Any comments, may be sent to me.
Freddie S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Peterson" <usgwdp(a)cox.net>
To
The below proposal was motioned on BOARD but due to the number of
changes suggested and the inability to efficiently manage those
changes and approvals through the parliamentary procedures, the
proposal is now posted here in USGENWEB-ALL (ABChat). I will now
go through all the proposed changes that I have copies of and
present rewrites here on ABChat. Before I do that though, there
needs to be a better explanation of what the guidelines really
are and their relationship to our Project Bylaws and an emphasis
that outside of the Bylaw references, these are only
guidelines/recommendations and not any mandated requirements for
web sites. I will include that explanation in the I. Preface
soon.
Please send any comments or proposals to your regional reps or to
me at usgwdp(a)cox.net .
Sincerely,
Mike
------------------------------------------
"I. PREFACE.
1. USGenWeb Project Terms:
(CC) = County Coordinator.
(SC) = State Coordinator.
(LC) = Local Coordinator (rarely used).
County Site = Applies equally to parish and township sites.
Project = The USGenWeb Project.
2. USGenWeb National Information. Take the time to browse the
Project's
national website at
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/index.shtml.
National Elections: The Project's Election Committee website
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgwelections/ will explain the
Project's election
process and how to register to vote.
National Newsletter: You will receive the Project's monthly
Newsletter.
Prior issues of the Newsletter are posted on the national
website:
http://www.usgenweb.com/newsletter/index.shtml .
The Project's Bylaws:
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml .
The Project's Standard Rules:
http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/standard-rules.shtml .
The Project's Special Rules:
http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/special-rules.shtml .
The Project's Mailing Lists:
http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/mail-lists.shtml
3. Your Website: As the owner of your website, you have the
option of
establishing your website on any server. The websites within the
Project,
are hosted by a variety of servers, most of them free of charge.
Your SC, or
designated state representative, is available to help. Website
design help
can be found at:
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/design.shtml
and
http://htmlhelp.rootsweb.com/howto.html. Some states have
particular
requirements for county sites. Check with your State Coordinator
about any
such requirements. If you are changing an existing site, you
should take
care not to eliminate any existing information and be sure the
information
is still linked properly. For outdated information (queries,
e-mail
addresses, etc.), check with your State Coordinator about any
state
guidelines for removing this information.
II. REQUIRED.
1. USGenWeb Project Logo. (USGenWeb Bylaw Article IX, Section 1).
All
websites shall include prominent display of The USGenWeb Project
logo on the
home page -
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml . The
logos are
found at:
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/logos.shtml. A state project
logo may be
required depending on the guidelines/standards in effect for that
state.
2. Solicitation Of Funds. (USGenWeb Bylaw Article IX, Section 2).
Solicitation of funds for personal gain is inappropriate. See the
complete
Bylaw reference for further information -
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml .
3. Copyrights. (USGenWeb Bylaw Article X, Section 4). All
USGenWeb members
are responsible for adhering to the Project's Copyright Policy.
See the
complete Bylaw reference for further information -
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml . Further,
although the
Project Policy addresses specifically genealogy information it
pertains also
to all facets of the website, i.e., graphics, html coding,
backgrounds,
audios, videos, etc.
4. State Mailing List/Website Link (USGenWeb Bylaw Article XI,
Sections
2/3). All County Coordinators will be subscribed to the XXGenWeb
mailing
list and each website will have a direct link to the state
project -
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml .
5. Area For Researcher's Queries (USGenWeb Bylaw Article XI,
Section 3).
County websites must include a means for a researcher to post a
query. If
the state does not have requirements, there are several options
available.
You may administrate a query page or message board system or
provide a link
to an existing message board related to your county. Queries are
designed to
be posted so others are able to make contact. Coordinators are
not required
to research the queries.
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml .
6. State Coordinators. (USGenWeb Bylaw Article XII, Sections 6
and 7). State
Coordinators have the responsibility to review county compliance
with
standards and to remove links for those failing to meet
standards.
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml .
7. Advisory Board. (USGenWeb Bylaw Article VI, Section 5). The
Advisory
Board has the responsibility to remove links for those failing to
meet
standards.
http://www.usgenweb.com/volunteers/bylaws.shtml .
III STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
1. USGenWeb Help Pages Mailing List. The purpose of this list is
to provide
a friendly and helpful means of communication across state and
project lines
for USGenWeb members seeking and willing to give assistance in
all technical
aspects of building and improving USGenWeb pages, including the
creation and
use of graphics, as well as assistance in attracting and
displaying
submissions, meeting researcher needs, utilizing our special
projects, and
so forth, in pursuance of the Project goals. To subscribe, send
an email to
USGW-HELPPAGES-D-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word subscribe in
the subject
line and the text body.
2. USGenWeb Logo. Since there are varying interpretations of the
bylaw
language concerning the term 'prominently displayed,' the
guideline strongly
recommends the logo be no less than 10000 pixels square (in most
browsers,
right click on an image, select 'properties' and it will provide
image size
in pixels) and appears visible,
without scrolling down (on all resolutions), on the initial
(opening) index
(home, default,
et.al) page load within the browser. Placement should be
considered with the
understanding that web site designers have no control over
visitors screen
resolutions, text size, colors, etc.
3. Web Site Search Engine. The more information a web site
contains the
greater consideration should be given to installing a search
engine. They
are a powerful tool for the visiting researcher providing it
includes all
the files and subsets of the website. There are several free
search engines
available and all of them have perfected easy ways of acquiring,
installing,
using, and enhancing.
4. County Resource Page and Lookups: Websites should provide some
basic
research help for its county. Suggestions are to provide a list
of names,
addresses and phone numbers for the county court clerk, library,
and
genealogical and/or historical societies. Also, provide a
bibliography page
showing the reference books available for their county. Lookups
should be
offered if you or your volunteers have received permission to do
so from the
book's author or publisher if the reference books you have
available meet
the copyright policies of The USGenWeb Project.
5. Strongly Recommended Links.
i. The USGenWeb Project -
http://www.usgenweb.org.
ii. The USGenWeb Project Archives Table of Contents
page (sorted by state) -
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb. From
this main
page, follow the links to your state and county.
iii. The archives search option -
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsearch.htm.
iv. The WorldGenWeb site -
http://www.worldgenweb.org/ .
6. URL/Link Checker. Periodically the webmaster should check that
all links
on the website are valid. There are several free URL/Link
Checkers available
and most are very easy to understand and use. Among them are
Xenu's Link
Slueth -
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html ; W3C Link
Checker -
http://validator.w3.org/checklink ;
DeadLinks.com -
http://www.dead-links.com/ - and more.
IV RECOMMENDED.
1. Disclaimer. Many of the resources you will link to are "third
party"
sites; that is, they are not part of The USGenWeb Project and are
not under
its control. Therefore, we recommend that you add the following,
or
similar, disclaimer to your home page:
"Links to sites that are not part of the USGenWeb Project are
provided for
your convenience and do not imply any endorsement of the sites or
their
contents by the USGenWeb Project or its members. Neither the
USGenWeb
Project nor its members are responsible for the contents of any
"third
party" site which you may access from a link on this page."
2. Contact Information. Local Coordinators should provide a valid
email
address on their websites so that visitors may contact them if
they need to
do so."
USGenWeb Project information can be found at:
http://www.usgenweb.com
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
USGENWEB-ALL-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe'
without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message