Why?: A few years back I became frustrated with browsing the internet as the list of ancestors I was researching for my wife and I and in-laws grew. First, it was the very large amount of web sites which I was monitoring. Second, after reaching the web site, it was trying to find out what was new on the web site. At that time "What's New" pages were all over the place, but many of those have disappeared for good reason. Basically, it depends on the type of web site and I maintain that genealogy web sites are ideal for a what's new page along with churches, clubs, etc. It's a big plus for researchers and once I started using one, it was confirmed by many researchers. This didn't eliminate the need to monitor each and every one of the sites I was interested in. That was still a problem until I came across a bit of software called Change Detection (it's free). Basically, for every page I tell Change Detection to watch, they tell me when it has changed. No more browsing. The third element in all of this is to have a web site search (it's free). When those three elements are within the web site in my mind we have made the search so much easier and expedient for the researcher. Something which has helped me to keep my sites visible is that monthly I send out an email indicating very basically what we've done in the last month and request more contributions, etc. But most importantly, I also use that opportunity to publicly thank all the volunteers and contributors to that web site. Using Emmons as an example, I send the email to NORTHDAKOTA-L@rootsweb.com, the Ancestry.Com Emmons Message Board at http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/localities.northam.usa.states.northdakota.counties.emmons which automatically forwards it to NDEMMONS-L@rootsweb.com, the Ancestry.com North Dakota Message Board at http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/localities.northam.usa.states.northdakota.unknown, the Genealogy.Com North Dakota Message Board at http://genforum.genealogy.com/nd/ and the Genealogy.Com Emmons County Message Board at http://genforum.genealogy.com/nd/emmons/ as well as you guys at NDGENWEB-L@rootsweb.com . All of it in an effort to stay visible and make it easier for researchers. Installation: 1] Whats New. Developing a what's new page does not take long specifically if the data is kept to a minimum. For those who use html generators like Front Page I don't know how to help. You can see my page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ndemmons/whatsnewindex.htm . I've prepared a basic html coded page where I stripped the headings and trailers and just provided the coding for the whats new table along with the change detection coding. More on change detection below but if you don't want it, I've marked in the coding where you can delete it. The sample page is at http://members.cox.net/judino/whatsnewbasic.htm and feel free to copy it then all you need to do is insert your own headings. Keeping it up to date is very simple and doesn't involve much time at all. For those who use html generators, if copy/paste works in them, then the code is there for you also. 2] Change Detection. This software is free and was created by the same people as the freefind search. You sign up for it at this site - http://www.changedetection.com/ . They will send you the html coding which also contains an id. That id is important. You can get various boxes, shapes, sizes, etc. from them and they provide the html coding. If you copy mine within the whats new sample - http://members.cox.net/judino/whatsnewbasic.htm then be sure to insert your code where all the zeroes are located. 3] Web Site Search. I use FreeFind, the free version, but there are others out there. As in Change Detection it is very easy to sign up. They will send you an email with the coding, etc. They have all kinds of options for displaying the search, for indexing your database, for sending you reports, etc. 4] There are other tips in the USGenWeb Newsletter archived at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgwpub/ . One which I found was neat but haven't tried it yet is the development of one heading or one footing or one page which has your email. Then instead of inserting the code for those on each and every one of your pages, the code only inserts the coded page. This means that if you change your email address, you only have to change one page and all others using your email invoke that page. Same if you changed a heading logo, etc. I haven't tried this yet but the concept sounds fantastic to me as a labor saver. Please let me know if I can be of help with any of the above. I'd be more than happy to assist in any way I can. Some of these things I learned in my own trial and error but most of them I learned when I first become associated with IAGenWeb. A county web site was completely destroyed and they need to get back on line as soon as possible. Talk about frustration. But I had a very large helpful support group and my hope is that I can turn that around and help others because of my experience there, so please, I'm very willing to help and I'm very easy to shut-up after I get going. :] Sincerely, Mike Emmons CC ----------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "L. S. King" <GenealogyFreak@comcast.net> To: <NDGENWEB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 11:54 AM Subject: [NDGENWEB-L] Hey Mike! > For our new CCs -- why don't you share a few of the ideas you implemented in > Emmons when you adopted it? > Like the What's New page (which I stole! LOL). > > And if anyone else has any ideas for improving sites, adding little projects > (like county surname lists as one example), or has a great resource or > database link, please share it!! > > ~Lee S. King > SC NDGenWeb Project > (who has too many counties especially with the state site -- anyone want > Griggs or LaMoure? They're still up for adoption....) > > >