Q.  How do I get my biographies on the OhioBiographies Page? 
A.  You don't.  Your biographies need to bekeptwith your county page on your server. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  Why do I have to use text files?  Won't thebiographiesneed to be in html format? 
A.  You don't have to use the text format. Somepeople prefer text because it's easier 
       to create.  Thereare pros and cons for Text or HTML, it is up to the county 
       coordinator to decidewhichwill work best for them. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  Can new biographies be typed directly into e-mail? 
A.  Yes, however, please be aware that there aresomepitfalls associated with typing 
      biographies directly into ane-mail. Not the least of which will be improperly 
      formatted biographies. Thatmeans someone has to do a lot more work to make the 
      biography work on theweb. The other reason is simpler; if you save each biography 
      as a separate file, you willonlyhave to type it once. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  Why do I have to leave a message on the Bio-Lmailing listwhen I add new 
        biographies? 
A.  So both the State Coordinator and theAssistantCoordinator have the information 
      on all new biographies. TheState coordinator maintains a list of biographies and 
      a biographies archive. TheAssistant Coordinator is responsible for maintaining 
      the names index. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  I already have a large number of biographies ashtml documents. Do you expect 
        me to convert theallto text files? 
A.  We understand the amount of time and effortthathas gone into typing all those bios; 
      Therefore, if you are buildingaCounty Biographies site from a pre-existing html 
      library, go ahead and usewhat you have.  This does however significantly increase 
      the workload of the statecoordinator. New sites  with no pre-existing html library 
      should adopt the text fileformat. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  Is there a standard way to name the biographies? 
A.  Not really.  Al long as the file is inthecorrect format (DOS text) and has the ".txt" 
      extension, it should be justfine. If you use Windows95 to create your biography 
      files, a good way to name themisto use the full name of the subject in lower case 
     without any spaces orpunctuation. For example: Enos T. Taylor would become 
     enosttaylor.txt.  This is not arequirement,just a good idea.  If you use Windows 
     3.1x, you could abbreviate the namelikeettaylor.txt.  Once the file is uploaded to 
     your server, you can then rename ittoa more descriptive name if you wish. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  I don't know a thing about creating web pages butI am willingto learn.  Can 
        someone help me getstarted? 
A.  Absolutely!  You can contact Tina Hurshforsome pointers.  There is also a sample 
      page you can  modify anduse. See the section below entitled "HTML Sources". 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  Does my county page have to look just like thesample page? 
A.  Not at all.  In fact, we encourage youto becreative with your web page.  Make it 
      your own creation.  Keepinmind, however, that a lot of graphics on a page make it 
      look nicer, but can makeit painfully slow when loading. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  Where can I find those neat buttons andbackgrounds formy web page? 
A.  There are many web sites that have graphicscollectionsavailable for download. 
      Check the links  in the "Graphics"section below.  Or, if you are adventuresome, 
      you can create them yourself. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  How do I get my page and biographies on my server? 
A.  You will have to upload them using an FTPprogram. 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 
 

Q.  How should I organize my biographies? 
A.  There are no set rules on storing yourbiographies. Here are some rough guidelines 
      though: Keep backup copies ofallyour biographies on your local PC just in case. 
      You can keep yourbiographies in a sub directory on the server, just make sure the 
      hyper links are correct. Onceyou have established  a system for naming and storing 
      your bios, stay with it! 
        Contact: Tina Hursh 

Free Web Space... 

There are a number of sources available that offer free webspace whereyou can keep your 
county page.  No attempt will be made here to give instructionsfor using these sites.  Please 
visit each site and see what they have to offer.  Some of thesesites provide a suite of tools 
that help make managing your page much easier. 

Free WWW sites: 
Geocities 
Tripod 
MarketNet 
Howdy Neighbor 
Angelfire 

HTML Sources... 

There are hundreds of sites on the web offering instruction onusingHTML and creating web 
pages.  Here are a couple of good ones: 

TheNCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML 
HTML Tutorials by John C.Gilson 
So YouWantto Make a Web Page 
 

Graphics... 

There is no better way to kill a web page than to load it withgraphics. Graphics download 
slowly from the host server and an impatient user will often hit theSTOP or BACK button 
instead of waiting for a large graphic file to download.  Manyvery successful web pages 
contain no graphics at all.  The creative use of color, and aclean, well thought out page layout 
are the real keys to any page.  However, very few of us designweb pages this way.  We all 
like to be individuals and our web pages usually reflect this. There are a few things you can 
do to make graphics a little easier to live with.  Use smallmeaningfulgraphics on your web 
pages.  A small graphics used as a Hyper Link carries more meaningthan  does a photo of the 
family pet.  Try to use GIF files whenever possible.  Ifyou must use large graphics, use an 
interlaced GIF so the user isn't stuck waiting for each graphic toload completely.  Remember, 
the purpose of a graphic is to get and keep a visitor'sattention. 

Here are some places to get really nice graphics for yourpage: 

A + B + C Graphics 
ImageO Rama 
Jelane'sFree Web Graphics 
The MousePad              <---(Genealogy graphics) 
CherishedMemories     <---(Genealogygraphics) 
GraphicStation 
The Non-Stick Looney Page 
The ClipArt Connection