RootsChat.Com
General => Technical Help => Family History Programs, Tree Organisation, Presentation => Topic started by: m-1 on Saturday 14 January 12 17:23 GMT (UK)
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Hi all,
I've never used the common room before, so I hope this is the correct place to post!
A while back I started a family history website on WordPress which I've been working on ever since. I'm hoping it will live on for generations (not so sure this will happen).. but for now it is just used to keep my family informed of what I'm doing and also to keep track of what I've done! It has also proved just as handy as Ancestry in connecting me with cousins from around the world! I receive messages through it from people who share the same ancestry and it's something I didn't anticipate before setting it up (an added benefit if you will).
Here's the link: http://gargaro.wordpress.com/
Just wanted to get some opinions on it really, the layout, the content and accessibility. I had no blogging skills when I started and I didn't even know what WordPress was! Also I think my writing skills have improved over time too. Does anybody else have similar websites? I'd be interested to see them.
I just like to know what other people think and where I can improve. I have of course credited the users of Rootschat for helping me along the way in my acknowledgements page!! :P
Miles :)
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I have my site
http://www.cotswan.com
I don't know what Wordpress is - I use Frontpage
Bob
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Miles,
That is a good idea to use a blogging site as a FH site. It probably would give you more exposure than a "proper" site, designed for the purpose.
I use tribalpages, and have found it easy to use. I have also had contact with various other researchers through my exposure on there.
Darren
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I like it Miles...really easy to navigate and clear to read with some interesting content too. I like the blog aspect of it. I might have a try at WordPress myself :)
Milly
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Bob what a lovely website you have you should be very proud of all of that....Sue
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Miles, that's a really good website, you should congratulate yourself.
I've just spent a happy few minutes reading about your researches, which you present in a very readable and accessible way! :)
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Your research has quality and you should commend yourself on this.
A great idea, this could open up a world of comunication between countries which otherwise at present can be very difficult due to interpretaion for instance and authority control over records.
Well done!!!
Dee
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Hi everybody
Thank you so much for your replies and kind words, they really do mean a lot.
I've changed the layout over time to best suit what I want to get out of it. I can recommend Wordpress to others wishing to create similar style websites as it's quite easy to use and has a huge 3GB of storage. But where I believe it has the advantage over other platforms is the presentation. It has 177 themes to choose from which all make it look much more modern. (I'm starting to sound like a salesperson now!)
@Bob I really like your site, especially the pages with different occupational interests. I seem to have every tobacconist in south London in my family tree so I might have a go at compiling a list of them too! I tried to use a Google Map to pin point places in my family tree too but I wasn't sure how it would look so I didn't go ahead with it. After seeing yours I've definitely changed my mind. I made a places page too, hope you don't mind. I also like your family name write-ups on the introduction page. I tried to do this as well in a similar style but as soon as I'd write about a branch of my family, I ended up finding something else out and it would be out of date as soon as I'd published it.
@Darren I chose Wordpress after playing around with a few of the other sites such as Blogger and Tribalpages. The amount of storage won me over. I think Tribalpages has 10MB of storage and Blogger has 1GB. The design was a bonus too.
@Milly Thank you for your kind comments. I didn't think of using the blog as a separate part of the site until a few months ago when I split the pages and blog posts up, but I think it's worked quite well. Let me know if you do take up giving Wordpress a go. I look forward to reading it soon! Let me know if you want any help too :)
@Igor Thanks for reading them! When I looked back recently at some of my first blog posts, I had to go back and edit them as my writing was not so good even though it was not too long ago. I'm glad to see that my writing style has changed over the short space of time.
@Dee Thank you for your encouraging words, I think sometimes everybody needs a push and I've never had feedback on my site before so it really it appreciated. :)
Miles
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Thanks for the comments sue 1950 and mmiles1
When I started mine, apart from realising I had a lot a photos, it was a bit bald and too based on dates
So I have consciously tried to add some narratives and also accounts of the families of grandparents back to great great grandparents and some others.
Sometimes it is only when you try to do this you realise just how things were
E.g. in one both the parents died and the oldest son (my gt grandfather) has presumably already left home - probably learning mine management. The death of my gt gt grandfather was registered by his 15 year old son!
Writing the account really helps to ask the questions you should be asking
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mmiles1, I really like the website, well done - I especially like the blog; it's not something I have tried at all. It must have taken you a lot of time and effort to get everything so neatly organised.
You mentioned that you have altered the layout - when you did that, was it much effort to make sure all the diiferent links and pages worked?
Great job, anyway!
Stonechat, like yours too! Especially the family tree pages - did you create them yourself?
I too have a webiste: http://cafferata.synthasite.com/
I'd be interested as to what you think (of course)
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braindead I like the info about the company and about the schooling, I have little about schools attended by my ancestors in my tree
The Trees on my website were generated using FTM 2005, am now on FTM2012
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My family and I "blog" to keep us all current with what goes on..and i was happy to see photos of the children etc…one never seems to get to the post office to mail photos to relatives….I just download and either print or send them to walmart etc and pick up there.
My Daughter has kept a blog of her adventures….at wordpress. takeachanceinva.wordpress.com. I am in the process of sending it to blog2print to have them make a book of it….keeping it up in internet land is ok…but a hard copy for one's posterity is what it is all about! so..keep blogging ,mMiles….. and I am way behind on blogging about my research activities…I am inspired to blog my family history..Tx