This page is about this particular website and its style. In the 1980s, years before the World Wide Web (www) was even created and launched (1991), I married and gave birth to three beautiful daughters. In 1995, when they were still children, I discovered the Internet, the same year I also started flying airplanes. The following year, in 1996, I started designing my own simple web pages. The year 1996 was also the year when I discovered the joys and challenges of genealogy and family history.
Now, as I write these words, it is already 2005, and I realize I'm partly a dinosaur and partly a pioneer web-designer. Until now, I have never done this as a profession, nor am I the best or even one of the greatest web- designers. But I am definitely always willing to learn and find better ways of doing things. Also, I've been doing this long enough to have formed my own opinions and philosophy about web design, especially for genealogists around the world. Now it is time to translate my beliefs into action, at least in the virtual world of the Internet. Welcome in joining me on my journey! Welcome to Astrid's Web.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the basic coded language used to design web pages. Other languages exist, but HTML is the one, basic, standard language which is most accessible to the most Internet users at the moment. Besides... good HTML habits and language are easy to learn.
Active and budding genealogists are the second-most active group of Internet users around the world. Genealogists span hundreds of countries and an untold number of Internet providers. They include sophisticated high-speed web surfers, as well as uncertain and new dial-up Internet users. Some have had decades of solid genealogical experience, but most have only started genealogy relatively recently. (The professionals think of beginners as anyone with less than ten years genealogical experience, Which is why I still qualify as a seasoned beginner - at least until next year: 2006.)
Therefore, as these web pages are being re-designed, hopefully I'll be able to keep both experienced and new genealogists in mind. To this end, I have chosen to focus on ease and clarity of both presentation and content, hopefully more helpful to the greatest variety and number of web users. If my web-viewers have problems or suggestions with either the ease of surfing or the clarity of content, I welcome the feedback. Please write to me at astrid@vianet.ca
Cascading Styles Sheets (CSS) are a new way to design web pages using standard HTML codes. A CSS style page is created for each set of web pages with the same presentation or style. Previously, the norm was to combine the contents of each web page with its presentation. Unfortunately the combination eventually caused longer, bulkier, and slower-loading pages on the Internet. Now, with a central CSS style sheet, the web pages containing the actual content are far less cluttered with code. Instead, each page is linked to a key CSS style page.
Ten years after I started surfing, I am still fascinated with this medium, the Internet and, especially, the World Wide Web. I remember being absolutely blown away when I started exploring brave new virtual world in 1995, because I immediately realized the amazing and far-reaching beneficial possibilities of the Web.
Yet, I must confess to disappointments over the past ten years. I naively thought that the Internet would bring in a new world of understanding and truth. I imagined the Internet crossing borders and countries, tying us all into one understanding of what truth was. I imagined greater liberty throughout the world - a greater freedom of thought and greater tolerance. I thought free speech and thought would finally, at long last, honestly rule the world.
It hasn't quite turned out like that. At least not yet (as of today, Tuesday, May 24, 2005, at 14:33 UTC). However, I haven't totally lost hope. My passion for genealogy comes from my constant discovery and re-discovery of simple, honest truth, and a humble, but powerful sense of reality. Through a common goal to discover more about our ancestors in the past, I believe we can realize more about our own selves and our own world today. The same investigative tools we use to find and prove our heritage, are the same tools we can use to discover who we are and why we are here. Enjoy the journey - Bon Voyage!
This website is dedicated to my three daughters, to my friends of the heart, and to my near and extended family. And, above all else, this website is dedicated to the Creator - to the source of all things seen and unseen. My life has been an amazing adventure thus far, and I feel truly grateful.
Created 2005 May 24. Validated by WDG HTML Validator
