Q.  How do I get my biographies on the Minnesota Biographies Page?  
A.  You don't.  Your biographies need to be kept with your county page on your server.  
  

Q.  Why do I have to use text files?  Won't the biographies need to be in html format?  
A.  You don't have to use the text format.  Some people prefer text because it's easier  
       to create.  There are  pros and cons for Text or HTML, it is up to the county  
       coordinator to decide which will work best for them.  
  

Q.  Can new biographies be typed directly into e-mail?  
A.  Yes, however, please be aware that there are some pitfalls associated with typing  
      biographies directly into an e-mail.  Not the least of which will be improperly  
      formatted biographies.  That means someone has to do a lot more work to make the  
      biography work on the web.  The other reason is simpler; if you save each biography  
      as a separate file, you will only have to type it once.  
  

Q.  Why do I have to leave a message on the Bio-L mailing list when I add new  
        biographies?  
A.  So both the State Coordinator and the Assistant Coordinator have the information  
      on all new biographies.  The State coordinator maintains a list of biographies and  
      a biographies archive.  The Assistant Coordinator is responsible for maintaining  
      the names index.  
  

Q.  I already have a large number of biographies as html documents.  Do you expect  
        me to convert the all to text files?  
A.  We understand the amount of time and effort that has gone into typing all those bios;  
      Therefore, if you are building a County Biographies site from a pre-existing html  
      library, go ahead and use what  you have.  This does however significantly increase  
      the workload of the state coordinator.  New sites  with no pre-existing html library  
      should adopt the text file format.  
  

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

Q.  I don't know a thing about creating web pages but I am willing to learn.  Can  
        someone help me get started?  
A.  Absolutely!  You can contact Tina Hursh for some pointers.  There is also a sample  
      page you can  modify and use.  See the section below entitled "HTML Sources".  
  

Q.  Does my county page have to look just like the sample page?  
A.  Not at all.  In fact, we encourage you to be creative with your web page.  Make it  
      your own creation.  Keep in mind, however, that a lot of graphics on a page make it  
      look nicer, but can make it  painfully slow when loading.  
  

Q.  Where can I find those neat buttons and backgrounds for my web page?  
A.  There are many web sites that have graphics collections available for download.  
      Check the links  in the "Graphics" section below.  Or, if you are adventuresome,  
      you can create them yourself.  
  

Q.  How do I get my page and biographies on my server?  
A.  You will have to upload them using an FTP program.  
  

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

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

Free WWW sites:  
Geocities  
Tripod  
MarketNet  
Howdy Neighbor  
Angelfire 

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

The NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML  
HTML Tutorials by John C. Gilson  
So You Want to Make a Web Page 

There is no better way to kill a web page than to load it with graphics.  Graphics download slowly from the host server and an impatient user will often hit the STOP or BACK button  
instead of waiting for a large graphic file to download.  Many very successful web pages  
contain no graphics at all.  The creative use of color, and a clean, well thought out page layout are the real keys to any page.  However, very few of us design web 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 small meaningful graphics on your web pages.  A small graphics used as a Hyper Link carries more meaning than  does a photo of the family pet.  Try to use GIF files whenever possible.  If you must use large graphics, use an interlaced GIF so the user isn't stuck waiting for each graphic to load completely.  Remember, the purpose of a graphic is to get and keep a visitor's attention.  

Here are some places to get really nice graphics for your page:  

A + B + C Graphics  
Image O Rama  
Jelane's Free Web Graphics  
The MousePad               <---(Genealogy graphics)  
Cherished Memories     <---(Genealogy graphics)  
Graphic Station  
The Non-Stick Looney Page  
The ClipArt Connection