Federation Of Family History Societies

The FFHS Web Award

For the Society with the Best Website

 

Website Design Criteria

The contents of this page are based on an article published in the August/September 2002 issue of our News & Digest. Readers should be aware that many of numbers quoted are now out of date.

 

The Power of the Internet

The Internet has immense power to attract visitors to information about a Family History Society, its activities, publications and services. And that power continues to increase as the Internet itself increases, which it is doing at an accelerating rate. In May 2000, 25% of all UK households (6.25 million out of 25 million) were online, but by May 2001 the number had risen to 10 million, an increase of 60% in the space of only 12 months (source: UK Oftel Report July 2001).

This rate of increase slowed down in the second half of 2001, as did Internet traffic generally in the wake of September 11th. But, by February 2002, UK households were spending an average of 9 hours a week on the Internet (source: Chapter 5 of UK Oftel Report Feb 2002). By August 2003, the number of UK homes with internet access had grown to 50% (in addition to the fact that the People's Network provides free internet access at local libraries): and by December 2003, there were over 3 million broadband users benefitting from faster access to the internet, with BT having brought broadband services to exchanges serving over 80% of UK homes and aiming for 100% coverage of the UK by 2005 (source: UK Oftel Annual Report 2003).

These figures only refer to the UK. There's a far greater percentage of households in the States with internet access, any of whom - as with others elsewhere in the English-speaking world - might want to find out how your Society can help them with their research.

That is why a number of people believe that a Society's web-site is even more vital than its Journal, as it is a means of communicating not only with its members (local, elsewhere in the UK, and overseas) but, more importantly, also with its prospective members.

Does Your Society Have Its Own Website?

93 of our 100 county/area FHS members in England and Wales now have their own Society web site (the ones that don't being the smaller societies covering a specific area). And more societies have acquired their own domain name, in order to have a more memorable (and usually much shorter) web address, and e-mail addresses they can allocate by title to their secretary, membership secretary, editor, etc.

If you're on the committee of a Family History Society, you may read the above and sit back complacently, happy in the knowledge that your Society already has its own web-site, and its own domain name. But how effective is your Society's web-site in getting over the message you want it to convey, and what impression does it give about your Society?

You may say to yourself: "I'm not the webmaster, so this doesn't concern me". To which I would respond: "It does concern you - if your society is a charity, you're one of its trustees and must help to manage its affairs in its best interests".

Or you may say: "I admit we're one of the few without our own web-site but, even though I can use a computer, I don't know anything about being a webmaster". Neither did I until I borrowed a library book on HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) which is used to write, or "code" web-pages. I learnt enough about the basics to be able to design and set up my Society's web-site using a basic text editor in less than two months (and I managed to do so sufficiently competently that it was placed 5th out of 53 entrants in the inaugural year of the FFHS Best Web Site Award).

You could also use some of the "automatic" coding editors that are freely available, such as FrontPage Express that comes with Internet Explorer, or Netscape Composer that accompanies Netscape Navigator. And you can convert documents created in the more modern programs such as MS Office or Lotus Smartsuite. However, you can't always control the way they set out the information in the way you might like to in formatting the layout of your web pages.

Alternatively, why not ask around to see if one of your society members has experience, or the willingness, to get a web-site up and running for you?

If all else fails, the FFHS Webmaster may be able to set up and maintain a basic web page for your society and host it temporarily within the FFHS's own facilities.

Basic Criteria for a Website

The basic criteria that should apply to any web-site include the following:

• The initial page should be reasonably quick to download. Web users are often impatient and, if a page takes a long time to appear, they will lose patience and look elsewhere. Therefore images, which take longer to download than text, should be used to good effect but not overdone, and the size of the images should not be excessive.
• It should be attractive and welcoming in appearance. First impressions are all important and, having got visitors, you want to persuade them to stay for a while. Therefore ensure that the text can be read easily, and that your choices of colours for text and background do not clash.
• Its title and initial text should convey clearly to visitors what sort of information they will learn from the site, and entice them to explore its pages.
• It should also be neat and logically presented, to reflect the fact your information has been researched, and is presented, in a similar fashion.
• Whilst it may seem like stating the obvious, ensure that no errors in spelling or grammar have crept in. Any such errors may give the impression that the information in the rest of the site could be unreliable.
• Most internet users still use a SGA screen resolution of 800x600. All pages should therefore be designed so that wherever possible they fit a screen that is 800 pixels wide (remembering that the viewable area is reduced by the vertical scroll bar and the frame of the browser window). Otherwise users will be irritated at having to continually scroll sideways to view the contents of the page.
• Netscape Navigator and MS Internet Explorer sometimes differ in the way they handle pages. And even the version of Internet Explorer which accompanies the latest Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP can produce "corrupted" layouts. You should make sure that all your web pages appear correctly using different browsers, to prevent unplanned quirks in appearance.

Most importantly, it should be maintained regularly to ensure that the contents are not out of date.

Criteria for a Society's Website

• A Society web-site, in addition to the above, needs its contents to be tailored to meet the specific needs of family historians.
• First and foremost, what area does it cover - in terms of county, counties or parts of counties (and are these pre 1974 or post 1974?), in terms of Registration Districts and Sub-Districts, and possibly parishes and places? Is there a map which illustrates this? Remember that overseas visitors will be less familiar with your area than you are, as may visitors from elsewhere in the UK.
• How is the society organised - does it have separate branches and, if so, what separate areas do they cover?
• What benefits will someone receive by joining the society, how much does it cost, and what period does its membership year cover (they'd be aggrieved if within months of joining they get asked to pay the next year's membership)?
• If there is a section of the web-site with access restricted to society members only, is there a description of what it contains (since that is an added benefit of joining the society).
• How often, and when, does its Journal (or newsletter, in the case of a smaller society) get published and what sort of contents does it have?
• What enquiry services, if any, are available to members (or non-members, possibly at a higher cost) or are there any persons prepared to carry out research in the area the society covers on behalf of others?
• What publications does the society produce, in what format (booklet, fiche, CD) and how much do they cost? Who are they available from, and on what terms? What future publications are planned (if a visitor can't find what he or she is looking for)?
• For visitors living within travelling distance or spending time in that area doing research, how often, where and when does the society hold meetings? What is its future programme at these meetings, so that a visitor can make a one-off trip if there's going to be a talk of special interest? And, if necessary, is a map provided to show how to get to the venue?
• Who are the society's officers and task holders and how can they be contacted?
• Are there any Mailing Lists, Forums, Message Boards, etc. in existence for the area the Society covers, and are links provided to them?
• Is there news about the record office(s) and reference libraries in the area, their whereabouts, holdings and opening times (if this information is on that organisation's own site, a cross-referenced link should be sufficient)? Is there a link to GENUKI?
• Similarly, are there are any other web-sites relating to the area which might be of interest to researchers, and if so are links provided to them.
• If the Society is organising an Open Day or Conference, are full details of the date, place, time and arrangements provided? And, if necessary, is a map provided to show how to get to the venue?
• If the Society organises coach parties to visit the FRC, the PRO at Kew or other record offices, are details provided (when, where, how much, what times and who to contact)?
• How can one find out which members of the society are researching which names and dates? Is it feasible to include the members' interests on the web-site? Failing this, does it specify how often a Member's Interests Directory, if any, is published, in what format and at what cost?
• Last, but certainly not least of course, what is the society's role in the National Burial Index? If it already has items included in the Second Edition, are further details of these entries available from the society and, if so, how? If it is preparing items for the Third Edition, can any indication be given of progress? Most importantly, if there are no entries for the society in the Second Edition, explain to visitors that your limited number of transcribers were currently engaged in another important project for the society, and state what that was, to attempt to divert criticism.
• And, if you need transcribers to help with a current or imminent project, why not use your web-site to advertise that fact?

It is assumed that you already publicise the fact that your Society is a member of the Federation, with a link to our web-site!