Hello Everybody, I am a very green Webmaster with two questions (one more complicated than the other): Question no. 1: I would like to set up a surnames page. I want to make it simple for visitors to contribute to and consult. *But*, I also want to make it as easy as possible for me to keep it up to date. I'm sure there is a way to set up a form that visitors just fill out and it automatically gets posted correctly in the right spot on the site... but I haven't explored this very far yet. I'm guessing that it has something to do with these things called "cgi". It would be something similar to the guestbook, but instead of putting the visitors by order of date, it would be under surnames. It can't be "off-site" because I want my site search engine to be able to search it. Is this something that is "do-able"? Can anybody direct me toward some examples? All I really want to know at the moment is whether or not this can be done, if you tell me yes, then I will see what I can figure out on my own before coming back to the list with more specific questions. If it makes any difference, I am using a Mac and the software I'm using is called Freeway (vers. 1.0.2)--a "freebie" I got last year with a magazine. I don't understand much about HTML yet (Freeway writes it for me), but I'm getting fairly good with my "aim" when I "copy & paste" borrowed HTML. Freeway 1.0.2 does allow me to make forms (is that where I need to start?). And now question number 2: Just out of curiousity... what happens if a visitor tries to visit my site at the same time that I'm uploading an update (like sometime today)? Do they get gibberish? Are they told that the page doesn't exist? Does the page suddenly change in front of their eyes? Thank you very much, Kathleen (Kathy) Larson, Webmaster Sullivan County Historical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~inschs/
Kathy, I use tables for my surnames. You can check them out at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floy-sur1999.htm, http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floy-sur2000.htm, & http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floy-sur2001.htm The tables were originally set up in one of the earlier versions of HTML - that made them easier to code and for more browsers to read them. As a new request comes in, I just use a cut & paste method of adding to the table. I used the more automatic methods with the queries, etc. But, I felt like it was a little more personal with the surnames if I used the table method. Besides, I can keep up with those folks researching in my county a little better this way. Hope this helps! - Ron Dailey Webmaster Floyd County VAGenWeb -----Original Message----- From: Kathleen Larson [mailto:klarson@sympatico.ca] Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 11:23 AM To: RootsWeb-Help-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Surname page set-up Hello Everybody, I am a very green Webmaster with two questions (one more complicated than the other): Question no. 1: I would like to set up a surnames page. I want to make it simple for visitors to contribute to and consult. *But*, I also want to make it as easy as possible for me to keep it up to date. I'm sure there is a way to set up a form that visitors just fill out and it automatically gets posted correctly in the right spot on the site... but I haven't explored this very far yet. I'm guessing that it has something to do with these things called "cgi". It would be something similar to the guestbook, but instead of putting the visitors by order of date, it would be under surnames. It can't be "off-site" because I want my site search engine to be able to search it. Is this something that is "do-able"? Can anybody direct me toward some examples? All I really want to know at the moment is whether or not this can be done, if you tell me yes, then I will see what I can figure out on my own before coming back to the list with more specific questions. If it makes any difference, I am using a Mac and the software I'm using is called Freeway (vers. 1.0.2)--a "freebie" I got last year with a magazine. I don't understand much about HTML yet (Freeway writes it for me), but I'm getting fairly good with my "aim" when I "copy & paste" borrowed HTML. Freeway 1.0.2 does allow me to make forms (is that where I need to start?). And now question number 2: Just out of curiousity... what happens if a visitor tries to visit my site at the same time that I'm uploading an update (like sometime today)? Do they get gibberish? Are they told that the page doesn't exist? Does the page suddenly change in front of their eyes? Thank you very much, Kathleen (Kathy) Larson, Webmaster Sullivan County Historical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~inschs/ ______________________________