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Index of FAQ Entries
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Can I contribute information to the site? |
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| Yes. We welcome contributions. You can learn more about this here. |
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How do I make the TimeLine printable? |
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Ensure that you check the "printable" check-box just to the left of the Generate Timeline! button.
You may want to adjust your browser's text size so that the printout formats correctly on your printer. In general, smaller fonts work better.
Timelines that are printable do not show underlined links, and present everything in black and white, like a page in a book. This uses the minimum of ink or toner. You can, of course, print the timelines in full color, but this will use a huge amount of printer ink or toner.
Once you've got this handled, the timeline should print very well for you. |
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May I use the timelines in a printed book of my/general genealogy? |
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Yes, as long as the following two requirements are met:
- The following text must appear captioning all use(s) of the timeline(s)
Timelines courtesy of www.ourtimelines.com. Timeline formatting and technology copyright © 2000-2026 ourtimelines.com, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED under the Pan-American Conventions. -
We must be notified via e-mail at the time of the book's printing of it's title, author, publisher, and ISBN number (if there is an ISBN number.)
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Can you help me put the timelines on my page(s)? |
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No. We can't help you with building your own HTML pages. The timeline code will work — exactly as we generate it — on your site under modern web browsers. You just have to move the generated timeline HTML to a page on your own website.
Too difficult? Then we suggest you locate someone with a little more experience to get our generated timelines up and running on your own website. |
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May I link to ourtimelines.com? |
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| Yes. Just make sure you link directly to http://ourtimelines.com/ and not to one of the site's individual pages. Linking to specific pages on the site will result in your links breaking over time. |
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Can I advertise on ourtimelines.com? |
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Why is it important only to bookmark the home page? |
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When you link to the site, it is very important that you link only to the root URL (in other words, http://ourtimelines.com/) rather than "deep-linking" to the timeline generation page.
The generation page form will change its URL as we develop and improve the site, and your links will break if you try to link to the forms pages. Since the form won't be there any longer (it will be on a new page), your link simply won't work — web surfers will get an error when they click on it.
The way to link successfully to the site is to click on the "Home" button in the left column, wait for the home page to load and then bookmark that page. The home page won't move! |
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Once I've put timelines on my site, are there any reasons to come back here again? |
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Yes. We add links to the historical event entries in the timelines from time to time. So if you come back and re-generate your timelines, you'll be adding links to pages that describe each event — all courtesy of ourtimelines.com.
In addition, we add new timeline items, resulting in richer, more detailed timelines. |
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I can't generate a timeline... why is this happening? |
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www.ourtimelines.com requires that all timelines be generated using the form designed for that purpose located here on the site. In order to ensure that this is indeed the case, the CGI engine looks at the HTTP_REFERER code that web browsers provide to the site - this code tells the CGI engine what site and page the browser is on when the request for a timeline is made.
If the HTTP_REFERER code is not correct - in other words, if the browser is claiming it is not located on www.ourtimelines.com somewhere, but is attempting to submit from "www.joes-silly-genealogy-ranch.com" or something along those lines - then the CGI engine will refuse to generate the timeline. Instead, it produces an error message.
For the vast majority of our visitors, this process works just as it was designed to. However, from time to time (once a week or so) we do get e-mail reports that the timeline will not generate, and the user is submitting from the form on ourtimelines.com, just as they are supposed to be.
In this situation, the problem will be one of the following, with resolutions as noted:
Overzealous firewall action - a firewall may be preventing your browser from sending the HTTP_REFERER code to ourtimelines.com. For instance, "Norton Personal Firewall" is known to do this.
Problem Resolution: Either disable the firewall, or locate, then adjust, a setting that allows the HTTP_REFFERER code to be passed along to our web site. Note that some firewall products may not have such a setting, in which case the firewall must be disabled to use the ourtimelines.com site's timeline feature.
Browser obsolete - does not supply HTTP_REFERER code.
Problem Resolution: Upgrade to a modern browser.
Browser malfunctioning - does not suppply HTTP_REFERER code.
Problem Resolution: reboot your computer or at least restart the browser (but a reboot is a better idea!)
Communications error - HTTP_REFERER code lost in transit on the Internet.
Problem Resolution: Resubmit the request, should work the 2nd time, this is very unusual.
Service Provider Inadequate - HTTP_REFERER code not passed on by the service provider.
Problem Resolution: Sign up for more complete Internet service using a better provider.
Site is overloaded - CGI engine not perceiving the HTTP_REFERER code, though it is being sent properly.
Problem Resolution: Try again later. This is not usual either — typically, the site works fine the vast majority of the time.
We can't tell from here which of these problems is actually causing your error. So, the best way to approach the problem is to try the approaches that are easy, first. Make sure your browser is on the supported list, as shown elsewhere here in the FAQ. If not, you're out of luck until you get a better browser. Otherwise, reboot and retry immediately; if that doesn't help, retry again later, on the assumption that there is some kind of communications problem. If that doesn't help, write your service provider and make sure that they, in a fit of cluelessness, have not for some idiotic reason suppressed the transmission of the HTTP_REFERER code from you to web sites out on the net. |
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