Mr. Dickie's Virtual Website

Ever since AOL dropped website support in October 2008 I have been giving thought to how to go about maintaining an Internet presence.

The idea of paying for webspace to recreate my genealogy website didn't appeal to me. In the past I found maintaining skill in the use of HTML and Cascading Style Sheets was a lot of work.

I decided to see what I could accomplish using free space and capabilities offered by Google and others.

I created four Google blogs:
1. Mr. Dickie's Blog - where I post quotations that I like and things that are on my mind. I usually post to this blog daily. It also feeds to my "Notes" on Facebook.

2. Arrow Prayers - where I post short prayers. I usually post to this blog once a day too.

3. Henthorn Website News - I use this blog to post genealogy news and other information about the families I'm interested in: Henthorn(e), Hinthorn(e), Conger and Yoho. I post to this one as the mood strikes me and as time permits.

4. Henthorn Website Obits - this blog is the place where I share obituaries as I extract them from my files or as they become available on the Internet. I post to this one when something becomes available.

I also created a Google group.
5. Henthorn Website - A group is a place where people with a common interest can become members and share information. Response to this idea has, so far, been underwhelming. There is a Discussion Board where members can post messages to various topics. There is an area where "files" can be shared and a place where "pages" can be shared. I have successfully posted the following file types to the group: JPEGs, HTML, TXT, and PDFs.

I joined a social bookmarking site.
6. Del.icio.us - My AOL website had a Links page I used to share URLs to other websites I felt might be of interest to others working on the same surnames. Recently I found a better way to accomplish this task, and more, which is very user friendly. I'm posting my links to the social bookmarking site Del.icio.us. If you haven't taken a look at this site I recommend doing so. You don't have to join to use it. To post your own links you must register.

I'm writing today to announce that all six components are now linked together from the four Google blogs. There is a "link" box in the right-hand sidebar of each blog with the names of the various pieces of what I call "my virtual website." From the "link" box you can go to any of the other components. To return to the Google blogs from either the "group" or "Del.icio.us use your browser "back" key.

I'm interested in feedback.

Mr. Dickie