I have a father who is very passionate about genealogy, and, since I work as a web developer, I often try to develop tools for him, to present his reseach to our family. But, then I thought, why not make a tool/website, where a person could upload their gedcom file (or other format), choose between a couple of different layouts, and, voila, the family history would be online. The idea could off course also be expanded into different areas, like being able to use the online tool instead of your local genealogy software like ex. Brothers Keeper.
Sounds like you are trying to re-create the wheel. The tools are already out there on one genealogy site or another. Free webspace is also out there. Most ISPs also give you webpage space. Personally, I write my own web page using notepad–lots of pictures included. You say that the online data bases’ “main purpose of bringing people together” and this is absolute true–why else would we want to post our info (in whatever form) if not to connect with others. It really doesn’t have to be pretty it just needs enough info to help others identify a relationship with you.
My web page is not elaborate yet I am always being contacted by people who found a connection–which is why I wrote it in the first place. It is true that reports created by FTM, PAF, Legacy Deluxe, or what-have-you, together with the HTML that came to be based on them, are all so much lifeless prose — sentences that were programmed in, and it shows. It does not follow, however, that adding graphics will answer the charge. And that is, indeed, not the recommendation of the most noted critics of those reports.
What they do recommend is better, more explanatory writing — from scratch if necessary. (See e.g. Elizabeth Shown Mills and Gary B. Mills, “Editors’ Corner: Wizardry with Words,” _National Genealogical Society Quarterly_ 88 [2000]: 3.) In other words, if Mads and Dad insist on Web publication (or merely if Mads insists on it and Dad goes along), the least they should do is treat it first as a *writing* project. In my opinion good prose writing is a more desirable ability than attractive page designing, for the simple reason that the former stands to make a greater permanent contribution to genealogy.
With proper data organization, the result can be made very personal without the addition of graphics. And with an appropriate, flexible design, the graphics may perhaps be integrated in a manner coherent with the underlying schematic, rather than just dumped onto the page as others might dump a pile of facts. The odds of overall success are greater if the pages are handmade. A Web developer really ought to know how difficult it is to develop a utility that can integrate images with HTML as *intelligently* as he or she does on a regular basis in a variety of circumstances.
A lot depends on the country involved – some countries are better documented than others for all sorts of reasons including the fact that damp, negelct, poverty and warfare do nothing for the survival of records. People are sometimes very lucky, but in most cases people with families originating in the UK (for example) are doing very well if they get back to the 17th century with properly checked and documented research.
It is important to remember the reasons why Church records were compiled in the first place. The Church was not doing this as an accomodation to the genealogy community. The number of requests for this information has grown exponentially, fueled by the internet and by computer support. Some churchmen simply do not have the time or the inclination to take on an additional burden, especially one that often serves people outside their own flock.
I’ve been doing the genealogy circuit on the net since it began. Before that, I wrote letters and sent queries to journals as John did. During both of these times, I visited libraries (Salt Lake & locals), court houses, State archives, churches, cemeteries, etc. In other words, I do my own research. I would like to offer a new perspective to those who berated John.
I have a subscription to Ancestry, and I absolutely love it. Can’t imagine going back to family searching without it. I am considering a subscription to genealogy as well. In particular, I’m interested in subscribing to the 1900 Census index. Are they a good service? If so, are they OK with subscription renewals? I have both ancestry and the 1900 census from Genealogy.com (used to also have the passenger records and the genealogy library).
Why in this day and age do some companies that allow you subscribe online do not give the option of unsubscribing on line as well. Might work for those that live in USA but does not work on the otherside of the world as one will get the tipickle Automated Answering machine or be placed on hold The following is Genealogy policy; How do online subscriptions work and what is the automatic renewal policy?
The archival references to divorces will sometimes speak of “illiquid cases” or “opposed applications”, and sometimes there will be both. Make sure you order the right ones. They can be quite useful. Sometimes you can really get the dirt on your ancestors from these things – private detectives’ reports on how many times they committed adultery, where and with whom, for example. Also, names and ages of minor children and who got the custody.
Here are interesting ‘bits and pieces’ (otherwise known as ‘features’) in the different genealogy applications worldwide. I have discussed different concepts with developers since the late CPM+ and early DOS days. Just what do you have in mind? The current newsgroup s.g.computing does seem the appropriate place for such discussion even if there is sometimes not enough response.