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Making Memories Online By Maura Keller Wondering how to keep in touch with your family members as they head off to college, get married or begin new jobs across the country? Many of today’s modern “cyber families” are making the most of the Internet by creating their own family Web sites. Easy to create and maintain, a family Web site is a great way to share news of graduations, promotions, sports awards, dance recitals, children’s artwork and more. It’s worth the effort you put into it. After all, this is your opportunity to share your family’s joys and triumphs with the ones you love, and bring everybody closer throughout the year. Creating a Web site that reflects your family’s spirit and lifestyle can be wonderful project for the entire family. And even better, every member can make a contribution. Getting Started Most families use personal Web sites to avoid sending recurring emails to a family mailing list. There are a few problems with recurring emails: spam filters, problems opening attachments, attachments being too large, and keeping the mailing list up to date with current relatives and their current email addresses. Having a family Web site helps solve this issue, as everything is maintained in one place, and it’s archived forever so you won’t have to sift through emails trying to find pictures from last year. The goal for any Web site is to develop a simple, clean design with a mix of visuals and text. If you have photos from last year’s holiday gatherings, make sure to include them. Add links to a grandchild’s school events, sports team calendar or other clubs that reflect their interests. Consider including children’s writing samples or artwork. When creating a family Web site there are some key issues you need to consider: Customization. For one, make sure your URL is customizable. This is great because, if you create something easy or familiar, your family and friends will remember it. Furthermore, create a site that can offer many possible links and pages you can include. Good service. As more families become interested in creating family Web sites, there are several reputable Web site providers available. In addition to free family Web sites, such as MyFamily.com, other Web sites that offer family Website packages for a fee, such as MyGreatBigFamily.com, provide tutorials and help desks to get you started. Keep it safe. When it comes to the Internet, safety is top of mind for many families, especially for families thinking of putting personal information and photos online. Do not publish family data unless it’s password protected. And never include contact information beyond an email address. Blogger.com and sites.google.com, also allow you to easily set up a traditional blog, post stories, photos and comments. These sites are extremely easy to use—perfect for someone who isn’t Web-savvy. With technical knowledge it’s possible to set up a site completely on your own, but the features and security provided by MyFamily.com or one of the other providers makes it very tempting to stick to the companies that are offering these free sites. The bottom line: do you want to spend your time dealing with technical issues or adding and updating your family’s content? If you do choose to create your own family Web site from scratch, Digitalfamily.com offers a wealth of tips, tricks and tutorials on creating Web sites, blogs and online photo albums. For families interested in creating online albums, rather than full Web sites, check out MyPhotoAlbum.com or Snapfish.com. These sites allow families to create great looking online albums that include unlimited album themes, backgrounds, styles and virtual frames that enable users to make each online album unique. Staying Connected For those grandparents who may not be comfortable with developing an entire family Web site, but still want to stay connected with their grandchildren, Dr. Roger Schank, founder of the renowned Institute for the Learning Sciences at Northwestern University, recently launched www.GrandparentGames.com, an online destination for grandparents to connect with their grandkids through a wide range of educational activities designed to encourage interaction, learning and fun. “Through a simple video and voice connection, grandparents can interact with their grandkids from long-distance at anytime through games, animation, pictures and video all with the purpose of early learning,” says Schank, who designed this program out of necessity as he dearly missed his grandchildren who are in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. “Instead of the phone call which often doesn’t engage a child, our site lets the grandparent actually see, communicate and direct their grandchild through fun games. More importantly it allows the child to have a real relationship with their grandparent that just can’t be achieved over the phone,” Schank says. Dr. Schank has also recently launched www.MilosPlace.com (for parents to play with their kids) and www.IMissThatKid.com for parents away from their children (due to military deployment, travel or divorce) to interact. It’s In the Design • To find the right personality for your Web site, look to your family for inspiration. Where does your family gather when they’re together? Is it in the kitchen because everybody likes to cook? Or the family room to watch sports or to play board games? A themed Web site can capture your family’s favorite pasttimes. • When it comes to photos, make sure you use the proper resolution. While a photo may look great on your computer screen, when friends or family print a copy, the image may be blurry. Usually the Web design software you use will offer guidelines as to proper photo resolution. |
