Details Matter

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I learned an important lesson recently. Details can be very significant, they do matter. For example, Family.jpg is not the same as family.jpg and map.JPG is not the same as map.jpg, they may seem the same, but these details matter.

Details can be very significant, they do matter. Click To Tweet

These details don’t bother my computer. I can see these photos just fine, but I got so frustrated not being able to figure out why I could get hundreds of photos to show up just fine on my computer, but when I uploaded all the HTML and jpg files to my server so they would be online, something wasn’t quite right and one just wouldn’t show up. I thought I’d have to call for help to figure it out and then it happened again. Finally, after exhausting every possible cause, I finally found out that details really do matter, the internet is pickier than my computer apparently and capitalization is the detail that mattered this time.

Admittedly it had been years since I did much coding using the HTML programming I learned in college. They forced me to learn some sort of computer programming language for my computer endorsement on my elementary education degree. This was the only sort of programming language I could ever see a need to know, so that is what I chose to take. I love making web pages come out just so using Notepad and typing in all the code it takes to make it work.

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If you are wondering what sorts of web pages I might choose to create the “hard” way, I can tell you. These are genealogy web pages I created in the years between 2000 and 2006. I kind of quit updating them when I went back to work and free time was once again scarce. I had so many that I would use Google to find what I needed by typing my own name in quotes and then adding the surname I was looking for to get to the right page. The last time I did that I realized the pages were no longer accessible because the Rootsweb servers where I had been housing them for free all these years were undergoing some huge renovations. I knew there were loads of broken links and that sort of thing that needed to be cleaned up on them and had been meaning to get around to it “someday”. I couldn’t do anything about getting them back online where they were, so I called the company I use to host my blog (Bluehost affiliate link) to ask if I could put them online there because I honestly didn’t know if I should get a new domain name or just use the one I had. Bluehost was great, they are always there to answer any questions and have top-notch customer service. I knew I didn’t want to rethink the whole thing and try to get them online using WordPress. It is easy enough to use, but I’d much rather just FTP the files after I got them all working together nicely and looking pretty again.

By the time you read this, I will have finished the process of updating and uploading all the files I had on my to-do list. These extra genealogy pages can always be accessed easily by anyone who is interested (or even me) by clicking the Genealogy – Karen’s Kin link on the navigation area in the top right of the website you are reading this on (assuming you are on the blog instead of Facebook or Twitter or email). I figured that would be the easiest way to locate them and then I only need to remember the one URL. Going through the process of getting these ready to go online again helps me to dust off my HTML coding skills and also helps me to see what I already have done on the various surnames and find the holes I need to do further research on. It seems the eleven years I had my love of genealogy simmering on the back burner, were very productive ones in the online genealogy world. So much has changed, been digitized and put online since I last did much research. There is so much I still haven’t found out about my ancestors. I have completely different hobbies now than I did back then, and I honestly don’t know where I will find the time to get back into the research, but I really want to. The problem is I don’t really have anything I am currently doing that I want to give up to make the time to do more research.

With each file I fix, I gain confidence and remember why I enjoy doing this so much. Since I first was inspired to write this post, I HAVE completely finished the hundreds of web pages I needed to update. These pages are a huge repository for the proof documents I have come across in my research and loads of old photos too. If you are researching any of these surnames, please take a look you might find something of historical value there: LAUERMAN, SOLON, PERKINS, REED, SWIFT, CANADY, BOYD, SCHOLL, ANDREWS, BEIDELMAN, LeFEVRE, COURTNEY and others that tie into these lines.

Please read if you are researching any of these surnames: LAUERMAN, SOLON, PERKINS, REED, SWIFT, CANADY, BOYD, SCHOLL, ANDREWS, BEIDELMAN, LeFEVRE, COURTNEY Click To Tweet

It is such a relief to finally have this huge task completed! Enjoy my efforts and if you find a connection, please contact me.

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