Twigs of Yore has a brand new look

I started this blog way back in July 2009. My personal family history research site of the same name went live in March of 2011, running on TNG software.

It was always my intention to match the look and feel of the two sites so that they would feel like one. With the arrival of a new version of the TNG software came a new site template that I liked the look of enough to spark off another attempt. It took quite a bit of tweaking of both the blog and the research component – but at last I’m getting close to what I had in mind.

I’m thrilled to unveil the new-look Twigs of Yore sister sites.

This blog…

And the research site…

A new software update on the research site also means there are new site features. I’m yet to discover them all myself!

Pottering with my websites

One of the thing I hope to do early this year is give this blog and my family tree site a more integrated appearance. I would like to get to a position where a visitor doesn't perceive it as a blog site with a link to a family tree site, and vice versa. I'd like it to be simply a website that includes a blog and a tree.

I've taken a few small steps in this direction.

• The new heading 'My Tree' (above) links to my family tree website. I've been having a play with the TNG colouring book (see here. TNG is the software that drives my tree website).

• I've started doing a bit of reading on various Web development topics, just enough so that I understand a little of what I'm looking at in the page code.

• I've installed WAMPserver on my PC, so that I can run a test site offline as I try to apply my new-found knowledge. This was more difficult that I had anticipated, but I think I'm up and running with it now.

Back again

Although my posts of late have been non-existent, I’m still here.

One of the most useful things about blogging, aside from the interaction with like-minded people, is the record it provides of work done. As I ease back into the blogosphere, I am going to concentrate on just that. Recording the genealogy work I am doing.

There are a few areas I am focusing on right now.

• I’m getting back in to the courses I booked at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. My next course starts Monday. It’s “Electronic Resources: Using The Internet” which I think I will find pretty straightforward, so a good one to ease back into things.
• Research work – not doing a lot for now. I’d like to try and get more information on James Bennett, the hope of determining his death date. My lead on this is the land records and I think it will require a research trip to Melbourne.
• Cousin correspondence. I have been an infrequent correspondent of late. I have some catching up to do!
• DNA. I have had both myself and my father tested, and two of my father’s cousins have tested as well all at FTDNA. I’ve also tested at 23andME and AncestryDNA. I’m trying to work out a way of semi-automating looking at the details, so that there’s not a whole lot of manual work to so when a DNA match gets in touch with me.
• Photo restoration. One of the things I really love doing is learning to digitally restore photos. I would like is to become really, really good at it – if I do, prospectively, say so myself! For me it’s the perfect way to blend three things I enjoy: art, playing with tech tools, and of course genealogy. I have in mind a series of posts – again, mostly in order to document for myself what I am doing but they may also be of help to others. 

That seems like plenty to be getting on with.

It’s my blogiversary, and I want presents

It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since I uploaded my first, tentative post. I didn’t know if anyone would ever read it. I thought it quite possible that I would put up half a dozen posts then realise that the whole thing wasn’t really me. That was three years ago and since then I have made 167 posts – just a little over one a week on average.

Today, in honour of my third blogiversary, I’m going to come out and say it…

I want presents!

If you think that was in bad taste, then wait a minute longer because I’m going to tell you exactly what I want.

I would consider it a fantastic gift if you could spend a few minutes today correcting text on the National Library of Australia’s Trove newspaper site. You don’t even need a login to do so, just search for an item of interest and correct away. If you happen to find something relevant to your own research in the process, then consider that my gift to you.

Thanks for your support and encouragement. Every comment counts! I’m looking forward to the next year of blogging.

50 genealogy blogs you need to follow

It seemed to be all over the blogosphere. Jill Ball of Geniaus had written an article for Inside History magazine on the 50 genealogy blogs you need to follow. Among the list were 10 personal blogs and as it turns out I already follow all but one of them – Twigs of Yore. I’m trying to cut back on paper publications, but I think I will make an exception for this issue of the magazine.

Thank you Jill and Inside History magazine!

The list is very relevant to Australian genealogists, and also includes some international sites to follow. Some of those I already do, some I don’t. It looks like my blog list will be growing.

Twigs of Yore site makeover – getting started

It’s time for a makeover!

My genealogy research website runs on software called The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding (TNG). TNG has recently released version 9, which seems a fitting time to think about a makeover for my site.

It is especially suitable as Kathleen Moore at "Moore-Mays.org Misadventures of a genealogist" is posting a series of tutorials as she redesigns her combined TNG/blog site.

Kathleen’s site is one that I especially admired when I first set up my own research data site. I particularly liked how her research data and blog fit so nicely under the same interface. Such a presentation seemed beyond me so I was content with keeping it simple and just making my research site and blog as consistent with each other as possible.

So far, as I have followed along, I have started thinking about what I want and don’t want on the site. Yes, actual planning. I have also set up a test site for myself to experiment and try things out. I can’t wait for each next instalment!

I’m not sure yet how far I will go with my own redesign. It could be anything from just tidying up the current customisations, to a complete overhaul! I keep on imagining soft silvery colours, like a misty eucalyptus forest… Blog and research data integrated on the one site…?!?!?

For the sake of documentation, here are screenshots of my research site and this blog a few days ago. My research site now differs slightly as I made a bit of a mess of the upgrade and I haven’t completely fixed the customisation again.

This blog, prior to any changes

Research site, prior to any changes

Sharing blog posts

I love reading “best of” posts. I always discover something new and interesting that I might otherwise have missed out on. I also see a lot of great posts myself that I wonder if other people have noticed! However, I don’t have time to create “best of” posts myself.

Browsing google reader, I noticed a new feature advertised. It’s now possible to add a widget to you blog that displays posts that you have “shared”. It sounds to me like a great and simple way of sending a little link-love to posts I found useful or enjoyed.

My “sharing” of posts in google reader has been erratic up until now. In future I will be clicking that button more often, I’m sure. Please scroll down and look to the right to check out my new widget, displaying blog posts I’ve most recently shared. Enjoy!

All is calm, all is quiet

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog lately. Behind the scenes, I’ve been steadily plodding away.

• I have now had two cousins who found me through my online tree at www.twigsofyore.com and have been trying to fill in a bit of detail about their branches. I still have more conversations to have with them.
• I’ve been sending off contact invitations to other 23andMe members. I find that I get 1-2 responses per batch of 5 invitations. We exchange a few messages but so far I have not worked out my connection with anyone. One day it will happen.
• I’m taking 2 courses of genealogy study at the moment and have fallen a little behind in the coursework due to a few family commitments that came up.

So between data entry, writing to other researchers and writing up the weekly assignment answers I’ve been feeling all written out. Actually, I started writing any number of blog posts but never quite had the energy to finish them.

Subjects that I only got half way through writing about include:

• How my grandmother knew all the questions on a particular topic, when we played Trivial Pursuit with her.
• Tips for making great cousin connections on Ancestry.
• My life in the cloud and across the galaxy – how I’ve set up my new Galaxy tab with particular reference to cloud computing services.
• School – then and now.

Any preferences for which should I finish writing first?

Trying out Windows Live Writer blogging software

I’ve just bought a new computer and am in the process of setting it up. It’s a PC running Windows 7. Windows 7 doesn’t come with an email program installed, but it prompts you to download a package of free ‘essentials’. I wanted to get my email up and running quickly and was going to install just the email ‘essential’ program, but saw the blog writer program and decided to have a look.

Until now, I’ve only ever used the Blogger interface when writing up blog posts – or done my writing elsewhere and then cut and pasted. I was aware that there are desktop blogging packages around but had never looked into them. I am writing this as I explore and click on different options.

This particular package has a number of handy features not available in the blogger interface for those of us who can’t be bothered to learn html. Such as subscripts₁ and superscripts² and tables. I could see myself using superscripts if I wanted to get all footnotey. There have also been times when I would have added a table if I had been able to do so quickly.

Oh look - emoticons. Are emoticons ‘me’?  Nah, I don’t think so.

There’s a button for adding maps. Here is a map which shows Bung Bong where my Bennett family lived for a time and Amherst where they went to hospital.

The maps don’t have many customisation options. I don’t like that the scale has to be in miles. Australia went metric before I was born so miles takes a bit of extra effort for me to interpret.

There are extra options when you add a hyperlink to another post, for example you can set the software to automatically add a hyperlink the first time a particular term appears in a post. I tried it with Trove and it worked fine. It’s also easy to link to one of your own previous posts as the software will give you a drop down list to choose from. I’m really starting to like this!

Do you use the interface in your blogging platform, or some other software to blog? What software do you use? I’d be interested to know what other bloggers do.

This that and the other

There is so little I can think of to say about our Christmas ornaments, I thought I'd skip the Advent Calendar for today and instead keep up the blogging momentum with a quick update on my genealogy activities.

• I've had some really good correspondence with other researchers on various branches of my tree lately. As a result I have quite a bit of new data to add.
• The DNA kit from 23andMe has shipped. Now I have to wait for it to make it's way across the sea. I wonder how long it will take? 
• I am seriously considering changing genealogy software, which is not a move I take lightly. I love my current software, but unfortunately, I have noticed a glitch that I can't live with. It's not likely to be corrected any time soon as the developer is concentrating on the next version. I know I will have to do a big clean-up and lots of checking in the new software, which will probably be TMG. It's frustrating when I have so much momentum up in my research right now, but it has to be done.

Catching up

I've just had a week away on a family holiday. A good time was had by all, despite the cold and rain.

Last time I went away, I made good progress on data entry in the evenings. This time, I didn't get quite so much done. I'm now trying to catch up on correspondence with my genealogy contacts, and all the data entry from new finds.

If I owe you a message, and I'm not in touch in the next week or so, please send me a gentle reminder...

How I made the new banner, step by step

Greta Koehl at Greta's Genealogy Bog asked me how I made the new banner on this blog.

Here's what I did, step by step. Let me know if you follow these steps to create something similar! But not too similar, cos this is my look now, OK?

Step by step
First I found a font that suited me. It took a bit of searching, but eventually I hit gold at dafont.com. My starting point in Photoshop Elements looked like this:

It was a bit lightweight for what I had in mind, so I made the text bold. I also wanted more dimension to the text, so I used layer styles to add a bevel to the layer and a thin stroke outline in black.

Next I added a pattern adjustment layer and picked a nice woodgrain pattern. I set the layer to 'overlay' and used the text layer as a clipping mask. That made a big difference because it meant that the pattern applied only to the raised bit, not the stroke.

I wasn't happy with the colour so added a brown colour fill adjustment layer to the clipping group - again I liked the look of the 'overlay' setting the best. Then a green colour adjustment layer and I used the layer mask to pick out the leaves. I've just upgraded to Photoshop Elements 9 which has layer masks included - woohoo! - but there are plenty of plugins around that add the feature to earlier versions.

My layers palette looked like this:

And the final product (in case anyone reads this in the future and I have changed the design again) looked like this:

Ta da!

A new look for Twigs of Yore

I've just updated the look of my blog.

I used Blogger's template designer and customised it until it was somewhere near what I had in mind. I didn't quite get there, but I think I can live with most of the compromises I made. The only one that really annoys me is the faint border around each image. If someone could tell me how to get rid of that, it would be much appreciated.

I've tried to keep the elements I liked and had good feedback on with the previous design - a clean style with the text easily readable (larger, serif font), and not too much clutter.

The biggest change is the banner. I'm rather pleased with it, if I do say so myself.

What do you think?!

Spring has sprung!

Spring has sprung, and the wattle is in bloom.

It's starting to look a lot like spring here in Canberra. Our back fence is topped by a bright display of wattle from our neighbour's yard. 

I'm not sure that we are completely clear of winter illnesses, but I'm certainly hoping we are!


More soon...

Winter chills

It's been a long winter. Canberra winters are known for their chill and this year has been no exception. My family has suffered repeated (or constant? It's getting hard to tell the difference) respiratory infections. While no-one has been at death's door, caring for a sick toddler while I've been ill myself has been draining.

Hence, I've been a bit quiet on the blog (and Twitter) lately.

Now that it's mid-August, the end of winter is in sight! I hope to resume normal service shortly.

Trying out a new look

I'm trying to find a look that suits both me, and the content of this blog.

I've tried to choose a look that's clean and simple. A fussy frilly look is just not me. I don't dislike frilly looks, but they've never really worked for me. Those pink spots that I had until now didn't sit right with me, and I think they slowed up the page loading.

I think this look is more comfortable for me, at least for now.

If you want to overanalyse it, you might say that green and brown represent the muted colours of gumtrees, which in turn represent both (family) trees and Australia. The purple headings are just because I like purple.

I'd like some feedback, if you don't mind. Does the new look work for you? I'm not aiming to set anyone's world on fire, just to have something that's comfortable to read and doesn't jar given the content of the blog.