Finally!
This blog makes a great reality check. I noticed that my last post was August 4. In it I said that I would be ready to send out the invites to family in a few days. It is now 24 days later and I'm finally ready to do this. There was far more work than I had realized there would be to get things going.
A good example of this was the actual genealogical charts and family group sheets. This is the part that many people want to see, so they can see who their great great grandfather was. There are many software solutions that I could use to generate the content automatically. This would be a great labor saver, but everyone of them fell short on one or more key requirements. Without getting into technicalities, they were good for connecting a person to their parents and grandparents, or to show the descendants of an individual. But what we need, for example, is one where you can show the descent of Cyril Downs and John Downs from Thomas Downs (going foward), but then show the ancestry of John's wife Helen or Ina's second husband George, and any connection between the two. And I suppose I just let one of many cats out of the bag. Yes, they were cousins and I will show how they are related this fall in one of my articles.
Many of the software solutions would regenerate the entire site every time you made a change in the data. This would prohibit me from linking the charts to things like biographies and other such customizations. My modifications would just be written over the next time I changed the data. My solution is to create my own solutuions from scratch. I spent the better part of a whole day creating, and then tearing down, my version of a cyber family group sheet. I am now satified with the final product. I will now build the family group sheets individually for each family. I can add and connect as needed without changinging everything. This will make more work for me, but I think it will be best in the long run.
My current plan is to add to the charts and sheets as I write articles about the family. My goal is to get this web site fully presentable by the end of the year.
Bill
A good example of this was the actual genealogical charts and family group sheets. This is the part that many people want to see, so they can see who their great great grandfather was. There are many software solutions that I could use to generate the content automatically. This would be a great labor saver, but everyone of them fell short on one or more key requirements. Without getting into technicalities, they were good for connecting a person to their parents and grandparents, or to show the descendants of an individual. But what we need, for example, is one where you can show the descent of Cyril Downs and John Downs from Thomas Downs (going foward), but then show the ancestry of John's wife Helen or Ina's second husband George, and any connection between the two. And I suppose I just let one of many cats out of the bag. Yes, they were cousins and I will show how they are related this fall in one of my articles.
Many of the software solutions would regenerate the entire site every time you made a change in the data. This would prohibit me from linking the charts to things like biographies and other such customizations. My modifications would just be written over the next time I changed the data. My solution is to create my own solutuions from scratch. I spent the better part of a whole day creating, and then tearing down, my version of a cyber family group sheet. I am now satified with the final product. I will now build the family group sheets individually for each family. I can add and connect as needed without changinging everything. This will make more work for me, but I think it will be best in the long run.
My current plan is to add to the charts and sheets as I write articles about the family. My goal is to get this web site fully presentable by the end of the year.
Bill
posted by Bill | 1:49 PM
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