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KSGenWeb

County Page
Requirements

There are a few basic requirements that every county page must meet in order to be associated with our project and be included on the KSGenWeb State Page. The requirements are:

  1. You will need to join our mailing list. This is where volunteers discuss all matters having to do with the project. This list is not a list for posting family queries.

    To subscribe, send an e-mail to ks@rootsquest.com

    In the subject of your email put SUBSCRIBE KSGEN-L . Please include 1) what county you would be interested in hosting and/or 2) if the county already has a host, other assistance you might be able to provide such as lookups, transcribing primary reference material, etc. We would also appreciate it if you would include your snail mail address and a phone number in case we need to contact you and can't make contact by e-mail, this will be kept confidential.

    The Kansas State Library has very graciously donated free space for the use of the KSGenWeb pages on their server Blue Skyways. Any space you might already have with your present server can be saved for you to use with your personal pages. It is not mandatory that you use the Skyways free space but it is certainly recommended and we hope you will. If you choose to host your page elsewhere, a basic county page will be placed on the Skyways server linking to your pages. To meet the KSGenWeb agreement with Blue Skyways we must have a page for every KS county on the server. Thus, the link from the state page will always be to the Blue Skyways server. This will also simplify linking to adjacent KSGenWeb county pages.

  2. The main county page must have a pointer to the KSGenWeb State Page.
    The URL is: ../index.html (This of course assumes that you will be keeping your page on the Blue Skyways server), or http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/index.html

  3. If you do use the Blue Skyways space we have arranged for, EVERY PAGE... not just the main page... should have the following information on the top of the page, after the <HEAD> and the <TITLE>
    <meta name="AUTHOR" content="your name">
    <meta name="CONTACT" content="your email">
    <meta name="KEYWORDS" content="genealogy,KANSAS,counties,GenWeb">
    <!-- Prepared for the KansasGenWeb Project -->
    <!-- For posting on Kansas State Library Server Blue Skyways -->
    This information is displayed in comment format, and will not show on the web page. The title of a document needs to appear in the first 10 lines of the file to display in the search list. It is suggested that the < TITLE > immediately follow the head tag.
    If you need help with the coding, we'll be glad to help you. This format is necessary for searching with the Blue Skyways Search Engine, and it is a requirement for publishing on Blue Skyways.

  4. Every page on Blue Skyways should display the Blue Skyways Logo and must include a link to them on the bottom of the page. We would also encourage you to add a link to the outstanding Blue Skyways Search Engine. (see sample at the bottom of this page) If you elect not to use the Skyways space, we would appreciate a link back to Kansas State Library/Blue Skyways somewhere on your page.

  5. PAGE NAMES:
    index.html = your main county page
    queries.html = your queries page
    lookups.html = your lookup page
    Please note... all lower case letters and html extention. Any other pages you put up can be named whatever you want to name them and with either the htm or html extention in lower case letters so the Blue Skyways Search Engine will search your page.
    This will make it easy for all of us wanting to point to another county page to do so without having to look up the URL... for instance...
    http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/allen/index.html
    http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/cherokee/index.html
    http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/wabaunse/index.html

    Note: County names are a maximum of 8 letters and always lower case...

  6. Every page must provide a query page. We have a new routine for handling queries that takes most of the work out of it for the county coordinators. For more information on the new Query AutoBot, how it works and how to use it send a note to the state coordinators.

  7. Originally, every page was required to provide for reference lookups, however, due to copyright infringement concerns, this requirement has been suspended. You may have a lookup page if you or your lookup volunteer have received permission from the author or publisher of the book to do so, or if the book is in the public domain and permission is not needed. An alternative to a lookup page is a county bibliography page, showing what is available and where it can be found.

    The official USGenWeb policy concerning these lookups and the copyright law can be found at http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml

  8. Your page should also display the KSGenWeb and the USGenWeb logos. The KSGenWeb logo and background were designed and are copyrighted by Tom and Carolyn Ward. They may be used only by an official KSGenWeb page. These images are available in the images folder. See the IMAGES section below for URLs and linking information. Note:Please include a statement stating that the KSGenWeb logo and, if used, the wheat background are copyrighted and for use exclusively on official KSGenWeb pages.

  9. A link to Kansas Interactive Genealogy Surname page is also highly recommended. The URL is:
    http://www.rootsweb.com/~kssurnam/index.html -- Kansas Interactive Genealogy
    be sure to include a disclaimer (This service is NOT part of The KSGenWeb Project. Please do not ask them about the queries posted on these pages)
    You may also have your own surname page is you wish.

  10. Although the following pointers are no longer mandatory since they have been placed on the Master Index Page, it is recommended that they also appear on your page for the convenience of those visiting your page.

    A link to the USGenWeb page.
    The URL is http://www.usgenweb.org/

    A link to the WorldGenWeb page is not mandatory, but feel free to add it if you so desire.
    The URL is http://www.worldgenweb.org/

  11. IMAGES
    We have established an image directory at our root level and have placed the logo and background and several other image files in it for you to use. If you have any images you would like to use on your pages and they are not specific to your county, send them to ks@rootsquest.com and we'll upload them for you to the image dir. This way they will be available for others as well and we won't be wasting space by having the same image in 105 different directories. If the image is specific to your page (for instance a map of your county) then the image can either be placed in the image dir, your county directory or you can establish your own image dir for your county.

    To see what images are available at this time click here

    The html code for your pages in your Blue Skyways county directory is:
    < img src="../images/xxxxx.gif" >

  12. COUNTY MAPS
    The county maps used on our pages are available for your use whether your page is on the Skyways server or not. The name for each is: mxxxxxx.gif
    To access it from your county page, once the page is on Skyways, you may use the coding:
    < img src="../map/mxxxxxx.gif" >
    Note: first six letters of your county's name, all lower case.
    If you need a map now, before you get on Skyways, you should still be able to access it with:
    < img src="skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/map/mxxxxxx.gif" >
    Replace the x's with the first six letters of your county's name. This is a map similar to the one in the logo, but the individual county has been emphasized with a deep blue.

  13. COUNTER
    A report will soon be available from Skyways on a monthly basis. We'll pass that on to you when it becomes available.

  14. UPLOADING YOUR PAGES
    Instructions for uploading your pages from a PC to the Skyways server usings WS_FTP can be found here. You'll also find a link to download the program if you need it. Mac users will probably want to use FETCH. Check out the Fetch home page found here.

  15. We have established a page listing the computer setups, programs used, etc of a number of people in the project who will be glad to help you if you need it. If you are already experienced in creating web pages, uploading, etc, why don't you offer your services too?

Beyond these few "bare essentials", your page is yours to do with as you please. Should there be any changes made in the basic requirements, you will be notified on the mailing list and this message will be updated.

As new county pages are put up on the web, they are checked by someone on the evaluation committee for the required elements and to be sure your links work. Your evaluator will let you know when they have visited your page. If there are any problems with links or any required elements missing, they will let you know so you may make any changes or corrections. Post a message to ksgen-l when you are ready for your page to be checked. Your page evaluator will visit your page and if all required elements are present they will inform us so the link to your new page can be updated on the State Page.

It is the policy of the KSGenWeb Project to obtain permission from the creator of the code, graphics, and backgrounds before using them on our pages.

If you find yourself having used someone's code without their permission, please either obtain that permission or remove that feature from your pages. Of course this is not necessary if you have obtained them for a site that has put them up for you to use. You also have permission to use the wheat background found on the state pages if you wish on official KSGenWeb pages. It was created for our use by Tom and Carolyn Ward. Please include a statement stating that the KSGenWeb logo and, if used, the wheat background are copyrighted and for use exclusively on official KSGenWeb pages.

Do not lift a bunch of links from someone elses page unless you ask them for permission, or change the descriptions of them and mix them up.

A Kansas Links page has been established for Kansas Links of general interest. To avoid duplication we would encourage you to link to this page. Also, send additional state wide link suggestions to tcward@columbus-ks.com.

Helpful Web Sites & Personnel

We look forward to hearing from you!

Return to KSGenWeb State Page


State
Coordinators
Tom & Carolyn Ward
Columbus, KS
ks@rootsquest.com

Background and KSGenWeb logo were designed and are copyrighted by
Tom & Carolyn Ward
for the limited use of the KSGenWeb Project.
Permission is granted for use only on an official KSGenWeb page.
The USGenWeb Logo was designed by Linda Cole.

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