Barb, I'm barely hanging in on learning CSS. So, I can't address what your CSS is doing-- I'll let someone else help you with that. I can give you some tips about ways to help Google find you. And ways to get to your own websites. At first, I had separate distinct webs in what rootsweb calls their "communities" --- "genealogy", "family" were my first. But I had to link the index of one to the index the other -- crosslinking the sites. That meant using absolute links-- so I had to know the URL. One of the best tips ~ever~ from Pat G. was to utilize the "misc" community as a doorway to all the "communities" (the webs) I had going, and any future webs I made. I expanded later into "history" and "school-alumni" etc. You could still use the "misc" web even if you have the appearance of separateness within "genealogy". What you'd do is link the first page for each family to the first page of the "misc" site. You'd make a navigation system on "misc" -- which can expand as you grow. I later decided to also use "misc" for postcards or county location pictures. Mine is at: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.com/~florian/ You'll see there's navigation on the left. And in the center I listed each of my "websites" (freepages "communities"). Then I put my misc URL into my email signature--- mainly as a help for ME when I need to go to my sites. I just open a new mail screen, the link for misc is auto placed at the bottom of the email, I click the link, and "discard" the unused write email screen. So it's real easy for ME to go "find" my websites, and easy for visitors to find me through the misc site. A second tip to "finding" your web in Google (with or without high Google ranking) is to use ONE thing on ALL pages. I use my name in the footer section on all pages. Then, in Google, I can search for freepages+genealogy+florian and it will show me my pages. I don't know if Google Search still does this, but at one point Google Search Results allowed me to put a check-mark next to any Search Result (mine or other peoples' websites). Then, those checked results would come up first in MY results (regardless of my SEO ranking). As far as SEO ranking and finding "your pages" in results, that comes from what you type in on each page's HEAD section. The 3 SEO tags in the HEAD are: <title>....</title> <meta name="description" content="....."> <META name="keywords" content="..."> (By the way, look at your description meta tag... I think you've got 2 tags merged together and they need separated.) My suggestion is to FIRST decide on a WEBSITE NAME. HOW will your website be "known" online? For example, everyone easily recognizes "Ancestry" as www.ancestry.com On every page, and in the Meta/Head tags, Ancestry developers use the word "Ancestry" to brand themselves. Your own website needs a "branding"-- some text that will appear on every page. It's harder for people like you and me to brand our websites, but it can be done. For example, one of mine is "Washington County Genealogy PAGenWeb Project" I have those words, in that order, on every page a visitor sees, plus in the HEAD tags. Your Mitchell page really has no "branding" -- no one specific "name" that all pages of your website will be known by. It should be as a top section or a banner (but it isn't necessary to make a banner and banners still need text that machines can read, so it is just easier to create a top section in an "include"). Your "branding name" needs to also be in your HEAD tags. But right now, even your TITLE tag only says <title>Mitchell Home</title> That isn't descriptive enough for Google's machinery. Think about ALL of your intended webpages and the main topics you plan to cover. For example, let's say your primary interest and your families mostly come from "Auld Country, Scotland". You'll help Google by adding that "Auld Country, Scotland Genealogy and Family History" to every webpage as a "site" name. Ok so that would be your "branding"-- your main topic area that connects all your pages, like a book title. (Your pages then are mini- "chapters" in the "book" but all pages carry the "masthead" or top section that states "Auld Country, Scotland Genealogy and History." Next, think hard about your new "branding" name of "Auld Country, Scotland Genealogy and Family History." Drop all words like "the", "of", "a", "an" ... and focus on precise words you'd use to describe your brand and topics that would be on ALL pages. We already have Auld Country, Genealogy, Family History. For example, searchers might google genealogical records and if you'll have "records" on each of your webpages, you could use that phrase in describing your brand. As another example, on my misc site, I include the word postcards because most all pages contain postcards. So now we have Auld Country, Genealogy, Family History, genealogical records Next, think of the 3 HEAD tags as having a Front End and a Back End. I tried this both ways (front or back) and found it was better to use the back end of a tag for the "brand name" and use the Front End to describe the UNIQUE content of THIS page. So my TITLE TAG is: <title>Unique words for this page here_Washington County Genealogy PAGenWeb Project</title> You do the same for the other 2 tags: <meta name="description" content="Unique sentence describing this page. Washington County Genealogy PAGenWeb Project"> <META name="keywords" content="Unique words, or short phrases, separated by commas, describing, this page, Washington County PA, Genealogy, PAGenWeb Project"> (note, instead of under_score, use a period on the sentence in Description, and use only commas in in the Keywords). So your one page could be <title>Mitchell Family from Scotland to America_Auld Country Scotland Genealogy and Family History</title> Repeat for the other 2 tags. In Description and Keywords, you can expand the unique part. If your page has heavy content on say, weavers, you could ADD the word weavers in the tags. When you write content paragraphs for your page, think not just about your research journey and discoveries, but also try to include unique bits of info that can easily transfer into the tags section. The page content and the tags, together, tell Google necessary info. So try not to be too generic on the unique portions or in your content writing. Rather than just Mitchell, just who is this Mitchell clan or Mitchell individual family? As an example, when I have a page about 1 person or 1 family, my Front End might include person's full name, dates, and residence like: John Lane 1780-1844 West Bethlehem Twp -- and the back end already has the county name and State. As soon as you have picked your Back End words, write your HEAD section and do a full page with the css, background, etc. and call it "template.htm" or html Then you won't need to re-write the head every time. You'd just need to enter the unique section of each tag. These tags will help Google move you up in the results for your unique content AND because your tags are descriptive AND match the content used on the page. But, often the best a webmaster can do is get their index page to show up in the first 3-5 pages of results. I'll stop here. I know I didn't answer your questions about the css and the Rootsweb editor, but someone else will help you on those. Judy On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 10:16 PM, Barb <lambsetots@fuse.net> wrote: > I've not done any work on my freepages for several months, and when I went > back to do some work on them, I discovered that my main site is not > connecting to my CSS page and showing any of that formatting. I'm using > Dreamweaver and uploading with FTP. The CSS shows up on Dreamweaver, but > when I preview it on the web, NO. I created a new page, used my template > (which uses the CSS) and that worked fine- preview in browser- no. Can you > help me figure out what has happened? > Problem 2: I'm trying to have 3 family sites toggled on my freepages site: > I"ve got Jones Pages, Mitchell Pages, and Keller Pages (different > backgrounds and CSS and templates). It has worked fine at one time, and > Barry helped me to load the 3rd site. Now however the others don't come up > and though I can enter the Jones site if I do a Jones search, I can't seem > to enter that site to start with. The Keller one doesn't come up at all. > Am I trying for something too complicated or impossible? I wanted a unique > identity for each family, that was my purpose. > Problem3: I tried to view my site from the rootsweb editor, and I can't > figure out how to even find out to get in to work with the site "behind the > scenes". I know things have changed, but I have no clue what to do now and > there was no help to answer that question. > Somehow today I feel like a stranger in a strange land!!! Show me how to > get home. My website: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mitchellfrenchgenes/ > Barb Lambert > >