having one or the other will have negative effects of varying degrees.

To see if you're OK, take a look at the thing immediately below:
  If it looks like this (ish), without the scroll bars, then you're OK.
  If it looks like this (ish), with the scroll bars, then you don't have JavaScript enabled.

This isn't the end of the world as we've deliberately built the site to allow some information to be displayed, even without JavaScript. However, none of the maps will display a view and many of the other cool stuff won't work. Check your browser options to ensure JavaScript is enabled. Early versions (less than version 6.0) of Internet Explorer are likely to have problems executing the JavaScript contained in this site.
  If it looks like this (ish), with a chunk of text instead of a picture, then you really do have a problem.
  Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. What's that mean?
  To be honest, if all you see is text then we don't really know how you ended up here! Click the What's that mean link for more information.
  In general you should always try to keep your browser up-to-date with the latest releases. If you don't then not only will you have increasing problems viewing Internet sites, but you will also leave yourself wide open to some of the nastier stuff lurking out there.
  If you're using an old browser, you may want to have a look at one of more recent versions:
  Internet Explorer
  FireFox
  Safari (for Mac's)
Can I upload my family tree to your site?
  Unfortunately, not at the moment. There are two reasons for this:.
  We're always desperately short of disk space on our server and if we allowed downloads it would clog up in double-quick time
  Everything we publish is checked (as far as we can) for accuracy. It gives us more quality control over the content of the site.
  However, we're always happy to receive any information, including family trees. These then go into our pipeline ... and eventually emerge onto the site. If you use software to manage your tree(s) you'll probably find that you can export them into what is called the GEDCOM format.

We can read these files and it saves a lot of time in the checking. If you would like to send us any stuff then please send it to stuff@closeancstry.com and we'll add it to the list of things to do.
What do your forums do?
  Our forums are a dynamic way to get help, ask questions and see what else is going on.

Whilst we are always happy to answer individual emails, using our forums shares the question and answer amongst the whole community. To that end we would ask you to use these as far as possible.

You can read postings at any time without registering or logging on.

If you want to ask a question or post a comment then all you need is a username, password and email address to register. We have to insist on this because the spamsters invade the forums otherwise and they soon fill up with unwanted garbage.
  Please use this facility sensibly. We reserve the right to remove abusive, discriminatory or offensive material, and will bar access to anyone who posts it... Yes Mr Ruski Pornmeister - you WILL be blocked!
If that hasn't covered it please drop us a mail to: faq@closeancestry.com